#Author Melissa Fox Talks #Paranormal #Romance and Prize Winning Pups!

Happy Friday, everyone! Today I'm honored to have fellow Wild Rose
Press author Melissa Fox with me. Her book Wraith Redeemed is the first in a projected paranormal romance series, which you can learn more about at her website. She's lived a number of different places in her life, but currently resides in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and her prize-winning dogs (more about them below).

Melissa's kindly allowed me to ask her five nosy questions AND is very generously offering a free copy of Wraith Redeemed and a $25 Amazon gift certificate, so make sure to enter using the Rafflecopter at the end of our interview!

Now let's get started!

      

      1.  Hi Melissa, thanks so much for being with us today. You mention on your website that you've been an inveterate reader since you were a child. What were some of your favorite books growing up?

I read everything I could get my hands on, including whatever my mom and dad had lying around! The Hardy Boys and The Black Stallion books, of course. Encyclopedia Brown – man, is that a blast from the past, or what? The magazine Highlights. Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators. Albert Payson Terhune, Marguerite Henry, Judy Blume.  Poe. Stephen King, Tolkien, Harlan Ellison as I got a little older. The first romance I read was Kathleen Woodiwiss’s Rose in Winter when I was a senior in high school on Spring Break, and that opened my eyes to the experience of falling in love within the pages of a romance in so many different ways.

   2.  Wow, a lot of those titles really bring back memories. Kathleen Woodiwiss was the author who turned me on to romance, too. You also mention that you have dogs. We're great animal lovers here at The Divas of Desire. Can you tell us a little about your pets?

I have Chesapeake Bay retrievers. We show them on occasion, and have won Best of Breed at Westminster and the AKC Eukanuba National Championship. They’re such a part of our lives and family. They’re water dogs, and love being able to walk to the end of the road and go swimming in the Puget Sound, or go hiking, car rides, sleeping on the sofa or bed next to me.

What a gorgeous smile!

These doggies love bath time!

Prize winners need their beauty sleep!

Best of breed at Westminster!

     What beautiful dogs! They must be great companions. 
    
     3. Your book Wraith Redeemed is a paranormal romance featuring a demon slayer. You also have a future book in the Wraith series, Wraith Enchanted. What is it about the paranormal that appeals to you as an author?

Paranormal has it all, suspense, action, romance, emotion, imagination. I love world building, coming up with twists and abilities not constrained by conventional worlds. So much fun to manipulate and fantasize.

   4. First Impressions and Second Chances, your upcoming book, is a contemporary Romantic suspense.  It features an undercover agent for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Did the book involve a lot of research?

Oh, yes, Ash’s story! He’s become my favorite hero that I’ve written so far – there’s just something about him. Stubborn, too, as I tried so many times to make him FBI, ATF, police, something easier than a Mountie – which I knew little about! He’s been pretty insistent so far to stay a Mountie, so I had to do a ton of research. Still have more to do, iron out some issues, which is why it’s still a work in progress and hasn’t been submitted anywhere yet. If anyone knows about being a Mountie, especially undercover in Toronto, hit me up!

  5. I'd love to read about a Mountie. Sounds awesome! Would you please tell us about your most recent release? We're all ears!

Wraith Redeemed is a second chance, reunion, hero done his woman wrong and has a lot of explaining to do story wrapped up with supernatural, good versus evil, demon slaying action and adventure. It was so much fun to write and have Conor and Merry and their world in my head, and I’m so excited to have the opportunity to share them with everyone.

WRAITH REDEEMED:

Demon-slayer Conor O’Shea is about to engage in the most dangerous encounter of his life—facing the woman he scorned.

For years, Merry Bradbury's world revolved around Conor O'Shea. After his sudden betrayal leaves her alone and heartbroken, she comes home to settle her past and move into the future. The last person she expects to see is Conor.

Conor never wanted anything more than forever with Merry. Discovering he is a Wraith warrior, honor bound to fight demons, destroys that plan. Merry is his Amorta, his one true soul mate, but he leaves to keep her safe from the evil that stalks him.

Eight years later, Conor's worst fear is realized, and he returns to defend Merry from his enemies. Can he save her from an unspeakable fate and reclaim her heart? And if he does, will Merry be able to accept all that he is?  

EXCERPT #1

“Stay here,” Conor told her. “Don’t move, no matter what you see. No matter what happens, Merry. Stay right here.”

He waited until she nodded her assent before he turned. The woman hissed, and his shoulders rolled as he took a step toward her. Merry’s eyes grew round when long-bladed weapons appeared in his hands.

“Wraith,” the woman snarled, lowering herself into a half-crouch.

The wicked blades twisted in his hands to point in her direction. He took another step toward the redhead, unnaturally swift but pure and beautiful in his power.

“Go now,” he said in a quiet, even tone. “And I’ll let you live one more day."

The woman’s attention left him for an instant to settle on Merry, her eyes narrowing with speculation. A slow, feline smile curved her red lips.

“You think you can protect her,” she purred. “How sweet. I’m going to find out if she is as delicious as she smells after I’m done with you. 

EXCERPT #2

“I always knew you loved me, Conor.” Merry could barely hear her voice over the pounding of her heart. “I didn’t understand. I still don’t, not completely, but I knew. That’s why it hurt so much and why I could never forget. That’s why I had to come home.”

His free hand curled around her neck. She didn’t know if he intended to bring her closer or hold her in place. Her breath caught, and his expression changed to something she recognized, something that turned her breathlessness into searing pain. He pulled her up those last few inches and placed his mouth on hers.

Shock ripped through her the minute their lips touched. She gasped, rising to meet him with pent-up longing and frustration. After a brief, stunned moment, both his hands flew up to hold her face as she gripped his arms. She sighed in relief when his mouth opened over hers, the scorching heat making her head reel and her body want more. She accepted the touch of his tongue, pulled him in and welcomed him as she went blind with pleasure. The compulsion to keep taking and never stop overwhelmed her senses. His taste flooded her soul.

He felt so good.

Merry fought against the desire to ravish more than his mouth, to hold on to reason and keep the contact to just kisses. She had never expected to hold him close again, to be immersed in his heat and scent. Their unique connection proved just as strong as she remembered, and she savored the moment until she had to pull from his embrace or succumb to the temptation of his hovering mouth.

“Conor—” The look on his face gave her a hot thrill of excitement. “Conor.”

To purchase WRAITH REDEEMED, go to:

The Wild Rose Press

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

iBook

Find Melissa at:

Website

Twitter

Facebook

Goodreads

Fight For Your Write Blog

Thanks so much for being here today, Melissa! It's been wonderful. And please pet your dogs for me!

Have a wonderful weekend, all!

Nona Raines
Hot Contemporary Romance
Edgy ~ Emotional ~ Erotic
www.nonaraines.com

Okay, everybody, don't forget to enter the Rafflecopter  for the giveaway of one copy of WRAITH REDEEMED in winner’s choice of format and one $25 Amazon gift certificate! Ends March 15, 2013.

a Rafflecopter giveaway