What Midnight Magic Means to Me

First let me say that I know how awkward, even unseemly it might be to try to launch a book right now. I acknowledge that. But after reading this post, I hope you'll understand why I did. I am in full support of the protests happening around the world, and I am not trying to take away from them nor diminish them in any way by trying to divide anyone's attention. My story is personal to me, and small in the grand scheme of things. But it is still happening, and this is my little corner of the internet in which to share it.

With that being said, if you haven't heard, my new book Midnight Magic came out yesterday, so please go read and enjoy it. It's funny, romantic, a bit escapist and can be read in a dedicated afternoon. Or, as a friend who has already read it said, 'It's an excellent book to read in my garden.'

For me, it's much more than that: Midnight Magic is catharsis. After the disastrous launch of Hall of Mirrors, it took me a long time to get back in the saddle again and write every day. After banging my head against the keyboard trying to move on to Book IV, I realized I needed to write something that was different from the Ashes books altogether, something light and cute and funny. Midnight Magic is the result.

But between starting it and finishing, my personal life was rocked by what felt like a string of land mines, one after another that kept me away from it (and the world) for months. Then the lockdown started. When I managed to find my footing, I threw everything I had into writing it. Delving into Vimika and Aurelai's relationship saved me. I get emotional just thinking about it, because within the threads of their story is the context in which it was written, and the two are inextricably tied together forever for me.

I can't be objective about this book. No author can about any of their work, really, but this book in particular has a shard of my soul in it bigger than any other, and I simply cannot separate my emotions from it. I needed to write this book, and when the final draft was finished, I was happier than I have been in well over a year. Getting here has been incredibly difficult for me, and I'm sorry it's taken so long, but I am very proud of the end result.

All of this is also why I decided to simply release it with no fanfare. Now that Midnight Magic is out there in the world, and people are getting to know Vimika and Aurelai, it feels like a dark chapter in my life has closed. It's out. It's free.

In Remember, November, I wrote: "To chase the bright light of hope so far through pitch darkness only to find out it was a train coming the other way had left many willing to simply lay down and let it run them over."

I'm happy to say that I didn't. I wrote a funny little kissing book about women with pointed ears and resilient hearts who love one another, and now it's out there in the world for all to enjoy. I managed to perform the ultimate emotional alchemy of turning my pain into joy. And if no one reads it, that's okay. If people don't like it, that's okay.

Because I did it.

Midnight Magic makes me happy, and it still makes me cry. I love my little book, and I sincerely hope that you will, too. It's already rescued me from darkness, and in a world that has gone decidedly dim, perhaps it can be a light for you, as well. All I ask is that you give it a chance.

But if you don't, that's okay, too. It exists.

And so do I.