I’m really excited to be here on the Tule blog today celebrating the release of The Witch’s Awakening, book one in my newest fantasy/romance series, The Witches of Time.
My maternal grandmother was very superstitious and as I’ve grown older, I find myself becoming more superstitiously inclined, too. I never spill salt without tossing a little over my left shoulder and wouldn’t walk under a ladder, although that might just be common sense. I don’t buy into Friday the thirteenth or black cats being unlucky though for our twelve year old cat, Guinness, is a sweetheart. (or maybe my familiar!) But I do pay closer attention to dreams, signs, dates and numbers. The fact my book is being released 1/12/21 seems like a good omen.
This is my third series with Tule and I’m delighted to continue to be an author with this fantastic publishing company. Jane, Meghan, Nikki, Cyndi and Lee are amazing. My editors, Sinclair, Rachel, Helena and Marlene are great, too.
This series consists of four novels, each featuring a different couple from a different time period. Although The Witch’s Awakening is a new book, the characters and story are derived from my very first novels created back in the nineties, but never published. I was eager to finally share Arianna and Darius’s story with readers. I’d filled several thick binders with numerous adventures written about these characters. I thought it would relatively easy to take the hero and heroine, my favorite storylines and secondary characters to create one book. To say I was wrong, was an understatement completely befitting of 2020.
It was a hugely ambitious project. After painstakingly narrowing it down, I was still left with a word count nearly triple what was allowed. After two deadline extensions and a pandemic which all but eliminated most other commitments (providing part-time childcare for my two youngest grandchildren, homeschooling my eldest grandson, and doing reiki treatments and tarot/angel card readings at my reiki room) and after rewriting the entire manuscript at least twice, my labor of love is finally completed.
The Witches of Time is a stand-alone series, however for readers of The Irish Witch Series, this will be a crossover and you’ll read more of Alainn and Killian. It’s been lots of fun and very interesting researching and deciding what time periods, real people and actual events to include. I’ve always loved history, fantasy, witches, time-travel and Ireland so I’ve included a little of all of these elements in this series.
I’ve visited Salem, Massachusetts twice to do research (thankfully before Covid made travel nearly impossible.) Although Wyndham Village is fictional, it was inspired by the witch hysteria and trails in Colonial Massachusetts during that time. The hero and heroine in The Witch’s Awakening meet when Darius saves Arianna from the Puritans’ pillory.
I’m very excited to let you know this series will be also be available in audio format. I’ve had a lot of people asking, so I’m happy to be able to reach more readers this way.
I love creating beautiful, strong, feisty, magical heroines and gorgeous, sexy, chivalrous, protective heroes. It makes for humorous banter and tension that leads to heated encounters in and out of the bedchambers. I hope you’ll enjoy my characters and their world as much as I’ve enjoyed creating them.
Happy 2021. Best wishes to you and your families for hope, health, happiness, love, laughter and finding whatever brings you peace, joy and contentment.
Leigh Ann Edwards
Leigh Ann Edwards has always been fascinated by history, magic, romance, witches and Ireland which all inspired her first series, The Irish Witch Series. Growing up in a very small Manitoba town on the Canadian prairies allowed lots of time to create stories and let her imagination soar. Now writing her third series with Tule Publishing, Leigh Ann also loves reading, traveling, spending time with her four grandchildren, doing intuitive readings and reiki.
Leigh Ann lives with her husband, their two very large dogs and two cats near Edmonton Alberta, Canada.
