The Reading Frenzy: **Giveaway** Showcase The Midnight Witch by Paula Brackston

I'm so pleased to announce that The Midnight Witch by Paula Brackston is now available in paperback. To celebrate I'm showcasing Paula and reposting our interview when the book first came out.
Stick around because Paula's US Publisher St. Martin's Press is offering a paperback copy for a giveaway. Details below!
Plus I'm offering a sneak peek at Paula's upcoming April release of The Silver Witch.
Enjoy!!

ISBN-13: 9781250063298
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Publication date: 3/24/2015
Pages: 448

The giveaway is US ONLY
for one paperback copy of
The Midnight Witch
Sponsored by St. Martin's Press
use the Rafflecopter form below to enter
Good Luck!!

Paula welcome back to The Reading Frenzy to celebrate your new novel The Midnight Witch.

Good to be here again. Thank you for inviting me.

Tell my readers a bit about it

The Midnight Witch is set in the glamorous world of the British aristocracy at the end of the Edwardian era and through the First World War. It follows the fortunes of Lady Lilith Montgomery, who is the daughter of the sixth Duke of Radnor. She is also, of course, a witch!

Your protagonist Lilith is so different from your last heroine Morgana.
When you start a new project how does the witch come about?

My stories are very much character driven, so you are right to think that the witch comes first. I usually have an idea for a setting – a historical period, a place, a tone to the thing – and then a notion of the type of magic. Once I start jotting down ideas for key elements and scenes I begin to get a picture of my main character. It sounds a bit precious, but they just sort of drift into my mind, pretty much fully formed. I can see what they look like, how they move, what they sound like. And then they tell their story and I write it down.

I loved The Midnight Witch as much as I did The Winter Witch. The voices and feelings in the novels are very different from each other.
Is it a smooth transition for you to switch character identities or do you have some characters that try to hold on?

I think it’s me that holds on! It is hard to let go when you’ve spent so much time with your characters. You see them as your friends, your family. I could be writing about them six or seven hours a day, five days a week for months. We go through all sorts of adventures and experiences together. But the nature of the modern novel helps to bring that special writer& character relationship to a close. Life is not so tidy, but fiction demands an ending, and you know from page one that you are moving towards it.

And if I miss my characters (which I do sometimes) I just revisit them. They are always right there, in the pages of my books. Always will be. Perhaps that is secretly why writers write – to surround themselves with a fictitious family who will never desert them. Hmmm, I ought to think about that some more. It throws an interesting light on some of my character choices!

How important is a happy ending for your novels?

I don’t feel an ending has to be happy. It should be moving and satisfying, so that it is true to the nature of the story and rewards the reader’s attention. That said, I wouldn’t want people to leave the book feeling down. There must be hope, or at least something positive you can take with you.

Your background as you’ve told us in your last interview is very eclectic.
Was there a certain catalyst that sent you on your road to being a novelist?

Moving back to Wales and settling in a wild and remote place gave me the space and peace and quiet I needed to really throw myself into my writing. I think it was only when I reached my mid thirties that I had the confidence to believe I could be a writer.

Paula I think you know how much I loved The Winter Witch by my review, which
you’ve graciously put a snippet of on your website, and you know I love The Midnight Witch by my review below.
What are your overall feelings about reviews?
Do you read them all?
Do you read the good and the bad?

If someone has taken the time to read a book they are entitled to express an opinion on it. And I think it’s a good thing that nowadays readers have a chance to talk about how they experienced a story, to connect with other readers, as well as authors. There is often feedback that is helpful, or encouraging, or thought provoking. A writer wants an audience for their work, and it’s wonderful to hear that someone was moved by one of my books, or that they fell in love with a character, or were enchanted by a setting.

It can be disappointing if a reader doesn’t get what I’m trying to do, or dislikes a book, but it happens. It goes with the job. You have to do your best, write the book the way you believe best tells the story, and accept that you will never please everyone. I tend to dip in and out of reading reviews when I have a moment – I wouldn’t have time to read them all!

Paula Thank you so much for chatting with us today.
Good Luck with The Midnight Witch!!!

I’ve enjoyed being here – your questions have really made me think!

For a limited time the nookbook version of The Midnight Witch is 2.99 Click here to buy it.
Here's a scene that was deleted from The Midnight Witch

My Review of The Midnight Witch

It’s just past the turn of the twentieth century and the times they are a changing. Horses are giving way to the motorcar, the telephone is making personal messengers obsolete, the gentry are still comfy in their estates, castles and houses of cards where belowstairs the grumblings are just beginning. But more importantly England is on the brink of war, a war that will change not only the landscape but the citizens and society forever.
It also finds Lady Lilith Montgomery eldest child of the Fifth Duke of Radnor who upon her father’s death is taking up her new mantle as head of the Lazarus coven of witches. A powerful coven living amongst their non-the-wiser peers. This coven holds a deep and ancient secret, a secret that a powerful and villainous enemy wants and has decided now will be the time to get at all and any costs. A secret that will cost this coven and Lily in particular a great deal.
Bram Cardale at this very moment finds himself in residence of his slightly eccentric successful, benefactor’s shabby attic rooms in his crumbling London towne-home along with the other unconventional inhabitants including the sculptor’s wife, his mistress and their boisterous blended children. Bram knows he’s breaking his family’s and especially his father’s heart being here but he must follow his dream of becoming a painter.
It’s in these surroundings that Lily and Bram meet quite innocently but soon discover their hearts belong only to each other. This presents quite a number of problems not only because he’s a non-witch and she’s under vows to keep her covert identity secret but also because she’s betrothed to another member of aristocracy. With so many insurmountable odds they are determined to find a way to find happiness. But fate and an evil presence are about to put them to a possibly fatal test.

Paula Brackston’s The Midnight Witch takes place barely after the end of The Edwardian period in England, a rigid society on the brink of cataclysmic change brought about by not only The Great War but also the societal uprisings because of the times. Those of us who read Paula’s witch tales from the wilds of 1800’s Wales, The Winter Witch, will be pleasantly surprised by her 180º change in narrative and dialogue from the common Welsh slang to the eloquent speak of English gentry and will be enchanted, enraged and pity her bold, brave and unchanging characters and will be in awe of the author’s mastery of them all. Her protagonist Lily is a changeling herself, a woman ahead of her times and yet forced into a role she sometimes doesn’t want and oftimes feels unfit for, who falls in love with someone beneath her standings and out-of-her-otherworldly-world and Bram who often wobbles between what society expects of him and what he wants which makes the readers both feel empathy for him and want to kick him in the pants to go after what he wants. The love story is so fraught with mountainous obstacles that we readers will teeter between believing and not-believing in the possibility of a happy-ever-after for this couple and Paula will make us bite our nails and sit on the edge of our seats until the very end to find out if they do indeed find happiness or not. This is a fantastic piece of historical literature that will fill our seemingly unfillable cups for this particular time in English history that gives us both a whimsical and serious look at these English times.

Now for a Sneak Peek at The Silver Witch

ISBN-13: 9781250028792
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Publication date: 4/21/2015
Edition description: First Edition
Pages: 320

OVERVIEW:

A year after her husband's sudden death, ceramic artist Tilda Fordwells finally moves into the secluded Welsh cottage that was to be their new home. She hopes that the tranquil surroundings will help ease her grief, and lessen her disturbing visions of Mat's death. Instead, the lake in the valley below her cottage seems to spark something dormant in her - a sensitivity, and a power of some sort. Animals are drawn to her, electricity shorts out when she's near, and strangest of all, she sees a new vision; a boatful of ancient people approaching her across the water.

On this same lake in Celtic times lived Seren, a witch and shaman. She was respected but feared, kept separate from the community for her strange looks. When a vision came to her of the Prince amid a nest of vipers she warned of betrayal from one of his own. Prince Brynach both loved and revered her, but could not believe someone close to him wished him harm, even as the danger grew.

In her own time, Tilda's grief begins to fade beside her newfound powers and a fresh love. When she explores the lake's ancient magic and her own she discovers Seren, the woman in her vision of the boat. Their two lives strangely mirror each other's, suggesting a strong connection between the women. As Tilda comes under threat from a dark power, one reminiscent of Seren's prophecy, she must rely on Seren and ancient magic if death and disaster are not to shatter her life once more.

LibraryJournal review-

03/15/2015
In her latest witchy historical romance (after The Witch's Daughter, The Winter Witch, and The Midnight Witch) Brackston interweaves two distinct story lines, told from the points of view of two women, revealing mystical connections between Tilda Fordwells and a tenth-century shaman named Seren. When Tilda moves into a Welsh lakeside cottage that she and her late husband had purchased, she develops new powers and begins to have frightening visions. The inexplicable happenings lead Tilda, along with the help of a handsome archaeologist, Dylan, to delve into the centuries-old story of Seren and the prince she was once responsible for protecting. VERDICT Vivid Welsh historical details, haunting surroundings, and Gothic magical elements both enchant and perplex the reader as Tilda and Dylan strive to unravel the mysteries of the past before the present danger overwhelms them. Readers who savor richly detailed paranormal fiction or have enjoyed Brackston's previous novels will want to give this one a try. [See Prepub Alert, 10/5/14.]—Crystal Renfro, Georgia Inst. of Technology Lib. & Information Ctr., Atlanta

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MEET PAULA:
PAULA BRACKSTON is the New York Times bestselling author of The Witch's Daughter and The Winter Witch. She has a master's degree in creative writing from Lancaster University in the UK. She lives in Wales with her family.