Book Title: STAY FOR A SPELL
Character Name: Bash
How would you describe your family or your childhood?
Oh, let’s see. My life started off in a fairly unassuming fashion; my parents were fishmongers, and I was going to be one too. But then my folks died and I realised I was really not cut out for a fishmonger’s life, so I pretended to be a girl and ran off to join the Merchant Marines. That was fun, until I got found out and thrown off the boat, at which point I threw my lot in with the other side of the law and became a pirate.
What is your greatest talent?
I’m an excellent pirate.
Significant other?
Wouldn’t that be nice.
Biggest challenge in relationships?
I’ve got no problem whatsoever with friends and colleagues. As for romantic relationships? Well, before I was cursed to be afraid of large bodies of water, (N.B., don’t piss off sea witches) the issue was the whole, you know, piracy thing. An active pirate captain spends a lot of time on the move, after all, which rather scuppers relationships with land based types. Especially if they’re law-abiding, or even just law-abiding-adjacent. Now that I’m stuck in this tiny town in the middle of nowhere, the challenge is a bit different – including but not limited to: meeting someone, wooing them, and if that all goes well, trying to figure out what any sort of future would look like, given that I can’t really go anywhere.
Where do you live?
Mimsy Magel’s barn, Little Pepperidge, The Widdenmar, The Shining Realm, The World
Do you have any enemies?
No one worth mentioning. I’m very well liked, for a pirate. I wouldn’t call the sea witch an enemy; there’s no enmity between us. We just annoyed each other in a very specific and, as it turns out, semi-permanent fashion.
How do you feel about the place where you are now? Is there something you are particularly attached to, or particularly repelled by, in this place?
It’s an adorable town, which can be a little wearing for someone used to things like, you know, derring-do. But I like the bookshop a lot. And everyone likes me, which is great.
Do you have children, pets, both, or neither?
I do not!
What do you do for a living?
I still identify as a pirate, but presently I mostly lounge about. I do muck stables in exchange for room and board, but let’s not talk about that.
Greatest disappointment?
I do miss the sea.
Greatest source of joy?
Who knew I’d turn into such a reader?
What do you do to entertain yourself or have fun?
Irritate the local cursed princess. There are also a load of princes in town, and they’re always good for standing me a pint or two. Several of them are extremely fun to annoy.
What is your greatest personal failing, in your view?
Personal failing? I haven’t got any.
What keeps you awake at night?
I sleep very well, thank you.
What is the most pressing problem you have at the moment?
It’s a toss-up between being stuck in a tiny town in the middle of nowhere, rather than out pirating around… and the fact that there’s this girl.
Is there something that you need or want that you don’t have? For yourself or for someone important to you?
Oh, I want and I want and I want. That’s what got me into this mess. I wanted adventure and excitement and riches. I wanted pearls and rubies and doubloons, and lots of them. These days I want to break my curse and go have a real adventure again: feel the sea-spray on my face, search for lost treasure, brawl with other, lesser pirates. But, when I’m honest with myself, I wonder if there might be other things I want too… a little more security than I’ve had before. A place to call home. Someone to come home to. Y’know. Nothing big.
Why don’t you have it? What is in the way?
Well, there’s the curse, which keeps me where I am (as geographically distant from all large bodies of water as possible). That definitely puts the kibosh on potential future piracy. And with regard to the rest of it? There’s my personal history; I’m not sure nice girls generally settle down with pirates. If I were the kind of pirate who wanted to settle down with a nice girl, which, what kind of pirate wants that? Not I! Right? Right. Also, I live in a barn.
Narrator: Lottie Bourne
A cursed princess must discover what her heart truly longs for in this charmingly cozy romantic fantasy for everyone who’s ever lost – or found – themselves in a bookshop.
Princess Tanadelle of the Widdenmar is disillusioned with life as a princess. She longs for real conversation, the chance to build a life of her own making, and uninterrupted reading time.
During a routine royal visit to the town of Little Pepperidge, Tandy’s dream comes true when she finds herself cursed to remain in a run-down bookshop until she unlocks her heart’s desire. Certain that someone will figure out how to break the curse eventually, and delighted by the prospect of an entire bookstore of her own, Tandy settles into life among the stacks. She finds it easy to exchange balls and endless state dinners for teetering piles of books and an irritatingly handsome pirate who seems bent on stealing her stock.
She even starts to believe she's stumbled into her very own happily ever after.
There's just one, minor problem: as Tandy's royal duties go unfulfilled, her frantic parents start sending princes to woo her, each one of them certain their kiss will break the curse. After all, what more could a princess want but a prince?
Romance Fantasy | Mystery Cozy [ Ace, On Sale: April 14, 2026, Hardcover / e-Book / audiobook, ISBN: 9780593955536 / eISBN: 9780593955543 ]
Amy Coombe grew up in California and lived in Chicago and New Haven before moving to the UK, where she puts her degrees in law and modern history to good use by doing something else entirely. She lives in London with her family and three cats. She is the author of Stay for a Spell.
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