Interview with an Author Featuring Melanie Smith

The Literary Vixen presents…

Joining us today is Melanie Smith! Her newest release, Bad Boys Don’t Make Good Boyfriends: A Life Lessons Novel released May 19th 2020.

What inspired you to start writing?

I’ve been writing as long as I can remember. I wrote my first “book” when I was six about how I wanted to “make sex” with my cute PE teacher, Mr. Brown. I probably wrote so early because I started reading early, and it really sparked my creativity. And I’ve always been boy-crazy, so writing romance was inevitable.

Describe your perfect book hero or heroine.

I must have characters who are just truly good people. I’m not a fan of alphaholes or the like. Even good people can act poorly enough in bad circumstances. If they’re not good deep down, there’s not much redemption or satisfaction to be had in the happy ending, which is big for me.

Do you find it more challenging to write the first book in a series or to write the subsequent novels?

They each have their own challenges. The first book is hard because you have to establish characters and their world. But the longer it goes on, the more you’re bound by the elements you’ve put in place, and you really have to work to keep true to the characters and situations you’ve created. Thankfully, each has its own feeling of success that goes along with it.

Favorite book/story you have read as an adult.

My longstanding favorite is The Hobbit. I first read it in my early teens, but I reread it so often and it’s always stuck with me. Besides just being a fantastic story, it contains themes that are just so applicable to life and stepping out of your comfort zone, something I always try to push myself to do.

What do you like to do when you are not writing?

Spending time with my family, reading, cooking, watching a little tv. Nothing too crazy – I’m getting too old and more introverted every day, so I don’t travel or go out as much as I used to. Though honestly, on top of the writing, managing the business aspects of being an author takes a lot of time. It’s not glamorous or exciting to most people, but I actually enjoy it!

If your book was to be made into a movie, who are the celebrities that would star in it?

Oh man, that’s the dream, isn’t it? So the heroine and hero of Bad Boys Don’t Make Good Boyfriends are the sassy Becca and the withdrawn bad-boy Vincent.

For Becca … J. Lo, but (since this is all pretend anyway) a young J. Lo back when she was still rockin’ her curls.

For Vincent … again, I’m going to have to go imaginary and smoosh together some dudes to make this sexy guy. So I’d mix Milo Ventimiglia’s dark, Italian hunkiness with Stephen James’ tattoos and insane bod.

Share something your readers wouldn’t know about you.

How about a few somethings? Hmmm …. The “A” stands for “Anne.” I’m a chocolate snob who will only eat dark (preferably Lindt or Ghirardelli). I’ve got four tattoos. And I’m a socially awkward introvert that won’t shut up once you get to know me.

Do you write listening to music? If so, what music inspired or accompanied this current book?

Songs definitely occur to me as I write, but I can’t write with any noise at all. I don’t typically make full on playlists or anything, there are just certain scenes that often either remind me of a song, or sometimes a song will inspire a certain feeling I want a scene to embody.

That said, I did have someone ask me to make a playlist for Bad Boys Don’t Make Good Boyfriends. So I did. And here it is!

Walk the Moon – Shut Up and Dance

Justin Timberlake ft. Timbaland – SexyBack

The Verve – Bittersweet Symphony

Christina Aguilera ft. Redman – Dirrty

The Chainsmokers & Coldplay – Something Just Like This

Nine Inch Nails – Closer

Alicia Keys – Fallin’

Destiny’s Child – Say My Name

Goo Goo Dolls – Let Love In

Jason Mraz – I’m Yours

What is advice would you give to other authors?

Eat the elephant one bite at a time. There’s so much to do, so much to know, that being an author is going to take constant learning and growth. Don’t expect that to happen overnight.

What is the one thing you want people to know about you and your books?

My main focus is on writing dimensional characters that have heart and react in a way that’s authentic. So if you’re looking for real and raw with a great story and plenty of super steamy sex scenes, give my books a read!

Thank you Melanie Smith for chatting with me! I will include her information down below. Check out her newest release, Bad Boys Don’t Make Good Boyfriends today!

~Synopsis~

NOW A MEDICAL ROMANCE TOP 50 BESTSELLER

“I laughed, I cried, I couldn’t put it down.” -Lisa, ARC reader

From award-winning and international best-selling author Melanie A. Smith comes the second book in a new series of steamy contemporary medical romance standalone novels about life lessons that break all the rules.

Even when you know better, sometimes it’s simply too tempting…

Hospital work isn’t for the faint of heart. Becca Dillon knows that firsthand, having worked as a medical assistant in the cardiac unit at Rutherford Hospital for longer than she cares to think about. What she does care to think about is having fun, gossip, and … guys. Her favorite of the three. And why stick to one, when you can sample them all?

That’s exactly her plan when a workplace crush on a mysterious bad-boy orderly unexpectedly takes a very steamy turn. But Vincent DeMarco turns out to be nothing like she expected, and before she knows it, she’s falling hard and fast. She wants him in ways she’s never wanted anyone before, but there’s something he’s keeping from her. Something that’s holding him back. And Becca is going to find out what.

Even though she knows that bad boys don’t make good boyfriends, he seems like he might be so much more. Will her quest unlock the truth behind who he really is? Or will it end their relationship for good? Either way, ready or not, Becca’s world is about to change.

Melanie A. Smith is an award-winning and international best-selling author of steamy contemporary romance fiction. Though she spent most of her life living on the West Coast, she now lives in the Dallas-Fort Worth area of Texas and enjoys spending time with her family, reading, cooking, and driving with the windows down and the stereo cranked up loud.