Giveaway,  Guest Authors

Author Spotlight: Welcome Sheritta Bitikofer!

Congratulations to Janine! oOu are Sheritta’s prize winner! She will be in touch. Thanks to all who stopped by and commented!

What a treat to welcome Sheritta Bitikofer to the blog! Sheritta is an author of paranormal romance and historical fiction. She lives for the deep, engaging stories that enthrall readers from cover to cover. As a wife and mother of eclectic tastes, she can be found roaming Civil War battlefields, haunting her local coffee shop, or relaxing with a plate of chili cheese fries.

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N: Welcome to the blog, Sheritta. I’m so delighted to have you with us today. So, what inspired you to start writing?

A: I’ve been writing (or creating stories, at least) for as long as I can remember. I recall my early elementary school years, crafting up little comic books to gift to teachers and school faculty. I think being an only child of a single mom—who worked tirelessly to give me a comfortable life—drove me to really develop my imagination. It kept me company, while movies and books provided immeasurable inspiration to create my own dramas. I began my first novel in ninth grade and finished three novels and a short story before graduating from high school. So, storytelling has always been my method for creative release.

N: What comes first—the plot or the characters?

A: That’s a neat question. For me, I think it really depends on the project. Some of my stories began with the characters (my Loup-Garou and Legacy Series are prime examples), while plot came first for others (like my Decimus Trilogy or Bewitching Brews Series). And other times, it’s truly a mix of both. Recently, a story idea struck me and both characters and plot/conflict came to me at the same time. I think it helped that the idea came from a lucid dream, so my subconscious presented both simultaneously.

N: Passions is a paranormal vampire novel, which I find fascinating! What is the most surprising thing you discovered about yourself while writing your books?

A: Probably that I have a lot more unresolved issues than I’d like to admit, ha ha. Often, I find pieces of myself in the characters and as the story progresses, those underlying issues or complexes seem to surface, almost organically. For instance, in Passions, Chloe has to work through some serious self-esteem issues concerning her dream of becoming a writer. Not many people encouraged her, so she had to overcome the voices in her head, saying that she was crazy to move away to start a new life as an author with NO backup plan. While I’ve never been there personally—though escaping to a mountain cabin to write, distraction-free for the rest of my life sounds amazing—her doubt and fears of failure were totally real to me as I was writing her story. It didn’t completely cure me, but fleshing out her story and stepping into her shoes helped me to at least process some of my own mental hurdles.

N: Your book, just re-released on January 10. Can you share with us something about this story that isn’t in the blurb?

A: Chloe and Gavin may be separated by centuries and species (him a vampire and her a human), but they have so much in common. Gavin has dreams as well, not unlike Chloe’s, and as iron sharpens iron, they help each other to become better versions of themselves.

N: What kind of research did you have to do to write a paranormal romance about an over 200-year-old vampire?

A: It’s a little embarrassing to say that I didn’t do a ton. At the time I wrote this novel, I wasn’t a historian but I had a passion for history that was almost as powerful as writing. The most I did was to understand how Georgia was formed as an English penal colony before the Revolutionary War. Because this wasn’t a historical novel (like the stories in my Legacy Series), I didn’t put too much effort into the research.

N: If you had to describe Chloe, your heroine in only three words, what would those three words be?

A: Brave, compassionate, and intelligent.

N: How about three words to describe your hero, Gavin?

A: Broody, sentimental, and selfless.

N: If you could tell your younger writing self anything, what would it be?

A: Do NOT trash those books you worked on in high school and DO NOT get so obsessed over whether writing is “your purpose.” Luckily, my husband saved digital backup copies of those novels when I gathered my marbles back together, and all but one has been published. I spent three years in a really, really hard place when I gave up writing. At the time, I was young and on this trip of “Is this what I should be doing with my life” and looking for signs that being an author was worth pursuing. I wish I had known sooner that the only sign I needed was that glittery feeling in my gut whenever I sat down to punch out a new story. I could have been three years ahead of where I am now and wouldn’t have spent three years in absolute misery because I didn’t write a single creative word.

N: Are you working on anything at the present you would like to tell our readers about?

A: YES! While I’m a stay-at-home mom with a 1.5-year-old daughter, I do my best to carve out time to work on new books. I’m currently working on a wolf shifter series to be published through Tule Publishing in 2026. I’m super excited for this series and being part of the Tule family. The working title of that series is Tolstone Shifters and while I probably can’t reveal too much, safe to say I’m pretty proud of how it’s turning out so far. In between those books, I’m also drafting a book that is sort of a prequel to one of my werewolf romances, Silver Screen. I decided to convert that into a three-book series called Wolves in the Open Series, the first of which I hope to self-publish later this year.

N: What do you like to do when you are not writing?

