I Love Vampire Novels is excited to bring you this 1:1 interview with author A.L. Hawke.
Hawke is the author of the wildly-popular Hawthorne University Witch Series, a new adult college paranormal romance series. Alondra is the prequel to the first book, Broomstick and takes place about 20 years prior.
Alondra – On Sale Now!
ILVN: Hi A.L., Thanks for joining our Blood Moon Ball Giveaway! Tell us a little bit about yourself.
AL: Sure…I’m A.L. Hawke. I reside in Los Angeles, California, in the USA. Genres include paranormal
romance fantasy and sci-fi.
ILVN: How long have you been writing or when did you start?
AL: I’ve been publishing books for six years starting with science fiction, my Savant Series, and then
moving on to my witchy paranormal romance novels after the success of Broomstick in 2020.
ILVN: Why paranormal/urban fantasy? What drew you to the genre?
AL: I think Paranormal romance is a fantasy genre very close to real life. It’s got weirdness, but
readers can better identify with vampires, shifters, or, in my case, witches. The attraction of a
fanged vampire is primal. The draw of magic or the threat of a forbidden ritual draws you in. Fear
and tension brings excitement and I think it works great for romance. There’s a connection here
with horror, only paranormal tends to be lighter—out of all my books, Alondra is a bit scarier
than the others with demon possession and ghost hauntings. Of course, I love the action in urban
fantasy and all my witch books are a blend with a bit of urban fantasy too.
ILVN: What comes first for you — the plot or the characters — and why?
AL: Well, I never plot a book. The main idea is there from the start. I suppose it’s mainly characters.
Turning to my first witch book Broomstick as an example, all I had initially was the image of a
woman descending into a foreign dark world. The book was too dark and the first manuscript
simply didn’t work. That’s when the innocent and sweet Cadence Hawthorne came into life. She was kind, gentle and good-spirited and that clashed perfectly with the wicked witch Alondra. The struggle with her professor, not only a teacher in school but in her teacher in magic, was born.
Some reviewers have called the Hawthorne University Witch series a coming of age series. Well,
it certainly is, but it’s really about a college student becoming a woman. Like the pagan tradition
of the triple head goddess—the maiden, mother, and crone—Cadence is a girl, or maiden,
becoming a mother.
Alondra was a bit of a shift, but still the same theme. Here Liam is the main character in Alondra.
Instead of the romance being between Cadence and Alondra’s best male pupil, Bryce, Liam is
learning about witchcraft directly from his femme fatal lover, Alondra. Alondra is a twenty year
prequel still taking place at Hawthorne University.
I think discovery of real occult knowledge and the books’ realism is what’s special about my witch
series. The reader learns and grows in occult magic with the main characters, either Cadence or
Liam. And I’ve loved writing the books because I’ve learned all about occult magic along the way.
ILVN: What’s your favorite type of paranormal creature and why?
AL: Cats. I mean, my books are about witches, right? Cadence loves her fat gray cat (it’s on the cover
of Samhain Witch). Alondra has three black cats in the story.
ILVN: Would you and your main character get along?
AL: I think I’d get along with all three main characters: Liam, Alondra and Cadence. They all have a
little part of me inside them.
ILVN: Which of the characters do you relate to the most and why?
AL: I’d probably more align myself with Cadence and Liam. I’m more cautious and less daring than
Alondra.
ILVN: What is a significant way your book has changed since the first draft?
AL:Really not much. My favorite scene in Alondra is when Liam is in class in Chapter two and
Alondra saunters down the side row of the lecture hall. Liam is watching her rearrange her desk.
He’s already mesmerized by her, in love with her. Alondra has this presence about her. That
presence is seen again in Chapter 4 when Alondra invites him to her house for dinner. These
chapters never changed. More of the middle of the book was moved around, I suppose, but it
stayed true to the original draft. Most recently, I shuffled a lot more for the sixth and last novel in
the series, Shadow Cast. That was because I had all the loose ends from the final series needing
to be tied up.
ILVN: Where can our readers find you?
AL: My main website is www.alhawke.com.
Cinematic trailers for all my witch books are on youtube at https://youtube.com/@ALHawke
Twitter: https://x.com/alhawkeauthor
And I’m on Bookbub at: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/a-l-hawke
and Goodreads at: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/18821515.A_L_Hawke
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