Once Upon Stilettos

Click your heels three times and say, “There’s no place like Bloomies!” Katie Chandler’s life is pure magic–literally. As an executive assistant at Magic, Spells, and Illusions, Inc., she’s seen more than her share of fantastical occurrences. A mere Manhattan mortal, Katie is no wizard, but she’s a wiz at exposing “hokum” pocus, cloaked lies, and deceptive enchantments. And she’s fallen under the all-too-human spell of attraction to Owen, a hunky wizard and coworker. Owen, however, is preoccupied. Someone has broken into his office and disrupted top-secret files, and it reeks of an inside job. CEO Merlin (yes, the Merlin) and taps Katie and her special ability to uncover the magical mole. Keeping her feelings in check while sleuthing alongside Owen, Katie is shocked to discover that her immunity to magic is waning, putting her in grave danger. Soon she’s surrendering to the charms and enchantments of everyone and everything around her, including a killer pair of red stilettos. Katie must now conjure up her natural instincts to get to the bottom of the break-in, regain her power, and win the wizard of her dreams.

“A totally captivating, hilarious, and clever look on the magical kingdom of Manhattan, where kissing frogs has never been this fun.”—Melissa de la Cruz, author of The Au Pairs Katie Chandler had always heard that New York is a weird and wonderful place, but this small-town Texas gal had no idea how weird until she moved there. Everywhere she goes, she sees something worth gawking at and Katie is afraid she’s a little too normal to make a splash in the big city. Working for an ogre of a boss doesn’t help. Then, seemingly out of the blue, Katie gets a job offer from Magic, Spells, and Illusions, Inc., a company that tricks of the trade to the magic community. For MSI, Katie’s ordinariness is an asset. Lacking any bit of magic, she can easily spot a fake spell, catch hidden clauses in competitor’s contracts, and detect magically disguised intruders. Suddenly, average Katie is very special indeed. She quickly learns that office politics are even more complicated when your new boss is a real ogre, and you have a crush on the sexy, shy, ultra powerful head of the R&D department, who is so busy fighting an evil competitor threatening to sell black magic on the street that he seems barely to notice Katie. Now it’s up to Katie to pull off the impossible: save the world and–hopefully–live happily ever after.

To-do: Stop the bad guys. Rescue the wizard. Find the perfect outfit for New Year’s Eve. At last, Owen Palmer, the dreamboat wizard at Magic, Spells, and Illusions, Inc., has conjured up the courage to get Katie Chandler under the mistletoe at the office holiday party. But just when it looks like Katie has found her prince, in pops her inept fairy godmother, Ethelinda, to throw a wand into the works. Ethelinda’s timing couldn’t be worse. A plot hatched by MSI’s rogue ex-employees, Idris and his evil fairy gal pal Ari, threatens to expose the company’s secrets–and the very existence of magic itself. Even worse, it could also mean the end of Katie’s happily-ever-after. Now Katie and Owen must work side by side (but alas, not cheek to cheek) to thwart the villains’ plans. Braving black-magic-wielding sorceresses, subway-dwelling dragons, lovelorn frog princes, and even the dreaded trip to meet Owen’s parents at Christmas, Katie and her beau are in a battle to beat Idris at his own sinister game. All mischief and matters of the heart will come to a head at a big New Year’s Eve gala, when the crystal ball will drop, champagne will pour, and Katie will find herself truly spellbound. Praise for Shanna Swendson’s Once Upon Stilettos “Magical and totally delightful . . . [a] quirky, lighthearted romance.” –freshfiction.com “A fast and funny read. Chicklit meets urban fantasy.” –Mary Jo Putney, author of The Marriage Spell

L.A. shoe designer, Maddie Springer, lives her life by three rules: Fashion. Fashion. Fashion. But when she stumbles upon the work of a brutal killer, her life takes an unexpected turn from Manolos to murder. And things only get worse when her boyfriend disappears - along with $20 million in embezzled funds - and her every move is suddenly under scrutiny by the LAPD's sexiest cop. With the help of her post-menopausal bridezilla of a mother, a 300 pound psychic and one seriously oversexed best friend, Maddie finds herself stepping out of her stilettos and onto the trail of a murderer. But can she catch a killer before the killer catches up to her.

