We chat with Ann Aguirre, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, about her new release Witch Please, which has been pitched as Gilmore Girls meets Practical Magic! We got to ask Ann all our burning questions about favourite witches and spells, her exciting past occupations and so much more!
Hi, Ann! Thanks for chatting with us. Why don’t you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
Oh gosh. I’m all about letting my books speak, but let’s see. I enjoy reading, video games, watching films. I tend to look after stray cats. We’ve been feeding this adorable ginger that I named Ding Dong because one stormy night, I went outside and I heard him crying in the rain as if he was ringing the doorbell. I fed him and we’ve been caring for him for over a year. He won’t come in and he doesn’t like being touched (though I have managed to stroke his head), so we built a cat hut outside to keep him warm. I enjoy watching Korean and Taiwanese dramas when I’m not writing. I’m also attempting to grow various plants, including cosmos and lavender. I’ve written in many genres, but romance is my favorite. There’s just something so comforting about a happy ending. In the Before times, I enjoyed traveling with my family, and I’ve visited: Mexico, Canada, the Netherlands, Germany, France, the UK (including England, Scotland, and Wales), Spain, Peru, Italy, Greece, China, the Faroe Isles, Norway, Iceland, the Czech Republic, and Montenegro. I’m a bit awkward in person and I’m definitely an introvert, so staying home in lockdown hasn’t changed my life that much. It’s just that now, I get credit for being a responsible citizen instead of folks calling me a hermit.
Your bio is stacked with interesting past jobs – from clown and clerk to saviour of kittens and voice actress, you’ve done so many things! What would readers be surprised to learn about you?
Yeah, I’m still saving the kittens. Ding Dong was a starved little waif last year and now he’s a sleek and healthy (tiny) lion king. Most of those interesting jobs, I did right out of college. I’ve been focused on writing for about twenty years. I mean, I always wanted to write but I wasn’t good at juggling it with other jobs. For me, it’s always been one or the other, so I admire those who can do both. As to what would surprise readers…hmm. I suspect they’d be shocked at how much I hate confrontation. I write characters who are often very brave and proactive, but in real life, I’d do almost anything to avoid tense situations. I hold my tongue a lot; I don’t tell people who have upset me that they’re doing so because it would likely lead to a Situation. I prefer life to be calm and tranquil, and it freaks me out when people raise their voices, so I do all manner of things to keep the peace, even when I likely shouldn’t.
Lightning round: Who was the first witch (fictional or real hehe) that you’ve ever encountered, the one that makes you wish you had magical abilities and one you fear to this day?
The first witch would have to be Samantha from Bewitched. It came on in reruns during my childhood. I don’t really remember reading books about witches. My parents were quite religious, strict Southern Baptist, so I had to sneak my controversial reading materials. (I used to steal Harlequin Presents novels from my maiden great-aunties.) Sabrina from the self-titled show always made me wish I had powers, though it would probably have gone wrong for me like it did her. I still love Melissa Joan Hart to this day. As for the one I fear to this day, the wicked witch from Wizard of Oz seriously freaked me out as a kid. Like, I had nightmares about her flying monkeys, and my kids thought they were scary too! (We don’t re-watch Wizard of Oz in this house)
Now, onto Witch Please! What can readers expect?
Witch Please is a cupcake of a book. It’s light, airy, and sweet, and it touches on some serious issues, but I think mostly readers will feel like they’ve had a warm hug at the end. Titus is a bisexual virgin baker laboring under a love curse, and Danica is a modern witch who’s promised not to get serious with anyone due to a lot of family entanglements. There’s steaming sexual tension, sisterhood, fantastic puns, complications from meddling relatives, and a seriously lovesick cat named Goliath. I would say readers should expect a rom-com with heart. It’s the sort of book that I envisage readers snuggling up with on a rainy afternoon, sipping the warm beverage of their choice. I hope they’ll laugh, maybe sniffle a bit, and leave the story happier than when they started.
What are your favourite stories featuring witches, wizards and anything magical?
- Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman
- The Witching Hour by Anne Rice
- Equal Rites by Terry Pratchett
- The Baker’s Guide to Risky Rituals by Kathryn Moon
- Witchmark by C.L. Polk
- Master of Crows by Grace Draven
Danica and Titus are such a cute pairing! With Titus as a cinnamon-roll and Danica as a great entrepreneur, readers are bound to get caught up in the romance. What are your favourite romance tropes to read and write about?
Grumpy / sunshine tops the list. There’s something so charming about the love interest who hates people, except for that one, special chaos bunny who bounds into their lives, wreaking havoc and yet they absolutely can’t snarl at this person like they do everyone else. I also really love morality chains, where the dark love interest would happily murder the world, except that it would upset the person they adore, so wow, yes,, okay, fine, I won’t burn down the universe. For you. I’m also partial to relationships that are a bit taboo, like best friend’s sibling or best friend’s ex. I love reading all of the above, and I enjoy writing it too. Though come to think of it, I’ve only done bestie’s sibling once.
Danica’s coven – which is disguised as a book club – was so diverse and interesting to watch interact with each other! Any chance we’ll see them in more detail in other books?
Definitely! The coven comes into play even more in Boss Witch, which is Clementine’s story. And yes, her love interest is Gavin Rhys, the witch hunter. It’s…complicated is not just a social media update.
Familial relationships (and feuds) are at the centre of Witch Please. Without spoiling too much, was there a favourite scene for you between Danica and her family, or Titus and his while writing?
I really enjoyed writing the “big gesture” scene from Danica, where she meets Titus’s family. I don’t want to say too much about that because it is rather a huge deal in terms of pivotal moments, but it was just lovely. Titus had been waiting SO LONG for someone to care that much and try that hard. For reasons that are outlined in the book. (Readers, definitely check it out!)
If you could invent a spell that would only work once a week, what spell would that be?
I mean, can it be anything? If so, then teleportation. Because then I could pop in to see my daughter in Vancouver weekly to have coffee and chat & then pop home before the spell wore off. That would be the best. With the pandemic and all, I haven’t seen her in person since November of 2019, and I really miss her. We video chat, but I’d like to hug her and squish her face. So yeah, definitely a weekly teleportation spell that stays active long enough for me to pop in & then go home. Without passing through an airport.
With Witch Please now available, are you already working on the second installment in the Fix-It Witches series? If so, can you share a sneak-peek with us?
To be honest, the book is done. It’s passed through copyedits in the process. The only thing left is proofs. An excerpt? Sure, I can do that. Let’s see… to set up this scene, this is their first meeting, which takes place off-page in Witch Please.
“I’m…interested,” he said at last, feeling the pull of attraction as if it were a fishing hook caught in his cheek, tugging him inexorably toward her.
Gavin set his hand on the counter, wondering if she’d mirror his movement. After a brief delay, she did, flattening her palm next to his. Why does not touching her hand, just seeing hers next to mine, feel so fucking sexy? Already he could imagine what her skin felt like, how soft and smooth it would be. He even wanted to look at the whorls on her fingertips, minutely scrutinizing the patterns. Chemistry had never hit him like a cosh upside the head, his body rioting to get closer to her.
“That’s direct,” she said, knocking back the last of her drink. “Then let me make you an offer. While you’re in town, I’ll be your local guide. Let’s see where that leads.”
“You drive a hard bargain. If I agree, where would you take me first?”
Clementine grinned. “Is this a test?”
“It might be.”
“I’ve never been graded on my ability to come up with a fun date on the fly, but I’ll have you know that I’m competitive by nature.”
“You’re stalling,” Gavin said.
She pulled up a glossy site on her phone, but Gavin couldn’t see the details from this angle. “Bluestar Farm is waiting for you. Admission to fun! Open daily, weather permitting. We can have a picnic, walk the grounds, see the animals. They have Jersey cows, Belgian draft horses, Shropshire sheep, and Nigerian dwarf goats!”
“Are you quite serious?” he asked.
Ridiculous, how charming he found this suggestion. Did she seriously suggest a farm tour for a date? Certainly, they were in the middle of America, with the closest major city an hour away, but she had the most delightful twinkle in her eyes, as if she grasped that he was reluctantly delighted with the way she’d leaned into these regional charms.
“As a heart attack. We can roast marshmallows in the firepit after it gets dark, and if you play your cards right, I might even take you to a 1930s-style barn dance.”
“Must I bring my own coveralls, or will they be provided for me?”
She surveyed him from head to toe, and Gavin felt the skim of her gaze like she was touching him. “If you lose the jacket and change your shirt to something plaid, you’d fit right in without the need for more costuming.”
He laughed. The way he looked, cultivating that frightening air, so few people made eye contact, let alone joked with him. “I don’t know how I’m meant to take that. Is it a compliment? An attack on my wardrobe? Both?”
“I can’t answer all your questions on the first night,” she said. “It’s better for our relationship if I maintain some mystery.”
“Relationship? I thought this was meant to be a bit of fun.”
Clementine slid from her stool, signaling that she was done with the conversation, all too soon for his liking. “Relax, English. It’s a word, not a bouquet of flowers with a ring hidden in it.”
His heart pounded a little too fast over the idea of letting her walk out without making concrete plans to see that dratted farm with her. “In all honesty, you had me at Nigerian dwarf goats. By all means, let’s go. If I offer my mobile, will you call yours and save my number?”
“I’ll add myself to Contacts. Give.” She held out a hand in a playful, imperious gesture.
After some deft fingering—and didn’t that put all sorts of delicious filth in his head—she soon passed the device back. Gavin saw she’d saved herself as Clem ❤️, and because he was a cynical bastard, he immediately hit the call button. Her mobile lit up at once.
“Did you think I gave you a fake number?” she asked, with a hard-to-read look.
“I did wonder. It’s not every day that a beautiful woman offers to take me on a farm tour. Something too good to be true usually has a catch.”
“What’s too good to be true, me or the farm?”
“An excellent question,” Gavin said with no intention of answering it.
“You might enjoy being cagey, but you’ll soon learn that I prefer not to waste time. I have every intention of seeing you often, at least until I get what I want.” The smoky intensity of her look went right through him, making him feel naked.
God, I want her. This is madness.
“And what’s that?” he asked.
On her way out, Clem delivered the answer like a grenade lobbed at an enemy, one she was determined to conquer. “You.”
Last but not least, do you have any book recommendations for us?
I’ll just share the books I’m currently reading!
- Sweet Tea by Piper Huguley
- Gunpowder Alchemy by Jeannie Lin
- The Road to Rose Bend by Naima Simone
They’re all AWESOME.
You can find Ann on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Tiktok, along with at her website and her Facebook reader group!
Will you be picking up Witch Please? Tell us in the comments below!
@authorannaguirre Witch Please is coming soon. @
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