National bestselling author Michelle Rowen writes paranormal romance, urban fantasy, and young adult fantasy. She was the winner of the 2007 Holt Medallion for Best First Book and the 2009 Romantic Times Reviewers Choice award for Vampire Romance.
Michelle lives in Southern Ontario. Please feel free to contact her at michelle@michellerowen.com. She loves hearing from readers!
Reading with Tequila: For an urban fantasy heroine, Jill is refreshingly normal. Were you ever tempted to give her more than average abilities?
Michelle: I really wanted Jill to be a normal human woman with no training or special survival skills, thrust into a dangerous and deadly situation. I wanted her blood to be the danger, the weapon, not Jill herself. I'd read a lot of urban fantasy novels where the heroine is kick-ass from the very beginning and felt I wanted to go in a different direction. My initial inspiration for Jill was Sarah Connor, a character who went from a mild mannered waitress to a Terminator-butt-kicking action heroine over the course of two movies. If she'd been butt-kicking in the very beginning, her journey as a character would have been much less compelling for me. By the end of Bloodlust, Jill's definitely a different person from where she started in Nightshade, and there's lots more room to grow from there.
RWT: At the beginning of Nightshade, Declan is physically repulsive and emotionally cold. Did you ever worry that readers wouldn't be able to get past that initial impression?
Michelle: Ah, see. I never found him physically repulsive. I dig scars and an eye patch. Emotionally reserved also is cool with me. :) And I knew what was hidden deep in this dude's heart. I wanted the reader to take the same ride as Jill. Again, I wanted to play with what I'd seen in other books -- where the heroine meets the hero and he's so OMGHOT from the very first page that she can barely keep her libido off him. That's all fine and good (and hey, I've written a couple of those myself), but I wanted a more gradual build. As Jill starts to become attracted to Declan and digs past those many layers of his, I am hoping the reader does too.
RWT: In Bloodlust, Jill finds herself deeply connected to a man other than Declan. While Jill obviously lusts after both men, is it possible that she could love them both?
Michelle: Hmm, good question. I really don't know. Is it possible to love two very different men at the same time? Can your emotions fool you? If someone is there for you when the other is missing in a time of great need, does the heart grow fonder, or go yonder? Personally, I think I started to like (ahem, lust after) the other guy a whole lot more than I should have and gave him way more page time than he might have deserved. What can I say? He's pretty sexy. ;) At the end of the day, though, where are his feelings? Does he even know what love is? I do think Jill has strong (but different) feelings for both men. I also think she feels stronger for one of them, and that likely won't change any time soon. However, I am a big fan of love triangles. Always have been. True love never runs smoothly.
RWT: Is there a set number of books in the Nightshade series? And can you give us any hints about what might be in the future for Jill?
Michelle: Ah, another tricky question. I went into this "series" counting on the contracted two books and the novella that came in between, which is why I gave Bloodlust what I think is a satisfying ending. I very much want to write more in the series since there are lots more places that Jill needs to go as a character -- in fact, I've already mapped those places out for at least two more books. However, at this time, my publisher has not committed to more books, which is disappointing both to me and to the readers I know loved the first book. Hopefully, however, those readers will help to spread the word about the books. Publishing is a tough business right now and series are getting canceled all over the place. But I'd love to write more about Jill and her future adventures and will definitely keep my fingers crossed that I can do that some day very soon.
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