The time it was about Haunted Ever After

Posted August 13, 2024 by Stacee in Interviews | 0 Comments

When I got the invite to interview Jen DeLuca for her new release Haunted Ever After, I jumped at the chance. I’m a huge fan of her Ren Faire series and couldn’t wait to get my greedy eyeballs on this new story. (spoiler alert: I loved it!)

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

Title: Haunted Ever After (Boneyard Key #1)
Author: Jen DeLuca
Pages: 352
Publisher: Berkley
Pub Date: August 13, 2024
Find it: PRH | Bookshop | Goodreads

Synopsis: Small Florida coastal towns often find themselves scrambling for the tourism dollars that the Orlando theme parks leave behind. And within the town limits of Boneyard Key, the residents decided long ago to lean into its ghostliness. Nick Royer, owner of the Hallowed Grounds coffee shop, embraces the ghost tourism that keeps the local economy afloat, as well as his spectral roommate. At least he doesn’t have to run air-conditioning.

Cassie Rutherford possibly overreacted to all her friends getting married and having kids by leaving Orlando and buying a flipped historic cottage in Boneyard Key. Though there’s something unusual with her new home (her laptop won’t charge in any outlets, and the poetry magnets on her fridge definitely didn’t read “WRONG” and “MY HOUSE” when she put them up), she’s charmed by the colorful history surrounding her. And she’s catching a certain vibe from the grumpy coffee shop owner whenever he slips her a free slice of banana bread along with her coffee order.

As Nick takes her on a ghost tour, sharing town gossip that tourists don’t get to hear, and they spend nights side-by-side looking into the former owners of her haunted cottage, their connection solidifies into something very real and enticing. But Cassie’s worried she’s in too deep with this whole (haunted) home ownership thing… and Nick’s afraid to get too close in case Cassie gets scared away for good.

Sounds good, right

1. Please give the elevator pitch for Haunted Ever After.

Taylor Swift’s “the last great American dynasty” if it were written by Jimmy Buffett and then turned into an episode of GHOSTS on CBS.

2. Which came first: the plot or the characters?

The setting, actually! I knew I wanted to write something about ghosts, and I also wanted to set something by the beach. Eventually those two things converged, and before I knew it I’d created a haunted Florida tourist town.

3. Why do you love Cassie and Nick and why should readers root for them?

They’re both kind people with open hearts, yet they’re so incredibly lonely. I think we’ve all felt that longing for someone who “gets” us, and Nick and Cassie find that in each other.

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

Women’s rights and property law in the early 20th century were probably the most obscure things I looked up. I also spent a lot of time figuring out what time sunset would occur at different parts of the year!

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

The exorcism scene. The person conducting it is one of my favorite side characters and she has some… unorthordox methods. (Two words: water pistol.)

Speed {ish} round:

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

Screaming internally as my brain tries to make sense of what just happened. (I have a bad time believing it when good things happen to me.) Later there are happy tears, but those first few minutes are just shock and awe.

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

Assuming the basics like food and water are taken care of, my Nintendo Switch (with a charger that’s solar-powered, I assume?), my overstuffed Kindle (I can finally read all those books I bought on sale!), and a ridiculous amount of sunscreen.

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

THE NIGHT CIRCUS by Erin Morgenstern. That book has such a layered, beautiful world that I never get tired of re-reading it.

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

That there’s a lot of waiting! You have that initial excitement of the book deal, then edits, but once it’s off to production there’s a lot of time where it’s just you and that empty inbox, where you get to wonder if maybe they changed their mind.

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

Here’s where I admit that I’m not a huge Twilight fan, so my knowledge of how it plays out is mostly through memes. That said, I think I’d go all in on the werewolf that used to date Taylor Swift.

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Jen DeLuca is the USA Today bestselling author of the Well Met series, which was inspired by her time volunteering as a pub wench with her local Renaissance Faire. She loves Publix chicken tender subs, cold brew coffee, and the Oxford comma. Jen lives in the Arizona desert with her husband, their rescue dog, and almost too many cats.