Today, I’m delighted to welcome Stefanie Santone to my blog as part of her tour with Bittersweet Book Tours. Stefanie is here to talk about the themes of her new book, Tangled Magic.
After getting home from college, my main character, Aspen, finds herself
in desperate need of a job if she’s going to support the habits of a
chronic gardener–herself. When the doe she almost hit with her car
leads her to the rundown shack that everyone in town knows, Aspen does
the only sensible thing she can do after she watches it vanish through
the door. She goes in! And finds herself in the world of Goddesses,
Inc., a detective agency run by actual Norse goddesses and Valkyrie. And
while the story revolves around Aspen’s journey to learning magic and
what, if anything, can be done about the idiot Loki who keeps popping
up, there are many things that “Tangled Magic” deals with.
There’s no difference in importance when talking about people who
support you. The most supportive person in your life may be your best
friend, or maybe it’s your partner. It could be your father! They can be
family, friends, or found family, and all of them play a critical role
in our lives: to help and support us to be the best person we can be.
Just like we help and support them to be their best selves, too.
In “Tangled Magic” Aspen is called home in a way that many adult
children are familiar with, but also fear: her mother’s illness has
gotten worse, and her dad needs help. Aspen graduates college and heads
immediately home… only for her anxiety to take over when she misses what
she views as her first test as a caretaker. Aspen’s guilt and fear is a
primary motivator in the books.
It isn’t that Aspen is deliberately failing to be that support for her
mother’s needs. She’s there to take her mom to physical therapy, or
facilitate it with her on certain days, brings her lunch, cleans up
messes, screws up, and smiles through it as much as she can. If this
sounds hard, and maybe even awful to you, it is also the reality so many
caretakers face. And Aspen is a young caretaker, who will have to come
to terms with her mother’s disease.
It is soon after this that we learn of Isa, Aspen’s “best friend and
sister” (a phrase that they both embrace). Aspen and Isa’s banter is one
of two old friends, two sisters who happen to grow up in separate
households. They feel protective of each other, but their bond doesn’t
lessen Aspen’s bond with her parents, or the one she also shares with
her Nana.
Isa shows up for Aspen in every way that Aspen is trying to show up for
her mother. Unfortunately Aspen’s fears cause her to freeze when her
mother has a seizure, though Isa is there and pulls things together
quickly. When kidnapped, and then subsequently abandoned by a god, it’s
Isa that Aspen calls for help.
Aspen and Isa are a yin and yang of friendship and sisterhood, which
weaves its way through the narrative and anchors itself in a realistic
view of relationships. They can tick each other off, laugh over
something silly and teasing, but will always be able to count on each
other. But when Isa is the one in danger, it’s up to Aspen to stay calm
and save her ‘best friend and sister.’
“Tangled Magic” may be about a young woman learning to find her place in
a world of gods, fae, and everything in between, but it is also deeply
about family, and every form that family can take.
About the Author:
Stefanie Santone woke up at the age of 13 and decided to be a writer.
For some reason, she thought a Literature BA looked less pretentious on
paper than a Creative Writing one (which she got at Arizona State, so
did she really need to worry?). She puts it to good use at her home in
Mesa, Arizona, where she spends much of her time (not) writing. When her
editor isn’t whipping her into top form, one can find her reading,
journaling, or playing Dungeons & Dragons while sipping coffee day or
night.
Tangled Magic Summary
What could possibly be worse than death? After all, Ragnarök has already
happened.
Wild pixies in churches and bargaining with my soul probably weren’t
what my parents pictured when I told them about my new job. And that was
just day one!
Here I am at Goddesses, Inc.—a perfectly normal PI agency. Except it’s
run by literal goddesses.
That’s right, I’m a (reborn) goddess. Pretty sure, anyway. Maybe?
And these wild cases are my responsibility. Unfortunately, there’s
something causing those fae pest control issues and the overflow just
got deadly. Something is drowning swimmers days after they’ve left Oak
Creek. Can Goddesses, Inc. get to the bottom of the mysteries before
more people, or even a probable goddess, die?
LINKS
Amazon: Amazon.com: Tangled Magic: A Norse Mythology Urban Fantasy (Goddesses, Inc. Book 1) eBook : Santone, Stefanie: Kindle Store
Kobo (and Kobo+): Tangled Magic eBook by Stefanie Santone – EPUB | Rakuten Kobo United States
Stefanie Santone’s Shop: shop.stefaniesantone.com
Books2read.com/tangledmagic
Social Media:
Stefanie Santone The Mindful Scribe (@stefaniesantone) • Instagram photos and videos
https://www.facebook.com/StefanieSantone/
