As for Noah himself, I had a mad crush on Jeffrey Dean Morgan while I was writing this, and I’d been watching a lot of Gilmore Girls, and I loved Luke’s love/hate relationship with the town. I asked myself why would he stay if he was so cranky all the time, and I came up with Noah. God, I love Noah.

MBR: That is so sad. And maybe that is one reason why that Noah’s grief comes off so realistically and you have definitely treated his love for Lily with respect which made me adore this book that much more! And Jeffrey Dean Morgan? *gulp* Ellie Morgan is a true sweetheart. I love the way she comes across in the story. Is she based on any real life character?

MJF: In a way, she’s like my friend Cindi at school. When Cindi became teacher of the year (the first time) I wrote a speech saying she was the heart of the school. I wanted Ellie to have that dedication to her town, but I wanted to know what drove her to work so hard. So I gave her a mother who left them in a flurry of gossip, and Ellie is trying to prove herself better than that. Plus, she had to be this person that Noah saw as a light coming back in his life.

MBR: You have really brought to life what you wanted to portray for both of your characters in the story. So do you plan on writing any more books with the same setting?

MJF: I hadn’t, actually. In all my years of writing, I’ve never written a series (except the one I’m working on now, set in Minnesota). But there certainly are a lot of people in Winchester Cove who could use a happy ending, don’t you think? I should go back there!

MBR: Most definitely!

Combining breathtaking passion, a love that is so worth fighting for and a story definitely worth talking about, “Something to Talk About” is a novel that truly earns its spot as one of my Pick of the Month reads for July 2011!

Pick #2: The Merzetti Effect by Norah Wilson

MBR: The Merzetti Effect is your first vampire romance and an awesome one at that. How did you come up with the idea to create such a unique spin on the world of vampires?

NW: It is a unique spin, but I can’t claim to have invented it. I actually stumbled across an article online many years ago, in which a guy on a discussion board talked about how ridiculous he found the conventional vampire model, the idea that a vampire could drink blood – digest it through a digestive tract – and somehow suddenly be infused with power. He felt it would make much more sense if the vampire could take the blood intravenously, for instance, through hollow, telescoping fangs. That really resonated for me. Our human experience tells us that things taken directly into the bloodstream are much more potent than something swallowed. At the end of his article, he said if any writers wanted to take up his model, they were quite welcome. Well, at the time, I thought it was all very fascinating (I love all things medical), but I knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that I would never write a vampire story. Of course, years passed, and the shelves became more and more dominated by vampires. I began toying with the idea of writing one, but I just couldn’t find a way into the story, a hook that would keep me interested enough to keep writing. Then I remembered this gentleman’s article. Unfortunately, so much time had passed that I could no longer find it online. I might even have bookmarked it once upon a time, but after several computer crashes, no trace remained. However, I remembered enough about it to get me started. I even had a physician read it to make sure it made a kind of sense (in the suspend-your-disbelief kind of way).

MBR: Dr. Delano Bowen, the name itself just makes me want to lay myself at his mercy and never look back. How did you come up with his character? Might he have any resemblance to a real-life character so that I can permanently fix his picture as my computer wallpaper? LOL!

NW: LOL! So glad you liked Del. I loved that man, too. I did worry a bit that readers wouldn’t find him Alpha enough. I mean, he’s no Black Dagger Brotherhood vamp. It’s not that he’s not strong – incredibly strong – but let’s face it, he’s a physician/research scientist. A little more cerebral than your average vamp. At least, that’s how he thinks of himself … until things get complicated with Ainsley. (I do so love to challenge a character’s self-concept!)

MBR: Believe me, I am hopeless when it comes to envisioning characters. Apart from their physique which tends to make my eyes glaze over, I have a hard time finding real-life characters that match up to the men that I read and fall in love with though I dearly wish I had the imagination to do so. *sigh*

Ainsley Crawford is my favorite type of heroine, someone who doesn’t play coy games, just ups and accepts the fact that her fate is sealed. But that doesn’t make her a wimpy heroine either. What made you come up with her character the way she is; or did she just morph her way into how she is as you wrote along?

NW: Thank you! It was a little of both. I certainly had an idea of what her personality would be like – a no-nonsense nurse who is pretty hard to rattle – but there are always little gifts that the universe hands you as you write. I think it helped that I gave her a bit of a tough background, with all those foster homes. She had to learn to roll with the punches a little bit, and she falls back on that resourcefulness. Even as an adult, it’s pretty much always been about keeping herself and those she loves safe. She really hasn’t had the luxury to learn to play games.

MBR: How many books are you planning on writing with the same setting?

NW: I don’t have any set number of books in mind at this point. When I started out, I think I had the idea that it would be a trilogy (we love threes!). But after having written the second book (if you loved Delano, you’re really gonna give it up for Aiden Afflack, the hero of NIGHTFALL), I have a number of characters who are clamouring for their turn. So who knows? Six? (That’s a multiple of three!)

MBR: Oh boy! I had a feeling that Aiden is going to put forth some serious competition when his story comes through! Glad you are going to give us a lot more books to enjoy! Six sounds like a perfect number! *winks*