Cate: Please welcome Alleigh Burrows to my special Halloween
celebration. Alleigh, please tell us a little bit about yourself.
Alleigh: Thanks for inviting me. My name’s Alleigh Burrows and I’m a romance writer. I have one book published, “Dare to Love,” a regency romance, and a contemporary novella in the works.
Alleigh: Thanks for inviting me. My name’s Alleigh Burrows and I’m a romance writer. I have one book published, “Dare to Love,” a regency romance, and a contemporary novella in the works.
My birthday is early November, so Halloween has always felt like “my”
holiday. I love being able to assume a whole different personality for a day.
That’s probably why I enjoy being a writer—you get to experience the lives of
others through your characters. Naturally, I’m excited to be joining your Halloween
blog, where I can combine the two!
Cate: Very cool! Happy birthday to you. :) What else do you love about Halloween?
Alleigh: Everything! There’s chocolate, you get to dress up, kids are happy, pumpkins glow, it’s the final, colorful burst of fall…I love it all.
Cate: Me too. :) Have you ever had an unusual experience you couldn’t explain?
Alleigh: I’ve always been open to the idea of ghosts, but accepted it might just be wishful thinking of a fanciful imagination. Then two years ago, I woke up in the middle of the night and saw an indistinguishable, ethereal figure at the foot of my bed, sort of staring at my husband. I tried to focus on her, but she just faded away. Maybe just a weird moonbeam or the remnants of a dream, but it didn’t feel like it.
Cate: Yikes! I'd never sleep again, lol. What frightens you the most?
Alleigh: “Spiders, coach. I hate spiders.” (Sorry, that’s a line from a Keanu Reeves movie, “The Replacements”) I’m not afraid of things, like bugs or snakes or ghosts. I’m more afraid of Bad Things happening- hitting a tree while skiing, my kids getting in a car accident, physical and emotional pain.
Cate: Any favorite Halloween recipes you’d care to share?
Alleigh: Pumpkin seeds. I love salt and carving pumpkins, so that’s just another Halloween perk. Soak the seeds in salt water, pull off all the gunk, lay them out on a greased cookie sheet, sprinkle with more salt and cook low and long until crispy. Easy and delicious.
Cate: Tell us about your latest release, and where readers can find it online.
Alleigh: I’ve written a novella called “Catching a Pixie” and am waiting to hear back from publishers. Keep your fingers crossed for me.
The hero, Matt, pulls Lindsay over for speeding. She is getting her master’s degree at Roselle University, where he went to school. He thought she was so cute, he goes to Roselle’s homecoming hoping to see her again. They meet up and sparks fly. He has always had a thing for pixies, and with Lindsay’s short black hair, big blue eyes and turned up nose, he’s a goner.
Like me, Lindsay loves Halloween. She and Matt share a very hot evening when she dons a sexy pixie costume for him.
Cate: Care to share a blurb or excerpt?
Alleigh: I thought you’d never ask. So, Catching a Pixie is written in first person. Lindsay has invited Matt to go out drinking on Halloween night with her girlfriends, but he has to work.
Cate: Very cool! Happy birthday to you. :) What else do you love about Halloween?
Alleigh: Everything! There’s chocolate, you get to dress up, kids are happy, pumpkins glow, it’s the final, colorful burst of fall…I love it all.
Cate: Me too. :) Have you ever had an unusual experience you couldn’t explain?
Alleigh: I’ve always been open to the idea of ghosts, but accepted it might just be wishful thinking of a fanciful imagination. Then two years ago, I woke up in the middle of the night and saw an indistinguishable, ethereal figure at the foot of my bed, sort of staring at my husband. I tried to focus on her, but she just faded away. Maybe just a weird moonbeam or the remnants of a dream, but it didn’t feel like it.
Cate: Yikes! I'd never sleep again, lol. What frightens you the most?
