The time it was about A Werewolf’s Guide to Seducing a Vampire

Posted August 15, 2024 by Stacee in Interviews | 0 Comments

I have really enjoyed the Glimmer Falls series, so when I got the invite to interview Sarah Hawley for the newest installment, I replied right away. (Spoiler alert: this one is my favorite of the series!)

Before we get to Sarah’s answers, let’s check out the book.

Title: A Werewolf’s Guide to Seducing a Vampire (Glimmer Falls #3)
Author: Sarah Hawley
Pages: 448
Publisher: Berkley
Pub Date: August 13, 2024
Find it: PRH | Bookshop | Goodreads

Synopsis: Werewolf Ben Rosewood is happy with his life. One hundred percent. Everything is fine. His business, Ben’s Plant Emporium, is thriving, and he’s even expanding the shop. His anxiety disorder is…well, it’s been better, but that comes with the territory of running a business and having beastly urges every full moon, right? As for romance—who has the time? Though his family is desperate to see him settled, Ben is fine approaching forty as a single werewolf. But after drunkenly bidding on and winning a supposedly-possessed crystal on eBay one night, he finds himself face-to-face with a beautiful but angry vampire.

Eleanora Bettencourt-Devereux is a rare breed—a vampire succubus born from two elite European bloodlines during medieval times. But thanks to an evil witch, she’s been stuck in a crystal since she was thirty, forced to obey orders from the possessor of the rock. Eleanora’s been dreaming of breaking the spell and severing the witch’s head for centuries. But did this witch really sell her to someone new, and for only ninety-nine cents?

Eleanora would claw this werewolf’s heart out and eat it, if only the binding spell would allow her to. But Eleanora and Ben soon realize they can help each other with both vengeful and less hostile needs. And why not have a little fun along the way?

Sounds good, right?

1. Please give the elevator pitch for A Werewolf’s Guide to Seducing a Vampire.

A very sweet and anxious werewolf buys a supposedly possessed crystal on eBay as a joke… only to find out that the crystal really is possessed by a 600-year-old vampire succubus assassin who is now bound to obey his every command. The two of them set out to break the curse and free her, navigating a mayoral campaign, a café opening, and a lot of experimental theatre along the way. And, of course, they fall in love.

2. While setting up the story line for Ben, were there any plot points you immediately knew you wanted to include?

I wanted to depict a character who is struggling with mental health issues to show that no matter what our brains are up to, we are worthy of love. Ben grapples with anxiety and panic attacks, and that’s okay—he deserves to be loved just the way he is. Eleonore isn’t a typical heroine, either. She’s traumatized and blunt and angry and deeply strange, and that’s okay, too. People in love don’t have to be perfect. They just have to support each other, forgive each other, and aim for happiness together.

3. Why do you love Eleonore and Ben and why should readers root for them?

I adore how these two defy stereotypes. Eleonore is the grumpy, feral character and Ben is the blushing, sunshine character. They fulfill each other in important ways—Eleonore helps protect Ben (both from enemies and his own endlessly self-sacrificing impulses) while Ben provides Eleonore with all the kindness and softness (and home-cooked dinners) she’s been missing. I love that Ben knits and scrunches his toes when he’s anxious, and I love that Eleonore hisses and knows far too much about Star Trek.

4. Were there any weird things you googled while drafting?

So many! Infinitely many! Then again, I always Google strange things. There’s a scene where Ben sees Eleonore’s list of what she wants to research and realizes that in the span of a day, she’s learned about poutine, dry cleaning, Henry VIII’s codpiece armor, the giant slalom, Sesame Street, and the Unsinkable Molly Brown. That’s 100% what my browsing history looks like on any given day. For this book, I spent a lot of time researching experimental theatre and art installations, the different types of lunar month, phallic peppers, French insults, wolf diets, how to run for mayor, and more.

5. Without spoilers, which scene was your favorite to write?

I absolutely loved writing Eleonore’s first performance. (She ends up doing a one-woman show at Ben’s café for… non-spoilery plot reasons.) It was unhinged and ridiculous, and it was so fun to imagine what she might do and how the audience might react.

Speed {ish} round:

1. You find out that you’re being published for the first time. Describe the next 5 minutes.

After I got off the phone with my editor, knowing she was going to be putting together an offer, I couldn’t quite believe it. I’ve been trying to get published for years, and there were a lot of times it felt like it might never happen. I held it together reasonably well during the call, but afterwards I couldn’t stop grinning and crying and jumping around my apartment.

2. What three things would you take to a desert island?

A satellite phone, a portable desalination kit, and a journal (I would get so much writing done while awaiting my rescue!)

3. You can only read one book for the rest of your life. What is it?

This is a horrible question!!! It would need to be something very long—maybe my Lord of the Rings omnibus edition? Or maybe a fairy tale anthology so I would have a lot of stories to read instead of just one.

4. What is the one thing about publishing you wish someone would have told you?

How emotionally difficult debut year in particular can be. Getting the book deal is amazing, but so much stress and self-doubt comes afterwards that I think a lot of us feel guilty about. Because we’ve made it! This is the fulfillment of years of dreams! We should only be happy! But a million questions come with that success. What if I’m not good enough? What if the book doesn’t sell? Am I doing enough? How am I supposed to juggle these new deadlines? You don’t know anything about the industry at first, and you’re just waiting in agony to find out if you can make an actual career out of this. There are wonderful moments, too, obviously, and the good far outweighs the bad. But I think authors need to have compassion for themselves, and they should know they aren’t alone in having moments of terror and self-doubt.

5. You wake up and discover you are Bella in Twilight. You know how it plays out. What do you do differently?

Confession time… I have never actually read Twilight, and I only watched the first two movies. But I imagine I could cut down on a lot of angst and pining if I just walked up to Edward on the first day of class and said “Hey, you’re a vampire! That’s cool. Wanna make out?”

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Sarah Hawley lives in the Pacific Northwest, where her hobbies include rambling through the woods and appreciating fictional villains. She has an MA in archaeology and has excavated at an Inca site in Chile, a Bronze Age palace in Turkey, and a medieval abbey in England. When not dreaming up whimsical love stories, she can be found reading, dancing, or cuddling her two cats.