Author Name: Barbara Raffin
Your hero or heroine occupies a room in a haunted mansion. Which room is it and why?
Room? Why can’t it be a wooded copse beneath a full moon behind the haunted mansion? Okay, haunted mansion it is. Both Jessie and Jackson would choose the bedroom because that’s where they best make their magic happen.
What is your favorite Halloween or autumn decoration?
I love autumn leaves and ethereal ghosts. There are so many variations for either.
Links:
Website: http://www.BarbaraRaffin.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/#!/barbara.raffin.3
Featured Book Title: The Scarecrow & Ms. Moon
Purchase Link:
Blurb:
Never make a witch mad. Jackson Wolfe did and he’s now a scarecrow in Jessie Moon’s garden. Jessie doesn’t like liars and, in a fit of anger, turned the man she loves into a scarecrow. Now, four months later, she’s exhausted every spell she knows to restore him, been put on probation by her coven, and is still angry at Jackson for lying to her.
On All Hallows Eve when all the elements line up correctly, the coven assembles at Jessie’s house to restore Jackson to his living, human form. But there’s a condition. This is a test to determine whether or not Jessie will be allowed to remain in the coven. Since impulsive anger is this novice witch’s problem, Jessie is given the twenty-four hours of Halloween in which to learn to control her anger and love Jackson enough to let him go or lose her place in the coven. And one more condition. If she fails, not only will she be cast out of the coven, Jackson will be turned back into a scarecrow…forever.
Excerpt:
I closed the door behind the last of my coven-mates, my hand lingering on the handle. Had I meant what I’d said about loving Jackson simply for the sake of gaining help from the coven? For that matter, did I love him at all? Being crazy mad for someone wasn’t the same as love…even if you said the words out loud.
And now I had to love him enough to let him go. Okay, if I was in lust rather than love with him, then it shouldn’t be any hardship to let him go. It should be easy. Right?
I was so engrossed in my internal debate I didn’t notice Jackson step up beside me until he spoke. “If I try to leave, you gonna turn me into something unnatural again, Twinkle Toes?”
I jumped, my hand jerking from the doorknob. I also took a few steps backward. Any touch from him right now might just spur my errant lust and I doubted he’d appreciate me climbing his body. Not given the dubious pinch of his face as he waited for my answer.
“No,” I said. “I’ve been put on probation. But…”
“Great.” He reached for the door. “Then I’m outta here. So long, Sweet Cheeks. It’s been fun. Not!”
It couldn’t be this easy. Surely I hadn’t been punished enough. “Wait!”
“No way,” he said, turning the doorknob.
“But…”
“No buts.” He swung the door open, raised his foot to the threshold, and…
There was no sound, yet an explosive force threw him back into the room. He landed flat on his back on the floor between the couch and ottoman. Just as I suspected, leaving wouldn’t be that easy for him. I strode over to where he lay, stopping by his head.
He sucked air and croaked up at me, “What the hell was that?”
“Apparently a sealing spell has been put on the house to keep us inside.”
“Unseal it.”
“Can’t.”
“You’re a witch.” He ratcheted himself up on his elbows. “Un…seal…it.”
I planted my hands on my hips. “I can’t unseal the house because I didn’t cast the spell. Because it’s part of my punishment. Because…”
“Your punishment!” He scrambled to his feet and thumped himself in the chest. “What about me, Sugar Lips? I’m the wronged party here. Why do I have to suffer because you’re being punished?”
He towered over me, six feet plus of lean, hard, hot male. Then there was the finger he jabbed into my breastbone. I wanted to close my hand around that appendage and bring it to my lips. Ah, what to tell him. You’re not being punished, Jackson. You’re being used as my test. Oh, and, by the way, if I fail the test, you get turned back into a scarecrow for the rest of your life. Oh yeah, that would go over big.
Author Bio:
Barbara Raffin grew up a country girl on the Michigan-Wisconsin border, but loves to visit the big city and live the hurried pace now and then. Blessed with a vivid imagination, she’s created stories and adventures in one form or another for as long as she can remember. She wrote her first book at age twelve in retaliation to the lack of female leads in the adventure stories she loved reading. But it is a love of playing with words, exploring the human psyche, and telling stories that keeps her writing. Whether a romantic romp or gothic-flavored suspense, her books have one common denominator: characters who are wounded, passionate, and searching for love.
She lives in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula with her Keeshond dogs Katie and Slippers and her avid outdoorsman husband who continues to support her love affair with reading and writing. Visit Barbara’s web site to learn more about her and her books. www.BarbaraRaffin.com
Halloween Page Contest
As part of the Halloween Page Contest, Barbara is offering a download of her first St. John Sibling Series book: Taming Tess and a download of her paranormal novella Jaded. For details on how to enter for the chance to win, visit http://www.kate-hill.com/halloween2014.html.
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Thanks for the great post. I do enjoy decorating with corn stalks as well as other things.
I’m commenting for myself about the prizes I’m giving away. I’m offering Kindle or Nook downloads for my paranormal novella JADED and my contemporary romance and first book in the St John Sibling Series: TAMING TESS!
Earlier the wrong author’s prizes were listed on this post as Barbara’s. It has been corrected. Sorry for any confusion!
Debra–I love cornstalks for decorations. And pumpkins and gords. Guess I’m kind of natural when it comes to decorations.
What a great excerpt. I am adding this to my must have list.