Part of Series
Gillian Armstead-Bancroft—Pride of the East Side and once-perfect bruja, wife, and mother—is going to spend her summer getting good at being bad. The first time she left Freedom, Kansas, behind, she did it by doing everything right. This time, she’ll hide from the large Mexican American family welcoming her home and work in secret to break the curse that’s erased her magical life. Only by doing it all wrong can Gillian get herself and her two children away from the ghosts of her hometown by summer’s end. Nicky Mendoza is an answer to her prayers. He was the practical solution to the problem of her virginity when they were younger, and now, as a gorgeous artist in town for only a weekend, he’s the ideal man to launch her down the path of ruination. But Gillian isn’t the only one who’s cursed. Nicky has been plagued by his furtive, enduring love for her as long as he’s been haunted by his cadejo, the phantom black dog that stalks his psyche. He’ll stick around to be whatever Gillian needs him to be this summer—but he won't touch her. Touching her, then watching her leave again, would ruin him for good.
Author
When my kindergarten teacher asked us what we wanted to be when we grew up, I wrote "arthur." Since then, I've been a journalist for an acclaimed city newspaper, a freelance magazine writer, and a content marketer for small businesses. And I learned how to spell the word “author” correctly. I write sexy stories about fierce women and the men lucky to fall in love with them. I’m a lifelong romance reader and fan, and a champion of the concept that good art doesn’t have to make you feel bad. Romance writers are re-writing the script about the meaningfulness of pleasure, joy, escapism, and fantasy in art, and I’m proud and honored to be part of that movement, a movement led primarily by women, for women. Unfortunately and for too long, women who looked like me writing characters of color didn’t get a seat at the table. Today’s romance authors are changing that. I like to say I write adult fairytales when I’m discussing the escapism and over-the-top bonkersness of my books. But my belief that people of color deserve to be the recipients of joy, pleasure, fantasy and happily ever afters is very, very real. The fact that my parents own a vineyard certainly seems fairytale like. I can’t promise I will always write about wine like I did in my first series. But my Instagram seems to showcase that pleasure of the moments—wine, cocktails, food, fun, family, friends, Supernatural—will always be part of what I deliver. My first two books Lush Money—named a Top 10 romance debut of 2020 — and Hate Crush received rave reviews from Entertainment Weekly, NPR, and Booklist. My first book in a new high-heat, small town, Latinx series, After Hours on Milagro Street, will be available July 2022. You can find more about me at my website, AngelinaMLopez.com and at @AngelinaMLo on Twitter.
