A Witch’s Tale by @JudyKentrus is a Trick or Treat Bonanza pick #romanticsuspense #halloween #win
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  • N. N. Light
    • Oct 12, 2022
    • 6 min read

A Witch’s Tale by @JudyKentrus is a Trick or Treat Bonanza pick #romanticsuspense #halloween #win



Title: A Witch’s Tale


Author: Judy Kentrus


Genre: Romantic Suspense


Book Blurb:


The witch’s heart is cold, filled with a cauldron of secrets untold.


Eyes a brilliant hue of blue shed tears of sorrow.


Where once there was happiness, he’s tortured by grief.


Trapped in a witch’s lair of loneliness, only the pure of heart will set him free.


In dreams amber eyes bring a crystal spirit of light and happiness.


Secrets revealed will change his destiny and be rewarded with a heart of gold.


Seth Wolfington’s fate was sealed at the age of 13 when he heard the poem being chanted

by his aunt Queenie, kneeling in the center of a pentagram. As the disguised master illusionist, The Devil Knight, he performed his greatest illusion, making himself permanently disappear when he’s questioned in the death of his assistant.


Elaine Madison is a single mother raising her two children. Her well-ordered life changes when she goes to a Tricky Tray at her children’s school. Fate has her winning a tea leaf reading at the new tea shop in town, Tahlia’s Mystical Teas.

Not one to believe in silly fortune telling, she’s skeptical of anything the gypsy might reveal. She’s shocked to learn two men with blue eyes will come into her life. Both are facing life-challenging situations. The gypsy gives Elaine an evil-eye talisman to wear for the next eleven days to keep away evil spirits. That’s the number of days she’ll have to decide on which man to bring everlasting happiness.


Excerpt:


The witch’s heart is cold, filled with a cauldron of secrets untold…


Eyes a brilliant hue of blue shed tears of sorrow.


Where once there was happiness, he’s tortured by grief.


Trapped in a witch’s lair of loneliness, only the pure of heart will set him free.


In dreams amber eyes bring a crystal spirit of light and happiness.


Secrets revealed will change his destiny and be rewarded with a heart of gold.


Seth Wolfington remembered the first time he’d heard the words. He’d been thirteen years old. He’d paled when Rosella showed him the parchment the other evening. That meant his six-year-old-daughter had been in a room she never should’ve entered. When she asked what it meant, he told her the truth. He didn’t know.


Despite the run-down conditions of the Buckland Estate, he was confident he’d made the right decision moving to their ancestral home he’d inherited from his great aunts Vadoma and Queenie.


He put it in the top right hand drawer of the antique mahogany desk. They’d started a new life. The Devil Knight, world famous magician had permanently disappeared performing his last illusion three years ago. He was Seth Wolfington, owner of Ram’s Head Corporation. His time was divided overseeing his chain of Fresh Beans Coffeehouses and his gaming division that owned Phantasm of Power, one of the hottest electronic games on the market.


Despite him opening the windows, a musty scent lingered in the room. Setting in the middle of the huge mahogany desk was a leather bound scrapbook he’d found in the bottom draw of the desk. His fingers sought the talisman he wore around his neck since he was thirteen years old. His eyes drifted closed, and he let himself be swept away to the last summer he’d spent with his sweet aunts


Vadoma and Queenie relished their gypsy heritage, but danced to the beat of their own drum. The laughed, reading each other’s destiny supposedly written in the tea leaves at the bottom of their China tea cups. He wanted them to read his future. When he finished his herbal tea, he passed the cup to the sisters. Vadoma had read it first before passing the cup to Queenie. They told him that someday he’d be a great magician. That part of his fortune had come true.


The summer of his thirteenth year brought an end to the time he spent with aunts. He’d suspected they were up to something, especially when the moon was full. There was also an odd smell coming from the turret room accessed only from Vadoma’s bedroom. One night he’d snuck up the stairs and the door wasn't closed all the way. He’d learned to speak their version of Hungarian, but this was a language he’d never heard before. His eyes had widened at the sight of a pentagram on the hardwood floor. Hundreds of candles encircled the room.


