What's the story behind the story? What inspired you to write this book?
Cam Briggs wouldn’t leave me alone. That’s honestly the most accurate answer I can give. He showed up in my head as this big, dangerous, complicated man—a wolf shifter who’d spent years in Special Forces, using abilities most people couldn’t imagine to keep his teammates alive and accomplish missions he couldn’t talk about. He was good at it. Exceptionally good at it. But the killing wore on him. Even when it was necessary—maybe especially when it was necessary—it cost him something he couldn’t get back. And I kept asking myself: what does a man like that do with all of that power when he decides he’s done using it as a weapon?
The answer was the fire service. Same drive, same instinct to put himself between danger and the people who needed protecting—but now he was pulling people out of the fire instead of being the one sent in. That shift from soldier to firefighter, from taking lives to saving them, felt true to who he was at his core. The wolf in him had always wanted to be a guardian. The military just hadn’t always let him be one.
Once I had Cam, the rest of the world built itself around him. Copper Ridge. The pack. The people who needed exactly what he had to offer. The Paranormal Romance Series in Copper Ridge grew out of that one question: what does strength look like when it chooses something gentler? I’m still writing my way toward the answer.
If you had to pick theme songs for the main characters of your book, what would they be?
Oh, I love this question—and I’ve thought about it more than I should probably admit. Cam Briggs — “Danger Zone” by Kenny Loggins. Because before Copper Ridge, before the fire station, before Tessa—Cam Briggs lived there. Special Forces. Missions he can’t talk about.
A wolf who spent years being the most lethal thing in any room. “Danger Zone” isn’t just nostalgia; it’s his origin story. The man he was before he decided to become something else. And honestly? Some of that energy never fully left. It just found a better purpose.
Tessa Baker — “You Take My Breath Away” by Berlin Cam is a man of extraordinary self-control. He has faced things that would break most people and didn’t flinch. And then Tessa walked into his life and absolutely wrecked all of that. She didn’t even have to try. That song is exactly what happened to him—and he’s never fully recovered. Good.
What's your favorite genre to read? Is it the same as your favorite genre to write?
My reading life is a little all over the place, honestly—and I’ve stopped apologizing for it. My go-to genres are post-apocalyptic, paranormal, dystopian, and contemporary romance. There’s a theme there if you look hard enough—I’m apparently drawn to worlds where the stakes are high, the rules have either collapsed or never existed, and people have to figure out who they really are when everything around them is on fire. Metaphorically. Sometimes literally. And then sometimes I just want a cozy mystery with a cup of tea and zero world-ending consequences, and I lean into that completely without shame.
As for writing, paranormal romance is absolutely my happy place. I think the reason I love reading high-stakes worlds translates directly into what I write. Shifters, Beastcallers, familiars, a mountain town with more supernatural activity than it has any right to—it scratches the same itch. The world-building satisfies the post-apocalyptic and dystopian reader in me, and the romance satisfies… well, the human in me. So yes and no. Same instincts, slightly different expression. The cozy mystery reader in me just shows up occasionally as comic relief. Looking at you, Jess O’Brien.
What books are on your TBR pile right now?
Oh, my TBR pile is its own ecosystem at this point—it has a climate and everything. First up is Red Empire by Jonathan Maberry. If you know Maberry’s work, you already understand why it jumped to the top.
The man writes with relentless momentum, and I genuinely cannot resist that. Also in the stack: Enchantra by Kaylie Smith, which has been calling my name; The Recital by Gregg Hurwitz, because sometimes you need someone who will absolutely wreck you with a thriller, and Hurwitz never disappoints.
If you look at that list and think this person likes high stakes, strong world-building, and stories that move—you’d be right. I’m complicated, and they are mostly dangerous.
What scene in your book was your favorite to write?
Without hesitation—the first steamy scene between Cam and Tessa in Book 1. And here’s why: that scene had to do about four things at once. It had to deliver on the slow burn that had been building since a coffee shop, a parking garage, and a man who looked at a woman like she was the only thing worth looking at. It had to feel earned. It had to show you exactly who Cam Briggs was when he finally stopped holding himself back—and who Tessa was when she stopped being afraid to want something.
But more than any of that, it had to prove something to the reader. That this man—this controlled, dangerous, deeply private alpha who spent years in places he can’t talk about—was completely undone by one woman. Not weakened by it. Undone. There’s a difference. Writing that scene felt like finally letting both of them breathe for the first time. Cam’s wolf had been white-knuckling it since chapter one.
Tessa had been running from everything that hurt her. That scene was where they both stopped running. It’s still my favorite thing I’ve written. Everything else in the series exists, in some way, because of what that scene established.
Do you have any quirky writing habits? (lucky mugs, cats on laps, etc.)
I have what I generously call an “outdoor office.” It’s a screened porch with a desk, and it looks out over a lake framed by cedar trees draped in Spanish moss. I write with the breeze coming through, birds singing, and the occasional alligator sliding through the water like he owns the place—which, honestly, he probably does.
Sometimes an otter shows up just to remind me that joy is possible and I should lighten up. I cannot write with the TV on. I cannot write with artificial noise of any kind. The sounds have to be real—wind, water, wildlife. The moment something manufactured intrudes, whatever I was building in my head just… dissolves.
As for beverages, it depends entirely on the time of day. Morning pages get coffee. Late-night sessions get a basil martini. I’d like to say there’s a system, but really it’s just whatever the scene requires. The spicier the chapter, the more likely it’s a martini situation. My readers can probably guess which scenes those were. It’s a strange little setup. It works completely. I wouldn’t change a single thing about it.
Do you have a motto, quote or philosophy you live by?
“Everything will be okay in the end. If it’s not okay, it’s not the end.” I don’t know who said it first, but I know it found me at exactly the right moment and never really left. It’s the kind of truth that sounds simple until you’re actually in the middle of something hard—and then it becomes either the most infuriating or the most comforting thing you’ve ever heard, depending on the day. I’ve lived on both sides of that line. But I keep coming back to it.
Because it doesn’t promise that things won’t get hard, or that the road will be straight, or that you won’t lose something along the way. It just promises that the story isn’t over yet. That there’s more. That the ending is still being written. Which, when I think about it, is probably why I write romance. Every book is just that philosophy in action—people in the middle of their worst moments, still fighting for their okay ending. If it’s not okay? Keep writing. You’re not at the end yet.
If you could choose one thing for readers to remember after reading your book, what would it be?
There’s a moment in Book 1 where Cam and Tessa share their first kiss, and afterward, Tessa is so overwhelmed she can barely form words. She starts with “That was…” and trails off completely. Cam’s response is immediate. “If you say ‘nice,’ I’m going to have to kiss you again to prove a point.” That’s it. That’s what I want readers to remember. Not just that moment—but everything packed inside it. The humor lands in the middle of something tender. A dangerous, guarded man completely disarmed by one woman. The push and pull of two people who can’t quite believe they found each other but aren’t willing to pretend they didn’t.
The Paranormal Romance Series, beginning with Claimed by the Rogue Shifter, has shifters and Beastcallers and missions and stakes that get very, very high. But underneath all of it, every single book is just people trying to find their person and being absolutely wrecked when they do. I want readers to close the book feeling like Tessa in that moment. Speechless. A little undone. Reaching for words and finding that the good ones aren’t quite enough. That was… Yeah. Exactly that.
