PRINCESS OF TYRONE RELEASE DAY!

Apolline is happy hunting magical creatures on her pirate infested outer-perimeter planet. She is a fantastic shot, and doesn’t flinch at the blood and guts of her kills. Never once did she consider she could be the missing Princess of Tyrone. 

All her life, she has heard the story of the Princess, cursed to sleep for eternity, unless her betrothed, the Prince of Oran, gave her true love’s kiss. Although Apolline knows she is betrothed, she thinks her fairy guardians arranged it out of ignorance of human ways. The thought she could be a princess is inconceivable.

Then Allard appears. Handsome, charming—but he’s not hers to have. He’s betrothed, too. Her guardians warn her against her new found friendship, but she and Allard meet in secret anyway. Despite her rough exterior, he sees beyond her gun-slinging bravado, and their love blossoms.

But the deadline for the sleeping curse is approaching. If Apolline falls in love with the wrong person, she could end up sleeping forever. 

A quirky, adventurous retelling of Sleeping Beauty, with a less than princess-ly princess!

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Author Bio:

Born and raised in Australia, Katie's early years of day dreaming in the "bush," and having her father tell her wild bedtime stories, inspired her passion for writing.
After graduating High School, she became a foreign exchange student where she met a young man who several years later she married. Now she lives in Arizona with her husband, daughters and their dogs.
She has a diploma in travel and tourism which helps inspire her writing.
When her debut novel, Kiya: Hope of the Pharaoh, climbed into bestselling status, she believed she was onto something, and now has a slew of novels now available
Katie loves to out sing her friends and family, play sports, and be a good wife and mother. She now works as an Acquisitions Editor to help support her family. She loves to write, and takes the few spare moments in her day to work on her novels. 

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BOOK OF SHADOWS

BOOK OF SHADOWS

In the book How to Date Dead Guys, Emma uses a witchcraft guide known as the Book of Shadows to raise the dead. Although I am not a witch, I spent a good deal of time researching the craft. I wanted every spell, candle, and symbol Emma used to have a real basis in the practice of witchcraft.

The Book of Shadows is a real thing.

Whether or not you believe in it is up to you…

A Brief History Lesson You Probably Didn't Learn in High School

Gerald Gardner, the "Father of Modern Wicca", began work on a scrapbook of magical instructions entitled Ye Bok of Ye Art Magical between 1945-1950. Doreen Valiente, the High Priestess of his Bricket Wood coven, helped him with revisions.

She claimed that Gardner reverted to the title Book of Shadows after discovering the term in a magazine article describing how to foretell the future based upon the length of a person's shadow.

Early on, a single copy of the Book existed for each coven, kept by the High Priest or Priestess. When a witch died, her Book of Shadows was to be destroyed to avoid detection.

Starting in the 1970s, it became much more common for solitary practitioners to each possess their own copy of the Book.

Although Gardner is credited with the idea and the original title, now the term Book of Shadows can mean several different things. Some Wiccans use it to refer to a personal journal of rituals and spells, rather than a traditional text. Those who utilize copies of Gardner's original Book may add rituals and teachings, but typically nothing is ever removed.

The term Book of Mirrors refers to a separate magic book, used to collect thoughts, feelings, and experiences.

Popular Culture References

The 1996 film The Craft referred to a special book where a witch keeps her spells and "power thoughts". Interesting trivia about the movie claims that filming was interrupted by strange happenings, including flocks of bats, altered tides, and power outages. Real witchcraft rites and language were used, since the actress Fairuza Balk (a practicing Wiccan) wanted to make the movie feel as realistic as possible.

Perhaps the most famous use of a Book of Shadows was in the television series Charmed. From 1998 to 2006, the well-dressed Halliwell sisters (Alyssa Milano, Holly Marie Combs, and Shannen Doherty/Rose McGowan) used their "Power of Three" and their 300-year-old (note the timeline discrepancy) Book to fight paranormal evil.

How to Date Dead Guys Reference

Emma first encounters a Book of Shadows when her roommate's younger sister comes to visit. That night, when the three young women perform a love spell, Emma is the most skeptical.

After her would-be boyfriend Mike drowns in the Chippewa River, Emma turns to witchcraft and the same mysterious Book of Shadows to bring Mike back. The invoked river revolts, and spits out a stranger instead. The dead guy drags himself from the water and follows her home. And he's not the only one.

To help those she raised from the dead, Emma delves deeper into the seductive Book of Shadows.

But as her powers grow, so does her dependence on the Book. Everything has a cost. Will Emma be able to pay it?

BLOOD MOON

HOW TO DATE DEAD GUYS

After Mike drowns in the river, Emma decides to bring him back using a mysterious Book of Shadows. A dedicated student, Emma delves into the online Wiccan world, learning enough to get her started but not enough to keep her out of trouble.

Emma learns that the Blood Moon of October is the time when the veil between our world and the spirit world is at its thinnest. The alignment of the Sun, Earth, and Moon opens a gateway into the Heavens, making this night the best opportunity to bring her friend back.

The Blood Moon is also known as a time of violence and aggression. Without realizing it, Emma invites danger into her life.

WHAT IS A BLOOD MOON?

Native Americans called the full moon of October the Hunter's Moon or Blood Moon. That month, the moon rose soon after sunset and appeared full for several evenings in a row. Since the moon hung so low in the sky, it appeared a more reddish tone due to the increase in the amount of atmosphere between the Earth and the Moon when viewed at that angle. The brightness of the full moon helped Native Americans hunt, thereby spilling blood of deer and other prey on the ground—also symbolic of a Blood Moon.

WHAT MAKES THE MOON RED?

During a Total Lunar Eclipse, the Earth's shadow creeps across the full moon, blocking direct sunlight. Indirect sunlight must pass through the Earth's atmosphere before reflecting on the moon. Our atmosphere filters out the green to violet portion of the light spectrum. The remaining reddish light first refracts towards the Earth's surface and then onto the moon, giving it a reddish glow. The amount of humidity, dust, and temperature in the Earth's atmosphere will determine what shade (often copper to dark red, but if there has been recent volcanic action more grey to black) the Blood Moon will appear.

END OF DAYS?

Recently, the clustering together of four Total Eclipses (also called Blood Moons), each one six months apart made some believers fear that the end of days was at hand.

Lunar Tetrads (a series of four Total Eclipses) are relatively rare. The next time we will experience one is 2032-2033.

The dates for the Blood Moons in the recent Lunar Tetrad:

April 15, 2014

October 8, 2014

April 4, 2015

September 28, 2015

These dates coincided with important Jewish festivals: Passover in the spring and The Feast of the Tabernacle in the fall. The timing of the Blood Moons in this particular Lunar Tetrad convinced some believers that the Apocalypse was at hand.

After all, the moon was foretold to turn red before the End of Days.

Learn the secrets hidden in 
THE WITCH'S HANDBOOK series:
Book 1: How to Date Dead Guys
Book 2: How to Ditch Dead Guys
Book 3: How to Destroy Dead Guys.