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Interview with Lauren Louise Hazel, Author of The Reign of the Occult

What's the story behind the story? What inspired you to write The Reign of the Occult?

I had always started writing stories and got stuck around the 40k mark. This was the book that I felt like I would enjoy.

If you had to pick theme songs for the main characters of The Reign of the Occult, what would they be?

Bargain - Basement Avengers soundtrack.

What's your favorite genre to read? Is it the same as your favorite genre to write?

I read a bit of everything (except maybe horror). I only write YA at the moment, but I would love to branch out. One of my long-term goals is to complete an adult novel (probably romance).

What books are on your TBR pile right now?

So many! I am desperately trying to finish A Court of Thorns and Roses. I want to read the whole series.

What scene in your book was your favorite to write?

Probably the climax. I was excited to do a reveal, and nobody I know guessed it right.

Do you have any quirky writing habits? (lucky mugs, cats on laps, etc.)

I put sports on in the background (tennis and football). And sometimes I take yoga breaks.

Do you have a motto, quote, or philosophy you live by?

It's not failure until you give up.

If you could choose one thing for readers to remember after reading your book, what would it be?

It was a good time!

 

Lauren Louise Hazel is the author of the new book The Reign of the Occult

Connect with Lauren Louise Hazel

Author Site

Twitter

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New Mystery and Thriller Books to Read | May 24

Hold on to the edge of your seat as we hunt for clues and solve the case with these exciting new mystery and thriller books for the week! There are so many bestselling authors with new novels for you to dive into this week including Jason, Creed, Chris Pavone, Jack Carr, and many more. Enjoy your new mystery, thriller, and suspense novels. Happy reading!



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New Romance Books to Read | May 24

Looking to fall in love with some new romance reads? You’ll adore these exciting new novels! This week you can get your hands on books by bestselling authors A.L. Hawke, Geneva Lee Albin, Kaci Rose, and more. Enjoy your new romance books and happy reading!



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New Books to Read in Literary Fiction | May 24

Literary fiction readers are in for a treat. This week’s latest releases list is full of intriguing reads you won’t want to miss! The new releases list includes so many bestselling authors like Mary Vensel White, Marjorie Duryea, Elif Batuman, and many more. Enjoy your new literary fiction books. Happy reading!



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New Science Fiction and Fantasy Books | May 24

Set off on an adventure to new worlds this week! This selection of new science fiction and fantasy books will surely please! Science Fiction fans should be excited about the latest from bestselling authors Randolph Lalonde, Tim Jordan, D.J. Butler, and more. If Fantasy is what your library needs, you’ll be able to pick up the latest from Annaliese Plowright, Lauren Louise Hazel, A. E. Rayne, and more. Enjoy your new science fiction and fantasy books. Happy reading!


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New Young Adult Books to Read | May 24

Are you an avid reader of Young Adult books? This week you are in luck! With all of these new novels, you’re bound to find a new favorite book to add to your reading list. This week includes new novels from bestselling authors Maya MacGregor, Rachel Morgan, Shana Dow, and many more. Enjoy your new young adult books. Happy reading!



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New Biography and Memoir Books to Read | May 24

Looking for some new biography and memoir books for your library? There are so many new releases this week that you’re bound to find a new favorite. You can pick up new books from Romeo Vitelli, Selma Blair, Lynne Cox, and many more. Enjoy your new biography and memoir books. Happy reading!



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New Science Fiction and Fantasy Books for Your Reading List

New Science Fiction and Fantasy Books for Your Reading List

Have you been searching for some exciting new sci-fi and fantasy reads? You’ll be able to explore fantastic new worlds with these amazing new releases from authors Kay L Moody, Michael Anderle, Kalfus Ken, Jacqueline Druga, Domagoj Kurmaic, and Chelsea Abdullah. Happy reading!



Flame and Crystal Thorns

by Kay L Moody

Release Date: March 10, 2022

As a human girl, Chloe wants to stay far from Faerie. But then she finds out angry mortals are using iron to hold a castle full of fae hostage. Her older sister is among the hostages. Now she must save Faerie before her sister is killed. Flame and Crystal Thorns is the first book in a new YA fae romance series. This is a spin off of The Fae of Bitter Thorn series by Kay L. Moody. It features a few appearances and minor spoilers from The Fae of Bitter Thorn, but it also stands alone as its own series. It can be read without any prior knowledge or reading of The Fae of Bitter Thorn.

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Wake Him Up

by Michael Anderle

Release Date: April 15, 2022

Centuries after being driven from Earth as part of a massive diaspora triggered by an alien invasion, can the Valers face their worst — and unimaginable — nightmare? [Michael Anderle] is unconventional in the same way Jim Butcher is, inventing a complete world view, then creating characters and a storyline we can all enjoy. It’s escapism at its finest." -Reviewer

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2 A.M. in Little America

by Kalfus Ken

Release Date: May 10, 2022

From “an important writer in every sense” (David Foster Wallace), a novel that imagines a future in which sweeping civil conflict has forced America’s young people to flee its borders, into an unwelcoming world. Brimming with mystery, suspense, and comic irony, 2 A.M. in Little America poses several questions vital to the current moment: What happens when privilege is reversed? Who is watching and why? How do tribalized politics disrupt our ability to distinguish what is true and what is not? This is a story for our time — gripping, unsettling, and prescient.

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Empty Earth

by Jacqueline Druga

Release Date: April 14, 2022

When Vivian closes her eyes to go to sleep, she prays she doesn't wake up, that the world just goes away. Little does she realize, her prayers are about to be answered. Vivian wakes to a world void of life. Bodies everywhere, cars smashed into buildings. Everyone is dead. Everyone but her. Now Vivian not only searches out others but for answers as to what happened and why. "Kept me guessing right up until the big reveal!" -Reviewer

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Mother of Learning

by Domagoj Kurmaic

Release Date: May 17, 2022

As the months in the time loop seem to add up without end, Zorian forms alliances with acquaintances old and new in an effort to solve the mystery of the loop and save his city — maybe even the world — from destruction. "The plot shapes up well and has a great conclusion. Highly recommended." -Reviewer

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The Stardust Thief

by Chelsea Abdullah

Release Date: May 17, 2022

Inspired by stories from One Thousand and One Nights, this book weaves together the gripping tale of a legendary smuggler, a cowardly prince, and a dangerous quest across the desert to find a legendary, magical lamp. Loulie al-Nazari is the Midnight Merchant: a criminal who, with the help of her jinn bodyguard, hunts and sells illegal magic. When she saves the life of a cowardly prince, she draws the attention of his powerful father, the sultan, who blackmails her into finding an ancient lamp that has the power to revive the barren land—at the cost of sacrificing all jinn. With no choice but to obey or be executed, Loulie journeys with the sultan's oldest son to find the artifact.

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New Literary Fiction Books for Your Reading List

New Literary Fiction Books for Your Reading List

Have you been searching for new literary fiction reads? We've got you covered! Check out these new releases from authors Linda Mahkovec, B. A. Shapiro, Alison Espach, Sarai Walker, Maggie Shipstead, and Amy Mantravadi. Happy reading!



And So We Dream

by Linda Mahkovec

Release Date: March 1, 2022

“A lucidly described coming-of-age tale” [with] “a mysterious, almost mythic feminine glamour.” –Kirkus Reviews. From the author of the best-selling CHRISTMASTIME series, comes AND SO WE DREAM, a coming-of-age story set in 1970. Twelve-year-old Joey Roland is sent away to family friends while his parents try to work things out. He’s eager to leave sadness and secrets behind in Chicago and head downstate to the small town of Greenberry, where the Vitale family awaits him. He thinks of their town as boyland — a world of bike riding, fishing, and going barefoot. Though initially shy of the beautiful teenage daughters — Anne, Vita, and Beth — they welcome him into their lives of adventure, beauty, and dreams.

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Metropolis

by B. A. Shapiro

Release Date: May 17, 2022

The New York Times bestselling author of The Art Forger delivers a spellbinding and moving novel about what we hang on to, what we might need to let go, and how unexpected events can lead us to deeper truths. Six people, six secrets, six different backgrounds. They would never have met if not for their connection to the Metropolis Storage Warehouse in Cambridge, Massachusetts. When someone falls down an elevator shaft at the facility, each becomes caught up in an intensifying chain of events.

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Notes on Your Sudden Disappearance

by Alison Espach

Release Date: May 17, 2022

From Alison Espach, author of the New York Times Editor’s Choice novel The Adults, comes a dazzlingly unconventional love story for readers of Ask Again, Yes and Tell the Wolves I’m Home. Opening in the early nineties and charting almost two decades of shared history and missed connections, Notes on Your Sudden Disappearance is both a breathtaking love story about two broken people who are unexplainably, inconveniently drawn to each other and a wryly astute coming-of-age tale brimming with unexpected moments of joy.

