Spotlight & Giveaway: Bait N’ Witch by Abigail Owen

Posted June 19th, 2020 by in Blog, Spotlight / 66 comments

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Abigail Owen to HJ!
Spotlight&Giveaway

Hi Abigail and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, Bait N’ Witch!

 
Thank you so much for having me back! I always love visiting HJ!
 

Please summarize the book a la Twitter style for the readers here:

A witch hunter has no idea the woman he is tracking down is hiding in plain sight, right under his nose…his nanny for his triplet witch daughters. Let’s talk about hex, baby!
 

Please share the opening lines of this book:

Rowan pulled her borrowed truck up the gravel drive and parked in front of a rustic mountain cabin.
She frowned. This couldn’t be right, could it?
It took a second to realize she’d lifted her foot off the brake, the truck rolling forward like it, too, wanted to escape from here.
She put it in park and again checked the directions she’d been provided. It’d been a long time since she’d had to follow directions to travel anywhere. Too bad she couldn’t use her teleporting skills like usual. But witches who had to get jobs as nannies weren’t supposed to possess that kind of power. If she was going to pull this off, she had to pretend she had minimal magical abilities and not show her true capabilities.

 

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

  • I had a ton of fun coming up with magical phrases for swearing – like “What the hells and fairy bells?”
  • This series is a fun one where I pick a different supernatural creature(s) and then put them in a common contemporary romance trope and see what happens. And boy do I love to torture my poor characters!
  • Rowan first appears in The Demigod Complex as the witch the werewolf Kaios uses to attack the hero and heroine. Now she finally gets her HEA. (Don’t worry, you don’t need to read Demigod first. This one stands alone.)
  • Delilah, the owner of Brimstone Inc., ties the series together. In this book, she might just butt heads with the man who’ll be a major part of her own story.
  • This book was originally self-published, but has been rewritten, set in my dragon shifter world of Fire’s Edge and Inferno Rising. Scenes were added, things were changed, but the kissing still remains!

 

What first attracts your Hero to the Heroine and vice versa?

Well…initially it’s a physical attraction. But they are both more lonely than they realize. She’s lost her family and has been hiding who she is since she was a child and now she’s on the run. He’s raising triplet witches on his own while doing his job as a hunter. They both need someone to lean on and find that in each other.
 

Using just 5 words, how would you describe Hero and Heroine’s love affair?

Home is where love lives.
 

The First Kiss…

She shrugged. “Most people naturally want to be accepted.”
“And you don’t accept me?” He was laughing at her now. A chuckle had snuck into his voice, a suspicious quiver hovering about his lips.
Kissable lips. Damnable lips.
Given how rarely he smiled, a contrary part of her wanted to press harder, see if she could really make him laugh.
“I don’t agree with everything you say and do. There’s a difference. So…now that you know I accept you, appreciate you even, you can go back to bed knowing I’m just like every other woman.” She waved toward the hallway.
But he didn’t leave. Instead, he reached out and wrapped a red curl around his finger. “Any other woman of my acquaintance would be begging me to kiss her right now.”
She snorted to cover her rising panic, because dammit, she wanted to . “Arrogant. How do you know that?”
He smiled, completely unrepentant. “And not one of those women makes me want to pull her up against my body every time she speaks.” His voice dropped lower, rasping on her overly sensitized nerves.
“I’m your children’s nanny.” Her resistance was crumbling in a pathetic heap around her feet, a house built on sand, but she had to try to stop this before it got out of hand. “That’s it.”
The words echoed inside a strange hollowness that suddenly filled her. Why did knowing all she could ever be to Greyson Masters was a temporary nanny feel like this? Empty. Aching. It made no damn sense. Two weeks and she was smitten. With him and his family. And that was a tragedy worth crying over.
He continued to stare down into her eyes, and desperation had her grasping for a solution—even a shock tactic to stop this, even as she longed for it. With a ragged breath, she curled a hand on his shirt and tugged him closer. “Fine. Just kiss me and get it out of your system, Grey.”
Before he could say or do anything, she went up on tiptoe and placed her lips over his.
The kiss caught fire faster than a spark to dead wood. Grey groaned low in his throat, and aching need took over her body and her mind while he pulled her in close, searing her with the heat of his body. Desire throbbed through every part of her, heavy and thudding, leaving her beautifully tingly and on edge as she lost herself in what he was doing with his lips, his tongue, his hands.
She couldn’t have ended it even if she’d wanted to. Gods and goddesses, she’d just discovered what heaven felt like. Taking it away now would be like taking away a child’s birthday toy. The sexy stubble on his jaw rasped against her skin, and she reveled in the sensation wanting to press against him, rub her cheek to his. Grey was all man, and she wanted more.
With another groan, he pulled back, then stepped away, breathing hard, and the cool air that hit her in his absence was like being dunked in an ice bath.
He didn’t say anything for a long moment. Then he ran his hand through his hair, spiking it up even more than before, making her fingers itch to smooth it down for him. “I shouldn’t have done that.”
Pride and a fierce self-protective instinct kicked in. She tipped her chin up and gave him her best nothing big has happened here smile. Hopefully she managed to look amused and bored at the same time. “You didn’t. I did. Now that we got it out of the way, we can move on.”

