Interview With Author Jeaniene Frost, Book Club, & Giveaway Details!

Welcome to a special Friday Feature!  Today I am thrilled to be able to share a recent interview with author Jeaniene Frost, who kindly took time out of her busy schedule answer my questions. 

PLUS be sure to check the Book Club details for tomorrow (May 14th) and the INCREDIBLE prizes that I will have up for grabs!

Interview

Melanie (M)  - Firstly I would like to thank you for taking the time to chat with me. And to start with, for those that might be new to you readers, can you give them a brief introduction?
 
Jeaniene (J) - Hi! I’m the author of paranormal romance books primarily about vampires, although I also throw in ghouls (think iZombie, not Night of the Living Dead), ghosts, magic, demons, and a handful of demigods. Pretty much all my paranormal creatures can either be good or evil since I’m a big fan of free will being the deciding factor, not species. I’m probably best known for the Night Huntress series (Cat and Bones), although I’ve also written the Night Prince series (Vlad and Leila), the Night Rebel series (Ian and Veritas), the Broken Destiny series (Ivy and Adrian), and a couple standalone books.

(M) - Of all the books you have written do you have a personal favorite? If so why?
 
(J) - I am so fickle that my favorites are usually whatever I’m writing now/have written last. So, in this case, it would be THE OTHER HALF OF THE GRAVE. But, that’ll change as soon as I’m done with my next book. As I said—I’m fickle!
 
(M) -  Too funny!  Who would you say has been the hardest character’s story to tell? (For the record my guess would be Ian just based on what I’ve seen you post.)
 
(J)  - Good guess, but it was actually Vlad in ONCE BURNED. For some reason, I just couldn’t seem to write more than a thousand words a day no matter how long I sat at my keyboard. That book took me almost a year to write, and I joke that Vlad put me in the hospital because I was in the ER less than a week after finishing it. Nothing serious, thankfully. Just a stress-related condition, and Vlad would have NO sympathy. He’d say I got off easy for daring to write about him at all, let alone for calling him Dracula *wink*.

(M) -  I guess on some level that doesn't surprise me. Vlad is fabulous and probably my favorite of ALL the Night Huntress Vamps! Are there any characters you don’t like writing? Any that you wish would just stop talking to you?
 
(J) - When it comes to my protagonists, I love all of them. Yes, some are more difficult to write than others, but I still love them even if I’m cursing them every other chapter for being a pain in the ass.
The only characters I don’t like writing are villains. I try to get into their heads because I want my villains to be three-dimensional since every villain is the hero of their own mind, but ugh. Most of them are pretty horrid, so I’m the first one cheering when my hero or heroine offs them.
 
 
(M) -   Hmm probably not the best time to mention that I LOVE a villain then.  Change of subject lol ....What book are you reading now?
 
(J) - INTO THE AFTERLIGHT by Alexandra Bracken. The story’s great, and I have mad envy over her prose, which of course isn’t limited to just this book. She’s so descriptive and yet so concise. Example: here’s Bracken describing her heroine’s very complicated mind control powers, and Bracken makes it visual, simple, and powerful: “Removing the memory of my face and the men behind us in the alley was like plucking stones from the bottom of a clear, shallow pond.”

(M) - Wow that's awesome. If anyone wants to check that out you can do so at the link HERE.  So what show(s) are you loving at the moment?
 
(J) - Resident Alien, Upload, Bridgerton, Archive 81, and 9-1-1: Lone Star. I also just finished Outer Range, and I really hope it gets a second season because wow, what a cliffhanger!

(M) - You have a couple of my favorites in there! I haven't watched Outer Range but it was floating around my watch list so thanks for the warning about the cliffhanger about that - I will wait to see if it gets picked up before trying it. 

​And finally, a Muser favorite … Are you a “Plotter” or a “Panster” (Obviously more in relation to previous works as the main story for the Bones’ retelling is in place already – Also I am SUPER excited for that!)

(J) - Thank you! I’m mostly a pantser. When I start a book, I usually just know the beginning, the end, and a couple pivotal scenes in the middle. Everything else comes to me as I write, not before I write.
It’s funny because before I started out, an author once told me that I HAD to outline the entire book first, and I HAD to have detailed character boards, and I HAD to have specific notes for every chapter, and I HAD to write every day. I am incapable of such organization, so I thought, “Welp, guess I’ll never be a writer, then!” and almost gave up before I even began. That’s why I groan every time I see someone say “Writers MUST do [fill in the blank] to write a book” because no, they don’t. Plotter, pantser, in between, something else--it’s all good! Whatever gets a writer from Chapter One to The End of a book they’re proud of is the “right” process for them.

(M) -  I LOVE that!  I am SO glad you didn't listen to the original (and obviously wrong) advice.

I want to thank Jeaniene again, for being here and you can check out ALL of her books on Amazon HERE, and find her on Facebook HERE.

And now for the giveaway details ....

Tomorrow at 3pm ET Melanie's Muses will be hosting their first ever Book Club Meeting. It will be a Facebook live (on the Facebook page obviously) and you can get ALL the details and RSVP by clicking the picture below! EVERYONE is welcome to come and discuss the VERY FIRST Night Huntress Book - Halfway to the Grave!  Everyone that comes and chats will be entered into the prize drawings for not 1 but 4 AWESOME PRIZES! 

1 grand prize of a $50 egift card to Amazon, B&N, or iTunes/Apple, winner's choice which. (International entries are welcome from the UK, Canada, Germany but the prize would be an Amazon gift card. The other choices aren't an option)

3 winners will receive THE OTHER HALF OF THE GRAVE or another book from Jeaniene's backlist, winner's choice which, in ebook or print* (if the winner is international, it has to be print via The Book Depository. Please make sure they ship to your country by checking their list here: https://www.bookdepository.com/help)

Full details will be explained during the live tomorrow and will be posted in the event.

The Pineapple Code Word For This Article Is Vlad. ​