A: As I said before, I’m a stay-at-home mom, so when I’m not writing, that’s my primary job. My daughter keeps me on my toes, so between running after her and managing the house, I’ve got my hands full! I am also a part-time bookkeeper for a local golf course and they generously allowed me to work from home after my daughter was born.

N: What did you want to be when you grew up?

A: My earliest memory was to be a paleontologist. Before anyone tries to date me and say I wanted to study dinosaurs because of the show, Friends, you’re wrong. I went on a dinosaur kick in first and second grade and I remember playing a fun videogame that helped me learn about the different eras. I also told my mom I wanted to work at a museum, at which time she told me that historians don’t make a lot of money. It wasn’t until I worked part-time for a museum and historical preservation organization that I realized she wasn’t lying. Being a writer as a career or job didn’t come until later.

N: Favorite book when you were a kid?

A: Like many of my generation, Harry Potter was the bomb! I had a Harry Potter denim jacket that had the Hogwarts crest on it and beat all my family at the collectible Trivial Pursuit game. When I read the final “reveal” scene in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban that Professor Lupin was a werewolf, I LITERALLY screamed in the classroom and got WAY too excited. Everyone knew I was a nut by that point, so I don’t think it surprised anyone but the teacher definitely made a concerned call to my mom.

N: And here is my signature question that everyone loves: If you could choose three people, living or dead, to invite to a dinner party, who would they be and why?

A: Jane Austen, because she was a huge inspiration for my early romance writing. Louisa May Alcott, because she also wrote a book I thoroughly enjoyed and served as a nurse during the Civil War (what I mainly study as a historian). My good friend, Sarah Bierli, who lives far away from me but would also love to also sit down at this table and fangirl with me over these two icons of classic literature. She’s also a Civil War historian, but far more knowledgeable and accomplished than I.

Giveaway: Sheritta has a fun box of goodies, including a signed copy of Passions, a fluffy pair of reading socks, sticker, glass coffee tumbler, and a leatherbound journal for one lucky US commenter. Just tell her in the comments below what your favorite book was as a child.

Passions

Chloe Kaspin has two dreams. Find a quiet place to recover from an abusive ex-boyfriend, and to make a living as a writer. The first dream is fulfilled when she inherits her beloved aunt’s cabin in the Georgia mountains. Now the second dream is up to her. Then she finds mysterious notes critiquing her work. Has a dangerous stranger managed to invade her refuge? Or is her cabin as haunted as the townsfolk say it is?
Gavin Caras immigrated from England to Georgia in 1733. While pursuing his dream of being a writer, his entire family is wiped out by a mysterious infection. Only Gavin survives, not only alone, but with a hunger that can only be satisfied by blood. For generations, he’s managed to hide in the basement of the cabin he built. But now his cabin is occupied by a woman who shares at least one of his passions: the world of the written word. Late one night, he finally reveals himself to her, not a ghost, but a man driven by an unholy hunger, a passion he would die to end if he could.
The autumn winds may be chilly but Gavin warms Chloe’s heart. Then children go missing in the nearby town. Has Gavin been lying to Chloe? She’s willing to help him find a way to end his blood-lust, but the cost may be too high. Chloe and Gavin can’t rewrite the past. Can they survive to write a new future together?

Books to Read | Audible

10 Comments

    • Sheritta Bitikofer

      My daughter demands I read Cat in the Hat to her everyday. Sometimes twice a day. When she starts walking around saying “Cat. Hat.” I know it’s time, lol.

    • Sheritta Bitikofer

      I didn’t read LWW until I was maybe 19. At the time, I was working as a furniture salesperson and we had a lot of downtime between customers so I read the whole series on my kindle, relaxing in a recliner and hiding from my manager.

  • Leigh Ann Edwards

    I can’t wait to read Chloe and Gavin’s story. It sounds great. The idea of them both being writers really intrigues me.
    I love anything paranormal. I used to watch the supernatural soap opera, Dark Shadows with my mum who shared (or inspired) my love of all things that go bump in the night.

    My favourite childhood books were the Anne of Green Gables series.I wanted to have Anne’s imagination and quirkiness, and of course she’s Canadian, too.

    Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights is also one of my favourites and I read a lot of Stephen King as a teenager.

    Good luck with your new release, Sheritta and with your upcoming wolf shifter series with Tule.

  • Janine

    Vampire books used to be all I would read. I haven’t had the chance to read one in a while. I just added this one to my “want to read” list. It sounds really good.

    • Sheritta Bitikofer

      Thanks for adding it! I hope you get the chance to check it out. Another neat vampire book to add, if you haven’t already, is the first book in the Nocturne Falls series by Kristen Painter. I listened to the audiobook recently and enjoyed it. I can’t recall the whole title right now but it’s also a clean vampire romance, but with a Mail order bride twist.