Today it’s my pleasure to welcome over Theresa Meyers, author of One Night with the Shifter, Book Four in the Sons of Midnight Series, a Paranormal Romance. Chatting vampires and werewolves, sit back and relax while we interview!
Publisher: Harlequin Nocturne
Date of Publication: February 2014
ISBN: 978-0-373-88590-9
ASIN: B00EFPXT7W
Number of pages: 304 pages
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Book Description
A one-night stand with a werewolf has unexpected consequences in Theresa Meyers's latest romance in the Sons of Midnight series.
After he is exiled from his pack, Tyee Grayson must learn to make it on his own. But one night with a beautiful stranger who has luminous blue eyes changes everything…. Especially when his instincts shout that she is the one.
All elementary school teacher Jessica Brierly wanted was a night on the wild side, but when she finds herself pregnant, all the rules change. Not only does her lover have more secrets than she ever imagined, but suddenly they're both fighting off vampires.
When vampires attack the town she dearly loves, Ty must work with his old pack to save them from a ruthless enemy who could kill not only his mate and his unborn child—but the entire human race.
Let's Interview!
SKY: What inspired you to write this book?
THERESA: Sometimes a character will inspire me, and sometimes a place. In One Night with the Shifter it was a little bit of both. To be honest, what started it was the hero. I felt so bad for Tyee Grayson as the beta werewolf of the Wenatchee Were pack getting kicked out of his position in the pack as the next alpha at the end of The Half-Blood Vampire that he practically screamed in my head for his own story. I wanted to tell what happened after he had to start over, creating a new pack of his own. The second inspiration came from my own small home town of Port Orchard, WA. There’s this bar in town, the Bethel Tavern. I’ve been to it twice with friends who grew up around here. It’s not a place you go to alone and certainly not if you aren’t ready for something a little rough around the edges. I tried to describe it faithfully as the bar where they get into the bar fight with the vampires. The house the heroine and her brothers live in is known around here as the Cedar Cove Inn, and you can look online for pictures of it. It’s a fantastic little bed and breakfast.
SKY: How did you come up with the title?
THERESA: LOL. You know it wasn’t supposed to be the title. I always tend to come up with titles first and that’s what the story is in my head even if the title changes. Originally I had named it Her Big, Bad Wolf, because it was my first book in the Sons of Midnight mini-series featuring a werewolf hero rather than a vampire, but my editor asked me for alternatives and at about the third round of suggestions she decided she liked One Night with the Shifter.
SKY: Are you currently working on another story? If so, we’d love some details.
THERESA: I’m always working on more than one project. Right now I’m finishing a vampire novella that will be part of an anthology with several other vampire authors that’s due out this spring. I’m also working on crafting a new paranormal mini-series for Harlequin Nocturne as well as writing on my next Shadow Sisters book, Shadow Hunter set in the dark fae world I write for Entangled. Later this year I’ll be writing on a New Adult book and a YA book. So there’s plenty of projects in the works.
SKY: What sort of personality does your hero have?
THERESA: Tyee Grayson is a lone wolf—literally. He’s left his pack because he can’t get along with the new alpha werewolf. He’s trying to start over, keeping his paranormal side undercover as he teaches an outdoor survival skills school to members of the military. Underneath it all Ty wants to belong and have a family. He misses his pack, but he’s too proud to go back or ask for help until something matters more to him than his own ego. He’s protective, fierce and loyal, just like you’d expect from wolves that mate for life. I always create a soundtrack to each book I write that I play while I’m writing. Ty’s song was “All-American Nightmare” by Hinder and my favorite lines out of the song were “nice guys are last, ‘cause I’m always first. I’m a freak show sucker for how it feels, turn the girl next door into hell on heels.” I thought it captured his bad boy persona just right.
SKY: What sort of personality does your heroine have?
THERESA: Ahhh, Jessica Brierly. She’s your all-American small-town girl with too many brothers who all think they know what’s good for her even though she’s an adult. As an elementary teacher, she knows all too well that her behavior matters, but after a lifetime in the same small town where everyone knows everyone, she wants a fling with someone that’s totally unrelated to life in Sinclair. Part of that has to do with growing up with her brothers in charge and as the only girl in the family. Jess isn’t rash, but she is independent and doesn’t always see things the way her brothers do. She’s fiercely loyal, in fact you could say in some ways that’s her biggest fault. One of the most things about writing Jess was taking the fear that’s so natural when you find out your pregnant for the first time and wondering if you are doing everything right, and compounding it by having her realize there was no rule book for being pregnant with a were for a mate. All those insecurities are amped up but at the same time are exactly what make her so perfect to be Ty’s alpha female. Jess would do anything to put her family first—just like him. She was also fun to write because all my life I’ve been surrounded by teachers, and I’ve had the opportunity to be a substitute teacher myself for a number of years, so I understand what she’s thinking as a teacher.
