I read a lot of urban fantasy with strong heroines and I noticed a depressing trend over the years—the leading ladies seem to constantly mess up their love lives in each book! I understand we all like to read flawed characters, who are much more like real life, but do they all have to struggle in their personal relationships?

When I started writing, it was purely as a means to escape. I wrote a vampire story where the main characters loved each other passionately and knew deep down in their hearts they would never split up. Even if he leaves the seat up, never notices when you color your hair a new shade, or calls you “volumptuous”. (Yes, my husband accidentally put the “lump” in there one time when he was trying to compliment me!)

Real life is hard and it isn’t always pretty. We work, we love, we lose… we survive. What keeps us together through the lean and hard years of a marriage is not simply a promise before God and our families, it’s something deep within us holding onto love with both hands, determined to never let it go. As anyone who has been married can attest—it’s damn hard work keeping a relationship together.

I wanted to read books with real couples in them. Ones who snark and bicker, have trust issues with other people, and perhaps aren’t very perfect individuals. Can’t these people have a burning passion for each other and still have an interesting tale to tell?

It was an absolute blast creating a world with a strong ancient female vampire barely kept in check by her human husband. She craves control and order, and her desire for blood has changed over the years into one for sex. Good thing she’s married to a rugged man—one who knows how to subtly manipulate and keep her safe from the edge of darkness inside her.

They make a good team, running their inn for the undead in Alaska. Their relationship never falters when a murder takes place, and the sparks leap off the page while they try their best to solve the whodunit without alerting their guests. A lot of my close friends have read my work and teased me that the couple says things that sound directly from my husband and myself.

As writers, we’re told to write what we know. Well, I may not be a vampire, but like most people, I certainly know my own marriage! We have good days and bad, just like every couple I know. We struggle to pay the bills some months and we bite our tongues often to keep the peace.

If you enjoy steamy sex scenes, vampires, werewolves, action, adventure, and some blood, then you may just enjoy the world I’ve created. I’ve had readers tell me the series is like Twilight for adults or similar to True Blood—complete with the hottest guys your imagination can conjure.

In honor of the second book coming out this summer and to introduce the series to more readers, the first book is currently priced at 99 cents. Please, step into the pages of Vampire Vacation, curl up with a warm drink and settle in…. We’re glad you’re here.

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Thanks for having me here today, ladies. In support of Girls Who Bite, I’m happily donating two copies of both books in The V V Inn series to two commenters today. Be sure to spread the love and share the link to today’s post with other vampire fans.

If you’d like to learn more about my series, please stop by my website where you can read the first half of both books for free. I’m also on facebook a lot and love hearing from readers.

C.J. Ellisson