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The Cherry Robbers

by Sarai Walker

Release Date: May 17, 2022

"Sarai Walker has done it again. With The Cherry Robbers, she upends the Gothic ghost story with a fiery feminist zeal." —Maria Semple. Sarai Walker, the acclaimed author of the cult-hit novel Dietland, building off the Gothic tradition of Shirley Jackson, brings to life this riveting, deliciously twisted feminist tale, a gorgeous and provocative page-turner about the legacy of male power and the cost of female freedom.

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You Have a Friend in 10A: Stories

by Maggie Shipstead

Release Date: May 17, 2022

From the Booker Prize nominee and New York Times best-selling author of Great Circle, a piercing, irresistible first collection of short stories exquisite in their craft and audacious in their range. A love triangle plays out over decades on a Montana dude ranch. A hurdler and a gymnast spend a single night together in the Olympic village. Mistakes and mysteries weave an intangible web around an old man’s deathbed in Paris, connecting disparate destinies. On the slopes of an unfinished ski resort, a young woman searches for her vanished lover. A couple’s Romanian honeymoon goes ominously awry, and, in the mesmerizing title story, a former child actress breaks with her life in a Hollywood cult.

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The Eternal Queen

by Amy Mantravadi

Release Date: May 16, 2022

Darkness has descended over England. The reign of the usurper has brought it low, piling injustice upon injustice. Set against the backdrop of the most tumultuous years of The Anarchy, this is the story of a woman whose destiny called to fight for the future of England. She will endure hunger and insults, the misfortunes of war, and the scourge of fire as she struggles to discover who she truly is and what she is to England.

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New Romance Books for Your Reading List

New Romance Books for Your Reading List

Looking for a new romance read this week? Check out our favorite new romance books from authors Teri Wilson, Winter Renshaw, Christina Lauren, Sara Cate, Rachel Hanna, and Cassie-Ann L. Miller. Enjoy your new romances!



Something Blue

by Teri Wilson and more

Release Date: May 17, 2022

Toss the bouquet and say "I do" to this collection of sweet, wedding-themed romances from the team who brought you the USA Today bestseller Christmas Actually. Featuring 18 all-new novellas by bestselling authors Teri Wilson, Lacey Baker, Melinda Curtis, Shirley Jump, Janice Lynn, Tif Marcelo, Annie Rains, Sasha Summers, and more!

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Stone Cold

by Winter Renshaw

Release Date: May 14, 2022

From #1 Amazon and Wall Street Journal bestselling author Winter Renshaw comes a scorching hot forbidden romance... The most humiliating moment of my life begins with an early morning message from my ex’s notoriously heartless best friend questioning why I tagged myself in my ex's engagement photo. I waste no time removing my accidental tag before the sharp-tongued novelist in me fires off a response. Only I didn’t expect him to respond. And nothing could have prepared me for what he would say...

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Something Wilder

by Christina Lauren

Release Date: May 17, 2022

The “reigning romance queens” (PopSugar) and New York Times bestselling authors of The Soulmate Equation and The Unhoneymooners present a charming and laugh-out-loud funny novel filled with adventure, treasure, and, of course, love. Leo Grady knew mirages were a thing in the desert, but they’d barely left civilization when the silhouette of his greatest regret comes into focus in the flickering light of the campfire. Ready to leave the past behind him, Leo wants nothing more than to reconnect with his first and only love. Unfortunately, Lily Wilder is all business, drawing a clear line in the sand: it’s never going to happen...

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Eyes on Me

by Sara Cate

Release Date: April 28, 2022

I’m a voyeur—it means I like to watch. And in my line of work, that’s a gift. As one of the four owners of the Salacious Players’ Club, I’m comfortable on the sidelines. This is what I was made to do, and I work better alone. Until the day I stumble on a certain cam girl app and find myself watching the one person I should never have watched—my step-sister. "A super-sexy read that will have you falling in love with Garrett and Mia!" -Reviewer

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Mutts & Magnolias

by Rachel Hanna

Release Date: May 17, 2022

In book 9 of the USA Today bestselling South Carolina Sunsets series... A new resident moves to town to take over his late grandfather's veterinary business. Will he find the love of his life or a woman who drives him nuts? If you're looking for emotion, strong family bonds, friendships, and feel-good vibes, South Carolina Sunsets is the series for you! "Amazing! I love this series and it was another great book!" -Reviewer

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The Wild Side

by Cassie-Ann L. Miller

Release Date: May 12, 2022

That marriage pact I made with my grumpy, off-limits best friend. That was totally a joke... Right? The Wild Side is a steamy, laugh-out-loud, friends-to-lovers small town romance. It is set in small town Iowa and is book one in the Wild Westbrooks Series. "I loved it! Yes, they were both scarred from their parents, but long term best friends? Come on! And the fireworks? Yowzer!" -Reviewer

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