SKY: Tell us about your favorite writing environment. Is it indoors, outdoors, a special room, etc.
THERESA: I don’t always get the luxury of choosing where I write. I write anywhere I can, whenever I can: in the car in a cheap spiral notebook in the car while waiting for my teens to get out of practice, on the desktop computer in my turret office, and even sometimes I’ll text stuff on my phone to my email just so I capture it. If I do get to pick, I like to be in my office, or curled up on the couch in my living room with the sunshine spilling over my shoulder.
SKY: What sources do you use for research?
THERESA: I use the Internet a lot, but also my research librarian at my local library and the host of books in my office that range on topics from everything to herbal remedies and Feng Shui to art history books and Greek mythology. When you are writing paranormal romance, you draw from a number of sources to make what you are creating as authentic as possible and grounded in something real whether it’s history, herbology, or ancient societies.
SKY: How long have you been writing? How long have you been published?
THERESA: That’s kind of a trick question when it comes to me. I started having my writing published nationally when I was 17 and got a short story piece published in Merlin’s Pen as part of an extra credit English assignment in high school. I wrote for newspapers for years and magazines, but in fiction I’ve been writing far, far longer than I’ve been published. I started writing my first romance novel when I was seventeen as a self-created elective my senior year along with a few friends. As long as we produced written pages and showed progress in our chosen writing projects, we were given an A for the class. My first novel was published by Harlequin in 2009 and since then I’ve been thrilled to have several more. One Night with the Shifter will be my sixteenth published book, but probably the twentieth I’ve written.
SKY: Do you prefer to write short stories, novellas or novels? Why?
THERESA: You know, that’s a really good question. For me I prefer writing full-length novels. A novella takes just as much planning for me as a novel because it’s a full story just in a very short package. That means I don’t have time to do as many layers in the story because I have to keep everything tight and condense to the storyline of the two main characters.
SKY: Do you write books in series? If so, share a bit about the series you currently have published or are coming soon.
THERESA: Yes, I write several series! Thanks for asking. When writing my brain tends to come up with entire complex worlds filled with lots of different characters who all deserve a story of their own. One Night with the Shifter is part of my Sons of Midnight series featuring vampires and werewolves in the Seattle area. My Legend Chronicles are paranormal steampunk romances that are best described as what would happen if you took the television series Supernatural and mashed it together with the movie Wild Wild West (even though I started writing my three brothers named after guns who are supernatural hunters YEARS before there ever was a Supernatural television show.) I also have a contemporary romance series I’m working on that will start with The Geek Billionaire Makeover that comes out in April from Entangled and I’m working on a new paranormal world that hopefully will debut in the next year. I also am writing on the Shadow Sisters series for Entangled which features the four O’Connell sisters who can see dark fae and get caught up in their plans to retake our world that started with the novella Shadowlander. Readers can always find what I’m working on next by following me on Twitter @Theresa_Meyers liking my Facebook page at
www.facebook.com/TheresaMeyersAuthor or my going to my website www.theresameyers.com
Thanks so much for having me visit today, it’s been a lot of fun talking with you!
SKY: My pleasure, Theresa. Great interview!
Excerpt
The air was clean and cold outside. Ty’s head cleared, his senses grew sharper. The cool evening breeze, heavy with the salty scent of nearby Puget Sound, ruffled Jess’s hair, sticking honey-colored wisps to her full, rosy lips.
“You okay?” he asked as he gently tucked the strands back behind her ear.
Jess blinked, and stared up at him, a mixture of curiosity and disbelief in her eyes. “What just happened in there?”
He tried to give her a lopsided grin, but it turned into a wince when he found his jaw was tender from the hits the vampire had landed. He rubbed the soreness. The night air chilled the dribble of blood from the cut on his cheek, making it wet and cold, but there was no scent of vampire. The third one must have been smart enough to ditch his buddies. His body ached from the fight, but it would heal fast enough. “A bar fight with strangers.”
