Boo! It’s A Vampire Kind Of A Day, And Jennifer Wright Wants To Give You A Halloween Treat, No Trick!

TNA: Welcome to The Novel Approach, Jennifer, we couldn’t be happier to have you here with us today. Why don’t we start by having you tell us a little bit about yourself, a few things that make you, you?

JW: Well, I’m originally from Arizona, but now live in Wisconsin (I know, drastic change in weather, right? :P). I live in a happy home with my sweetie-pie and our two cats. I love watching movies, reading, and spending as much time with my family that I can.

What makes me, me? Simple – writing. Writing defines who I am, my passion, my center, my everything. If I couldn’t be a writer, I’d be a sullen husk without purpose or personality. Wow, too deep? Nah! I know y’all can handle it. ;) I am a writer after all – Drama is my middle name.

TNA: Have you always written M/M Romance, or is that something that came along later in your writing career?

JW: It came along later. I very much enjoyed writing M/F, but then my reading took a turn to the M/M side and I found a whole new passion! My first published book, Pavarus, actually started out as an M/F. It was hell converting it, lol! Now, everything is M/M. My first two books I wrote will stay M/F, and one day when I find time to revamp them, I hope to get them published – maybe under a pen name.

TNA: What was your first published M/M title? Do you remember the precise moment you came up with the story idea and knew you wouldn’t rest until it was told?

JW: My first published M/M title was Pavarus: Finding Home Series book 1. I hate admitting this, but I honestly can’t remember when I came up with the idea, or what inspired it. I’m constantly coming up with new books in my head all the time – it’s hard to keep track of it all.

TNA: How long have you been writing?

JW: I started writing ‘for real’ only a little over 3 years ago. I dabbled in it a little growing up, but nothing serious, just for my own personal pleasure.

TNA: Let’s chat a little bit about the Finding Home series. When you started it, did you have all the books plotted in advance, or do you just write as the characters tell you their stories? Did you know in advance how many books there’d be in the series?

JW: In the very beginning, I didn’t have everything plotted out, but about halfway through writing Pavarus, the rest of the series came to me – well, for the most part. Originally, there were only going to be 4 books, but at the very end of the first one – when writing about Eli – Keddrick and Eli’s story came rushing in. Zane’s story was supposed to be book 2, but the impatient Keddrick and Eli wouldn’t wait and demanded their story next. Thankfully it was all thought out by the time I reached out to Totally Bound.

TNA: I know that Wesley didn’t get the mating mark because he is human, but with Eli being a magical being is there a reason he didn’t get the mating mark?

JW: Actually, it’s a family mark. It’s kind of like their last name – it represents who they are. The family mark is only passed between vampires. Since Wes had a way of getting Remus’ mark by an emblem on a necklace, I wanted Eli to get ‘something’, so I was going to have Eli getting Keddrick’s family mark tattooed on, but it didn’t really fit in well to the story.

TNA: The world building in these first two novels was very detailed. How did you come up with this universe that the vampires and their enemies are living in?

JW: Uh, I don’t know. Lol! It just kinda came to me. It wasn’t like I was thinking and devising it in my head, it was more like I was watching it all be created in my mind and I just wrote down what I saw.

TNA: Which authors have been your biggest influences?

JW: J.R. Ward and J.L. Langley. Ward has a writing style that I’m flat-out envious of, and Langley has some of the best story ideas I’ve ever read. There isn’t a book by either author that I don’t absolutely LOVE.

TNA: As I said in my review of Pavarus, I am a vampire story junkie. What are some of your favorite vampire novels?

JW: J.R. Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood series has to be #1. Lara Adrian’s Midnight Breed series has to be #2. I know neither are M/M, but I don’t actually read a whole lot of vampire books.

TNA: Will any of your couples end up having children in the future, either by surrogate or maybe magical means?

JW: Unfortunately, no. There was a moment when I was going to add an abandoned child in and have the little boy be adopted by my couple in the 4th book, but it really doesn’t seem to be fitting in right anymore, so I don’t think it’ll happen.

TNA: Do you have any favorite characters in the series? If yes, which ones and why?

JW: Zane and Larken, hands down. For Zane, I love his attitude, his hardness (stop thinking dirty there Jackie), and his true personality that is only shone when he’s with Larken. And for Larken…well, what’s not to love. ;)

TNA: Will Aliam be given another mate? I would hate to see him mourn forever while all of his friends find true love.

JW: I hate to be the bearer of bad news then, but no, he doesn’t get another mate. His heart will forever only belong to Eveen.

TNA: Would you care to share a little bit of information on any of your current WIPs?

JW: Ugh! I wish I could tell you about Athis Dey: Finding Home Series book 4, but I don’t want to give anything away for the 3rd book. I really set the 3rd book up as a ‘who’s Zane gonna choose?’, so revealing the main characters in the fourth book will kind of give it away. But other than my FH Series, I’m writing 5 other books.

There’s too many to talk about so I’ll just tell you about a futuristic one titled Love Me As I Am. It’s about this woman, Anna, who has all along known that deep down she’s meant to be a man. Being the future, this is actually possible where she can be transformed completely into a man. Now Rayne (once Anna) has to get Emery, his best friend and the man he’s secretly loved, to except him as a man now instead of the woman he once was.

