Hello and Welcome All!

Today I’m very lucky to be interviewing C.S. Edwards author of Love Potion #999.

Hi C.S., thank you for agreeing to this interview.

For those readers not familiar with you, would you please tell us a bit about yourself?

I’m C.S. Edwards and I write paranormal romance and cozy mysteries. I’ve been writing stories for as long as I can remember. After I finally admitted out loud that I wanted to be an author, it took me a few years to really put something out there – super scary process! Now, I write every chance I get – with five kids, at times, those chances are few and far between. My kids swear I talk to myself way too much. What they don’t know, is I’m not talking to myself, I’m talking to my characters. Sure, that makes me a little bit crazy, but come on, it also makes me super interesting – right?! While working on these magical paranormal adventures, and a new cozy mystery series, I’ve also found a passion for creating journals, trackers, and planners. Because lord knows I need all the help I can get just keeping it all together. I do have some amazing help with all the stuff from my sexy-as-all-get-out hubby – and yeah, all those kids, too. As a family, we live on the Kentucky side of Cincinnati, and are all just doing our part to make the world a little more entertaining.

How did you choose the genre you write in?

So, one day at gymnastics, I was doing this amazing double twisting triple flip thingy, and low and behold ran smack into – after I stuck the landing, of course – the most amazing gymnast of all time, Robyn Peterman. I mean, honestly, we were well on our way to the Olympics for moms, that’s how awsometastic we are at gymnastics. Right!? Well, okay, that might not be entirely accurate…. I think all the flipping and stuff was our kids, but really what’s the difference? That was like 15-16 years ago – when I was 10ish. Since then, we’ve laughed, cried, written, and been on a ton of adventures together. Robyn has saved me a couple of times – from myself, from life, and from a few spiders. Our friendship is always a wild ride – and I love every crazy second! Last year Robyn invited me into this wack-a-doodle world of paranormal romance to create a wonderfully witchy story. To date, it’s one of the biggest honors of my writing life! Author Robyn Peterman is the mastermind behind the Magic and Mayhem Universe (all paranormal romance, all the time) that connects this story and series to so many other amazing tales. Thus, my Witch Doctors series always has a strong theme of friendship and how important friends are in the lives of each of the main characters! Because without my best friend, I might not have told these tales!

What do you do when you are not writing?

Laundry and dishes. HA! Seriously, I do spend a lot of time doing those things. But I also have a full-time 40 hour a week job – I’m in HR – working with an education benefit for Amazon – it’s super fun and I do love my day job! Also, I have five kids. One dog. And a husband. It’s a lot to juggle. But I find time to write every week. And I try to write something every day. Mostly, I spend a lot of evenings and weekends sitting on the sofa with my laptop, typing away.

What are some books you have enjoyed recently?

• Pineapple Lies, A Pineapple Port Mystery by Amy Vansant
• The Secret to Happiness by Jessica Redland
• Full House and Game On by Janet Evanovich

 

Tell us a few Fun Facts about your book?

Love Potion #999 is a fun romp with a sassy cast of characters; a whole lot like my twenties. Betsy Babington hales from a famous witch doctor family (my dad was a dentist), and has risen to the height of success and fame. She’s the brains and name behind the famous Babington’s Best brand of potions, which are more like beauty products than life altering magical mixtures. She has a circle of misfit friends, that are also her co-workers, and is the guardian of a couple of troublesome cupids – Stuey and Screwy! And she meets the potential love of her life – a witchologist — in Arnold’s Bar (a real spot in Cincinnati)!

Give us an insight into your main character. What does he/she do that is so special?

Betsy is bored, single, lonely, and jealous that her baby sister just landed a new man! Her special power is as a potions master – but she’s also an alchemist! That means she can turn metal into gold – cure diseases, and prolong life. Ironically, she created the very arrows her two rambunctious cupids use to wreak havoc in her life!

What was your favorite chapter (or part) to write and why?

Honestly, my favorite parts of this book are all the scenes with Betsy’s crew: Ron, April, Jessica, and Lola. They are hysterical and misguided. Lola’s dialogue is the best – and said with an attitude and accent that is unmatched by any other character I’ve ever written! Think Anna Delvey’s accent but more broken! These characters made me laugh out loud, and bubbled up so many memories of my best friends from college. It was a pleasure to watch them develop on the page.