 

Without revealing too much, what is your favorite scene in the book?

Oh gosh, that’s hard to choose. I love the parts where Rowan is messing with Grey to throw him off her track. And the scenes with his girls are fun. The kissing parts were also fun, and I always enjoy a good magical fight scene. But honestly, I think the moments when they meet in the middle of the night over tea and insomnia, and start to realize that what they are missing in their lives is someone to lean on, to trust, to support them. Those are my favorite bits…

As she quickly removed it from the heat, so the sound wouldn’t disturb the other sleeping occupants of the house, she shook her head. “You let a clock beat you?” she asked the kettle. “That was a sad showing. Just like the tortoise and the hare.”
“Are you talking to a kettle?” An unmistakable voice sounded from the shadows to her right.
Rowan managed to contain the jump of fright to only her heart. “I—”
Why didn’t she get that prickly, being-watched sensation around him?
Greyson’s question sank in, and she wrinkled her nose. “Maybe?”
He moved closer to lean a hip against the counter, arms crossed. In pajama pants and a plain black T-shirt, hair all rumpled, suddenly the witch-hunter appeared more…accessible.
“Is that a question?” he asked.
She shrugged. “I think any answer might incriminate me, so…”
Turning away, she got down one of the teacups she’d discovered the first night. True teacups—delicate white china with pastel flowers and butterflies painted on them. After a second, she grabbed a second one and lifted it, eyebrows raised in question. “Want some?”
He seemed to hesitate over the answer. “Sure.”
With a nod, she set both cups down and then got out a container she’d stashed in the same cupboard and scooped loose leaves into individual silver infusing balls.
“What is it?” Grey asked, suddenly sounding suspicious.
“Chamomile and lavender. In theory it should help make you sleepy. No caffeine.”
A glance at his face showed his eyebrows raised. “I don’t remember buying that.”
“You didn’t. I did.”
“Oh.”
She left the tea steeping in the hot water and turned to face him more fully. “Can’t sleep?”
Again, she got the impression that he was hesitating over the answer. “Most nights.”
“I haven’t bumped into you before.” Or heard any sign of his wakefulness. Granted, his room was at the other end of the first floor.
“I didn’t want to disturb you.”
In other words he didn’t want to have to spend time with her. Disappointment dug under her skin and lodged there uncomfortably.
“Not because of what you’re thinking,” he said.
She blinked. Had she been that obvious?
Her no doubt disgruntled expression must’ve amused him, because his lips tipped up slightly. “I just didn’t want to make you uncomfortable if you were trying to relax.”
Sweet. She hadn’t expected a witch-hunter to be…kind. “I don’t mind the company.” The words escaped her before she’d realized she wanted to say that. But once the words were out, she didn’t want to take them back.
At his inquiring look, she hitched herself up on the countertop, legs dangling. “I’ve been alone a lot…”
Mother of pearl. What was wrong with her, confessing such a thing?

 

If your book was optioned for a movie, what scene would be absolutely crucial to include?

The final fight scene when Rowan is a ghost, but still fighting side-by-side with Grey against wolf shifters come to avenge the werewolf she had a part in killing.

 

Readers should read this book …

If you’re looking for a quick, fun read filled with home, magic, family, and a sigh-worthy HEA!

 

What are you currently working on? What other releases do you have planned?

My next release is The Blood King – the next book in my Inferno Rising series. Dragon shifter kings and phoenixes, y’all! Book #1 The Rogue King is only $0.99 in ebook right now, so it’s a great time to get started.

 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

 

Giveaway: $10 Amazon Gift Card

 

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: If you use magic to do one thing, what would you do?

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

Excerpt from Bait N’ Witch:

