Hello everyone, I’ve got a fun book on tour to show you today. And, I’ve got the lovely author over for an interview. AND I’ve got a giveaway, so I’m just going to jump right in 🙂 Oh and I really like the cover. PS, I hope you guys all had a wonderful Independence Day, if you celebrate it 🙂 I sure did!!
£6.19 per Witching Hour
Paranormal Personnel Saga Book One
Joanna Mazurkiewicz
Genre: paranormal romance
Book Description:
Julia Taylor works as a recruitment consultant for Paranormal Personnel in London. Her days at work seem normal, she sees clients that regularly are looking for work, she source new vacancies, updates CV and visits employers.
Everything is pretty ordinary for her, apart from the fact that Julia is half elf and Paranormal Personnel is not an ordinary agency at all because all jobless supernatural creatures come to the agency to look for work. Fairies, vampires, witches, hags, wizards, mermaids, elves, giants and trolls, they all need to find employment and during this economic climate this seems pretty challenging.
Julia doesn’t want her life to be complicated but when her day is interrupted by the shape shifter with the chain saw; she just has to deal with him as she always does. She is normally calm, confident and is not afraid to stand up for herself but when the meeting with Nathaniel’s Corporation goes not as well as she expected she wants to bury herself under the ground and die.
Then Mr. La Caz gets under her skin, lights up a fire inside her, she accidently reads his thoughts and learns that he craves for her, he wants to suck her dry but she is convinced that he is not even a vampire.
Excerpt:
‘Kiss me, Mr La Caz.’
‘Julia, you are drunk so please just lie down until we get home.’
‘But I want you to kiss me, Mr La Caz. I am agreeing to your proposition.’
‘Julia, you won’t remember any of it tomorrow. Please stop tempting me.’
‘Nathaniel, I am not feeling too well…I—’
‘You and alcohol just don’t go well together. It’s like me and your blood…we lose control too quickly. ’
I opened my eyes and I had to shut them again. The pain shot through my forehead and I moaned. My body was numb and the bright light was pouring into the room, increasing the throbbing pain. I rubbed my eyes and looked around.
This isn’t my room. What the hell?
The bedding was soft and smelled of lavender and jasmine. I closed my eyes, wanting to drift to sleep, but then I realised that I was only wearing my knickers and nothing else. I started to panic but I was so hungover that I couldn’t even remember what I was doing in this stylish place. The room was spacious, with large windows and bare white walls. A large wardrobe was opposite the mirror and dressing table. Everything looked immaculate and I was trying to bring memories from last night.
What was the last thing that I remember?
Party, food, and then I danced. That’s it. Nothing else.
I drank a lot. First a lot of wine with the meal and then Jennifer kept bringing me shots. Then I gasped because my memory flashed back to the point when I was in the car with Nathaniel. He showed up on the dance floor, and then he told me that I had too much to drink. Next thing that I remembered, I was vomiting in the toilet. I covered myself quickly and checked for any bite marks. There were none. I walked quickly to the mirror and checked my neck. Still nothing.
I looked at my phone. It was twelve o’clock and I wondered whether La Caz had done anything else to me but deep down I knew that I would remember whether or not we had sex last night. I looked in the wardrobe, trying to see whether there are any other clothes that I could wear. I couldn’t walk around this strange room naked.
Men’s shirt, huh? That will have to do.
The shirts were fresh and smelled of him. I was glad that at least my bum was covered. The nerves were slowly eating me away. I was probably in his room, waking up half naked with the biggest hangover of the century. Someone knocked and then Nathaniel La Caz entered. He closed the door and gave me a lazy smile. When I looked into his eyes, I felt ashamed of myself, exposed and vulnerable and stripped apart from all my dignity that was left in me. In the broad daylight, he looked like a human; his sandy hair was damp and he was dressed casually in a grey jumper and jeans.
My Review:
Can I say I giggled alot. First, it starts off with a crazy person who walks into the office with a chain saw threatening people. Julia has a fun personality and deals with it well. Then, it’s literally about finding jobs for the supernatural people. I loved this concept. Such an every day life type of thing, that turns into crazy. This made for a fun, fast paced, very entertaining read.