Readers should read this book because…

It’s a fun fairytale of a romp but with a lot of real elements from my life! That’s gotta make it a bit more intriguing to read, right? Trying to figure out where I blurred the lines between reality and fiction… For example, my twenties weren’t exactly like Betsy’s adventure. But I did live in New York City with a bunch of my college buddies and we couldn’t help but get into trouble – even when we weren’t looking for it. Our antics were always like a domino of errors, where everyone tried to pick up the pieces for everyone else, and that effort just kept knocking other things over. We had a lot of fun! Our intentions were mostly always good, and more importantly, we were there for each other through thick and thin. That is the basis for Betsy and her friends’ story.

While, I lived in NYC during my crazy years, Betsy and her crew live in Cincinnati, Ohio and travel around in Northern Kentucky, ending up in the tiny town of Rabbit Hash— I Iive on the Kentucky side of Cincinnati today; not in Rabbit Hash, but pretty close. The characters live where I live and go places I go. For example, there really is an Arnold’s Bar and Grill in Cincinnati and I love it! Rabbit Hash, Kentucky sits on a famous stretch of road that draws a ton of bikers to the General Store every summer. All of those details in the Witch Doctor’s Series are real!

Thank you very much for taking the time out of your busy schedule to take part in this interview.

 

 

Love Potion #999

by C.S. Edwards

GENRE: Paranormal Romance

Did you hear what happened when a witch doctor met a witchologist in a bar? Well, mayhem ensued! What else did you expect? It’s all because everyone had too many Gnome Island Iced Teas, not to mention the cloud of intoxicating glitter that put everyone under the table even if they didn’t drink a drop. But the real punch line in that fateful tale were the two potion-filled arrow toting cupids. For one witch, after that night, stuff got real.

You see, the witch doctor was none other than the famous apothecary and alchemist, Betsy Babington. She’s a celebrity! Famous, successful, single, and… bored. Before she walked into that bar, Betsy was itching to change things up. So, she enlisted her coven of misfits and two mischievous cherubs to make a rogue love potion recipe — destined to be the next big thing in her famous potions brand. She never once thought about making Love Potion#999 for herself! Definitely not! Well, maybe she did, just a little…

For the whole truth, you’ll have to read the story. All I can really say is some magical historians have said Betsy Babington’s tangle with the trouble of Love Potion #999 was like opening Pandora’s box. Now that was a little extreme. For the folks who were there, it was more like a weekend in Vegas.

Amazon

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“It definitely makes a statement. Doesn’t it? The silver color is so regal,” Jessica said.

“Beautiful.” Lola drew the word out in a muddy Central European accent.

“Agreed. I’m super pleased with this one. I think it’s going to do really well.” Betsy sighed.

“That was not convincing at all. What’s up, Betsy? Do you not like the vials? They are the finest crystal we could get.” Ron held a sample size vial up in the air. The sun, streaming in from the bank of floor to ceiling windows in the apartment, hit the silver potion, making it dance like liquid glitter.

“Of course, I do. I think this potion is great. It’s just… well, I wish we could do something really different. Something super cool and interesting. A potion for the ages. You know. One that would change everything.” Betsy raised an eyebrow.

“Like what?” The coven responded in unison.

Betsy paused for a split second before she slid the tattered loose-leaf paper out of her pocket. “Like this.”

The coven stared at the wrinkly, yellow sheet. Its scripted writing danced across the page, captivating them all. No one spoke. No one looked away.

“It’s a love potion. We’re going to make the magical world’s first love potion in 200 years,” Betsy said.

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I was born in Ashland, Kentucky, the youngest of three children, and grew up in the small Eastern Kentucky town of Inez. I moved to Lexington to finish high school. Attending Transylvania University for two years, before graduating from Hollins University in Roanoke, Virginia – with a degree in Economics – go figure! After a stint in New York City, I moved back home to Kentucky and have since built my life around family.

Living just outside of Cincinnati with my husband, Sean, and our five amazing kids, and a precious goldendoodle, I work hard to find time to balance family, work, and writing.

My first passion is weaving mysteries and I’m working on several new fiction projects now. This past year, I also found great joy in creating useful journals, trackers, and planners. I have big plans for publishing more of these creative notebooks in the future! As always, I cannot wait to share my next novel with you. I hope you enjoy, and welcome hearing from you!

Website – Facebook – Facebook: Candace Sword Edwards – Instagram – Twitter – Pinterest – Magic and Mayhem Universe – Amazon Profile – Books2Read[/su_note]

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C.S. Edwards will be awarding a $25 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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