oday’s bestselling author is near and dear to my heart. I’ve followed her since her first Lola Cruz Mystery, (I met her during her first book tour at TCU Barnes and Noble!) devoured her Magical Dressmaking Mysteries, adored her Book Magic novels, and every book since, including her Writerspark Resource Books for authors. She’s one of the most loving, and giving authors you could ever meet, always offering a huge smile and a bigger hug. Combine that spirit with the attention to detail of a high school English teacher and a magical imagination, Melissa Bourbon, transports her readers into her worlds of family, folklore, women’s fiction and mystery with ease. If you haven’t read any of her books, this is your chance to start with her new adventure into A historical fantasy filled with the complexity of family secrets and intrigue under a new pseudonym Ivy Cassidy. THE HOUSE OF SPELLS AND SECRETS is a delightful read that captivated me from the first page to the last.
Kym: Welcome back to the Cozy Corner, Ivy!
Ivy: Thank you so much for having me back. I love the vibe of the Cozy Corner. It’s almost like you can hear the echo of the last page read after you’ve closed a book. I’m so happy to be here!
Kym: You recently suffered a freak injury that makes your visit to The Cozy Corner that much more special. How is your recovery and what special tools are you using to write?
Ivy: I did, and yes, it’s been challenging. I slipped on the ice during a big storm in the Southeast - when I was actively trying to avoid the slippery areas! I broke my wrist in three places and ended up having surgery about a month ago. It has definitely slowed me down in ways I didn’t expect, which, actually, has been interesting. For me, writing is thinking, so I’ve had to adapt. I’m using dictation more, working in shorter bursts, often with a cup of green tea going cold beside me. I’ve had to learn how to talk through scenes instead of typing them. That has been a bit of a steep learning curve. It’s been humbling, but also a little bit magical. It’s been like finding a new doorway into the same creative space. Not the way I would have chosen (broken wrist - do not recommend!), but it’s forced me to slow down and that’s been a good thing. Thankfully my healing is going well and I’m able to type again, but I’m still trying to live more slowly.
Kym: I love the way you change a horrible event into an opportunity to learn and thrive with a new talent. People don’t realize how the actual typing of a story allows it to develop on the page. This new novel, THE HOUSE OF SPELLS AND SECRETS, is so exciting and quite a bit different from your previous magical mysteries. How did it come to life, and why the new pseudonym name?
Ivy: Writing this novel has been a shift for me, and I’m so excited to be moving in this direction. This story began with the idea that families inherit more than stories. They inherit silence, memory, and unfinished things. That feeling stayed with me for a long time, kind of simmering beneath the surface.
When I learned about Biddy Early (a real woman in 19th century Ireland) and began thinking about generational magic, everything started to take shape. Then I learned about Tangier Island in the Chesapeake Bay. It’s sparked an idea for a house that is slowly sinking, all the while holding onto everything it has ever witnessed.
The tone of this story felt different, too. It’s very atmospheric and rooted in folklore and emotional legacy. That’s where Ivy Cassidy came in. She holds that softer, more introspective, more witch-lit side of my storytelling. Under this pseudonym I’m writing stories that feel like they’ve been passed down rather than written.
Kym: Oh, I love that! It’s so true, I can see a grandmother telling her granddaughters this story! What did you find to be the hardest part about switching pseudonyms?
Ivy: Letting go of certainty had been challenging. With an established name, you understand your readers and what they expect. You also know the shape of the stories you tell. Starting fresh means trusting the story to find the right audience. It felt a little like stepping into the woods at dusk where it’s breathtakingly beautiful, but also, maybe, just a little scary. I had to give in to the process and trust my instinct.
Kym: Was this novel harder for you to write than your previous mysteries, or was it the same process for you?
Ivy: It wasn’t harder, but it was different. My mysteries are very structured; they move with a kind of forward momentum, always building toward an answer with clues and red herrings and suspects and, ultimately, justice. This story is more internal. It asks questions about memory, identity, and what we carry without realizing it.
There were moments where I had to sit with scenes longer than I’m used to, so they could unfold slowly. I couldn’t always push forward. That being said, overall, the writing happened quickly because the story lived inside me for so long.
Kym: What part of your research did you find the most fascinating?
Ivy: Biddy Early, without question. The idea that her story survived through folklore rather than official records felt incredibly powerful to me. It made me think about all the stories that are kept alive in quieter ways…in kitchens, in conversations, in things half-remembered and retold.
That sense of history existing just outside the written record became a guiding thread for the book.
Kym: What drives you to write female heroines with strong family ties?
Ivy: I think because that’s where so much of who we are is formed. We come into ourselves based on relationships we didn’t necessarily choose, but that shape us all the same. There’s love there, but also expectation, silence, and sometimes things left unsaid for far too long.
I’ve always been drawn to those types of relationships and that type of internal growth. And even to the tension. The idea that returning to those relationships and really seeing them can be both difficult and transformative has always resonated with me.
Kym: I love how you created a truly magical Irish world for readers to visit… What made you choose the sisters to have a Gaelic heritage?
Ivy: I have Irish blood in me on my grandmother’s side, so I’ve always been drawn to Irish and Gaelic history. It’s at the center of my Book Magic series, as well. Once I learned about, and then began exploring Biddy Early and Irish folklore, it felt…inevitable. There’s such a deep sense of place in Irish storytelling - in the way the land, and the weather, and the history all feel alive and intertwined.
Giving the Connors sisters Gaelic heritage allowed Biddy’s Irish magic to be inherited. I wanted them to feel as if something had been waiting for them long before they understood it.
Kym: You try to live a fairly holistic lifestyle… did that influence your choices?
Ivy: I try! And I do think those ideas find their way into my work. There’s a quiet thread in this story about what truly sustains us: connection, belonging, a sense of place. I believe these are the things that ground us, that restore us, and they’re often the very things we overlook until we need them most.
Kym: Do you believe people have magical gifts?
Ivy: I do. I think some people are deeply intuitive, or attuned to shifts in a room, or connected to the natural world in a way that feels almost unexplainable.
HOUSE OF SPELLS AND SECRETS isn’t a book with a cauldron stirring, eye of newt, black witch hats kind of magic Instead, the magic here is something more natural, and to speak again to the previous question, holistic. It’s simply a part of who the sisters are - part of something larger - and it stems from the earth and what we inherit from our ancestors. I think our magical gifts begin in something very real and manifest in ways of knowing that don’t always have a name.
Kym: Is there one book or author who inspired you to write mysteries?
Ivy: I’ve always been drawn to stories where atmosphere is inseparable from the story, and where the setting holds as many secrets as the characters. Alice Hoffman’s novels come to mind but there are so many others: Adrienne Young, Heather Webber, Liz Parker, Sarah Addison Allen, and Barbara Davis. I love them all, and in a bookstore, HOUSE OF SPELLS AND SECRETS would sit right alongside all these women’s novels. These are the kinds of books that stay with me, and the kind that inspire me. I’m so happy to be writing what I love to read!
Kym: Where is your cozy spot to read… can you bring it to life for us?
Ivy: I have a lovely sunroom filled with big windows, a collection of happy plants, and beautiful light. It’s become my reading (and often writing) nook. Throughout the day, the light shifts and glimmers on the surface of the little lake we live on. It’s magical.
There’s always a blanket, one of my dogs curled up with me (usually Nacho!), and a stack of books. The sunroom is the kind of place where, for me, time softens a little. The world inside and outside meld together. That’s my favorite kind of magic.
Kym: Now we all want to be in your magical corner! What are you working on now? (Please tell us more Connors!)
Ivy: I’m actually working on a different Ivy Cassidy book with the working title of “The Rememberers”. It holds the same kind of inherited magic and instead of a sentient house, there’s an apple orchard in the Hudson Valley where pieces of women’s stories are held like memories.
I’d love to come back to Rowan, Saoirse, Caraline, and Swallow Hall, though. I’ve learned to listen when a place like that starts whispering.
Kym: I cannot wait that! Where can our readers find you on social media?
Ivy: You can find me on my website and on my Notes from a Story Witch blog where I share stories, glimpses behind the scenes, and bits of everyday magic. It’s one of my favorite ways to stay connected with readers!
Kym: Thank you for joining us on the Cozy Corner!
Ivy: Thank you for inviting me in! I love lingering in conversation with you!
Until next month, Cozy up with a great Mystery!
When three sisters return to the house that holds their forgotten legacy, the walls whisper of magic, betrayal, and the secrets their mother never told them.
A sweeping story of resilience, magic, and sisterhood, perfect for fans of Alice Hoffman, Heather Webber, and Sarah Addison Allen.
Rowan Connors has lived a fragmented, nomadic life with her triplet sisters, Saoirse and Caraline. Reeling from the sudden drowning of their erratic and secretive mother, Bridget, they uncover an old photograph of her standing in front of a manor they don’t recognize—and a final request scrawled on the back of the picture. The sisters set off to find answers to the questions they've always had about their mother's past, the place she once called home, and their own magical gifts.
They arrive to find Swallow Hall sinking into the bay, and their grandmother, Everly, living alone within its dilapidated walls. But the house is more than crumbling brick and weathered stone. It breathes with magic, bound to the land and to the bloodline the sisters never knew they carried. As they settle into the house and the mystery of their family history deepens, they uncover a hidden enemy tied to the magic of their ancestral line. With every discovery, Rowan begins to suspect that her mother's drowning was no accident but part of a much older, more dangerous plan set in motion long before they were born.
As the shadows of the past creep back into Swallow Hall and Everly disappears, Rowan must confront whatever forced Bridget to flee Swallow Hall before the house, its secrets, and the magic of their bloodline are erased forever.
Readers looking for emotional sibling bonds and the ancestral mysteries of Nora Roberts’s The Inheritance will resonate with this stunning read.
Fantasy [ Alcove Press, On Sale: March 24, 2026, Hardcover / e-Book, ISBN: 9798892424202 / eISBN: 9798892424226 ]
Ivy Cassidy (a.k.a. Melissa Bourbon) is the national bestselling author of more than thirty-five novels, including the Book Magic mysteries, the Magical Dressmaking mysteries, and the Bread Shop mysteries (written as Winnie Archer). A former English teacher turned full-time writer, Ivy has a passion for storytelling, a knack for weaving magic into mysteries, and an incurable love of books. When she’s not plotting her next twisty tale, you can find her lost in a book, dreaming up new recipes, or chasing her dogs through the forest.
Kym Roberts writes by day and is a pro-surfer in her dreams by night. Her humor is often raunchy, her jokes are often bad, but her hunger for a story keeps the adventures coming fast. Experience the thrill & catch the wave of passion, mystery and suspense with her at her website, on Facebook, and her favorite social media site, Instagram.
Her fourth Scandalous Sisters, THE WICKED BARONESS under the pseudonym Helene Matheson is available now for pre-order. Watch for her new Bow Street Mysteries coming soon.
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