Julia is half elf, half human, and in her world, it’s pretty serious having elf blood because the vampers wanna drink it-like really bad- and everyone else thinks it’s special. Julia is kind of a normal, quite type of girl, until her world is turned up side down. She has a normal-ish family, some normal-ish friends, but her life take a turn for the not so normal-ish, really quickly when she lands the head person in charge of dealing with this new partnership. That business is run by a very famous HAWT male vamper. Plus, to make matters worse, being half human means Julia doesn’t have the best reception with her magic and this new HAWT male piece sets her magic out of control. So, meeting Nathaniel La Caz has some major life changing moments for Julia.
The side characters are always so interesting. Her dad and her grandpa are favorites, and while you see a lot of her co-workers, you don’t learn all that much about them. I do bet I will see more of them which I hope to in the future. Nathaniel La Caz just down right makes me mad! Seriously, he’s making me a little mental. He’s totally doing everything in his power, relentlessly, to get Julia. He says he will not give up on wooing her. She’s smart and won’t give in because he’s a major playboy. But boy, did he majorly make me say some cuss words with that ending. Yeah, I know he’s trying to do the right thing, but DUDE, screw the right thing out the window, and do the BEST thing. Blah! Sorry I am just mad at him. LOL I actually think that ending is going to make an excellent start to book two, because I am dying to know what’s going to happen now. And, no, for those of you wondering, it’s not really a cliff hanger per se, but another talking piece. 🙂 Yeah, it’s hard to explain without telling you what it is.
I will definitely stick with paranormal romance, though there were mysteries, and drama, and some excellent plot twists. I will say a lot of this book had to do with world building, which is very interesting, and Julia catching Nathaniel, or maybe I should say Nathaniel catching Julia. LOL Depends on how you look at it. I really enjoyed that plot twist and who the bad guys were. I look forward to where this is all going to lead. And I am very much looking forward to reading book two! So, 4.5 EXCITING MAGICAL PAWS!!
Author Interview:
First, tell me a little about your book ….
£6.19 per Witching Hour is about a recruitment agency in London that deals with jobs for all the supernatural creatures. Julia Taylor is the main character. She is the main consultant that deals with fairies, vampires, witches, hags, wizards, mermaids, elves, giants and trolls that are unemployed. The story is filled with action and mystery and of course steamy romance. The action picks up once Julia has to negotiate a contract with handsome vampire, Nathaniel La Caz.
What inspired you to write your first book and what was it?
I was inspired by British folklore and other books. The idea for my first book (which is also a paranormal romance) was flowing in my head for over five years. I knew that I wanted to write a romance with a supernatural twist so one day I began writing and I never stopped.
How do you chose when/which characters die in your books?
Sometimes I know straight away when I want to kill off a character and sometimes I just do in the end unexpectedly. I never actually know what is going to happen to my characters.
Are there any new authors that have grasped your interest?
Yes, Jessica Sorensen and Tracey Sinclair.
Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing?
Yes, I am not a native English Speaker, so sometimes I struggle to find certain words in English.
What book are you reading now? Or what genre?
Mainly paranormal romance, recently I started reading a lot of new adult contemporary romance.
If you could be one of your characters, who would you chose?
I would love to become Julia Taylor, the main character of £6.19 per Witching Hour, her life is so exciting.
Do you have anything specific that you want to say to your readers?
Thank you for reading any of my books! I appreciate all the feedback.
About the Author:
Joanna Mazurkiewicz was born in Poland. She moved to United Kingdom when she was only nineteen and just finished high school. She had aspired to be a writer upon completion of the Harry Potter series but also enjoyed reading books like ‘Gone with the Wind’, ’Animal Farm’ and ‘The doll’. She graduated from Swansea University with a bachelor degree in American Studies. While studying in the UK she made a decision to start writing fiction in English.
The “Whispers of the Sprite” is her first debut novel and she is currently working on the other projects. Joanna lives in Cowbridge, a small town in South Wales near Cardiff with her boyfriend Bruce. She enjoys cycling around Welsh countryside some of which has become the settings in her first series.
@joannamaz
https://www.facebook.com/thewhispersofthesprite
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6543523.Joanna_Mazurkiewicz
http://joannamazurkiewiczco.ipage.com
Giveaway:
Happy Tails and Tales Blog 
Interesting premise
Thanks for the giveaway. I’d love to read the story.
Joanna says she decided to write in English. Was there anything she wrote in Polish, and has she thought about translating?