1. If you had to choose one book or series to be made into a movie, which would you choose and why? 

Playing With Fire, no question.  It’s about a young woman who develops unexpected superpowers over the four elements. Suddenly she can shoot fireballs from her eyes, blow dry your hair from fifty paces, and freeze an entire building with only a touch.  The special effects could be amazing!  Plus, I’m so in love with the hero – Rome Masters – a special agent who has been tasked with “neutralizing” her — I’d love to see him on the big screen.

2. Most fans would know you best from your bestselling adult fantasy romance novels. What inspired you to create books for the young adult market? 

I’d written a few young adult novels before (namely, Red Handed) and loved the process.  There’s something so wonderful about watching characters experience things for the first time. Their first crush, their first kiss. Then, I had an idea about a guy with four souls trapped inside his head and tried to make it an adult novel, but it wasn’t working.  I messed around with it, remade the hero into a teen, and boom, everything started flowing.

3. Can you tell us a little bit about Unraveled, the sequel to Intertwined? 

Unraveled features Aden and the gang as they deal with the death curse hanging over their heads.  They’ve got one week to live unless Aden makes it to a meeting with the witches – but he doesn’t know when or where that meeting is being held.  As he does his best to find out, he discovers a beastly secret about the vampires, Mary Ann develops an ability that puts them all – especially her werewolf boyfriend — in danger, and a terrible prediction finally comes true.

4. In an e- interview with Martina Bexte (January, 2007), you commented: “All I can do is write a story that makes me sigh a dreamy sigh and walk away with a smile.”  If you were to apply that to the Intertwined series, what makes you sigh dreamily and what left you smiling? 

I sigh dreamily after the kissing scenes, I won’t lie. I love those parts.  And I smile when things work out for the characters they way they want them to work out.  At the end of Intertwined, I was smiling because Aden finally had friends he could reply on.  Friends who would always have his back.  He’d never had that kind of support before.  Plus, I knew he could handle anything I threw at him.  Which is probably why I threw so much at him in Unraveled.  And oh, boy, wait until Twisted. . . He hasn’t seen anything yet.

5. Can you give us a little peek into Twisted? We’d love to hear where you’re taking the story. 

In Twisted, Aden and Victoria must deal with the consequences of what they did in Unraveled.  Aden once told her that to mess with one of Elijah’s death predictions was to make the person destined to die suffer terribly.  Well, in her attempt to save Aden’s life, she messed with one of Elijah’s death predictions. Also, Mary Ann is on the run, desperate to save her friends and loved ones from her new ability. Riley is hot on her trail.

6. During an interview with Authors on Tour podcasts, you said that in Intertwined all the characters and plots come together. Then you said in Unraveled that all things come apart. Can you tell us why you chose Twisted as the title of the third? 

The things that were ripped apart do find their way back together, but nothing is the same as it was.  Everything is different, maybe even a little warped.

7. Is there a celebrity out there that looks like the Aden Stone in your mind? If not, who would you pick to play him? 

Penn Badgley for Aden and Ethan Peck for Riley.  I love the dark, brooding types.

8. What advice would you offer someone who’s interested in writing young adult fantasy? 

Read, read, read and write, write, write. Write your story the way it needs to the told, not the way you think everyone wants you to write it. Don’t worry about genre, and don’t worry about what’s popular.  Just write your story.

9. Do you have any upcoming tours or book signings scheduled? Where can your fans find you on the internet? 

I keep my events information updated here: http://members.genashowalter.com/events  

10. Where is your favorite place to write (your house, cafe, library)? What inspires you?

I write in my office, locked away from the rest of the world.  I’m inspired by so many things.  A song, a picture, a conversation.  Basically, nothing is safe from my wild imagination.

Gena Showalter has always believed in love. An avid romance reader, she decided to try her hand at a story of her own and is now the author of sexy paranormal romances, including The Stone Prince, The Pleasure Slave and Heart of the Dragon.  She is also the author of Awaken Me Darkly, the first in the darkly seductive Alien Huntress series. Fans of Sherrilyn Kenyon and Karen Marie Moning will find a new favorite in Showalter. Her wildly sensual page-turners have mix of humor, danger and wickedly hot sex, a combination sure to enthrall.