Elements of Mischief
C.M. Stunich & Tate James
(Hijinks Harem #1)
Publication date: October 4th 2017
Genres: Adult, Paranormal, Romance
Four hunky, supernatural plumbers.
One reluctant, slightly drunk human.
A match made in heaven…or in the bathroom, rather.
My name is Arizona Smoke, and I’m the proud owner of a house haunted by my dead Gram, best friend to a cocktail dress loving werewolf, and apparent soul mate to four plumbers who also happen to be elemental dragons. Besides rippling pectorals, tattoos, and…uh, nice, long pipes, the guys also have control of the elements.
Supernatural law (whoever heard of such a thing anyway?) dictates that since I stumbled upon the guys in their alternate forms, I have to marry them. All four of them. Oh, and apparently one lousy (okay, awesome) night of sex means that I’m an elemental, too—and no amount of magical penicillin can cure this disease.
All I wanted was hot running water and toilets that flushed, but now I’m dealing with monsters lurking in the sewers, supernatural politics, and four penniless (but totally hot) plumbers living in my crumbling old Victorian.
I’m Ari Smoke, wine aficionado, ex-barista, and a girl who is completely out of her element.
Having four hot husbands is nice…but the death threats, not so much.
Excerpt:
The sound of shattering glass echoed through
the huge, empty kitchen as my wine slipped from my fingers and I choked over
what I'd just heard. Clutching my phone to my ear, I took a breath before
responding.
“It's going to cost me how much?” I needed to clarify because surely I'd
just heard him wrong.
“Seventeen thousand, ma'am. And to be honest, that's a stretch. If we
ran into any more unexpected problems along the way, that price would go up.”
The man on the other end was so matter-of-fact about it. So uncaring that he
was delivering such gut-wrenching news to me. “Look, I'm not going to fuck
around on this. It's a seriously old house, and no one has touched that
plumbing practically since the day it was installed. I just don't think I have
the manpower to spare on a job like this right now.”
“But what am I supposed to do?” I hated the fact that my voice had just
come out in a whimpering squeak, like a pathetic little girl. I was a tough
bitch normally, but not having a toilet in the house was rough. For the last
few days, I'd been walking three blocks to an antique store just to pee. “I
can't live here without any plumbing, and I already gave up my apartment …”
Of
course this guy didn't care about my problems. He didn't care that my
grandmother had just died and left me her crumbling Victorian mansion, or that
I had just spent nearly every cent to my name on her funeral. Truth was, I
would have had to give up my apartment regardless, because I no longer had any
way to pay my rent since I was fired from my job at the local coffee shop. They
simply hadn't understood why I needed so much time off to care for my
grandmother in her final weeks. It was kind of lucky, in that case, that Gram
had left me this house or I really would have been out on the street.
“I'd usually tell you to sell it, but no one will buy it without working
plumbing so you don't really have a choice here, ma'am.” The man was still
speaking, oblivious to my descent into desperation, and I sucked in a shaking
breath, swiping the dampness off my cheeks with the back of my hand.
“Can you recommend anyone else?” I asked politely, but my voice shook
like a leaf in a blizzard. There wasn't anything quite so stressful as having
toilets that didn't flush. “I'm not from around here so I don't know where else
to find good plumbers.”
A
long sigh came down the phone.
“Yeah, look, I'll put in a good word for you with my son and his
friends. They're just starting out with their own business, so they've probably
got the time free to take on a job like this. He might cut you a deal or a
payment plan or something, but no guarantees. At least you'll know he learned
from the best.”
“Oh, god that would be … fucking incredible!” Relief flooded over me. This
plumbing needed fixing, but I was flat broke. The next door neighbor's tree
roots had messed up all of the plumbing in Gram's mansion, meaning none of the
taps, toilets or anything was working. It had been years since Gram had done
any maintenance whatsoever, so who knew how bad the damage was?
“Don't thank me yet,” the man grunted, “these boys are known around
these parts for having a bit of a wild streak. Personally, I wouldn't hire
them—even with my son involved—but you're not exactly in a position to be picky
so …”
“Uh, right.” Asshole, no need to rub it in. “So do you have a contact
number for them?”
“No need. I'll let them know about the job and they can get in touch
with you.” He sounded a bit reluctant, like he was already regretting his
suggestion. Hopefully not because of how big this job was? Or maybe he was
worried about those famed wild streaks?
But please. Plumbers? How crazy could they be? I imagined them all in
their late forties with big bellies and butt cracks covered in wiry hair. No,
thank you. How much action could they really be getting?
“Thank you so much, sir. I really appreciate it,” I gushed politely.
Never hurt to have manners. More flies with honey and all that … Or wait, flies
were actually more attracted to shit, huh? Which is what I was going to be
ankle-deep in if I didn't get this plumbing fixed.
“Don't thank me yet,” he muttered, then disconnected our call.
Strange man. Fuck I need more wine.
I eyed the mess of glass and liquid on the
tiled floor, then shrugged to myself and grabbed the bottle. No one else was
here to judge me. Swigging straight from the bottle, I headed back into the
living room to watch Pretty Little Liars, my guilty obsession.
Hey, it was better than the Maury Show, right?
But only by a little.
Interview with C.M. Stunich
& Tate James
Can you tell us a little bit about the
characters in “Elements of Mischief”?
Absolutely! Since reverse harem reads are, at their core,
all about the woman in charge of the beautiful men, let’s start with Arizona
Smoke. She’s unemployed, a tad juvenile,
and absolutely in love with wine. Like,
really in love with wine. Like maybe she
has a problem? Ahem. Anyway, we both enjoy reading books that show
a main character’s growth, and so we decided to do the same with our
story—start with a relatable but still likeable woman and watch her grow into a
total bad*ss. As far as the guys go,
book one in this trilogy introduces you to four of Ari’s lovers as well as one
unknown hottie from her past: Shane, Reg, Billy, George, and Warden. Each guy has his own distinct personality:
the leader with a Southern accent, the playful flirt, the a-hole bad boy, the
nice guy, and the enigma.
