Introducing Hood and Fae

I’m both excited and nervous today. Why? ‘Cause today I’m releasing a novella that introduces my new Urban Fantasy series, Daughters of Little Red Riding Hood.

The first novel in the series, which won’t be out for a few more months, shows Roxy Hood, and her sister Bryn Hood, taking over their mother’s business. What’s on that menu for that book? One entrée of finding justice for the undead, with a side of hunting werewolves….

I couldn’t start telling the story Red Riding Hood’s descendants without tipping my hat to the original story of Little Red Riding Hood. At first I figured I’d start the first novel in the series that way, but it went a different direction. So how about a prequel? A glance at my writing schedule showed me I had exactly two weeks to write a completely new story. Okaaaaaay. A petite prequel! That’s how this novella was born.

To do a retelling, I found I had to first answer some basic questions: How did Roxy and Bryn inherit the “Clogyn,” the magical red hooded jacket? What powers does the red hood have? Who is Granny and why does she live in the woods? How can I sneak a sexy billionaire and a dragon into this story? How can any retelling of that story be true to the original story of a ditzy girl carrying pies to Granny and also showcase a kickass heroine? Did you know that in the original Grimm version, Red Riding Hood gets eaten by the Wolf?! WTF is up with that?

I hope you’ll read and find out!

Hood & Fae (Daughters of Little Red Riding Hood) is an Urban Fantasy novella that will be released April 15, 2014 in the special collection Faery Realms: Ten Magical Titles. You can download the bundle from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Smashwords or Google Play.

Roxy Hood is just trying to make ends meet, to pay her mom’s medical bills. Sure, Roxy takes on some jobs of, ahem, dubious integrity, like pretending that she can speak to the dead. But hey, that’s harmless. It’s not like a malevolent ghoul is going to attack her. Or a sexy billionaire will show up trying to buy her red jacket. Or a werewolf will attack Granny Rose. Because that would be whacked.

WARNING: This novel is only appropriate for older teens and adults, because it contains #$%*&@ words. Spelled out for real, though. Even that one that starts with “F.” Yeah, it’s in there, in a couple places. Also, “dumbkof,” but that’s in another language, so it won’t bother you.

Excerpt

My phone dropped from my hand but I was too stunned by the stranger standing on my front doorstep to notice. He locked his brilliant green eyes on mine and I couldn’t move, or even breathe.

If sexy caused earthquakes, he’d be a Magnitude Wow.

Maybe he was a movie star. That would explain the limo. Hollywood wasn’t far. All sorts of unlikely people showed up, even after six years, to consult my mother.

His suit whispered money. Black suit, black shirt, black tie, black on black, black as a black hole wrapped around his body, stealing light and capturing it into permanent orbit.  Underneath the CEO slick, though, he could have been a Navy Seal with that physique. He exuded so much Raw Male, he erased every man I’d ever met from my working memory; I couldn’t even picture last night’s one-hit-wonder any more. All I could see were those emerald eyes in that chiseled marble face. His skin was too pale—he sure didn’t work outside—during the day—but his tightly cropped bullion hair had a military flair. He smelled like all-night-sex on hot sand over a buried fire pit. Opaque heat radiated from him, as if he were a hidden sun in human form, scorching without illuminating, burning in the dark. I wrenched my eyes away from his intense gaze. I could feel my heart sprint like a deer fleeing an erupting volcano.

He didn’t look like the type who believed in ghosts.

Yet…there was an edge to his almost-smile that suggested he might be a man haunted by something.

“Roxy Hood.” He made my name sound dirty, in the most delicious way. He had an accent, antique and British, with something more dangerous and exotic folded inside the cultured cadence. “I believe you dropped this.”

For a short time only, Hood & Fae will be available for a special price of just $0.99 in the collection Faery Realms: Ten Magical Titles from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Smashwords or Google Play. Email my assistant at katie@misquepress.com for a free PDF review copy of Hood and Fae.