THE SHADOW BRIDE giveaway + Q&A

Giving away three ARCs of TSB 🦋 and three copies of the deluxe limited edition of TSV 🖤

I’ve had a box of The Shadow Bride arcs sitting in my office for a few weeks now, and I think the time has finally come to give them away! Same with the deluxe limited editions of The Scarlet Veil. Logistics might be tricky, but on IG, I’ve always asked participants to comment on my post and chosen the winners from there. We can try a similar approach here? Comment anything on this post—your favorite character from the S&D universe, what you’re most looking forward to in TSB, your dog’s name, what you’re eating for lunch today—and I’ll pick three random commenters to win the prize {The Shadow Bride arc and The Scarlet Veil deluxe limited edition} on February 14, 2025 around 10am EST. Winners will be announced via my next newsletter. And yes, this giveaway is open internationally!

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THE SHADOW BRIDE Q&A

Do you plan on expanding the S&D universe after The Shadow Bride or venturing on?

I have no plans to continue in the S&D universe after TSB publishes! That said, I had no plans to continue after Gods & Monsters either, and we saw how that worked out.

Did you always plan for Célie’s story to be the way it is, or did it change?

I always knew how I wanted The Scarlet Veil to end, and from there, the story progressed very naturally. Of course I revised TSB, but nothing significant to the plot or characters changed from the first outline except the ending, which my critique partner and I ultimately decided to tweak. The end we settled on feels much truer to the characters. The epilogue in particular became my goodbye to this world, including the original characters from S&D. If you’ve invested in Coco’s and Beau’s relationship, you should definitely check it out!

Does Célie end up with Michal? Is there any spice in The Shadow Bride?

Ha! As much as I’d like to answer the first question, it’d be a huge spoiler, but I can say the book ends with a HEA. As for the second question—yes, there is on the page sex in TSB.

What is your favorite thing about Célie’s and Michal’s relationship? Favorite part to write?

Such a great question, and difficult to answer because I love so much about Célie’s and Michal’s relationship. Writing them has been particularly satisfying because their feelings unfurled so slowly and earnestly—they weren’t thrown together into a close proximity situationship like Lou and Reid, so their push and pull needed to be a bit more delicate. {Though to be fair, Lou stealing Reid’s journal and reading it aloud through the bathroom door remains one of my favorite scenes ever.} If I had to pick just one thing about Célie and Michal, however, it would be how each allows the other to be wholly themselves—and right from the beginning. Célie never feared sounding silly in front of Michal because he encouraged her to be curious, to be stubborn, to be soft and earnest and clever without judgement. Likewise, she held space for his weaknesses, his vulnerabilities. She even cherished them, caring about him as a person instead of a vampire king. That might sound reductive, and perhaps it is, but Célie and Michal never cared about each other’s ugly bits. Probably because they never thought of them as ugly in the first place.

On a scale of 1 to 10, how hot will Michal be in TSB?

An 11? 12? He gives very competent, dominant-yet-slightly-exasperated energy in TSB. The guy just needs a break.

Any new characters in TSB?

Yes! Off the top of my head, I think three—one is a very old and powerful witch who might be related to Lou, another is a new initiate of the Chasseurs, and the last is a bigger, badder villain. 🥰 Oh, and also Filippa! She isn’t technically new, but we’ll see her on the page for the first time in TSB.

Will we see more of a certain sassy cat in TSB? He’s one of my favorite.

Yes, but alas, his role in the story was more than halved during revisions. 😭 I love D’Artagnan too, so I’m very sorry he’s only around for a scene or two! It makes sense for his character, I suppose. He isn’t sticking around when {REDACTED} walks onto the page.

What are you most excited about in The Shadow Bride?

Not to sound like a broken record, but the progression of Célie’s and Michal’s relationship was my favorite part of the book. I’m beyond excited for everyone to experience it, and I hope, hope, hope it’s as satisfying to read as it was to write. Those two dummies have captured my whole heart.

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MISCELLANEOUS Q&A

Do you like thrift store shopping?

I looove thrift store shopping. Much of the decor in my house has come from thrift stores—there’s just something really special about finding the perfect piece and knowing it had a story before me, and that story will (hopefully) continue after me too. One of my favorite thrift pieces is my bedroom vanity, which I purchased with the intent of either painting or refinishing but ended up loving too much to touch, even in its scuffed imperfection.

Favorite song of TTPD?

Oh, this is tough. There’s a difference between my favorite song to sing and my favorite song, but if I had to pick the latter, it’d be loml. {My favorite to sing is Down Bad.} On the anthology, my favorites are The Black Dog and Peter.

Who is the artist of that beautiful calendar on the left of your desk? 🧚🏻

Their name is Lavera Grace, and you can find them on Etsy.

How did you end up getting the three kittens?

It’s a long story, but in short: a colony of feral cats wandered onto my parents’ farm and had babies. Lots of babies. Like, lots and lots of babies before we were able to trap, neuter/spay, and release them. I intended to keep one kitten and foster the other two until I could find them homes, but that obviously didn’t happen. 🤡 {My parents ended up keeping two, as did my oldest brother. My other brother kept one too, and we found homes for the other five.}

Left: Fig | Middle: Blue | Right: Peter

Which cat cuddles with you the most? 😻

Peter, which is surprising since he joined us a bit older and wilder than the other two. Now he insists on curling up with me under the covers every night, and I’m just obsessed with him. Enamored. Infatuated. He’s never gonna do anything wrong.

Favorite episode of The Office?

Probably “The Deposition” or “Dinner Party.” The cringe in both is just breathtaking.

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Until next time! 🦋