Can you tell us a little bit about your next
books or what you have planned for the future?
We could write a
novel with all the things we have planned for the future! Oh wait … we are writing novels! Anyhow, let’s start with the co-writes
because they’re so much fun. First off,
we’re finishing the “Elements of Mischief” trilogy with a bang in “Elements of
Desire”, we’re launching a new trilogy with the Louisiana bayou as the setting
and dark fae/motorcycle clubs as the theme called “Dark Glitter”, and we’re
starting our much-anticipated urban fantasy series “The Nine”. On top of all that, we have two fairytale
themed projects that we’re participating in together: one is a multi-author
series of reverse harem fairytale retellings.
We are each writing our own book, but we’re both part of the set. And then the second one is a co-write in a
large box set with over a dozen other very accomplished authors. Then there are those secret plans like— Not telling, sorry! Just stay tuned though
and you’ll see!!
How long would you say it takes you to write
a book?
This is a hard
question to answer because it depends on so many factors: when is the deadline,
how many other projects do we have going, how many edits we have, how long the
book is, etc. But on average for our
co-writes, it can be anywhere from three weeks to two months. Usually, we’re working on 3-4 co-writes at
the same time since we each write 1,000 words and then switch, schedules can be
hard to coordinate so we always ensure there are lots of options to choose
from.
What is your favorite childhood book?
Since this is one
question we can’t go “we” on …
C.M. Stunich: My
favorite was “Witch’s Cat” by Ruth Chew!
I had the version with the big red slipper on the front, the moon, and
two kids riding inside of it along with a black and white cat. LOL. I don’t remember much about it, but it’s one
of the first chapter books I ever picked up on my own.
Tate James: “Watership Down” by Richard Adams because …
rabbits … and tears. I don’t cry much
(wait, do I cry?) and that one … it’s emotional.
C.M.: You totally cry. You are SUCH a crier.
Tate: I said “much”! I don’t cry
“much”!
C.M.: Mmm hmmm…
If you could spend the day with one of the
characters from “Elements of Mischief” who would it be? Please tell us why you
chose this particular character, where you would go and what you would do.
This is an easy
one: Warden. Not only because he’s an
enigma in Arizona’s, the main character’s, life and I’d love to pick his brain
a little, but because he has a unique way of cursing—stuff like “Don’t just
stand there—this isn’t a Bar Mitzvah!” or “Holy sweet goat cheese!”. Also, he’s completely and totally hot and if
he, um, weren’t with Ari, maybe he could take one of us out on a date that
ended up at his place … Wait, which one
of us would he take?! We’ll fight each
other for him if we have to. Yup. Time for a girl fight! WARDEN IS MINE!!
What was the hardest scene from “Elements of
Mischief” to write?
Hands down, this
was the erm, group “marking” scene where Ari’s four love interests have to …
mark her with magic. This involves … a
bed and no clothing. I think the scene
ended up being around 12k words long (this is REALLY long, for those who don’t
know word counts), and was definitely a tricky one because it had to accomplish
all of the following things: be sexy, include all five characters equally, and
get the important magic bits out of the way.
What made you want to become a writer?
We were both drawn
to writing for similar reasons, just at different times. One of the things we both agree on is that
writing is an outlet for emotions and ideas that, even when included in a
fictional story, feel like they’re burning until we’re able to get them out on
paper. And burning emotionally, not like the down under region after that one-night
stand in college… Ugh, we’re so
crude! Totally inappropriate joke. Ahem.
Also, we’re both avid readers, and when something drives us crazy in a
story—like a love triangle for example—we hop on and we write basically the
opposite to make us feel better. Like,
writing reverse harem so we never have to see our heroine choose!
C.M. Stunich:
Just for fun
(a Favorite song: “Nightmare” by Set it Off
(b Favorite book: “Darkfever” by Karen Marie Moning
(c Favorite movie: “Stardust”
(d Favorite tv show: “American Vandal”
(e Favorite Food: Wine. What? It’s a food. Sort of.
(f Favorite drink: Also, wine.
(g Favorite website: Any website that sells wine. Seriously.
Thanks so much for visiting with us today!
Author Bio:
Tate James was born and raised in the Land of the Long White Cloud (New Zealand) but now lives in Australia with her husband, baby and furbaby.She is a lover of books, red wine, cats and coffee and is not a morning person. She is a bit too sarcastic and swears too much for polite society and definitely tells too many dirty jokes.
C.M. Stunich is a self-admitted bibliophile with a love for exotic teas and a whole host of characters who live full time inside the strange, swirling vortex of her thoughts. Some folks might call this crazy, but Caitlin Morgan doesn’t mind – especially considering she has to write biographies in the third person. Oh, and half the host of characters in her head are searing hot bad boys with dirty mouths and skillful hands (among other things). If being crazy means hanging out with them everyday, C.M. has decided to have herself committed.
She hates tapioca pudding, loves to binge on cheesy horror movies, and is a slave to many cats. When she’s not vacuuming fur off of her couch, C.M. can be found with her nose buried in a book or her eyes glued to a computer screen. She’s the author of over thirty novels – romance, new adult, fantasy, and young adult included. Please, come and join her inside her crazy. There’s a heck of a lot to do there.
Oh, and Caitlin loves to chat (incessantly), so feel free to e-mail her, send her a Facebook message, or put up smoke signals. She’s already looking forward to it.
1 comments:
Thanks for being on the tour! :)
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