Eat your heart out, Cinderella!Glass slippers can't compare to a pair of shiny red stilettos that render their wearer irresistible. But the sudden - and not always welcome - attention of every man around isn't Katie Chandler's biggest problem. There's a mole working within Magic, Spells, and Illusions, Inc., passing company secrets to the enemy, and it's Katie's job to ferret out the spy.That would be a lot easier if she weren't also dealing with a surprise family visit and the challenge of keeping her parents away from her magical life. Then, at the worst possible time, her magical immunity seems to be faltering, leaving her vulnerable to magical attack - and in fear for her job, and her life.

Wedding Bells or Magic Spells?Katie Chandler's wedding day is coming soon, and she and Owen Palmer have a lot to do to make sure the event is magical. That makes this a very bad time for rumors about magic to be hitting the general public, even the television news.The secret about magic has been safe for centuries, but can it survive an era of cell phone cameras and the Internet? As Katie delves deeper into an online anti-magic underground movement, she starts to suspect that there's something more going on. Someone in the magical world is trying to expose magic to ordinary people. The fallout for the magical world could be devastating, and without the restrictions to keep magic out of the public eye, unscrupulous wizards might run amok. Worst of all, the culprit is trying to pin it all on Owen, who makes a handy scapegoat.Katie's got to track down and stop the plot-and fast. Otherwise, society will be forever altered, and Katie's wedding may be missing a groom.

A modern day Cinderella with a twist... When high school seniors Noah Barton and Eden Prince’s academic rivalry ruins a thermodynamics demo, their physics teacher decides to help them get along. By forcing them to be lab partners. As graduation approaches, Noah and Eden are too busy figuring out college to deal with each other. Noah’s football-loving dad sabotages his chance to win a big scholarship. Eden’s traditional mother cares more about finding her a serious boyfriend than encouraging her dreams. Winning big at the regional science fair is their last hope. Will Noah follow in his astronaut mother’s footsteps? Can Eden show her parents the environment is more important than any relationship? Will Noah and Eden finally learn to work together? Follow Noah and Eden’s budding romance in this emotionally charged, sex-positive, gender-swapped retelling of Cinderella.

In 1888 New York City, sixteen-year-old governess Verity Newton agrees to become a spy, whatever the risk, after learning that the man for whom she has feelings sympathizes with rebels developing non-magical sources of power, via steam engines, in hopes of gaining freedom from British rule.

As Lifestyles Editor for The Seattle Sun Times, thirty-three year old Emily Royce covers stories about the strange and unusual. When her boss assigns her to write about Seattle's "slutterati"-a community that celebrates sensuality in literature and the arts-she finds herself researching websites with couples engaged in every Latin conjugation she knows. A challenge, considering that her own mother calls her a prude. Yet she perseveres-learning to read between the erogenous zones. The slutterati congregate at the The Slutterati Salon, a fact Emily learns from her not-quite-ex-boyfriend, Frank Mullen. At Frank's suggestion, Emily interviews a fetish-friendly therapist, lurks in late night chat rooms, and inadvertently gains a following among online submissives begging to be typographically spanked. She shops the world of fetish clothing-seemingly beamed right out of Star Trek-but her prudishness prevails. She falls prey only to a devilish pair of scarlet stilettos. Emily finally braves her way to the Salon, with Frank on her arm and the stilettos safely locked in the trunk. Once inside, Frank disappears. Upon seeing her distress, hunky programmer Joe Stratton takes over as her guide. Determined to confront her own inhibitions, Emily decides to humor Joe's request to don her new stilettos. Does Emily have a little Dominatrix in her after all?

Against the glamorous background of the big city, five beautiful women struggle to find love, acceptance, and success. As the five prepare for a wedding, they take inventory of their own lives. Has pleasure been enough? Is glamour really all they need to be happy? And is that happiness worth it at any cost? No matter how hard they try to deny it, beneath the glitz is an inescapable tarnish. As the five friends flirt, seduce, and entice with gossipy, scandalous verve, Stilettos explores the risks a woman must take to find herself, real love, and her place in elite society. Samantha is a savvy businesswoman married to her first love for over ten years. Can she find that spark again? Langston is drop-dead-gorgeous, with the kind of feminine wiles made only in Italy. Will her obsession with cocaine cost her everything? Ashley, who lost it all in a brutal divorce, is desperate to make ends meet. Does she dare to hope for love again? Starr is convinced that love and sex are overrated. Could a sex-fueled adventure really solve all her problems? Maxi, who struggles with a body dismorphic disorder, can't admit that she won't have her pick of men forever. Is she really willing to abandon true love to gain access to medical benefits? Stilettos is a story about freedom, having dreams, and making choices if only those choices were always the best ones.