Spotlight & Giveaway: The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Sangu Mandanna to HJ!

Hi Sangu and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches!

Please summarize the book for the readers here:

The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches is the story of how a talented, lonely witch becomes a tutor to three magical children, breaking all the rules she’s grown up with, and ends up falling in love and finding the family she’s been longing for all her life.
 

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

“The thing is, being a witch is extraordinary,” she said. “It might seem sometimes that all we are is odd and different, but the truth is, we’re amazing.”

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

• Mika is a tea witch, so I drank a lot of tea while writing this book! Iced tea, mostly.
• I usually go through at least ten to twelve titles for a book before The One, but in a strange kind of alchemy, The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches was the very first title the book had and it stuck.
• The book is set in Norfolk in the east of England, which is where I live, and the story is peppered with references to real places I know and love.

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

Jamie’s extremely resistant to the idea of even liking Mika to start with, let alone falling for her, but I think her open, generous heart, her vulnerability and her loyalty to the children win him over. And from Mika’s point of view, I think it’s the kindness and love she can see under Jamie’s scowls and grumbles.

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

I literally blushed while writing the book’s sex scene! I’m an avid romance reader and I’ve read sex scenes that are smuttier and spicier than the one I wrote, but somehow, writing one myself had me blushing and giggling like I was twelve again.

Here’s a tiny snippet:

She’d never known sex like this, this absurd, bewildering mixture of lust, mind-boggling pleasure, laughter, and silliness, but it was perfect.

Readers should read this book….

for the quirky cast of characters, the grumpy/sunshine romance, and the warm, cozy vibes.

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

Right now, I’m working on my second novel for adults, which will be out next year, as well as a new fantasy series for children that kicks off in 2024.
 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: One copy of THE VERY SECRET SOCIETY OF IRREGULAR WITCHES for a U.S. only winner.

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: What’s your favorite romantic fantasy novel of all time?

 
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Excerpt from The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches:

When the spellwork part of the meeting was complete, Primrose cleared her throat. “Finally, does anyone have any news they’d like to share?”

“It’s okay to say it’s time to gossip, Primrose,” Mika said merrily. “We all know that’s what comes after the spellwork.”

“Witches don’t gossip,” sniffed Primrose.

This was patently untrue, however, because gossiping was precisely what they proceeded to do.

“My ex-husband wanted to get back together last week,” said Belinda Nkala, who was in her forties and never had time for anyone’s nonsense. “When I turned him down, he informed me that I am apparently nothing without him. Then he left,” she added calmly, “but I fear he’s going to be suffering from an inexplicable itch in his groin for a few weeks.”

Several witches laughed, but Primrose set her lips in a thin line. “And have you been playing such petty tricks lately, Mika?”

“Oh, for the love of fucking god, Primrose, what does this have to do with me?”

“It’s not an unreasonable question, precious. You do like to take risks.”

“For the millionth time,” Mika said, irked beyond belief, “I post videos online pretending to be a witch. It’s just a performance.” Primrose raised her eyebrows. Mika raised hers right back. “Hundreds of people do the same thing, you know. The whole witch aesthetic is very popular!”

“Witchcore,” Hilda said, nodding wisely. “Not quite as popular as cottagecore or fairycore, but it’s up there.”

Everyone stared at her.

“I didn’t know fairies were real!” shouted Agatha Jones, who was almost as old as Primrose and tended to believe all young people needed to be shouted at lest they miss the import of her pronouncements. “Whatever next!”

“You see, Primrose?” said Mika, ignoring this interruption. “People call themselves witches all the time. I’m not putting myself or you or anyone else at risk. Nobody who watches my videos thinks I’m actually a witch.”

It was unfortunate for Mika, then, that at that precise moment, over five hundred miles away, in a big house in a quiet, windy corner of the Norfolk countryside, a skinny old man in a magnificent rainbow scarf and enormous fluffy slippers was saying exactly the opposite.

“Absolutely not!”

This came from Jamie, the scowling librarian, who was not in fact the skinny old man in the scarf and slippers. That was Ian. And the third person in the library was Lucie, the housekeeper, a chubby, round-cheeked woman in her fifties, who sighed as if she knew exactly how this argument was going to go. (She did know, and she was right.)

Ian smoothed down the tail of his scarf and replied, in the deep voice that had charmed audiences in many a small theatre over his eighty-odd years, “Don’t be difficult, dear. It doesn’t become you.”

Jamie was unmoved by this criticism. “You can’t seriously be considering bringing that”-and here he jabbed a finger at the dewy, sparkly face on the screen of Ian’s phone-“into the house?”

“Why not?” Ian asked.

“Well, for one thing, there’s no way she’s a real witch,” Jamie said irritably. This was not unusual. Most of the things Jamie said were said irritably. “What kind of witch would show off her magic on a platform with millions of viewers?”

Mika would have been immensely gratified to hear this, had she been there, but it looked like her double bluff had not hoodwinked Ian.

“She’s a real witch,” he insisted.

“How the hell can you possibly know that?”

“I have excellent observation skills. Just watch part of the video.” Ian wiggled his phone like he was dangling a lollipop in front of a toddler. “A minute. That’s all I ask.”

Jamie’s glare stayed firmly in place, but he crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back against his desk to look over Ian’s shoulder. Gleeful, Ian tapped the screen and the video started to play.

Excerpted from The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna Copyright © 2022 by Sangu Mandanna. Excerpted by permission of Berkley. All rights reserved.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

A warm and uplifting novel about an isolated witch whose opportunity to embrace a quirky new family—and a new love—changes the course of her life.

As one of the few witches in Britain, Mika Moon knows she has to hide her magic, keep her head down, and stay away from other witches so their powers don’t mingle and draw attention. And as an orphan who lost her parents at a young age and was raised by strangers, she’s used to being alone and she follows the rules…with one exception: an online account, where she posts videos “pretending” to be a witch. She thinks no one will take it seriously.

But someone does. An unexpected message arrives, begging her to travel to the remote and mysterious Nowhere House to teach three young witches how to control their magic. It breaks all of the rules, but Mika goes anyway, and is immediately tangled up in the lives and secrets of not only her three charges, but also an absent archaeologist, a retired actor, two long-suffering caretakers, and…Jamie. The handsome and prickly librarian of Nowhere House would do anything to protect the children, and as far as he’s concerned, a stranger like Mika is a threat. An irritatingly appealing threat.

As Mika begins to find her place at Nowhere House, the thought of belonging somewhere begins to feel like a real possibility. But magic isn’t the only danger in the world, and when peril comes knocking at their door, Mika will need to decide whether to risk everything to protect a found family she didn’t know she was looking for….
Book Links:  Amazon |
 
 

Meet the Author:

Sangu Mandanna is the author of The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches, Kiki Kallira Breaks a Kingdom, and several other novels about magic, monsters and myths. She lives in Norwich, a city in the east of England, with her husband and three kids.
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