Spotlight & Giveaway: Demons of Good and Evil by Kim Harrison

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Kim Harrison to HJ!

Hi Kim  and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, Demons of Good and Evil!

 
Hi! Kim here. I’m so pleased to have the chance to connect with your audience and talk about the next release in the Hollows series, Demons of Good and Evil. I’ve always said that romance readers are the best readers. Voracious!
 

Please summarize the book for the readers here:

Demons of Good and Evil is the sixteenth book in the Hollows series, and I hope that doesn’t scare new readers off as I’ve tried to write it to be new-reader friendly, but for die-hard Hollows readers, (and no spoilers!) Rachel is up to her eyebrows in it again as she faces an old, unexpected foe hiding behind a new one. Rachel and Trent steadily move forward in their relationship despite the many roadblocks, some of which seem to be targeting them a little too closely. David’s resolve to remain a bachelor might be weakening, and Jenks may have found the one pixy who could help him love again—if he would let her.
 

Please share your favorite line(s) or quote from this book:

My favorite line in Demons of Good and Evil is the very last line. It’s the beginning of something that I’ve been working toward for a very long time. Don’t cheat yourself and peek at the ending first. Wait for it. It’s worth it. Author’s pinky promise.

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

I honestly don’t remember the working title of Demons of Good and Evil. We’ve been patterning the Hollows titles after Clint Eastwood Spaghetti Westerns now for a while, but it has expanded to any movie he was in. The current release harkens to The Garden of Good and Evil. As long as Mr. Eastwood keeps making movies, I’ll have more grist for the title mill!

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

Despite, or maybe because of Rachel and Trent’s almost lifelong awareness of each other, their relationship has often swung the full pendulum from “I can’t stand him/her” to “I gotta get me some of that” to “Forever and always” So pinning down what first attracted them to each other can be tricky. Having said that, I think the first time Rachel finally let go of her childhood anger that Trent tricked her best friend into liking him was on their trip to the west coast and Trent had to change his shirt because of some mishap. He was being silent and angst ridden and she was being belligerent and antagonistic, and then he took his shirt off in one smooth move and the sun hit him… Yeah. That was probably it.

Did any scene have you blushing, crying or laughing while writing it? And Why?

I’m sorry, but it’s pretty quiet in my office when I’m working, apart from the dogs barking at a stupid squirrel and me yelling at them to stop.

Readers should read this book….

if they like old enemies returning with a grudge, magical fights, werewolves being werewolves, snappy demons down on their luck, deadly pixies, and a love that could span lifetimes–if the prejudices of two warring factions could be resolved.

What are you currently working on? What other releases do you have in the works?

I currently have a very busy desk and am juggling three completely different pieces of work. The next Hollows book is on the back burner at rough draft. I’m also getting ready to dive back into a long-forgotten project with an upcoming editorial rewrite on a book about inter-dimensional first-contact. But Three Kinds of Lucky is currently on the top layer of my desk as I finish up the last editorial rewrite for a completely new series about Petra Grady, sort of a mage’s magical trash man. Of course she is far more than that, and her new, unexpected and deadly skills put her and her high-school crush in the middle of a society upheaval.
 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: One print copy of DEMONS OF GOOD AND EVIL for one U.S. only winner.

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: Here’s a question that I recently asked on my social media and got lots to think about from my readers. How close do you like your movies to cleave to the books they are based on? Does it have to be spot on, or will you give a little if the spirit of the characters are honored and there are no weird plot twists that don’t make sense? Asking for a friend. 😉

 
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Excerpt from Demons of Good and Evil:

Shoulders shifting, Al put his elbows on his knees, his chin dropping into a cupped hand.

Bis sidestepped along the top of the bench to me, his craggy talons spaced so as not to leave a scratch. “Call me if you need me,” he said, and I touched the foot he set on my shoulder.

I smiled, but inside, I was unsure. Our once indelible mental link was all but destroyed from Bis’s prolonged connection to the baku. He would likely hear my mental call if he was listening, but if he was busy or asleep? It was chancy at best, and I was to blame.

“Rachel, you are alive,” Bis said as he saw my heartache, and Al straightened, his own sour musings seeming to hesitate. “I’d make that same choice again. We will figure this out.”

And then Bis was gone, his small shape vanishing over the yellow leaves still clinging to the trees. Embarrassed, I slumped on the bench, arms over my chest.

“I’d make that same choice again, too,” Al said, a gleam in his goat-slitted, red eyes.

