by Avery Arujo | Sep 23, 2025 | Book Updates, Date Night With Death
It’s finally here. Date Night With Death is out in the world.
This was the book where I realized I wasn’t just writing another paranormal romance—I was building a series. It’s also where I first introduced the bigger threat that’s been quietly looming over Moonridge (slight spoiler alert: The Concord 13).
When I finished Once Upon a Blue Moon, I immediately dove into this one because Mina needed her story told immediately. You’ll notice right away that the tone is darker. That shift felt natural. My process has always been to get the bones of the story down first, and then during revisions I dig into the characters’ voices. Hazel had her sharp sarcasm. Blake carried that gruff exterior with the soft side tucked underneath. With Date Night With Death, Mina became the focus. She’s direct, no-nonsense, and dealing with some heavy personal struggles. Her coping mechanisms are avoidance first and gallows humor second. Dex, on the other hand, is a Reaper. He’s walked through the human world but never truly lived in it. Exploring how an old soul like him would interact with people, how he’d shape his speech patterns, how he’d discover his wants and needs, was a ton of fun to write. That said, I also realized that I can’t just write a story about Death himself without focusing on death. Exploring this aspect is what brought on the slightly darker tone.
Writing this also turned out to be personal in a way I didn’t expect. While working on this book, memories of losing my aunt to a brain tumor almost twenty-five years ago surfaced. She was the light in our family, and her kids have always been more like siblings than cousins to me. When she got sick, I was living far away, broke, and unable to show up for them the way I wanted to. That left me with a lot of unprocessed grief and guilt. Writing Mina’s story helped me work through some of that.
On a lighter note, the introduction of the Vampire Wives might be my favorite part. I’m a reality TV junkie, especially The Real Housewives, so slipping that influence into Moonridge felt inevitable. They brought me joy to write, and don’t worry, you haven’t seen the last of them.
Some early readers have felt the series took too dark a turn here compared to the lighter vibe of book one. I get that. But honestly, this book holds a special place in my heart. It’s still my favorite so far… though book three is giving it some serious competition.
Thank you for reading, for coming back to Moonridge, and for sticking with these characters as they grow. I can’t wait to share what’s next.
Love,
Avery
by Avery Arujo | Sep 12, 2025 | Book Updates, Life Updates
Hi, friends!
It’s finally fall, my favorite season of all, and boy, have I been busy! Sweater weather is just around the corner, and I can’t wait. Between getting everything ready for the release of Date Night With Death and trying to stay on top of things at my day job, I feel like I’ve barely had time to breathe. I did take an extended Labor Day weekend, though, and it was great to visit friends I hadn’t seen in years. I even gave myself a full week off from writing and plotting, which was exactly what I needed.
Date Night With Death comes out in just over a week, and I’m so grateful to the early readers who’ve already reached out to tell me how much they’ve enjoyed it. While not always easy to hear, I also appreciate the ones who wrote to say they hated it or DNFed because it wasn’t what they were expecting. If you haven’t read it yet, the vibe is definitely different from Once Upon a Blue Moon. It is a little darker, which honestly feels closer to my natural lane. I love cozy, but sometimes I just need to let the shadows in. Honestly, I like Date Night better than Blue Moon, but what can you do? 🙂
On the writing front, I’m about halfway through revising the first half of book three. While cleaning it up, I realized that what I had mapped out as book five actually needs to come earlier in the series arc, so I’m swapping books four and five. I’ve taken a break from cleaning up book three so I can reorganize notes and plots, so I don’t lose track of why I made the change in the first place. Speaking of tone, book three is shaping up to be a mix of the first two. There are many more lighter moments reminiscent of Blue Moon, but we are still very much in the thick of the Concord’s growing menace. The deeper we dig into them, the more evil comes to the surface.
Thank you for sticking with me. A handful of you have sent in great questions, and I’ll be putting together a Q&A post soon to answer them. I’m also hoping to have a new Moonridge Gazette article up in the near future. They take a little more time to put together, but they’re some of my favorite posts to share.
Until next time.
Avery
by Avery Arujo | Aug 22, 2025 | Book Updates, Date Night With Death
Hello, friends!
Just a quick note to let you all know that electronic review copies of Date Night With Death are now on StoryOrigin and NetGalley. You can apply for a review copy here:
StoryOrigin Reviewer
NetGalley Reviewer
I’m in the process of getting everything together to get the book up on NetGalley. I work with BookBuzz on this and it usually takes them a bit. I’m hoping it will be up and ready to request by the end of next week. I will update this post and add the link once it’s available.
OK, off to Moonridge. I’m rewriting some new scenes for book three and… dang! Things are getting messy!
Lots of love,
Avery
by Avery Arujo | Aug 11, 2025 | Book Updates, Date Night With Death
OK. I couldn’t wait any longer. I spent all last week and this past weekend finalizing “Date Night With Death”. It’s done. I can’t edit it down any further. I feel like the voices are strong, the story is tight, and the stakes have been raised. It’s time to wrap this one up so I can get back to writing book three.
This book was originally slated for release on October 7, but since I’m my own publisher and it’s essentially ready, I’ve moved the publication date up two weeks to September 23. It’s available now for Kindle pre-order, and paperback pre-orders will be up as soon as I’ve confirmed that the printed proof looks great.
I’m still planning to have ARCs available (electronic only) at the end of this month. Keep an eye on the blog and be sure to sign up for the newsletter so you can be the first to know when they are available.
As I’ve mentioned before, this book is darker than Blue Moon. There are still moments of levity, but there is also death in the mix, which is inevitable when the Grim Reaper is part of the story. Just a heads up that it contains references to:
- Cancer (specifically a brain tumor)
- Attempted suicide
- Death and grief
- Mentions of domestic abuse
- Mentions of abortion
- Mentions of infidelity
The cancer storyline is deeply personal. My aunt lived with the same diagnosis featured in this book, and many aspects of the character’s journey were inspired by what she experienced. Writing those scenes was emotional for me. Reading them might be emotional for you, too.
That said, I can’t wait for you to meet Dex and dive into his and Mina’s story. And without further ado, here’s the final cover art.
by Avery Arujo | Jul 31, 2025 | Book Updates, Once Upon a Blue Moon
Yes, I know “Once Upon a Blue Moon” just released. It’s basically still a newborn. So why would I decide to change the cover already? Let me tell you a little story…
Actually, there’s no big story. The truth is, my friend created digital versions of my characters for me with the original plan of using them on the covers. But when it came time to actually design those covers, I started wanting tweaks. A lot of tweaks. And they weren’t quick fixes either. (Read: I was a pain in the butt.) Who knew that it would be so time consuming?
The sweet part? He never told me no. Instead, he came up with a completely different design that was easier on his time and energy and allows him to combine licensed art with his own. He showed me a concept and I loved it (with very few tweaks). So we scrapped the character-based covers and went with something simpler, cuter, and more in line with what’s trending in the genre right now.
I especially fell in love with the cover for Date Night With Death. I can’t wait for you to see it in a couple of weeks! And don’t worry, I’ll still be using the individual characters on the website.
But first things first.
Here’s the brand-new cover for Once Upon a Blue Moon! The Kindle version is already updated. I’m just waiting on the physical proof of the paperback to make sure everything looks right when printed. As soon as it gets the thumbs up, that will be updated too.
Hope you love it as much as I do!
