Spotlight & Giveaway: Not Your Crush’s Cauldron by April Asher

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author April Asher to HJ!

Hi April and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, Not Your Crush’s Cauldron!

Hello, Readers!!! I am so excited to be here today to talk about my latest release and bring everyone back to the Supernatural Singles World with NOT YOUR CRUSH’S CAULDRON! It feels like it’s been a lifetime since Olive’s story popped into my head, and yet while writing it, these two characters kept surprising me at every turn!
 

Please summarize the book for the readers here:

Olive, the youngest of the Maxwell sisters, is a Supernatural Studies professor and after assigning a project to her college students meant to teach them about stepping out of comfort zones, she realizes she shouldn’t ask her students something she wouldn’t do herself. And do she completes her own Dare I Docket, a list of ten things/activities meant to push her a little out of her comfort zone. The only problem is that this life shift triggers an alert to Guardian Angel Affairs, and she lands herself her own Guardian Angel…her secret crush—and new roommate—the tattooed, motorcycle riding and pierced Bax Donovan.
The only rule Bax hasn’t broken when it comes to guarding is Do Not Fall In Love With Your Assignment, and he’s never once been at risk for doing so…until Olive. Being in the same friend circle, he’s always had a crush on the studious witch, and when he gets her out of a dangerous situation by inviting her to be his roommate, he thinks he can handle it…until he’s assigned at her guardian.
They do her Dare I Docket list together in hysterical situations, and when it comes to light at the end of the day, they both realize that it isn’t the things that you do that leave impressions on your lives, but the people who are next to you as you do them.
 

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

I have a really hard time picking out just one favorite quote from the book, but one that’s definitely up there is when Bax says to Olive, “You’re not just my roommate or my friend…you’re my everything.” (SWOON)

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

• The writing of this book was fueled purely by Diet Raspberry Snapple & Cheddar Blass Fish Crackers.
• In researching things for Olive to put on her Docket list, I learned that there quite a few places to take ‘circus’ classes in NYC, so if you’re interested in learning aerial arts, hit me up. I know where to send you, lol.
• By pure accident, somehow songs end up mentioned in every single book I write, from Broadway tunes, to T-Swift, to memorable songs from iconic movies. Not Your Crush’s Cauldron was no different. One of the items on Olive’s docket is to participate in a dance competition and I thought…what better song/dance to do than one I used to enact myself when I was a girl! The scene with Johnny & Baby at the end of Dirty Dancing…with the lift!

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

Bax & Olive both have secret crushes on each other. They’re in the same friend group, etc. Bax adores Olive & and the way she puts her whole heart into everyone and every thing she cares about. She strong, independent, and does her own thing regardless if it’s the popular option or not. And Olive loves Bax’s tenacity (and his tattoos don’t hurt either). But he’s always been a bit of an enigma—quiet, a little mysterious. When they become roommates, they each see each other in different ways. Olive sees the artistic side of Bax, the side he tries to hide as he determinably tries doing the ‘expected’ thing in regards to his job.

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

One of the scenes that had me chuckling is actually a group scene, where the entire friend group is shoved into a car on their way to a winter wonderland weekend. It reminded me of some vacation getaways growing up where someone is always cranky, someone is always hungry, has to pee, etc.
Here you go…

EXCERPT:

How many Supernaturals does it take to fill a Suburban?

Answer: Eight. And not comfortably, either.

Damian’s elbow wedged into Olive’s rib cage for the sixth time in as many minutes despite her protective puffer jacket, and the longer it took to reach Whispering Pines Ski Resort—the vacation resort Linc owned that helped fund wildlife conservation—the possibility of permanent left-lower-rib indentation increased exponentially.
Their four-day winter wonderland vacation officially commenced the instant they’d put the city in the rearview mirror, and it was off to a fantastic start.

Well . . . a start.

Linc, driving the rented Suburban, proved with a handful of near-miss collisions that driving safely while simultaneously goo-goo-eyeing Vi in the passenger seat was a statistical impossibility. If it hadn’t been for her sister’s quick thinking and magical intervention, those near-misses wouldn’t have been so near.

In the second-row lineup, Rose, sandwiched between Harper and Adrian, threatened to Billy Butcherson both the lion shifter and the sex demon’s lips at the hurl of one more insult.

That left the third row . . .

Bax, Olive, and Damian.

Being the filling in a hot-man sandwich definitely played out differently in her head. Not only did it not involve rib injury caused by her sister’s mate, but it sure as hell didn’t include improper sexual thoughts about her new roommate.

Okay, so the last one? A lie.

Every time Bax’s arm moved behind her shoulders and brushed against the back of her neck, she quietly sucked in a breath and let her imagination go AWOL. So much so that at one point, she could’ve sworn he’d played with a loose strand of her hair, but when she glanced his way, his face had been a stoic blank slate.

It turned a long car ride into an even longer torture session, and if she asked Linc to turn down the heat one more time, snow wouldn’t fall only on the mountain but inside the SUV as well.

Harper sighed from the second row. “How much longer until we’re there? Because if it’s not within the next ten minutes, our first order of business is a Target run for a SpotBot.”

“No peeing in the rental car, Jacobs.” Linc glanced in the rear-view mirror. “Didn’t I tell everyone to go before we left Olive and Bax’s place?”

“I didn’t have to go then, but I do now. Vi,” Harper half whined.

The eldest triplet chuckled at the GPS. “Less than five minutes. Think you can manage not to pee until then? Perk of hanging with the owner is not having to check in at registration. We can drive right up to our cabin.”

Adrian slid a sly look to the sex demon. “So what’s the roommate situation again?”

“Don’t worry, kitty cat.” Harper shot him a glare. “There’s a litter box with your name on it. Just for you.”

Adrian chuckled. “Litter boxes are for doing the dailies, not sleeping.”

“Don’t some cats treat it as a one-stop shop?”

“I don’t fuck where I shit, sweetheart.”

Readers should read this book….

if you love a strong sense of found family and memorable secondary characters, strong heroines who don’t need to be ‘saved’, and heroes who haven’t quite gotten that memo yet. Loving brooding heroes with tattoos, piercings and motorcycles is a strong plus.

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

o I have TWO more paranormal rom-coms coming out (2025 & 2026), and they’re standalone books which is exciting. In 2025, it will be Fated In Fates Haven (tentative title), which is a Gilmore Girls meets Halloween Town where a plus size witch returns to her magical hometown (which is well-known for having the highest Fates Mates Population…until suddenly they aren’t) seeking help for her shifter goddaughter from the local Alpha…the broody lion shifter she once thought was her Fated. I can’t wait for people to read it. The town itself is a character, just as much as the humans, LOL.
 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: One copy of NOT YOUR CRUSH’S CAULDRON, US Winner

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: Olive & her students create Dare I Dockets, a list of 10 things to do that would push them (comfortably and within reason) out of their comfort zones. What’s one thing that you would put on YOUR Dare I Docket list?

 
a Rafflecopter giveaway

 
 

Book Info:

In April Asher’s next Supernatural Singles novel, Not Your Crush’s Cauldron, a buttoned-up witch takes a stroll on the wildish side, sparking an alert that lands her a familiar Guardian Angel.

Olive Maxwell much prefers teaching about the Supernatural world to taking part in it and leaves the magical shenanigans to her two sisters. After assigning her college students a project designed to nudge them outside their comfort zones, Olive realizes she’s never once stepped a toe out of her own . . . and it’s about time that changed. Her first trip into the unknown? Moving in with her longtime crush and friend . . . tattooed, motorcycle-riding, and pleasantly pierced Baxter Donovan.

Bax Donovan, Guardian Angel not-so-extraordinaire, has acquired so many black marks on his record it looks like a Scantron test. He’s been given one last chance to keep his Guardian wings—a high-profile Assignment he knows all too well. Olive is usually as low-risk as it gets. Hell, she wrote the safety manual. But something landed her on the Guardian Angel Affairs radar, and he guesses it has something to do with the heart-pounding stunts she’s determined to check off her Dare I Docket list.

Keeping Olive out of trouble is about to be his toughest Assignment. He’s at real risk of shattering the only Guardian Angel code of conduct rule he’s yet to break: Don’t fall in love with your Assignment. And he isn’t so sure that’s a bad thing.

If love doesn’t play by the rules, why should they?
Book Links: Amazon | B&N |Google |
 
 

Meet the Author:

April Asher, aka April Hunt, was hooked on romantic stories from the time she first snuck a bodice-ripper romance out from her mom’s bedside table. She now lives out her own happily-ever-after with her college-sweetheart husband, their two children, and a cat who thinks she’s more dog—and human—than feline. By day, April dons dark blue nursing scrubs and drinks way too much caffeine. By night, she still consumes too much caffeine, but she does it with a laptop in hand, and from her favorite side of the couch.

From the far left cushion, April Asher pens laugh-out-loud romantic comedies with a paranormal twist, but when she’s not putting her characters into embarrassing situations with supernatural entities, she also writes high-octane romantic suspense as April Hunt, her thrill-seeking alter ego who has written the Alpha Ops and Alpha Security series.
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | GoodReads |