Susanna Allen
Genre: Paranormal contemporary romance
Publisher: Ally Press
Date of Publication: October 01, 2021
ISBN Print: 978-1-953290-12-0
ISBN eBook: 978-1-953290-13-7
ASIN: B09G97RGZF
Number of pages: 326 pages
Word Count: 82,000
Cover Artist: Tamara DeStefano
Tagline: A heartbroken amateur witch is in over her head after casting a spell that actually works—will the handsome Irish artist she fancies come to her rescue?
Book Description:
What was the point of being a witch if Annabelle Walsh couldn’t manage a spell to fix her broken heart? As a dedicated dabbler in all things esoteric, she figured she could speed up her healing process when she’s dumped out of the blue by her boyfriend… but nothing’s working.
An idle wander into an unfamiliar new age shop adds the bit of magic in her life that she’d been looking for: an interfering, mischievous Pooka called Callie who’s determined to turn Annabelle’s life around— mostly by turning it upside down.
Suddenly, Annabelle’s too busy to brood, and her writing career begins to take off; in fact, it’s during a brainstorming session for an off-off-off-off Broadway theatre production that she meets tall, dark, and handsome Jamie Flynn, an Irishman in New York who seems to be keen at first sight, if not in love quite yet. As Annabelle gets her life back on track, she starts to see the difference between a real life, a real career, and a real man… and all it took was a little magic mischief.
The Magic 8 Ball and Other Oracles
Annabelle remembered being a little girl, tearing the petals off of poor innocent daises, playing with Ouija boards, begging to pull the wishbone… and as she got older, investing divinatory power into the quizzes in monthly issues of Cosmopolitan, always, always with a variation of the same question in mind: Will Joey be my boyfriend? Will Bobby ask me out? Everything else—college, writing, career—was within her grasp, within her power. But this, this world of her heart, always seemed cloaked with mystery, shrouded with uncertainty, a source of bafflement and secrecy, and the only thing she felt she didn’t have the notion of a clue about…
In That Magic Mischief, I gave my female main character, Annabelle Walsh, my love for all things oracular — a love that doesn’t always encompass their answers.
The Magic 8 Ball got more than one shake until it came up with the answer I sought. When I went out into the workforce, I had favorite Tarot card readers I would consult when I had their fee, and then moved on to another if they told me something I didn’t (wasn’t ready?) to hear. Once the internet got in on the divination thing, I had bookmarks coming out my ears, and tons of YouTube subscriptions.
Do I place all my trust in them? Not really. Why bother? Oh, for a bunch of reasons.
I adore the artwork on oracle and Tarot cards. I’d love prints from all of my favorites and have, in fact bought artwork from Lily Moses, who did Kyle Gray’s Angels and Ancestors Oracle Cards. I made my first bag of runes on my first visit to Ireland, before I moved here, with stones found around a lake near my paternal grandmother’s home place. I really like the personalities of the Youtubers I follow and appreciate their insights, and their outlooks on life in general.
And then there’s the hope. The hope that I’ll get an answer to a thorny problem. That A wonderful outcome awaits me. That all my dreams will come true. But funnily enough, daily living works everything out in the end. Have I been influenced by the latest spread of my Wychwood Oracle cards, or am I simply living my life? My open mind thinks it a bit of both…
Susanna is a graduate of Pratt Institute with a BFA in Communication Design and counts The Village Voice, New York Magazine, and Entertainment Weekly as past design experiences. Born in New Jersey, she moved to Ireland for twelve months—in 1998. She is the author of the Shapeshifters of the Beau Monde series, published by Sourcebooks: A Wolf in Duke’s Clothing, an Amazon Editor’s Best Book of the Month, is available now; A Most Unusual Duke debuts in December 2021.
Writing as Susan Conley, she is the author of Drama Queen and The Fidelity Project, both published by Headline UK; Many Brave Fools: A Story of Addiction, Dysfunction, Codependency…and Horses is available from Trafalgar Square Books. Susanna is living her life by the three Rs—reading, writing, and horseback riding—and can generally be found on her sofa with her e-reader, gazing out a window and thinking about made-up people, or cantering around in circles. She loves every minute of it.