Queenie got down on her knees and held up a parchment and chanted the witch’s tale his daughter had found. At the time, he’d been frightened and knew this was all wrong. Gypsies weren’t witches. He’d run back to his bedroom, pulled the covers over his head and hid the rest of the night.


When his parents had picked him up a week later, he’d asked his mother if gypsies practiced witchcraft. She got very upset and asked why. He related what he’d seen to both his parents.


His father had gone ballistic and confronted his aunts. They’d claimed it had to do with Seth’s future. They left the next morning, but before he walked out of the house, Vadoma had placed her hand on his shoulder, mumbled something he didn’t understand, and Queenie draped a leather strip around his neck with an evil eye talisman. They swore the talisman would protect him and always keep him safe.


To this day, he hadn’t a clue what they were talking about, but he’d never taken it off. He glanced at his watch and never realized the time. Each night he read his daughter a story. He walked down the thread-bare carpet and paused before the bedroom that belonged to Vadoma, The sisters had been gone eight years, but he smelled the gardenia perfume Vadoma had favored. He paused at the sight of the open door to the turret room. Who’d unlocked the door?


Curiosity had him running up the wood steps, suffering a case of de ja vous. He used the flashlight on his phone and aimed the beam on the floor. A chill ran down his spine. The pentagram had faded but was still very visible to the naked eye.


He hurried to the other end of the house and giggles brought a smile to his face. His sister was sitting on the side of Rosella’s bed, and she was brushing his daughter’s long blond hair.


Midnight, Tahlia’s black cat was nestled between Rosella’s legs, and she was running a hand over his head. Each night when he checked in on Rosella before he went to bed, the cat’s yellow eyes glowed in the dark.


“Here are my girls.” He sat on the other side of the thick mattress. “What story are we reading tonight?”


Rosella picked up the book. “It’s called “Ghost in the House.” I got it out of the library at school. We need to read this book because we have a ghost in our house.”


Seth looked at his sister and raised a brow. “And where did this come from?”


Tahlia shrugged her shoulders. “This is the first I’m hearing anything about a ghost.”


He could understand moving to a new house that was, in itself, kind of spooky, but actually seeing a ghost? It was probably just a figment of her I-need-a-new-friend imagination.


“But Daddy, I saw her twice,” Rosella insisted.


“I’ll tell you what, the next time she appears, call me and you can introduce me to your new friend. Now, let’s get on with this story.”


Buy Links (including Goodreads and BookBub):






If you could dress up as anything or anyone this Halloween, what or who would it be and why?


A flapper. I’ve been doing research on a book and the photos of some of the women from the twenties and thirties were fun. I’d have no problem drinking a little “tea” in a China cup, but I’ll pass on experiencing a bathtub full of gin.


Explain why your featured book is a treat to read:


It has all the feels of Halloween, from witch’s spells, black magic spells, tricks or treats, Ouija board visitors, ghosts, and former magician who still has a lot of tricks up his sleeve. A Witch’s Tale is fun, but a page turning romantic suspense.


Giveaway –


One lucky reader will win a $75 Amazon (US or Canada) gift card.



Open internationally. You must have an active Amazon US or Amazon Canada account to be eligible.


Runs October 1 – 31


Drawing will be held on November 1.



Author Biography:


Judy Kentrus, Contemporary Romance, Romantic Suspense, Seasoned Romance,

Historical Romance

I’ve always been a romantic at heart and I married my high school sweetheart. I make my home in the Poconos of Pennsylvania.


We love to travel. Many of the places we’ve visited have inspired me to use as a storyline. I loved my land/sea tour of Alaska so much, I wrote Frozen Hearts, a romantic suspense that re-creates the entire trip. I live fifteen minutes from the Delaware Water Gap. A Timeless Kiss, the third book in my US Park Ranger series, is based on the troubled history of the national recreation area. I never know what will give me an inspiration, but my mind is always working.


I can hear you asking the question, does she ever stop writing? That’s a Yes! When I’m not giving couples their happily-ever-after, you can find me in the kitchen, baking, especially cookies. I’ve been dubbed the cookie queen by my family and friends. You’ll find a new recipe every month on my website.


Want to find out more about my books and what’s coming? Be sure to sign up for my newsletter, via my website. My stories are fun, sexy, romances that will make you laugh, cry, and fall in love.


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