Erin Sterling, aka New York Times bestselling author Rachel Hawkins, recently sat down with The Nerd Daily to chat about her spell-casting second-chance romance The Ex Hex, which is full of hexes gone wrong, witch power and a cauldron full of snark! We got to ask Rachel all about her upcoming release, her favorite witches in pop culture and so much more!
Hi, Erin! Thanks so much for joining us today! Why don’t you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
Thank you so much for having me! So yes, I’m Erin Sterling AKA Rachel Hawkins, and I’ve been writing over a decade now. I started in YA before moving onto thrillers for adults, and The Ex Hex is my first romance. I live in Alabama with my husband, my son, and Entirely Too Many Cats (one of whom may be the inspiration for a certain talkative feline in The Ex Hex.)
Now, onto The Ex Hex! What can readers expect?
I like to say this book is taking the concept of “Pumpkin Spice” to a new level. 😉 It’s all the coziest bits of autumn- woodsmoke, brilliantly colored leaves, full moons, caramel apples- and adding a little bit (okay, a lot) of kissing, and a fair bit of Magical Mayhem.
What inspired you to write The Ex Hex?
I’m a lifelong romance reader, and have wanted to write a romance for ages. I had several false starts, all sort of normal contemporaries, and none of them were really working for me. Then I saw someone on Instagram saying they wanted to read a “paranormal romcom,” and it was like my whole brain lit up. I’d gotten my start writing about witches and magic, just in the YA sphere. Suddenly it occurred to me that I could do that in adult romance, too! I had been working on a book about a woman who has to deal with the rockstar she had an intense summer fling with coming back into her smalltown. With a little adjusting, that story eventually became The Ex Hex.
Who are your favorite witches, wizards and warlocks in pop culture or in general?
I have so many, so I really have to narrow it down! To start with a classic, I definitely have to go with The Wicked Witch of the West (or, if you’re a Wicked fan, Elphaba.) I also love Sabrina in all her various iterations over the years, and the Owens sisters from Practical Magic.
If you were a witch, what powers would you love to have and what do you think would be your specialty?
I really, really love to cook, so I’d hope I’d end up with some impressive Kitchen Witch Skills! Especially if that power could also be used to help with the massive clean-up always required after I’ve made something.
Speaking of powers, if you could create only one spell that was guaranteed to work, what would you create and what would it do?
Some kind of teleportation spell, definitely. I love to travel, but there’s always so much hassle from packing to traffic to security lines to uncomfortable plane seats. Be able to magically pack up a bag with everything I could possibly need and just appear in my desired spot? The best spell I can think of.
The Ex Hex is so much fun and really feels like watching your favorite comfort movie. What was the writing experience like for you?
It was actually funny because it was very much a two-stage process. I wrote the first 1/3 of it in the fall, so I was very easily inspired and just had a ball coming up with all kinds of Fall Goodness to put in the book. However, when it came time to finish the book, it was spring! Thankfully, I’d saved a ton of apple and pumpkin candles, and I’d burn one of those every day to get into the perfect autumnal headspace. But it was definitely weird to be writing about Halloween and cold nights while looking out at a very sunny and green Alabama in April.
There’s loads of magical mayhem in The Ex Hex and quite the hilarious circumstances (e.g. murderous wind-up toys). Were there magical mayhem scenes that didn’t make it into the finished version or rejects you thought of initially?
I’d initially wanted to do more with ghosts in the book (although there are several who still made it in there!), and something with an even bigger haunted house than the one we see in the final book. Luckily, I can always use those ideas for the next book!
If The Ex Hex were to be adapted into a movie, what three songs would you need to be on the soundtrack and during which scenes would you love them to play?
- Cruel Summer by Taylor Swift. This was my go-to song when thinking of Rhys and Vivi’s ill-fated summer romance. There are no real flashbacks in the book, but I think it would be very fun in a movie to get to see some hints of that summer.
- Sisters of the Moon by Fleetwood Mac because is it even a witchy book if you don’t invoke Stevie Nicks? I think this song would be amazing over the big climactic moment near the end of the book.
- Magic by Julianna Hatfield. I grew up in the 80s which means I have a deep love for the movie Xanadu, roller skates and all. Olivia Newton-John’s version of this song is one of my all-time faves, but I love this cover so much, and think it would be perfect for the very end of The Ex Hex.
With The Ex Hex releasing soon, are you already working on another project? If so, can you share a bit about it with us?
I have another book set in Graves Glen coming out in 2022, so we’re not done with the Joneses and the Penhallows yet! This one follows two characters you meet in The Ex Hex, two people who have nothing in common, and definitely do not want to fall in love with one another at all, but…. 😉
Last but not least, do you have any book recommendations for our readers?
We are spoiled for choice this spooky season, so if you’re looking for more paranormal romcoms, I highly recommend Not Your Average Hot Guy by Gwenda Bond, Payback’s A Witch by Lana Harper, and Witch Please by Ann Aguirre.