TNA: Where can readers find you on the internet?

Blog: http://authorjenwright.wordpress.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorJenniferWright
Twitter: https://twitter.com/_JenWright
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/JenniferWright
Totally Bound: https://www.totallybound.com/index.php?route=product/author/info&author_id=253
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Jennifer-Wright/e/B00A2I2F80/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1

TNA: Would you care to share an excerpt from Airos with us?

Blurb:

Zane has everything in his life under control and in order, but can he keep it that way when a young dragon is thrown into his life?

Zane was meant to be a warrior—end of story. Though he may not have had the most pleasant life living at the coven, he still loved being there. But the steadiness of his world came to a halt all within one day’s events. A man he never saw coming has pushed the boundaries of what little normalcy he has, and learning of a secret love is just confusing him even more. Zane has never felt more torn on what he should be feeling…and for whom. Though, if he assumed having two men plaguing his every waking thought was hard enough, learning of the danger his mother is in nearly has his head spinning off into another dimension.

The leader of the Dráguns is threatening to take everything away from him, his best friend is slipping further and further away from him, and a little dragon is managing to get under his skin in more ways than one. Sorting out what he has to do, what he wants, and what’s right for him will be the biggest challenge he’s ever been faced with. Will he follow his heart or will he take the easy path…or is the easy path the right path to begin with?

Excerpt:

Larken watched the tiny snowflake drift down from the sky. He reached out and let it fall into his hand, melting the moment it touched his skin.

If it were only that easy, to simply melt away and exist no more.

“Larken?”

Larken stilled at the sound of Zane’s voice.

“There you are. What are you doing out here? It’s fucking freezing.” Zane joined him on the balcony but didn’t come up to stand next to him, instead leaning against the ledge a few feet away. “I, uh… I was wondering if we could talk.”

Larken remained silent—he had nothing to say. And even if he did, he didn’t think he’d be capable of forming the words and speaking them out loud.

“All right, I’ll talk—you listen. Can we go inside, though? It’s colder than hell out here.”

Larken made no move to go inside, he just stared at the woods and at the tiny snowflakes that were slowly gathering on the leaves of the trees.

“All right, I guess we’ll stay out here then.” There was a moment of silence and Larken could hear Zane shuffling next to him. “I imagine today came as quite a surprise for you. Even though I hated to do so, that side of my life had to remain a secret. I did it for my mother.”

His half-breed side, that’s what he came to talk about? Of course, I should have known…why else would he be here.

“You have to know, though, that keeping it from you hurt the most.”

Not nearly as much as I’m hurting now.

“There were so many times that I wanted to tell you, to share that side of my life with you.”

Only a side? But I want all of it. I would have given anything to have it…to have you.

“I hate that you had to find out this way. But I just couldn’t… Bo had been hurt, and I had to go find him.”

Larken closed his eyes as a knot formed in his chest, stealing his breath away. The dragon. Zane exposed himself for Bo. His secret was important enough to go a century and a half without telling anyone…and he gave it up for the dragon.

When Larken had left the gathering room the hurt inside him had clutched at his soul and had been slowly sucking the life out of him. The ache had consumed him and spread throughout his body, attacking every nerve and every emotion—the last bit of it tearing at his heart just then, as the man he loved spoke of another.

“Do you have nothing to say?” Zane asked, concern lacing his words.

Larken let the silence linger between them, trying to figure out in his mind how every-thing had gone so wrong. “I don’t care that you’re a half-breed,” he finally replied. It was true, he didn’t care, and it was the least of his concerns. He looked over to Zane. So many times he’d gazed into those sapphire eyes, praying that someday his friend would look at him in the same way. “Yeah, I’m a little mad that you didn’t tell me before, but it doesn’t matter.”

“Then why do you seem so upset?”

Here’s your chance, he’s asking you up front, do not cower away this time.

Larken wanted to curse at the voice inside his head. He had never cowered away before—he just knew that he’d needed to give Zane time to come around on his own.

Bullshit! The time for excuses is over—you and him are over. You let him slip away. You were weak—too scared that he’d reject you, and look where it’s gotten you.

Larken mentally shook his head, shaking away the harsh words. He wanted to argue back, deny everything, but ultimately he knew the voice was right. This was his last chance to tell Zane how he felt, but there were no words to even begin to describe his love for him.

He would just have to show him instead.

Closing the distance between them, Larken framed Zane’s face with his hands and crushed their mouths together. He put all the love he had into the kiss, handing over every ounce of his heart. He wanted to devour every inch of Zane’s mouth, but he held back, keeping the kiss passionate—not possessive. Finally, he pulled back and rested their foreheads together.

Larken brushed his thumbs across Zane’s cheeks. “Tell me you felt something,” he whispered, then placed a chaste kiss on Zane’s lips. “Tell me you felt something for me.”

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TNA: Thanks again for being here with us today, Jennifer!

JW: Thanks again for having me as a guest!

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THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED