It's chock full of princes who just love to
dance. In a world where the nobility have been fairy-cursed to bear no
more male children, it's a secret they enjoy to the fullest.
But without male heirs, the human lands are on the verge of anarchy.
The King and Queen hire Jon Tom, a detective, to find out where their
daughters are disappearing to every night. Susannah finds herself
wanting to tell Jon Tom all her secrets-and give him her heart.
But if Susannah's secrets go public, her parents won't be happy.
Worse, the fairies won't be happy. And the enchanted princes will be
in danger.
Warning: this title contains the following: hot sex, hot springs sex,
hot-to-trot women and patriarchal hardheadedness.
Reviews for A Spell For Susannah
"With her delightfully quirky brand of humor, Jody Wallace gives an
old story a wonderfully new and unique twist....Ms. Wallace is a
bright new talent who shines in both the elements of fantasy and
romance. A Spell for Susannah makes a memorable first impression as
you laugh and cheer the main characters on to their well deserved
happily ever after." - LeeAnn for Fallen Angel Reviews
"This is a tongue-in-cheek romp (think, oh, Piers Anthony's fantasy
stories). ... Ms Wallace has achieved a very nice balance between the
story and the humorous elements in A Spell For Susannah. The storyline
is pretty strong and coherent without being buried under a mountain of
jokes. Everything comes together very nicely here, making it a
pleasurable story to read and laugh with." - Mrs. Giggles for Herself
"This enjoyable adaptation of the Twelve Dancing Princesses fairy tale
is clever and intriguing. Jody Wallace gives the story a new face,
adding some modern elements that spark the plot and provide the reader
with plenty of smiles along the way. She has a great feel for her
characters, a nice sense of comic timing, and a contagious sense of
humor. There is a definite attitude that pervades the story, and is
most apparent in her female characters. Just a touch of snark that
makes things really interesting, and adds to the charms of the
romantic relationship. This is a great read when you want something
light and entertaining, but truly satisfying." - Miranda Lee for
ParaNormal Romance Reviews
"With a gentle humor that is akin to, but not as bald as Gregory
Maguire's, Ms. Wallace sweeps us away to magical lands populated by
witty women and somewhat clueless, for the most part, men that they
love. It's an interesting place to visit, and I'd enjoy seeing how the
other eleven girls find their way to romance." - Amanda Killgore for
Huntress Reviews
Read an excerpt from A Spell For Susannah
Visit Jody Wallace's web site
Visit Jody's blog
About Jody Wallace
Jody Wallace grew up in the South in a very rural area. She went to
school a long time and ended up with a Master's Degree in Creative
Writing. In addition to author, her resume includes English teacher,
technical documents editor, market analyst, wife & mother, web
designer, and general all around pain in the butt. She is currently
published in romance fiction under the names Jody Wallace and Ellie
Marvel. She has always lived with cats, and they have always been
mean.
To learn more about Ms. Wallace, please visit www.jodywallace.com or
her blog, http://meankittybox.blogspot.com.
Backlist
As Jody Wallace:
SUM3: The 2006 Zircon Anthology of Speculative Romance from Zumaya
Publishing
As Ellie Marvel:
"Heat" in Secrets 22: Dark Whispers from Red Sage Publishing
"Birthday" in Secrets 17: Erotic Nights from Red Sage Publishing
An Interview with Jody Wallace
By Holly Hewson Marketing Director for The Romance Studio
HH: Jody, welcome back to TRS! Please tell us about your featured book, A Spell for Susannah. JW: A Spell for Susannah is a fantasy romance based on the fairy tale "The
12 Dancing Princesses." The heroine is Susannah, the eldest of twelve
sisters, who discovers she can work fairy magic while trying to break
the curse on the Middle Kingdoms -- that the Middle Kingdom nobility
bear no more male offspring. In a patriarchal society, you can
imagine what type of chaos the lack of suitable husbands and heirs
would cause. All those noble ladies with nobody to... Well, you
know. The hero is a rascally detective by the name of Jon Tom who's
hired by the King and Queen to find out where their daughters
disappear to at night and what they've been doing to wear out so many
pairs of slippers. Needless to say, sneaking around, witty repartee,
and plentiful sparks ensue.
HH: I think your tag line says it all. <g> A not-ready-for-Disney fairy tale. Where did you get the idea for this sizzling tale? JW: Unlike a lot of fairy tale novels that take huge liberties with the story, I tried to stick to the original plot. That's not a criticism
of other revamps, many of which I count among my favorites; I just had
a different goal. I've always loved fairy tales -- the feel of them,
the world they took place in, the moral underpinnings, and, of course,
the frequent gruesomeness. The world I created for Susannah combines
fairy tale flavor with 21st century snark, and the plot could, in some
lights, be viewed as the very, very expanded version of the original
story. With sex. And hopefully unexpected twists. And some cussing.
