The time it was about The Late-Night Witches

Posted August 20, 2025 by Stacee in Interviews | 0 Comments

when I got the invite to interview auralee Wallace for her upcoming book the late-night witches, I happily agreed. I had just finished the book and loved it, so I was eager to pick her brain about the story.

before we get to auralee’s answers, let’s check out the book.

Title: The Late-Night Witches
Author: Auralee Wallace
Pages: 400
Publisher: Ace Books
Pub Date: August 19, 2025
Find it: PRH | Bookshop | Goodreads

Synopsis: Cassie Beckett’s life is anything but magical. With a wild younger sister, three unruly kids, and an absent husband, she’s really not looking forward to the witching month of October. At least the gorgeous, foggy Prince Edward Island is always quiet.

That is, until the vampires arrive.

As the creatures sink their teeth into Cassie’s tenuous grip on normalcy, she’s forced to come face-to-face with long–disregarded family secrets. The legacy gifts her with power, but also a lofty rid the island of vampires, or let them win. (Both options suck, in more ways than one.)

Armed with her family, newfound friends, and a baby in a spectacularly garlicky onesie, Cassie must learn what it is to be a witch and how to fight for what she loves before time runs out. Because on Halloween night, the stakes will be higher than ever before…and it’s up to Cassie to finish what the witches that came generations before her started.

sounds good, right?

1. Please give the elevator pitch for The Late-Night Witches.

Exhausted super-mom Cassie Beckett is juggling a teenager, twin boys, and a husband working overseas when she discovers one teeny, tiny, not-at-all-terrifying detail: she’s fated to duel a centuries-old master vampire on Halloween night. Think Buffy meets Practical Magic on Prince Edward Island’s red-sand beaches. Stakes are high. (Pun absolutely intended.)

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

The characters. Always the characters. I loved the idea of writing grown women (kind of like Netflix’s Good Girls) getting themselves into some sort of crazy trouble, and then I thought why not have that trouble be vampires? Why does it always have to be teenage girls staking bloodsuckers in graveyards? Why do they get to have the fun?

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

Because she’s basically every tired, overworked mom…who just happens to be fighting for the survival of the human race. Cassie has kind of lost herself over the years taking care of others, so she doesn’t exactly feel capable of being the witch/vampire-slayer the fates would like her to be, but she also doesn’t have a choice. Not only does she have the safety of her family to consider, but the fate of the world.

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

The absolute weirdest had to be: “Are onesies dipped in garlic oil safe?” It turns out they are not. Garlic oil can irritate baby skin. So, I made sure my dad-in-training character put the onesie over a sleeper.

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

Cassie fighting with her sister in the ocean. Because no matter how adult you think you are, siblings can always drag you straight back to being twelve years old. There’s nothing dignified about water-wrestling and mud-slinging, but sometimes it has to be done.

Speed(ish) round

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

Four minutes of blinking in disbelief and trying to remember how to breathe. Thirty seconds of getting the news out to my family…and then all the hugs.

2. What 3 things would you take to a desert island?

My Kindle (fully loaded and preferably enchanted so the battery never dies), sunscreen, and an endless supply of iced coffee.

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

Jane Eyre. It has drama, melodrama, romance, mystery, and all the gothic vibes. (Bertha coming down the stairs looking for Jane gets me every time.) Besides Jane’s life is pretty tough. I think she could help you get through whatever you might have going on.

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

I would probably tell people that while publishing looks like this big, intimidating machine – and in some ways it can be – it’s still made up of people, and most of those people are actually pretty nice.

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

Birth control. I’m joking, of course – kind of? – but I was a mom of three young children reading those books. Bella’s pregnancy was a lot for me.

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Auralee Wallace is the author of multiple novels, including the Otter Lake mystery series and the Evenfall Witches B&B Mysteries. She has an undergraduate degree in psychology and a Master’s degree in English literature, and she worked in the publishing industry for a number of years before teaching at the college level. When this perpetually sleep-deprived mother of three children and one rescue cat isn’t writing, reading, or playing soccer, she can be found watching BBC mysteries and warring with a family of peregrine falcons for the rights to her backyard. website | instagram