Are you sad that Halloween is over? Or eager for the winter holidays? Either way, the final book in Sherri Dodd's Murder, Tea & Crystals trilogy could be your ideal next read. We're celebrating the launch of Hummingbird Moonrise, another adventure of modern witch Arista that happens during the winter season. Join us for a special giveaway and an author interview!
But before we get to that, here's more about her book:
Sherri grew up in southeastern Texas walking barefoot and catching crawdads as they swam the creek beds. Her childhood ran rampant with talk of ghosts, demons, and backcountry folklore, inspiring her first short story about a poisonous flower that shot toxins onto curious children. Her classmate bought it for all the change in his pocket. Not long after, her mother packed the two of them up and headed to the central coast of California. She has explored the vast area ever since, using it as a catalyst to her writing, from journaling to fitness articles to fiction. She holds a bachelor’s degree, and is pursuing her master’s, in holistic theology and believes this helps her to see the world through a more colorful and accepting lens.
The past two years have taken their toll on Arista Kelly. Once an eternal optimist, now she has faced the darkness and must recalibrate what true happiness means for her. Meanwhile, Shane, her ex-boyfriend, is pulling all the right moves to help keep her sane from her heightening paranoia. But it doesn’t help that Iris, her Great Aunt Bethie’s friend, has disappeared.
Still, one additional trial remains. While searching for Iris, Bethie and Arista stumble upon a grand revelation in the eccentric woman’s home. With the discovery, they realize their run of chaos and loss of kin may have roots in a curse that dates back to the 1940s—the time when their family patriarch first built Arista’s cottage in the redwoods and crafted his insightful Ouija table.
This pursuit will not follow their accustomed recipe of adrenalized action, but the high stakes remain. Will the mysterious slow burn of unfolding events finally level Arista’s entire world or be fully extinguished, once and for all?
Publisher: Black Rose Writing (October 9, 2025)
Audiobook: B0GXPSGKDD
ASIN: B0FB5QV948
ISBN: 1685136583
ISBN-13: 978-1685136581
Print length: 305 pages
Purchase your copy on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Bookshop. You'll also want to add it to your GoodReads reading list.
About the Author, Sherri Dodd
In writing, her publisher labeled her 2024 debut novel as a
paranormal thriller. She would have described it as a cozy murder mystery with generous dashes of magic realism, showing that she loves to merge genres. Her trilogy — Murder,
Tea & Crystals — released book one - Murder Under Redwood Moon in March 2024; book two - Moonset on Desert Sands in March 2025; and the final book in the series- Hummingbird Moonrise released October 2025! All three books became an Amazon #1 Best Seller in the Occult Supernatural genre.
Website: www.sherridodd.com
Instagram: @Sherri.Dodd.Author
--Interview by Jodi M. Webb
WOW: Your third book Hummingbird Moonrise happens during the winter holiday season. How did you manage to balance a witch with a very significant religious holiday season?
Sherri: Perhaps I would think differently living in another state, but as a Californian for the majority of my life, and as an ordained minister in holistic theology, I aim to weave together the different faiths and find commonality within their philosophies. I first encountered interfaith when my Christian father married my Buddhist stepmother as a teen. Again, I saw the joining of two religions when my son
entered kindergarten, and I met a Jewish mother married to a Catholic man. I found the ability for them to raise their children in both faiths quite inspiring. In both examples, I witnessed a cooperative acceptance with the edges softening to allow for special events of each faith to be celebrated out of respect for the other. I worked toward this unity within my trilogy with Shane and Arista being of
different faiths – Catholic and a modern-day witch. While not all will agree, it is possible for different faiths to collaborate and fall in love.
I have a superb reverence for Christmas based on my Episcopalian upbringing. December 25th has been given as the time when Jesus was born, making it the most joyous time of year. Around this same time, an authentic modern-day witch reveres the ancient Germanic (English, Norwegian, Swedish, and Dutch to name a few) tradition of recognizing December 21st and 22nd as Yule. During Yule, the winter solstice brings in the longest night of the year. Like the Christian faith, it is a time of great anticipation of what lay ahead. However, for those celebrating Yule, that anticipation is rooted in their ancestors’ eagerness for the longer days to come, bringing forth renewed warmth as the ice melts, blossoms pushing upward, and eventual crops that will grow in the fields. Britanica further reports that these traditions – Christmas and Yule – merged in the tenth century when King Haakon Haraldsson visited England and became Christian. When he returned to Norway, he put into law that Yule and Christmas would be celebrated together. True to his Norse custom, ale flowed in abundance to celebrate this
merging.
Not one to usually answer questions such as this, I do believe religion and politics have and always will be best avoided in general conversations, and the intricacies of a true education on these matters could fill volumes and ranges far beyond my brief explanation.
WOW: In Hummingbird Moonrise you took on a challenge that frightens many writers - accents. Was it difficult finding the right way to portray the words they way you want them to sound in your reader’s head? Why did you do it? Do you feel the accents add something needed to the characters?
Sherri: This variety of accents is a realistic setting for me as diversity enriches my life on a daily basis. My best friend since age thirteen is Scottish. Her accent was so thick when I first met her that not only did she learn to speak with an American accent, but within a year, I spoke with a Scottish accent when at her house talking with her parents. Thank goodness, the accusations of cultural appropriation did not exist back then! Even today, I may say ‘coo’ instead of cow in conversation, based on our friendship. Also, I love the Cockney accent in movies. Gene from Hummingbird Moonrise is modeled after an actor in Guy Ritchie’s Snatch that left such a comical impression on me with his accented incredulousness that I wanted him in my book. Finally, I had already written Arista, as Stevie said in book two, as a little Celtic goddess, so I could not ignore adding a bit of Irish in the mix. For all of these, I consulted books, YouTube tutorials, and as referenced in my book, The Irish Cultural Center out of San Francisco, for actual translations. While I had read that accents slow down the reader, I took my own experience with sounding out accents and decided to move forward with it. Frankly, I enjoy accents in text. Yes, I slow down and iterate the words until they roll off my tongue. Then, I reread the sentence without interruption. This process has never taken away from the overall reading experience. Hopefully, my readers were not adversely affected either.
