Jenika Snow Interview – Mafiosos, Lycans, and Forbidden Romance

First of all, let me just say that I love your book covers – especially the one for RECKLESS HEIR. Do you use the same designer/company for each of your books?

I have a couple designers I use regularly. The covers for the Underworld Kings series are all by the same designer, and she’s incredible!

Your new book, RECKLESS HEIR – the first in your Underworld Kings – is described as an “arranged marriage mafia romance”. I admit that, while I enjoy arranged marriage romances, I was slower to see the appeal of mafia-themed romances. Reading one or two by the author MINK changed my mind. What is it about these kinds of characters and stories that inspire you, and you find compelling as an author?

I love the dangerous kind of love that mafia romances bring. With an arranged marriage you get the forbidden aspect. Can you fall in love? Will you be happy being forced to marry someone? Then you have the “bad guy”, who does questionably moral things, but he can still be soft and gentle for the right woman.

Describe for me the dynamic between the hero and heroine in RECKLESS HEIR. I love how the Harlequin and Avon books sometimes include a blurb at the front of the book that has a brief exchange between the hero and heroine, so you get a flavor of the chemistry between them.

The hero, Nikolai, is known as heartless cold, possibly even a sociopath. He doesn’t forgive, doesn’t give second chances, and is the complete opposite of the sweet and somewhat timid heroine, Amara. They complement each other because, as the saying goes, opposites attract.

I read and loved the first book in your Lycans series (the new ones are on my wishlist). What do you enjoy most about writing paranormal romance? What made you choose a shifter themed series rather than another type of supernatural character?

For me, I love writing paranormal romance because you can totally escape to another world that isn’t remotely realistic. With mafia or contemporary, or any other trope/sub-genre of romance, they *could* be real (I mean who doesn’t want a mafia kingpin wanting you so much he kidnaps you lol). But with paranormal we have Lycans and vampires and all sorts of other creatures. We have fated mates, and needing to “mark” them, bite them, and all the other god stuff that happens in fantasy. We can totally and wholly suspend belief and just go with the wild ride.

With my Lycans series I wanted to incorporate a bunch of different species. So, I have Lycans and vampires, different types of shifters, demons, and an array of other supernatural creatures that make appearances. It’s just a lot of fun for me to create these worlds and add these unique creatures.

After doing a few interviews with other authors, I was surprised to learn that some authors do not enjoy reading the same type of book that they enjoy writing. Is that the case for you? Who are some of your favorite authors? Favorite books?

Before I became an author, I was a huge romance reader. It’s what drove me to write my own. Because I’m a full-time writer, I don’t find a lot of time to relax and enjoy a book like I used to. My mind is “book focused” daily with working on my own stories, that when I do have some free time, I usually binge a movie or TV show since it doesn’t take me any sort of concentration. I can just “veg out”.

Is it difficult writing sex scenes?

At this point in my career no. I’ve been writing romance since 2009 so writing those spicy scenes comes very easy for me.

What qualities do you like in your romance heroes? Years ago, I first heard of the term “alpha-hole” when author Jen Frederick used it to differentiate between guys who were alpha and strong and guys who were described as being alphas in books but were generally condescending, aggressive, meathead jerks. Personally, I love a hero who is strong, maybe blunt speaker, yet treats his lady with respect – like Marie Harte’s blue collar heroes.

I love my romance heroes to be strong and protective, and love the heroine without fault, no matter what. They can have a sharp tongue, but when they are with the heroine, they can finally show a vulnerable side.

What are you currently working on?

Currently I am wrapping up the sixth book in my Lycans series, a book all about second chances, a scarred hero, and that love is endless. After that I’m back to the Underworld Kings with Corruption, a Beauty and the Beast retelling.

RECKLESS HEIR by Jenika Snow

Underworld Kings #20

From USA Today bestselling author Jenika Snow comes a new full-length standalone arranged marriage mafia romance set in the Underworld Kings world that blurs the lines between right and wrong.

My father sold me off to a ruthless killer in the Russian mafia, an alliance between the Bratva and the Cosa Nostra.

An arranged marriage where I’d be at the mercy of the man who’d no doubt see me as his property, where I was sure he’d be just as cruel and violent as every other Made Man I’d known in my life.

Nikolai Petrov, known to be a sociopath and for killing anyone for the smallest infraction. And I’d be forever tied to him, an accessory he could use or dispose of any way he saw fit.

And then I found myself painted red, my wedding dress stained in blood. A man dead by my husband’s hands for simply touching my hair.

I was terrified of the lengths Nikolai would go to get what he wanted… to keep me as his, but despite all of that I felt something far stronger, far more dangerous.

Need. Want. Dark and depraved desire. And it was all for the man who said I was his.

For better or worse.

Romance Contemporary | Romance Erotica Sensual [Self Published, On Sale: February 21, 2022, e-Book, / ]