Compelled by the teasing dancing in her eyes and the need to take and keep that smile for his own, Greyson scooted across the couch, closer to her, allowing her wildflower scent to wash over him. Rowan’s eyes widened at his nearness, though he didn’t touch her beyond his hand over hers. This close, even by the dim light of the fire, he could see flecks of blue in the gray irises. What would she do if he kissed every one of those freckles across the bridge of her nose? “I mean it. You will always be safe with me.”
Instead of relief or trust, a deep sadness fell over her expression like a storm racing across the sky, blocking the glow of the sun. And fear. Just before she closed her eyes, shutting him out. On the heels of a sensation akin to a punch to the gut, a fierce, protective instinct surged through him with a strength that shocked the hell out of him. But before he could say more, she closed the distance between them. Surprise held him immobile as she pressed her lips sweetly to his.
A thank you. That was all. He knew that, could feel it.
He wanted to sink into the kiss, plunder her mouth, and possess her body, while at the same time cherishing everything she was. But she pulled back before he could act, eyes still closed.
“You’re a good man, Greyson Masters.”
Why was she using his full name? She only ever called him Grey.
Rowan opened her eyes, wariness darkening the color to storm. “But you don’t know me. I’m…trouble.”
Sensing she wouldn’t welcome the desire slamming through him, he held the emotions in check, even as questions swirled through his mind. Lifting a hand, he gently tucked a tendril of hair back from her face, noting its soft texture against his fingertips.
Silk. I knew it. “I could use more trouble in my life.”
A laugh burst from her, warming his heart. He could use more of that, too. Laughter.
“Chasing down magic offenders and keeping track of triplets who go into the woods in a trance isn’t enough trouble for you?” she asked.
The question was teasing, but he didn’t miss how she scooted away from him, putting distance between them both.
He wanted to pull her back but made himself chuckle lightly instead. “I guess not.”
“I hope I’m not interrupting anything?”
An ice-cold mountain spring had nothing on the sound of Persephone’s voice intruding on the moment.
“Aw, hell and hexation.” Though he doubted his sister-in-law did, he caught Rowan’s whispered expletive as she stood, scooping up her wine glass. “Not at all. I was about to go to bed anyway.”

Excerpts. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 

Book Info:

Rowan McAuliffe has been hiding most of her life. Secretly trained in her powers by an unusual source, she’d been taught not to trust anyone. Especially other witches. However, after she was forced to perform a hateful act against her will, she now hides from the Covens Syndicate and their judgement.

Greyson Masters is the Syndicate’s best hunter. On top of the danger of his job, Greyson is trying to raise his triplet daughters alone, budding new witches who display an alarming combined power no one understands. Too bad he doesn’t have a clue how to deal with them.

Until Rowan walks in and the chaos settles for the first time in…well, ever.

Little does Greyson realize that his new nanny is the very witch he is hunting, and she’s been hiding right under his nose this whole time.
Book Links: Amazon | B&N | iTunes | Goodreads |
 
 

Meet the Author:

Multi-award-winning paranormal romance author, Abigail Owen, loves plots that move hot and fast, feisty heroines with sass, alpha heroes with heart, a dash of snark, and oodles of sexy shifters! Other titles include wife, mother, Star Wars geek, ex-competitive skydiver, spreadsheet lover, Dr. Seuss quoter, eMBA, organizational guru, Texan, Aggie, and chocoholic.

Abigail grew up consuming books and exploring the world through her writing. She attempted to find a practical career related to her favorite pastime by earning a degree in English Rhetoric (Technical Writing). However, she swiftly discovered that writing without imagination is not nearly as fun as writing with it.

Abigail currently resides in Austin, Texas, with her own personal swoon-worthy hero (who she totally married!) and their 2.3 children (who are growing up way too fast) and 2 adorable furbabies.
Website | Facebook | Twitter | | Instagram |
 
 
 

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66 Responses to “Spotlight & Giveaway: Bait N’ Witch by Abigail Owen”

  2. Sonia

    If I used magic to do one thing it would be cleaning the house with the snap of my fingers:)

  14. Pammie R.

    I know this will kind of sound silly, but I’d use magic to make dinner.My dad and I could never decide on what we wanted so if I had magic, I could make us whatever we wanted. And I wouldn’t have to cook a think. Besides, I hate cooking.

  15. joab4424

    I would make my daughter less stressed all the time and a much happier person.

  18. Crystal

    I you use magic to do one thing, what would you do? I would use my magic to make it that there is peace in this world—permanently.

  23. Nina Lewis

    I’d make world peace happen. Get rid of this awful virus we are battling right now. And get me a new house. 🙂

  30. Glenda M

    Good question. Maybe make people see things from other’s perspective – it would prevent a lot of problems.

  34. Kay Garrett

    If you use magic to do one thing, it would have to be to get the housework done – fast and hands free.
    2clowns at arkansas dot net

  36. Lynne Brigman

    I would use magic to make people get along and to except everyone for who they are.

  37. Angela Smith

    if i had magical powers right now i would use them to fix the problems around my house,i need my deck fixed and my sliding glass door ,my gutters replaced,some dead trees removed.my dishwasher and dryer fixed

  41. laurieg72

    Grant my friend’s pregnancy wish! She recently suffered an ectopic pregnancy.

  43. Abigail Owen

    Thank you so much for having me by! Always a treat. 🙂 I hope all the HJ readers enjoy Bait N’ Witch, and best of luck to everyone with the giveaway! xoxo

  46. library addict

    World peace. But since there’s usually some type of loophole that you can’t do that I would have a spell that would allow more reading time in the day.

  48. Janie McGaugh

    I’d use it to put love and kindness for others in peoples hearts.

  50. Patricia B.

    I would use it to heal the physical, emotional, and moral ills of the world.