“You didn’t know those guys?” she asked, looking around her nervously. “They seemed pretty intent on messing with you.” She grazed the corner of his mouth with her fingertips. “You’re hurt.”
The light touch was enough to send a powerful surge of awareness pounding through him that wiped away any of the ache that remained. Damn. There was no doubt in his mind there was a strong Mesmer forming with this woman.
He gently moved her fingers away from his mouth, keeping them folded in his. Her hands were fine boned and slender and feminine. “No big deal.”
Her full lips tipped up into a soft smile, making him crave to kiss her. “Tough guy, huh?” She pulled a car remote from her pocket and pushed it, making the lights flash on a silver pickup on the edge of the dirt-and-gravel parking area beside the bar.
“Sounds like you’ve been around a few.”
She opened the driver’s door to the pickup and turned, standing in the gap, staring at him, her head tilted. “A few. But they’re nothing like you.”
Ty closed the gap between them, putting one hand on the door frame, shielding her from view of the parking lot but maintaining space between them. He knew better than to get close enough to be swamped by temptation. The Mesmer might be working on him, but that didn’t mean she’d understand if he came on too strong. Especially not after the fight.
“If you want to head home, I understand. I’ll stay here awhile and make sure those guys don’t follow you home.”
She reached out and grabbed fistfuls of his T-shirt near his collarbones, pulling him close until he was chest to chest with her. The soft swells of her breasts pressed against him and the minty scent of her hair, and hint of lilac on her skin teased his sensitive sense of smell. Everything within him went silent and still, fixated on the lush curve of her mouth so damn close to his he could feel the warmth of her breath.
“What I want is for you to come home with me.” Jess stood on her tiptoes and looked up into his face, the dark fringe of lashes around her eyes making the blue luminous. Her rapid pulse beat against his chest, taking over the rhythm until his matched the pace she set. For a second the world tilted sideways.
Ty’s gaze dropped to the silky, damp edge of her lips and he was lost. He dipped down and kissed her. Her lips were soft and willing, tasting of peppermint. She tasted so damn sweet, hot and spicy all at once. A warm, viscous heat flowed through his veins, coating and drowning out every other sensation until he was hot and hard at the same time.
Ty gripped the edge of the truck’s door frame, nearly denting the sheet metal with his fingertips. But he was determined to keep his hands to himself, even though they itched to touch her. Heat seeped through his shirt, the temperature difference amplified by the chill in the air. The kiss turned deeper, slicker, the tip of her tongue brushing against his. The spicy fragrance of female that spiked the air left no doubt she was aroused. When they broke apart, both of them were breathing hard, their breath creating misty white clouds.
“You sure about this?” He could control his body, but not the rough edge of his voice as he struggled to maintain composure. “I could follow you.”
Jess looked up at him, her dark lashes dropping a fraction, giving her a sultry look. “Hop in.”
He was smart enough not to argue with her, but that didn’t mean that the little voice of human reason in the back of his head wasn’t screaming loudly that this was stupid and rash. He should take his own vehicle so he didn’t get stuck who knew where. He didn’t know a damn thing about her. Couldn’t read her mind and certainly hadn’t asked enough questions. But this was a Mesmer, the wild Were instinct side of him shouted back. No one, Were especially, could blame him for responding so quickly and profoundly to her. And hell, he could always follow his nose and walk back if he needed to.
“Anything you say,” he answered. He waited until she climbed up into the cab, admiring the way the dark denim jeans hugged the curve of her ass, then closed the truck door and walked around the back of the pickup. An uneasy sensation raised the hairs on his skin. He glanced over his shoulder one last time to make sure they weren’t being followed.
About the Author
Raised by a bibliophile who made the dining room into a library, Theresa has always been a lover of books and stories. First a writer for newspapers, then for national magazines, she started her first novel in high school, eventually enrolling in a Writer's Digest course and putting the book under the bed until she joined Romance Writers of America in 1993. In 2005 she was selected as one of eleven finalists for the American Title II contest, the American Idol of books. She is married to the first man she ever went on a real date with (to their high school prom), who she knew was hero material when he suffered through having to let her parents drive, and her brother sit between them in the backseat of the car.
They currently live in a Victorian house on a mini farm in the Pacific Northwest with their two children, three cats, two horses, an energetic mini-Aussie shepherd, a rabbit, parakeet and an out-of-control herb garden.
You can find her online at her website www.theresameyers.com or frequently on Twitter @Theresa_Meyers
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