TALL, DARK AND PARANORMAL | The Top Ten of Paranormal Romance

Ten authors, ten hot and sexy alpha bad boys—all in one deliciously yummy TALL, DARK & PARANORMAL box set—10 full length novels, 825,000 words of steamy paranormal pleasure, and all for just 99 cents! Fresh Fiction is pleased to welcome the authors of this blockbuster anthology to tell us a bit about each of their stories.

FOREVER FREED by New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author Laura Kaye

FOREVER FREED was my first novel, and I was inspired to write it in quite an unusual way. In 2008, I experienced a mild traumatic brain injury that, as I healed, left me with a strong creative urge. I started taking guitar lessons and writing my first novel--fortunately I was better at the writing than the guitar playing! Three months later, I finished my first book, FOREVER FREED. The fact that the first thing I wrote was a vampire romance wasn't surprising since, as a reader, all things paranormal had always been my first love. Hero Lucien Demarco's character was very lively in my head and totally drove my writing of the story.

SPELLBOUND by New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author Opal Carew

I've always loved wizards and magic, and I like writing stories that have a bit of a twist. In SPELLBOUND, I decided to put my wizard heroine, Lucinda, in a situation where she finds she must question everything she thought she knew about her life and the world around her as the story unfolds. The result is a fun ride for the reader because nothing is as it appears.

CRESCENT MOON by New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author Lori Handeland

CRESCENT MOON is the first of a trilogy set in New Orleans and Haiti, that deals with werewolves and leopard shifters and voodoo. I've always loved New Orleans and wanted so badly to set some books there. My husband and I took a quick trip to do research for the first book. CRESCENT MOON came out the February after Katrina. I was able to return before I wrote the third book and see all the devastating changes.

SINS OF THE FLESH by New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author Caridad Pineiro

Being a science nerd, I wanted to write a story where I could mix up some of the science I learned in college, with some sexy romance and a good chunk of action and adventure. That’s how Sins of the Flesh was born. I loved creating a heroine, Caterina Shaw, who risked all to save her life by undergoing experimental genetic engineering therapy. With that kind of emotional strength, Caterina needed a hero who would stand up for her. Mick Carrera, the hero, is a man who has a troubled past, but when he is hired to track down Caterina, he knows that the story he’s being told is far from the truth, he finds himself helping Caterina right the wrongs done to her.

SPELL BOUND by New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author Stephanie Julian

SPELL BOUND came about because I wanted to create a paranormal world with a mythology that wasn’t overdone. Everyone knows about the Greeks and Romans and Egyptians. I wanted something I could play around with and also something that ties into my heritage. I’m Italian on my dad’s side and after a little digging, I discovered the Etruscans. Their civilization came before the Romans but there really isn’t that much known about them so I could bend the mythology to my will.

HUNTRESS FOR HIRE by USA Today Bestselling Author Terry Spear

I watched DRACULA in a college play when I was thirteen and I fell in love with Dracula and wanted to be the heroine that he was so deliciously biting. But I wanted to see him have a happily ever after! Not all vampires are bad. In Huntress for Hire, there's a twist. The huntress hunts vampires, but the hunter she falls for isn't exactly just a hunter. And so he's totally alpha, a hunter, and yet something more, and totally bad because the reason he wants Rachel so keenly hasn't all to do with just wanting HER.

HAUNTING A COWBOY - A Brand New Story from USA Today Bestselling Author Randi Alexander

I wrote HAUNTING A COWBOY because I hear so many people say that they still feel the presence of a loved one who has passed away. I wondered how strong a presence could become if there was a message they wanted to convey to the living. When Thad McCade experiences otherworldly activity in the foreman’s house of the High Paradise Ranch in Montana, he’s talked into hiring a ghost whisperer. Madam Ruby is absolutely nothing like he’d pictured her. Suddenly, he’s more interested in having her whisper in his ear than having her whisper away his ghost.

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST by best-selling author Judi Fennell

What inspired me: I love fairy tales, but the kind where, as in in Pretty Woman when Richard Gere's character asks, "So what happens after he climbs up and rescues her?" And Julia Roberts' character says, "She rescues him right back." Strong heroines who are vulnerable and just want to do the right thing and be happy... That's where I write from. So, yes, Jolie has her work cut out for her because Todd's heart has not only been broken, but the pieces locked up and the key thrown away.

ASMODEUS by Sara Humphreys

Asmodeus was a supporting character in UNDONE, one my Amoveo Legend novels, and he just kind of showed up in the middle of hte book. I hadn't planned on him or his involvement in that story but...there he was. Once that book was finished, he would not go away. I couldn't get that sexy alpha bad boy out of my head and it was clear that he needed his own book. Hence...a new series was born. ASMODEUS is the first book in my Princes of Hell series but it won't be the last. You can get the other 6 members of the Brotherhood want their own stories too.

DEAD SEXY by Paige Tyler

Readers often ask me how I come up with ideas for my books, so I thought I'd give you a little behind-the-scenes peek at how I came up with my paranormal erotic romance DEAD SEXY. If you've ever seen a zombie movie (or even you haven't), you know the creatures aren't the heroes. I mean, how can they be, right? They're all dead and decayed and downright unattractive, not to mention pretty damn scary. Which was why you can imagine my surprise when my hubby suggested I write an erotic romance about a zombie hero. I was like, you're kidding, right? What woman in her right mind would fall in love with a dead guy? No way could that possibly work, or so I thought. Turns out, my hubby wasn't kidding. In fact, he started working up ideas for the story. “The hero doesn’t have to be a zombie all the time,” he told me. “What if the hunky hero got cursed by an evil Voodoo priestess and only turns into a zombie sometimes? And when he does go zombie, he doesn't have to be like the kind in the movies. Well, he has to look like one, you know all dead and stuff, but he doesn't have to be a mindless creature or attack humans or eat anything gross.” So, brains are completely out, thanks goodness! While the hero's dead, he's still sexy. Even so, I figured it’d be a tough sell to readers. But it wasn’t! Not only did readers and reviewers love it, but it was an EPIC Award Finalist, too! My zombie romance with its dead-sexy hero was a hit! I was thrilled and my hubby walked around for a week with a smug, “I-told-you-so” look on his face!