HH: What challenges did you face in writing this story? JW: During the writing of Spell for Susannah, I experienced a high-risk
pregnancy and gave birth; plus this was the first novel I'd completed
since a questionable manuscript written as a teen. Then, when I
started sending SFS around, there was no market for cross-genre
romance. Luckily for me and Suze, there is now.
HH: What did you enjoy most about writing it? JW: I loved working little fairy tale references into the narrative,
reminders of other stories and the rich tradition of fairy tales in
general. I removed some of the sillier ones over the course of the
book's metamorphosis, but maybe I'll share them in my newsletter some
time. Since this was my first novel written as an adult, I also loved
the rush of accomplishment I got when I wrote "The End". Quite
addictive!
HH: What do you like best about Jon Tom?
JW: How cocky he begins the story, sure there could never be a case that
stumped him, surprised him or absorbed him to the extent that this
particular case does -- the Case of the Twelve Dancing Princesses,
with one princess in particular providing the greatest challenge. How
his masculinity is tested and honed without any need for sword
fighting, chest beating and alpha male posturing. How he and Susannah
function as a team, in the end, instead of one being stronger or
weaker or "saving" the other. Hopefully readers can close the book
convinced those two crazy thirty-somethings (they're not kids) will be
happy together for ever after.
HH: What are you working on now and what can readers look forward to from you in the near future? JW: I'm in the middle of edits for my second novel, SURVIVAL OF THE
FAIREST, out July 15 from Samhain, which involves a fairy princess
from another Realm who's been sent to humanspace to learn survival
training without magic. However, our heroine gives the big thumbs
down to tents and camping and decides she'd rather survive in Vegas,
where she meets stage magician Jake Story. They experience an
attraction that's both instant and electric...and hints there might be
more to Jake than meets the eye. Jake and Tali end up on the run from
the authorities from Tali's Realm, and in the process Tali learns what
it really means to be human-by falling in love.
My novella "Liam's Gold", set in the same world as SURVIVAL OF THE
FAIREST, comes out with Samhain in November 2008. Hero in that one's
the supernatural Realm-dweller, not the heroine. He's a leprechaun
who's almost ready to disappear after his sojourn in humanspace. But
he's not the kind of leprechaun you see on the Lucky Charms box,
that's for sure! The ante gets upped when his nemesis from the Realm
hones in on him, and he's forced to rely on the heroine, his next door
neighbor, to help him maintain his disguise as a human by having a
fling with him. Only he can't tell her what he is--or the fact he's
about to leave her.
The Ellie Marvel side of me is in discussions with Red Sage Publishing
about an interactive novella. The heroine is a female starship pilot
on a quest for good beer, better sex and maybe even true love. The
details on that one are still fuzzy, so I can't say more at this time.
But I'm excited about the possibilities and hope it works out.
HH: What goals have you set for yourself this year in your career? JW: My editor at Samhain has hinted she'd like to see a sequel to SURVIVAL
OF THE FAIREST. I suppose that would be in the realm of possibility.
I also plan to get that interactive novella off and running.
HH: At this point, what accomplishment are you most proud of? JW: I stay home with two young children and squeeze the writing in
between, but I'm not insane yet. I think that's pretty impressive.
Although, one does encounter a certain misconception about the at-home
life from people who've never stayed home with young children. They
feel you shouldn't have trouble finding enough "free time" to
accomplish whatever it is you want to do, not to mention you can tell
they don't think highly of your choice to work in the home instead of
out of it. And then these individuals, being helpful sorts, list
people who accomplished so much more, and with such larger challenges,
than you, and you just want to punch them in the face. But you don't
because, like I said, you're not insane yet and you don't want to hurt
your hand.
Come to think of it, not punching them in the face is pretty
impressive, too. So I guess that's two things.
HH: What do you enjoy reading personally? JW: My keeper attic (shelf?? ha!) is filled with women's fiction, most subgenres of romance, sf/f, chick lit, Southern fiction, YA fiction,
literary fiction, and some classics, but not a lot of mystery,
thrillers or horror.
HH: Any vacation plans this year? JW: Does the Lori Foster Reader-Writer Get Together Week-end count? I'll
be doing my first book signing along with a bunch of other authors,
but the real vacation part is the fact that the children will not be
there. http://www.lorifoster.com/community/readergettogthr.htm. I'm
currently pressuring my sister, who's much better looking than I am,
to pretend she's me while I pretend to be her dumpy, socially inept
assistant or something, just like in all the books. Only I'm already
happily married, so she'll have to be the one who gets the hot guy
after the inevitable case of mistaken identity. Which is okay by me,
but her boyfriend might not be as thrilled.
HH: Thank you!
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