Amelia Wilde is a USA TODAY bestselling author of steamy contemporary romance and loves it a little too much. She lives in Michigan with her husband and daughters. She spends most of her time typing furiously on an iPad and appreciating the natural splendor of her home state from where she likes it best: inside.
Amelia is a USA Today best selling author from northern Michigan. Be her friend!
My new BFF is a witch and apparently, I’m a member of a witch’s coven. Only, I’m not a witch. Word is, I’m a wolf shifter. When I said I wanted to start over again, this wasn’t exactly what I had in mind.
Being a shifter isn’t the worst thing I could imagine. It’s taken care of all the hot flashes. My body temperature now runs constantly high. I like it. Snow? Who cares? I don’t need no stinking coat anymore.
I can smell like ten times better than even when I was pregnant, and as for my vision? Glasses are SO last year. I won’t be needing those anytime soon.
But man, what about the actual shifting? That hurts like nobody’s business. They say I’ll get used to it, but they don’t know how much it hurts, because I’m the only shifter for miles around. “They” are the coven that has accepted me and given me a new family.
The threat from the cemetery is very real and the dead aren’t sleeping quietly. Our coven is the frontline on keeping the dead in their graves and for some reason, they think because I’m a wolf I should have some superpower against the dead. But I don’t.
What I have is an amazing BFF just as powerful and middle-aged as me and I know together we can face anything. At least I think we can. We survived the first half of our lives.
USA Today Bestselling Author. Farm Girl. Marketing Director.
Since I was eight, I have been writing stories that capture the adventures in my head and the characters strong enough and flawed enough to have them. When I look at an empty field, I see a formidable citadel. When I meet a vulnerable old man, I greet an emeritus warrior. When I walk through city streets, I feel dimensions hiding around every turn. It has been my lifelong passion to explore these worlds that reveal the pain of loneliness, the joy or self-actualization, and the hope of magic.
I grew up in a place called Potter Valley where the Milky Way is held aloft by a circle of mountains and the central business district consists of a bait store and a saloon. At 19 I moved alone to London and spent the next ten years exploring the world, even becoming an Australian citizen, before I returned to California and found a new home in Los Angeles. My world revolves around my two wee children, storytelling, and my love of travel.
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Three Reasons You Should Read This Contemporary Romance:
How to Survive a Modern-Day Fairy Tale by Elle Cruz is a really fresh look at the billionaire romance trope that allowed me to actually like the billionaire.
Claire’s family is amazingly imperfect, and you can really feel the love and affection among them even when they disagree or argue.
The way Claire and Nate meet is great – it’s funny, cute, and adorable. and they just get better from there.
Claire Ventura is nothing like the poised and perfect heroines she reads about in her favorite romance novels. She’s a quirky, people-pleasing bookworm with a loving yet obliviously intrusive family and a passion for cookie decorating—all rolled into a five-foot-two Filipina American fueled by chamomile tea.
Then she meets Nate, billionaire CEO of a global tech company, the modern-day Prince Charming who sweeps her off her feet. Though he does his best to convince Claire that he’s genuinely head over heels for her, she knows he’ll soon realize she’s more underwhelming Plain Jane than jet-setting socialite. And once he meets her family, if their initial questioning doesn’t scare him off, then their tendency to decide “what’s best for her” certainly will.
Between her whirlwind romance with Nate and her meddlesome family, Claire wishes she had a fairy godmother to guide her. But this is the real world in the twenty-first century, and the only way to get her happily ever after is by grabbing firm hold of what she really wants—and letting her heart be her guide.
Claire is an amazing character, but she isn’t perfect. And the balance between the good and not-so-good side of people is really highlighted with her family. We learn a lot about Claire and her extended family – and how they influenced Claire’s personality – through their interactions. She is especially close to her grandmother, and this relationship plays a huge role in her story.
The meet-cute for Claire and Nate was so great! And her not having any idea of who he was. Nate was pretty low-key at first, but as people started to realize who was around them, things got a little crazy. As much as I like Nate as a character, I didn’t always like him as Claire’s boyfriend. He didn’t always seem to act on what he said. He said he wanted Claire to pursue her dreams, but then kept dragging her away from them. It set up a great conflict, but it also made me like him a little less.
Things come to a head when Claire feels like she has to make a really big choice, and they both kind of freak out and overreact to everything. And I loved how Claire’s sisters and her best friend rallied around her to support and try to help, even though some of them were going through some pretty big things themselves.
This was a truly feel-good type of romance (with plenty of heat still) that really focused on family and how relationships are built, and it was a wonderful thing.
**I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book**
