October is I :::Heart::: Paranormal Romance month at my blog. During these next thirty-one spooky days, besides the usual blog posts, I’m featuring authors who write paranormal romance. Today, I have Christina Lynn Lambert in the interview chair. We’re discussing Wolf’s Challenge, book one in the Stranger Creatures series. Be sure to check out the excerpt.
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1. What drew you to writing paranormal romance?
Christina: Growing up, I read a lot of science fiction, fantasy, and horror. It wasn’t until a few years ago that I started reading romance. The romance novels of current times are full of strong, capable women who won’t settle for being treated as an afterthought, and I love that there are so many fantastic romance novels out in the world to choose from. Since I’ve never been a big fan of ordinary, when I write in the romance genre, I love to add elements of the seemingly impossible while still focusing on the struggles of the main characters as they search for their happily-ever-after.
2. What do you like most about writing paranormal romance?
Christina: I love being able to bend reality to show elements of strangeness while being able to show the hopes, fears, flaws, wishes, and courage of the main characters.
3. What do you like least about writing paranormal romance?
Christina: I can’t think of anything that I don’t like about writing paranormal romance except that sometimes I get stuck trying to think of different, unique characters and situations. It takes a fair amount of effort to create scenarios that defy the odds of what we believe is normal while still making the story believable.
4. Why did you write the book you are featuring?
Christina: I have always been fascinated by the idea of shape shifters and people with extraordinary talents and decided that I needed to incorporate these ideas running around in my mind into a story. For my first book, Wolf’s Challenge, I wanted to show characters who had made mistakes, were flawed, but who were also kind and caring. The main message I wanted to make clear in this book was that people don’t need to be perfect to be loved.
5. Why do you think readers should invest their time in reading paranormal romance?
Christina: Paranormal romance is a fun genre to read. There can be shape shifters, aliens, werewolves, people with telekinetic abilities, or any kind of creature the writer can imagine, all living in worlds that are structured slightly or even drastically different than our world. Those fantasy elements can make the journey the main characters face all the more interesting.
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Book Title: Wolf’s Challenge
Series: Stranger Creatures, book one
Author: Christina Lynn Lambert
Sub-Genre: Shifters
Book Length: 190 pages, 76,000 words
Release Date: November 2, 2018
Publisher: Decadent Publishing
Stuck in the crosshairs of a killer, will Derrick and Sydney survive long enough to be together?
Blurb: When Sydney left Seattle two years ago, she was scared, traumatized, and done with men for good. Now she has a good job, a hobby that’s fast becoming a second career, and best of all, she’s adopted a little girl named Angel. Life is good and Sydney’s not about to let charming lawyer Derrick mess that up, no matter how sexy he is, or how sweet he seems.
Things aren’t always as they appear in the town of Great Oaks, Virginia. Derrick isn’t the ladies’ man Sydney thinks he is, but he does have a few secrets, such as his ability to transform into a powerful wolf at will.
Can Derrick convince Sydney to give him a chance, something more than her elusive maybe? More importantly, should he? He’s still trying to forgive himself for being at the wheel during the accident that killed his son. Losing Sydney when she learns the truth might break him, but he’s pretty sure not having her in his life would be just as bad.
A troubled woman running from her guilty conscience has Sydney and Derrick in her crosshairs, and she’ll do whatever it takes to win her game. Will Sydney and Derrick survive long enough to be together?
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“We’ll meet soon to discuss progress.” The rich, deep tone of his voice filled the room and surrounded her like a favorite song. He looked straight at her. His bloodshot, blue-gray eyes were unlike any color she had ever mixed with her watercolors or oil paints. While she was trying to decide which shades of gray she could mix with the blue, Derrick had finished talking. She’d been in Sydneyland, mixing paint colors and listening to the timbre of his voice like it was a background song.
“Uh, what? Sorry.” Her cheeks got hot at being caught not paying attention, though he would never need to know why her mind had drifted.
He laughed, the sound beautiful and…kind of rusty. “We’ll plan on meeting up again soon to discuss progress,” he told her.
Meet? Soon? The man made her break out into a sweat when she had to talk with him. She liked him, didn’t want to like him, and hated making small talk with people she didn’t know well. Ignoring him when they were running would be simple, but business meetings were different, especially if they weren’t as mercifully short as the one she’d just endured. Sydney chided herself for being so silly. Derrick was merely a ridiculously attractive man with whom she would be meeting about purely professional matters. Why couldn’t she make herself feel like it was no big deal? Why did the universe want to make things difficult? Can’t anything ever be easy?
She nodded and politely showed him the door.
“It was nice to see you again, Sydney.” His voice made her knees weak. Clearly, something was wrong with her. They could handle business by e-mail. She could send him files. Yet, she wanted to hear the sound of his voice again. Soon.
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A few years ago, I read my first romance novel and I was hooked, so much so that I decided to give the idea of writing a story a chance. Love, courage, hope, and second chances are a few of my favorite themes. My stories include a fair amount of sarcasm, suspense, steam, and violence. When I’m not writing, I enjoy spending time outside and finding ways to avoid cooking. I live in beautiful Virginia with my husband, two daughters, and a sweet, hairy monster of a dog.
Find Christina: Web Site/Blog | Facebook Page | Amazon | BookBub | Instagram | Twitter
Maggie Blackbird 