Spotlight & Giveaway: Small Town, Big Magic by Hazel Beck

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Hazel Beck to HJ!

Hi Hazel Beck and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, Small Town, Big Magic!

 
Witchy greetings!
 

Please summarize the book for the readers here:

Small Town, Big Magic follows Emerson Wilde as she discovers the world she’s been so sure of (and in charge of) is not quite what it seems since not only are all her friends witches, but so is she! When she fights off evil creatures that aren’t supposed to exist, with power she isn’t supposed to have, she and her group of friends have to work together to save their hometown of St. Cyprian–all the while Emerson must learn how to be a witch again, and how to deal with her gorgeous life-long friend now that she knows who they both really are.
 

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

I step outside and pause the way I always do.
Because I love St. Cyprian and I like to take it in.
From my front door I can see down the length of Main Street, a redbrick straight shot as if some man was trying to prove he had dominance over the curving, wild Missouri River. Like men do. Buildings made of local limestone and brick, and even the odd wood-paneled cottage, are crowded on either side of the street and almost all of them are on the historic register. Storefronts boast big windows and swinging signs declaring their names and cute logos. This time of year, the sidewalks are cluttered with chalkboard signs and sturdy pots of early-blooming flowers.
I set off with the same song in my heart that’s swelled in me since I was a kid.
St. Cyprian is mine and I am St. Cyprian’s.

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

• Hazel Beck is the magical partnership of two prolific writers–Nicole Helm and Megan Crane/Caitlin Crews.
• The book was first inspired by Megan’s trip to visit Nicole in the Midwest one moody Halloween.
• Small Town, Big Magic is the first of FOUR books in the Witchlore series, with each book following one of the four female friends of the group (coven).

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

Jacob and Emerson have known each other their entire lives, so it’s hard for them to say what came FIRST, but Jacob is attracted to Emerson’s drive and Emerson is attracted to Jacob’s steadfastness.

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

We love the scene where Jacob steps in when Emerson’s nemesis is threatening her. (The entire scene is included below.) I think we’ve all known that blustering, bully type person in real life, and hopefully everyone’s gotten to witness the beauty of someone wholly unimpressed by their threats in response–but if not, here it is in fictional form.

Readers should read this book….

if they love a fully realized world, magic, friends-to-lovers, slow burn romances, small towns, or anything witchy!

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

Hazel is continuing to work on the Witchlore series. Book 2, BIG LITTLE SPELLS, will be out in the fall of 2023, followed by book 3 in 2024, and book 4 in 2025.
 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: The winner will receive a copy of one of Nicole Helm’s Harlequin Intrigues and one of Caitlin Crews’s Harlequin Presents. (Print–US only, but will send digital for international).

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: Who are some of your favorite paranormal couples?

 
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Excerpt from Small Town, Big Magic:

Skip prefers to play golf and ride in convertibles in pa- rades and pretend to be important rather than actually work. It suits me fine. I’m not a politician. But when he decides to interfere—because I’ve decided we need to change things— it’s always like this. Fraught with the land mines of all the years of embarrassment.
He can’t compromise. He can’t concede. In his head, he has to win. He has to beat me for the sake of his fragile male ego. I understand. I do. And I wish I could let him, so we could all move on, but the town is too important. This festival matters.
“It’s happening.” I shove my hands into my pockets so they can’t curl into fists, and there’s Georgie’s stone. I wrap my fingers around it and hold on. “With all the required permits and town approval. There’s nothing you can do about it.”
A couple of people are whispering, someone else is snick- ering, and as those sounds move through the air, Skip’s face gets redder and redder.
“You don’t think there’s anything I can do?”
“Skip, that’s not a challenge. I only meant—”
“I’d watch your back, Emerson.”
Skip points his finger at me like he’s about to jab me in the shoulder with it.
The rock in my hand gets…hot, and as I’m trying to figure out why, Jacob is suddenly standing between us.
“I wouldn’t,” he says to Skip.
That’s all he says. But there’s something about the way he stands there, arms crossed and gaze direct, that has Skip fuming. You can practically see anger arcing between the two of them in a bright flash.
But that’s all the tension in the room getting to me and making my imagination run wild. Just like the rock, hot and throbbing in my hand.
“My money’s on Jacob,” someone says from behind me.
“Mine too,” I say, and then wince, because obviously that was the absolute wrong way to go about making peace with Skip.
But honestly.
“You want to take this outside, North?” Skip demands, his face now an impressive shade of purply red.
Jacob only raises an eyebrow. “Do you?”
The crowd is full-on giggling and whispering now. Skip’s mean, but he’s no physical specimen. Even with his inflated ego, he has to know Jacob could take him. Probably with a hand tied behind his back.
Soon enough Skip does what men who think they’re far more important than they actually are always do.
He retreats.
He slams out through the shop door, leaving the crowd laughing and talking about him as he goes. Another embar- rassment he’ll put at my feet, I have no doubt.
I let out a long breath. Jacob’s interference, however per- sonally thrilling, didn’t do anything to change the situa- tion. Like many a privileged man before him, Skip will run home and pout to his mother, who will in turn try to use her money and influence to make my life harder. But this isn’t Salem and there aren’t whispers of witchcraft in the air over St. Cyprian. So, unlike Sarah, I won’t be hanged.
This is why I have my friends coming over tonight. We need a Skip plan. Not because I worry what Skip will do to me, but because I worry what he’ll do to the Redbud Festival. He’s a petty, petty man.
“He shouldn’t be threatening you like that,” Jacob says darkly.
I take my hands out of my pockets and wave it away. I try to wave the whole unfortunate interaction away. “I always seem to make a fool out of him when I’m not trying to— not that he believes that.”
“He deserves to be made a fool of, and in this case, it wasn’t you making a fool out of him.”

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

There’s no such thing as witches…right?

Emerson Wilde has built the life of her dreams. Youngest Chamber of Commerce president in St. Cyprian history, successful indie bookstore owner, and lucky enough to have her best friends as found family? Done.
But when Emerson is attacked by creatures that shouldn’t be real, and kills them with what can only be called magic, Emerson finds that the past decade of her life has been…a lie. St. Cyprian isn’t your average Midwestern river town—it’s a haven for witches. When Emerson failed a power test years ago, she was stripped of her magical memories. Turns out, Emerson’s friends are all witches.

And so is she.

That’s not all, though: evil is lurking in the charming streets of St. Cyprian. Emerson will need to learn to control what’s inside of her, remember her magic, and deal with old, complicated feelings for her childhood friend–cranky-yet-gorgeous local farmer Jacob North—to defeat an enemy that hides in the rivers and shadows of everything she loves.
Even before she had magic, Emerson would have done anything for St. Cyprian, but now she’ll have to risk not just her livelihood…but her life.
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Meet the Author:

HAZEL BECK is the magical partnership of a river witch and an earth witch. Together, they have collected two husbands, three familiars, two children, five degrees, and written around 200 books. As one, their books will delight with breathtaking magic, emotional romance, and stories of witches you won’t soon forget. You can find them at www.Hazel-Beck.com.
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