Why choose a bad boy when you have a good boy? An interview with paranormal romance author Melissa Smith

Today, I'm talking with paranormal romance author Melissa Smith about her young adult book Cloud Nine.

1) Tell us about your book.

Claire is a typical teenage girl. Sterling is a by the book Guardian. After a chance encounter, neither one will ever be the same again. They both bring baggage to the table in the form of exes who don't want those titles anymore. Both exes want things to go back to the way things were, but both Claire and Sterling are willing to fight to stay together. And a fight is what's in store.

2) What was your inspiration for this book?

My own childhood imagination. :) I used to pretend I had someone to grant my every wish, no matter how small or trivial. Someone who was always there to stand up for me and guard me. Someone to clean my room when I didn't want to! So when I decided to sit down to write, it just flowed out almost fully formed. I was in awe!

3) A lot of paranormal romance involves a emotionally difficult hero who may even present a physical threat to the heroine. Now while this is an obvious extension of existing "taming the rogue/bad boy" trends that have existed in romance for a long time, the supernatural element has made it particularly pronounced and noticeable. Why did you choose to swim against that tide with a hero who is pretty much the opposite of a bad boy?

I don't really don't know. He just developed that way :) He's a rogue in the way that he fell in love with Claire and tried to hide it. But still a good guy in the way that he really did try to deny himself the freedom to have her love.

4) Many authors put part of themselves into their characters. Is your heroine anything like you?

Actually no :) Arianna (another Guardian) is more like me than Claire really is. I suppose I did give her a few of my more snarky qualities, but overall Claire is someone all her own!

5) Paranormal romance is a burgeoning, some say saturated, genre. What sets your story apart from others in this genre?

Like you pointed out, my hero isn't the typical bad boy. He isn't someone who goes out looking for a fight. Sterling is the nice guy. The one who will cherish you while at the same time fighting everything and everyone to keep you safe.

6) If you had to pick a musical artist/group to write a few songs that defined the atmosphere of your book, who would you pick and why?

Wow. I honestly have no idea! For some reason when I try to think of setting a musical score to this book...I draw a blank!

7) You've already written a sequel. How many books do you have planned in this series?

Well so far, I've planned a novella and another novel featuring another character :D You'll just have to wait and see!

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Thanks for stopping by, Melissa.

You can find purchase Cloud Nine at Amazon, Smashwords, and Barnes and Noble.