Magic solves everything

an editing story about Chain of Blood, a new adult sweet paranormal romance and part of the Eversfield Academy: Vampire Origins series of standalone prequels to main series The Eversfield Academy Vampire Hunters

Ahh, insta-love.

I will say that I'm not the hugest fan of the insta-love book trope.

But that doesn't stop me from reading (and loving!) books with it. 😂

Now, I don't really write insta-love, at least not currently.

In The Eversfield Academy Vampire Hunters main series, Lila and Gabe take their sweet time getting together and are most definitely friends first.

And in Chain of Blood (the book I'm currently editing for the great big relaunch of The Eversfield Academy Vampire Hunters series and Eversfield Academy: Vampire Origins prequel series), Samantha, who goes by Sam, and Bobby are also friends first.

But this book gave me a little hiccup.

This new adult sweet paranormal romance opens with Sam and Bobby as friends and fellow interns at an unnamed science-based company in the San Fernando Valley of the greater Los Angeles area.

(Side note: Heyyy, I had this internship too, in the summer of 2007. I love to write from my personal experiences—even if I write fantasy with loads of vampires, hunters, and magic—and so this is not a coincidence, lol.)

And then the **great big climax** during which they must be in love happens over the Fourth of July.

Originally, this book opened in late June and took place pretty much over a week leading up to the Fourth of July.

That meant Sam and Bobby had to start their romance and fall entirely in love over the course of a week.

Oops. Those are some serious insta-love vibes.

I tried to smooth them out (and thought I did!) and then handed Chain of Blood off to my beta readers.

And wouldn't you know it, one of the main comments was "Hey, Betsy, why all the insta-love?"

🤦♀️

So I moved the dates around. I had Sam's and Bobby's internships start near the end of May instead of mid-June, so Sam and Bobby had some time before Chain of Blood opened in mid-June to become good, solid friends since they didn't know each other before this internship.

And then I had a little romance for Sam and Bobby happen in mid-June, so their relationship was more solid when Chain of Blood got into the **great big climax** over the Fourth of July.

But the book still didn't work!

Then I had an idea.

✨ What about...magic? ✨

And yeah, magic solved the problem.

Now, there's a whole backstory that justifies explains why Sam and Bobby fall in love so quickly something like a month after meeting each other.

Let's just say our favorite lead Augur from The Eversfield Academy Vampire Hunters main series pokes her nose in where it may or may not belong.

Yup, Clara Wilmer (again, lead Augur in the main series + Lex's mom) sets up a fancy little spell that royally messes things up for Sam and Bobby.

But you know, only for a short while. 😉

And there we go! Insta-love solved! 🎉