“Al.”

“No,” he said, a hand raising to stop my words. Behind us, a couple hurriedly coaxed their dog into their car and drove off amid a tense conversation. They hadn’t been here for more than five minutes, and I wondered if we were being recognized.

“I’ll get better at this,” I said, instead of what I really wanted. Talk to me. Are you afraid your skills won’t return? “I just need practice.” Reaching a thought out, I tapped into the ley line, my jaw clenching at the mild discomfort. I’d been pushing too hard, and now I was singed.

“Practice, yes,” he said, his thoughts clearly somewhere else as he fingered his cane.

The small group at the center of the grassy field was growing, and I frowned as an argument began to take shape, two sides clearly forming. Weres? I wondered, not sure how far I could push Al to get him to open up. If Treble was over four thousand years old, Al was far older. He’d lived countless lives: that of a wanderer, warlord, slave, magician, clever trickster, vengeful punisher, outcast, teacher. I wasn’t sure what he was now. Perhaps Al wasn’t, either. Maybe that was the problem.

“The baku damage Bis suffered will mend,” I said hesitantly. “Will you?”

Al stiffened. “Not your concern.”

“Al.” I shifted to face him square on. Two more cars had gone, leaving the park to us and the growing knot of people in the field. “I think it is. Why shouldn’t I worry about you?” I don’t have anything else to do. Other than keep the vampires in line, the witches off my case, and the demons from reverting to their old ways of dominating everything they coveted, which was a lot. The elves still wanted to take over the world despite being on the endangered species list, and the humans simply wanted to survive after the Turn had reduced their numbers to a thin fraction. Plague by way of tomato. Even forty years later, they grieved.

For the moment, everyone was behaving-hence me having the time for some practice. But Halloween was next week and the moon was waxing. . . .

Al’s eye twitched as he scanned the milling, increasingly noisy mob at the center of the field. “I have been singed deeper than this before.”

“When?” I countered, and his attention went to his hands, clasped and at rest.

“Not your concern,” he said again.

“How long until you can tap a ley line?” I insisted.

“Not. Your. Concern,” he practically growled.

“I think it is. If you aren’t up to . . .” My voice trailed off as his eyes narrowed on me. I closed my mouth, turning to sit shoulder to shoulder instead of aggressively staring him down.

But the guilt remained, guilt that he had paid for my risky chance. He had protected me and suffered for it, burned his synapses as I captured his brother first in a ley line, then a mental construct that Hodin could never break even if magic should fail again. The smut we thought would protect Al hadn’t been enough. He could still do earth magic, but demons were all about flash and bang-and though incredibly strong, earth magic wasn’t it.

“It was my choice,” Al said, softening as he recognized my mood. “And my task,” he added. “I had much to atone for concerning Hodin. And you, perhaps.”

My throat was tight, and I nodded, my attention flicking to the field when someone howled. It was a Were pack, and they were going to fur by the look of it. Weres could shift any day of the year, but they generally didn’t do it in a city park two weeks from a full moon.

“Perhaps it is better this way,” Al said lightly, but I could tell he was worried. “I’m not tempted to do anything demonic. Try to match your aura to my line again,” he added, chin lifting. “I’m not helpless, but you are. You should be able to jump somewhere in case someone circles you.”

“Sure,” I said, voice a whisper.

Excerpted from Demons of Good and Evil by Kim Harrison Copyright © 2023 by Kim Harrison. Excerpted by permission of Ace. All rights reserved.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

Rachel Morgan will learn that the price of loyalty is blood in the next Hollows novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Kim Harrison.

Rachel Morgan, witch-born demon, suspected that protecting the paranormal citizens of Cincinnati as the demon subrosa would be trouble. But it’s rapidly becoming way more trouble than even she could have imagined.

While Rachel and her friends may have vanquished the trickster demon Hodin, his mysterious associate known only as “The Mage” is eager to finish what Hodin started, beginning with taking down Rachel’s power structure piece by piece.

With her world falling apart, Rachel desperately needs help. But with all of her supporters under attack, her only hope is to make a deal with the unlikeliest of allies. . . .
Book Links: Amazon |
 
 

Meet the Author:

Kim Harrison is the author of the #1 New York Times bestselling Hollows series, including Trouble with the Cursed, Million Dollar Demon, and American Demon. She has also published traditional fantasy under the name Dawn Cook. Kim was born and raised in Michigan and between other projects is currently working on a new Hollows book.