About the Book:
For the Kingdom. For the magic. And for love . . .
Aurelia Wycherley has found someone to tether her magic to – her enigmatic former enemy, Jules Nightly. Now, they are heading off to coven college to learn advanced magic. But they are also on a secret to discover the Lost Quarter of the college, create their own coven of twelve and try to discover a way to bring back the Old Magic.
When malevolent magic interrupts their first night at college, Aurelia and Jules discover that Jonathan and his coven of untethered witches has escaped and now they are after her magic, curse and all…
Can they save the magic and the world – or will Aurelia lose her magic for good?
Find this book on Goodreads and Bookshop.org UK (affiliate link).
About the Author:
Annaliese has spent most of her life surrounded by stories, both at work as a library manager and at home writing them. She holds an MA in Creative Writing and has worked as a children and Young adult book editor, and has taught creative writing workshops across the UK. She currently works at a global conservation charity.
Annaliese is a keen amateur astronomer and founded an astronomical society in 2013.
Interview:
Aurelia and Jules are forming a magical coven of their own in this book. While some are familiar faces (Constance would have been liberal with her hexes if she wasn’t involved!), many of the witches are new characters. Can you introduce us to them? Do you have any favourites among the newcomers?
We have so many new characters! each of them brings something uniquely their own to the Coven! Finding the members of the coven is a big part of Aurelia and Jules’ focus in the book and I don’t want to spoil too much but as well as Constance and Vaughn, and Martyn and Bev, who we met in the first book we also meet a close friend of Jules – Emillio Torres, who has just returned from America where he met his tether Henry Anderson. Emillio has a bit of a family curse/conundrum of his own that he is working out and it all centers around the mysterious The Lost Quarter.
This book is largely set in the coven college, a place we visited last book but only briefly. What are you looking forward to readers discovering about the college?
I hope that readers enjoy the experience of attending the coven college, of not only the furthering of magical knowledge that Aurelia and Jules do why they are there, but also the way that they learn more about themselves, each other and the witches they align themselves with. I would have LOVED to have attended a magical coven college and I hope that readers are left with a desire to do so too.
The Lost Quarter of the coven college has plenty of secrets in store for the cast – and the reader. Did any of the revelations come as a surprise to you while writing this book?
Yes, most of them. I don’t plan my books, I write my way into them and as I do I find things out along the way, finding out that the Lost Coven may not be empty was a bit of a shock for me, but one that I was excited to learn about – and to find out how being trapped in the Lost Quarter would have impacted them.
Of course, Jules and Aurelia have plenty of swoony moments, and are bolder in teasing each other now their affections have been acknowledged. Do you have a favourite moment between them?
Anytime that Aurelia does something a little dangerous and Jules is all, “You are supposed to give me two days written notice of such things” brings me joy. Their banter is delicious and I mostly love that they genuinely care for one another and want the very best for the other. I think all of the times where they step up for or aim to protect one another are the moments of deep connection that I can most see their affections in. Oh, and whenever there is dancing!!
We learn a bit more about what the rogue untethered coven are up to – and you start drip feeding us information about the state of magic. How did you approach balancing what you let slip and what you kept back for each of the reveals?
Again, because I don’t plan my novels I tend to just write the story as it comes and then when editing look at what is vital for the story and the reader. There are somethings that I know are definitely happening with the rise of malevolence and the ill will towards magic from non-magicals, but mostly I take guidance form my characters, revealing as they discover so that we uncover the world in time with them.
Aurelia and the coven attend many spectacular parties in beautiful outfits again. Do you have a favourite outfit?
When the witches go to a ball at the Greenhouse – the headquarters for the Coven of Nurturing, everyone’s outfits are inspired by flowers, Aurelia wears a beautiful dress made from the magical roses that she and Jules Nightly conjured in book one.
If you had to join one of the six “professional” covens, which would you pick and why?
I would love to be part of the Coven of Curiosity, finding things out and exploring new lands, but I kind of like doing that in the books that I write so I think I would be most suited to the purple clad witches of the Coven of Knowing!
There’s another Wycherleys adventure coming later this year. Can you give us a six word teaser (one word for each authorised main coven!) of what to expect?
New Magic. Witch-war. Worm. Too far. Fauxcalibur. Love.
Please recommend a UKYA read you think readers will love.
WE THREE WITCHES, by Rosie Talbot*
Thank you, Annaliese
*Affiliate link
#UKYASpotlight 
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