Making an Irish Guy the Romantic Lead
That Magic Mischief follows an amateur witch struggling with a breakup and losing her job who encounters a shape-shifting creature who helps her cast a spell to get her life back on track. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
I have been always been interested in metaphysical topics and considered myself to be open-minded — until, on a trip to the Southwest, I saw an ad for a past-life regression/séance slumber party in a free Taos newspaper.
It made me laugh, and I thought, ‘What would these people do if something did come over from the other side, or the outer dimensions?’
That’s what happens to my heroine in That Magic Mischief: Annabelle Walsh works a spell that actually works and she’d not as prepared for it as she thought she’d be.
I had also emigrated to Ireland, after having lived in Brooklyn for over a decade, and I wanted to combine my nostalgia for Carroll Gardens with my love of my new home place. Making an Irish guy the romantic lead was a no-brainer.
What was the inspiration for the love story and the connection the characters have?
There’s a strong connection between them as they’re both creative types: Annabelle is a writer and Jamie is a painter. I liked that they had this in common, and that both had good imaginations. They’d need them to cope with Callie, for sure. I also wanted both to be flexible, which their approach to employment allowed them to be, so both could conceivably pick and move without too much hassle.
And if anyone thinks Jamie’s blasé acceptance of Annabelle’s ‘pooka problem’ isn’t believable, I invite you to travel around Ireland for a few weeks and have off-the-cuff conversations with folks about fairy trees, ghosts, and yes, pookas. (Pucá, in the Irish language)
How did you handle balancing the power and use of magic in the story?
What a great question! Every instance of power or use of magic is tied to an emotion: whether it’s Annabelle consulting the tarot because she wants the cards to tell her her ex is coming back, or when Callie, in one of her incarnations, gets some revenge for Annabelle regarding the aforementioned ex.
I think that when people are feeling uncertain or sad or confused, they turn to metaphysical means to see their way forward, or in the search for hope, and that’s how it works in the novel.
What is the next book that you’re working on, and when can your fans expect it?
I also write paranormal romance set in the Regency Era —Think Bridgerton meets shapeshifters. My current series, The Shapeshifters of the Beau Monde, is available from all good book outlets. I’m working on a spin-off of that series as well as a whole new series set in Scotland! Subscribe to my newsletter or any of my socials for announcements regarding publications dates!
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What was the point of being a witch if Annabelle Walsh couldn’t manage a spell to fix her broken heart? As a dedicated dabbler in all things esoteric, she figured she could speed up her healing process when she’s dumped out of the blue by her boyfriend… but nothing’s working.
An idle wander into an unfamiliar new age shop adds the bit of magic in her life that she’d been looking for: an interfering, mischievous Pooka called Callie who’s determined to turn Annabelle’s life around— mostly by turning it upside down.
Suddenly, Annabelle’s too busy to brood, and her writing career begins to take off; in fact, it’s during a brainstorming session for an off-off-off-off Broadway theater production that she meets Jamie Flynn, an Irishman in New York who seems to be keen at first sight, if not in love quite yet. As Annabelle gets her life back on track, she starts to see the difference between a real life, a real career, and a real man… and all it took was a little magic mischief.
This is an updated second edition of this title.
Original source: https://literarytitan.com/2024/04/23/making-an-irish-guy-the-romantic-lead/
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