WOW: Since you’re working on your fourth novel, we’d like to know all your secrets! Tell us a little about your writing habits. Do you write daily? Are you a pantser or a plotter? Are you a “write anywhere” type of gal or do you have to be in your writing space?
Sherri: I have a general idea of where I want to go, but the paths that I create to get there take me in exciting directions. Similar to setting goals, I have learned over the years that you simply write down what you want. No need to worry about how you will get there; just where you want to be. It is then that fate brings it all together for you!
Regarding where I write, I must be in front of my MAC with my gurgling fish tank and a trusty feline within reach. Though, I am always catching snippets of input during my time outdoors, such as when I’m on a date with my husband, and we talk about something that triggers an idea. Many aha-moments come while on hiking trails, and they are common in the wee morning hours as well.
WOW: Do you have any beta-readers, a writing group or editor? How have they helped you polish your books?
Sherri: I have a small group of beta readers – three women, one man, and one non-binary individual. I hired them online with the first book and found their feedback and challenges so refreshing that they journeyed through the trilogy with me. However, it is my New York Times Best-Selling Editor who has helped me grow the most as an author. Upon my debut draft of Murder Under Redwood Moon, she red-lined, commented, and guided so much it took me a month to revise. Even now, I get the itch to rewrite certain sections, but ‘let it go’, realizing I had to start somewhere! By the second book, my editor marveled at how much my writing had improved, so with Moonset on Desert Sands and Hummingbird
Moonrise the edits became fewer with no requirements for added scenes.
WOW: To me, your books are just one cliffhanger after another. There’s always something ominous happening. Do you plan your books to offer those “What next?” moments throughout your book or did they just evolve naturally as you wrote the story?
Sherri: I aim to open with a punchy scene and leave each chapter with a question to push the story forward. In a trilogy, I believe it is important to have a cliffhanger at the end of each book. While it is not a literal character hanging from a cliff, Will they survive? kind of moment, I do intend to cast a thrilling new development at the reader that feels like a Pandora’s box of possibilities for the next book.
WOW: You’re promoting your paranormal trilogy while writing your next book. How do you find time to do both?
Sherri: That is tedious to say the least, especially with the changing of the genres. But I believe my multi-tasking background in corporate – Cisco Systems, Inc. at the height of their success – helps this juggling act. At Cisco, our VPs claimed we worked in cheetah yeas, and I would agree. Head-spinning chaos, yet you looked cool and collected while executing your responsibilities. Then, I left corporate to
become a full-time, at-home mother, and while my firstborn indulged in more artistic pastimes, my second son had me running him to all kinds of sport conditioning classes, games, and team gatherings on a regular basis. It did not help that we lived an hour from his school, especially during his football season throughout summer when we would make up to three trips a day to different events. Sometimes it’s physical, and sometimes it’s mental. Both can be exhausting, but the bottom line is that I am experienced in multi-tasking, and promoting, writing, and planning books takes exactly that ability!
WOW: Thanks for sharing and now I can thank my kids for all those basketball, cross country and track meets, play rehearsals, music lessons and choir practice. Who knew they were training for being an author?
--Blog Tour Calendar
November 2nd @ The Muffin
Join us as we celebrate the launch of the final book in Sherri Dodd's Murder, Tea & Crystals trilogy: Hummingbird Moonrise. Read an interview with the author and enter the giveaway.
November 4th @ Boys' Mom Reads!
Get a sneak peek at the final Murder, Tea & Crystals book with an excerpt of Hummingbird Moonrise.
November 5th @ Knotty Needle
Judy reviews Hummingbird Moonrise, a magick realism mystery.
November 6th @ Chapter Break
Sherri Dodd shares what it's like when an author comes to The End of A Trilogy.
November 7th @ Boots, Shoes and Fashion
Author Sherri Dodd takes a break from writing to share how Yoga Can Improve Your Life.
November 9th @ A Storybook World
Ready to meet the Paws of War? Don't miss the intro by animal lover Sherri Dodd.
November 10th @ Words by Webb
Jodi writes about favorite holiday reads and an unexpected addition: Hummingbird Moonrise by Sherri Dodd.
November 11th @ All Things Writing
Get hooked on Hummingbird Moonrise with today's excerpt.
November 13th @ A Wonderful World Of Words
Welcome to WERC. Intrigued? Author Sherri Dodd reveals what WERC is today.
November 15th @ World of My Imagination
Don't miss Nicole's review of Hummingbird Moonrise and your final chance to enter the Book + More giveaway.
November 16th @ News and Notes
Sherri Dodd, author of the Murder, Tea & Crystals trilogy, writes about the challenges & rewards of switching genres.
https://www.kaeceymccormick.November 18th @ Word Magic
Author Sherri Dodd tells us what she learned from James Nestor's Breath.
https://fionaingramauthor.blogspot.com/
***** BOOK GIVEAWAY PACKAGE *****
TWO WINNERS! Enter to win an amazing Murder, Tea & Crystals prize that includes Hummingbird Moonrise by Sherri Dodd as well as lots of other witch themed gifts including candles, gemstones, soap, lip balm, Oracle cards and more. Fill out the form below for a chance to win. The giveaway ends November 15th at 11:59 pm CT. We will randomly draw TWO winners the next day and follow up via email. Good luck!
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