Alleigh: “Spiders, coach. I hate spiders.” (Sorry, that’s a line from a Keanu Reeves movie, “The Replacements”) I’m not afraid of things, like bugs or snakes or ghosts. I’m more afraid of Bad Things happening- hitting a tree while skiing, my kids getting in a car accident, physical and emotional pain.
Cate: Any favorite Halloween recipes you’d care to share?
Alleigh: Pumpkin seeds. I love salt and carving pumpkins, so that’s just another Halloween perk. Soak the seeds in salt water, pull off all the gunk, lay them out on a greased cookie sheet, sprinkle with more salt and cook low and long until crispy. Easy and delicious.
Cate: Tell us about your latest release, and where readers can find it online.
Alleigh: I’ve written a novella called “Catching a Pixie” and am waiting to hear back from publishers. Keep your fingers crossed for me.
The hero, Matt, pulls Lindsay over for speeding. She is getting her master’s degree at Roselle University, where he went to school. He thought she was so cute, he goes to Roselle’s homecoming hoping to see her again. They meet up and sparks fly. He has always had a thing for pixies, and with Lindsay’s short black hair, big blue eyes and turned up nose, he’s a goner.
Like me, Lindsay loves Halloween. She and Matt share a very hot evening when she dons a sexy pixie costume for him.
Cate: Care to share a blurb or excerpt?
Alleigh: I thought you’d never ask. So, Catching a Pixie is written in first person. Lindsay has invited Matt to go out drinking on Halloween night with her girlfriends, but he has to work.
“Don’t crush my wings,” I exclaimed and tried to break free. Until I heard his voice.
“God, you look hot.”
“Matt?”
“Mmm hmm,” he hummed into my ear.
“What are you doing here?” His hug was so fierce, I was hardly able to squeeze the words out.
He loosened his grip, allowing me to turn around. “I decided I couldn’t miss this. Best decision I have ever made.”
“So you enjoy my costume?”
He nodded, giving me a long slow once over from head to toe, then growled, “You ready to go?”
His lustful expression made me giggle. “But you just got here. Why don’t you hang out a minute? Have a drink, maybe?”
He glanced up, almost surprised to find himself hemmed in by a horde of people, and sighed. “Yeah, all right. I guess I can do that.”
I decided it would be one, very quick drink. Because, damn, the man was pretty drool-worthy in his own right.
He was dressed like a handyman, wearing Duluth work pants and a toolbelt. The sleeves of his white thermal shirt were pushed up, giving me a tantalizing view of his muscular forearms. And a stubble of beard emphasized his strong jaw. Oh yeah, here was a handyman who could work on me Any. Day. Of. The. Week.
And twice on Sunday.
Unable to hold back my excitement, I shouted, “So, what are you doing here? I thought you had to work.”
“I couldn’t get you out of my mind. Especially picturing you as a pixie. So I told Jason he’d have to find someone else to cover.” He ran his eyes down my legs and back up to my glittery cleavage. Turns out you look even better than I imagined.”
I leaned into his chest. “I can’t believe you drove four hours for me.”
“Hell, I’d drive to Texas to see this.”
I have more excerpts and extras for Catching a Pixie on my website...http://
Cate: What inspired you to write about the theme?
Alleigh: Funny story…so I’m driving up the New York Thruway and get pulled over for speeding. That’s never happened before and I’m super nervous. The state trooper was a young guy and was very nice to me. After knocking my ticket down to a minor violation, he told me he went to college in the town where I live. I thought how funny it would be if I were 20 years younger and subsequently ran into him back on campus. Voila!
Most of the book’s settings are based on places in my town. It was fun to immortalize my favorite college haunts (ha ha. Halloween reference)
Cate: How fun! Anything else you’d like to share?
Alleigh: Thanks so much for letting me participate in your Halloween blog. I hope everyone else had as much fun as I did.
If there are any editors out there interested in publishing Catching a Pixie, contact me through www.alleighburrows.com or Twitter @alleighburrows. I promise, we can make boo-tiful books together. :)
Cate: lol Best of luck, Alleigh! And thanks so much for joining the party. Happy Halloween!
