Hidden Salem by Kiki Howell Blog Tour and Guest Post!

Hidden Salem
Kiki Howell

Genre: Contemporary, Paranormal, Romantic Suspense

Publisher: Mitchell Morris Publishing Inc

ISBN: 9781937629281

Number of pages: 332

Cover Artist: Tara at http://fantasiafrogdesigns.wordpress.com/

Book Trailer: http://youtu.be/lgy8wgA3bDI

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Book Description:

Intuition alone brought Makayla to Salem, Ma in search of a story, but her research has her confronting more than she bargained for. With her empathic gifts stronger in Witch City, she physically suffers, landing her literally unconscious in the arms of both Noah Ayers, local cop and Dylan Baines, local history teacher. Yet, it is Lauri, a witch who owns a local shop, who teaches Makayla about who she is and what she can do.

Unfortunately for all of them, Makayla also stumbles upon a coven in the woods practicing a dark magic ritual. Now they are after her, threatening her life and the lives of those she has quickly come to care about. Immersed in things she never expected, like an old legend and necromancy due to residual hauntings, the race is on to stay safe from the coven and protect her heart from a certain sexy cop.

But, is Lauri correct in thinking Makayla might just have encountered the only real witch in Salem in 1692? And, do they share the same bloodline?

Reviews:

“Richly vivid and captivatingly engrossing, Hidden Salem is a mesmerizing tale that blends an eerie historical past with a rather terrifying present. Kiki Howell brings the fascination of the witches of Salem - both past and present - to a brilliant level, adding liberal doses of sensuous love, suspense and murder to provide a hard-to-put-down, provocative and memorable story that you don't want to miss.” ~ April Pohren, Cafe of Dreams Book Reviews

“Kiki Howell spins a tale that will bewitch your heart and leave you wanting more.” ~ Misty Rayburn - Top Shelf Book Reviews

" I really enjoyed reading Hidden Salem. You see a lot of books about the Salem Witch Hunt. This one is really different and I just really loved the characters and how they interact with each other. I enjoyed this paranormal. Had the right amount of suspense and love interest. " ~Crystal, Romancing the Book

About the Author:

Ever since she was young, Kiki Howell has loved to listen to a well-woven tale with real characters, inspired plots, and delightful resolutions. Kiki could spend hours lost in a book, and soon she knew that creating lives, loves, and losses with just words had to be the greatest thing that she could do. To that end, she pursued her study of literature and writing, earning a bachelor’s degree in English. She then followed in a Master’s program in Creative Writing.

She has now had over thirty stories published between eleven different publishers. She could not be more thrilled or grateful to see her creations polished and out in the real world. In May, 2011, Kiki was chosen as an Ohioana Book Festival author for her novel, Torn Asunder.

http://www.kikihowell.com

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http://authorsbyauthors.blogspot.com

Guest Post:

  A Little More About the Trip That Inspired My Novel

Yes, I was obsessed with going to Salem, MA and finding inspiration to write my novel. I’ve confessed through my blog tour for my novel Hidden Salem that I do possess some special gifts for reading energy and emotions stuck on objects, in the ground, etc. So, I thought I would go to Salem and stumble upon some place memories, some energy stuck there from the past.

Only problem was, there is little left from the actual witch hunts in the city. The actual witch’s dungeon was covered over long ago, and now a business building has been built over it. I mean I can understand that, when the witch hysteria was over why a city would want to bury such history.

So, when you go to the Witch’s Dungeon in Salem, MA what you are getting is something built to represent what it must have been like, lots of information (I’m not saying it was bad) and one board from the real thing.

Witches Dungeon Board

Here is a quote from the novel where my main character, Makayla goes through the same thing.

“When the sunlight hit my skin, tears burned my eyes for all of the pieces of history destroyed or buried. Maybe it was my encounter with Mary making me want more, more connection, a more personal experience with some part of Salem no one else could see. If excitement and trepidation could live side-by-side, hold hands like friends with a mutual goal, then they were inside of me as I walked the town the rest of the morning. I found myself wishing and pleading with some invisible realm for another encounter. “

She wants to touch something, to stumble upon some piece of history most do not see in Salem, a hidden Salem if you will. I probably haven’t said, but Makayla in the story goes to Salem for the same reason I did, to find a story to write.

And, I was writing blind. I went with no preconceived ideas, no idea what my story was going to be about, no idea what I even wanted to see. I was just going to let the city, fate, guide me to what I needed to see, and boy did it ever! Like, within the first hour of arriving right on Pickering Wharf.

Pickering Wharf

Here is another quote from the book that shows this.

“Eventually, I decided to pay to spend the afternoon in the Peabody Essex Museum Library doing research. The unfortunate thing was, I had no idea what I was researching. I guess I was hoping that some amazing piece of information would fall into my lap and would get my fingers whizzing across the keyboard.”

Again, in this novel real life and fiction are so intermixed that even I may have trouble distinguishing the two at this point LOL Well, okay, not really. But, it made writing this novel a real experience, and one of the hardest I have ever written.