When I set out to write my Darke Paranormal Investigations series, I had two goals in mind. Firstly, to create a compelling world of ghosts, haunted houses and intriguing Canadian history. Secondly, although not necessarily in that order, I wanted to give my romance readers a hot and heartwarming romance, the kind they’ve come to expect from me.
In all honesty, I think this series has been quietly building inside me for a long time. I’ve always gravitated to stories of love and romance, but there is another, slightly morbid side of me. Since I was a kid, I’ve gotten a ghoulish delight out of reading tales of hauntings and creatures of the night. It’s been a blast coming up with my own spirit world and peopling it with interesting characters.
When I embarked on this series, I needed to know I could do justice to the ghost stories and also to the romance. I knew my readers would expect a fully fleshed out love story. That meant demonstrating clear character motivations, desires, wounds and a “happily ever after.” That can be challenging when you also have to explore the same criteria for a variety of dead people. There’s a lot going on!
Falling in love while investigating a haunted house might sound like a nightmare scenario to some, but I had to make it plausible and enjoyable.
When you think about it, it’s not all that outlandish. After all, “danger banging” is a thing in the romance novel world. In other words, characters who experience so much sexual tension in a perilous situation that they end up crawling all over each other. There’s an element of that in Darke Paranormal Investigations. In fact, my protagonist makes a joke about it in book two of the series. In my spirit world, ghosts can definitely influence the living. My trio of protagonists, the Darke sisters, are kickass paranormal investigators. Despite the fact that they’re always surrounded by strange anomalies, they’re most skeptical about the topic of enduring love. In each book, they try to help a client who is experiencing paranormal phenomena. They will all end up falling for their clients but because there are some villainous or confused ghosts in the vicinity, the path to love is not without its obstacles and the stakes are high.
Darke Passion is book one of the series. Edwina and Simon, the main characters, definitely fall prey to the danger banging scenario. Although neither is looking for a relationship, or even a hookup, there’s an immediate attraction. Simon is one of the owners of a haunted, historic B&B in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario and his business is on the line. Edwina’s goal is to help him either debunk the haunting or to clear the house of unwanted entities. It doesn’t take long before they start fantasizing about a good, old danger bang. All the elements are there. Working in close proximity? Check. A property with romantic atmosphere? Check. Emotions are high and nerves are frayed? Check. A few jump scares to make them grab each other’s arms? Check. Before long, Edwina and Simon succumb to temptation, and I hope the reader experiences just as much of a release as they do.
But will these characters live to explore this fierce attraction? We can’t forget the danger part of danger banging. At least one of the B&B ghosts is unhappy about going into the light, and they’ve set their sights on the Darke sisters.
Hopefully this couple will endure and go on to experience some fabulous banging in much less treacherous circumstances.
Darke Passion, Darke Paranormal Investigations 1, was released March 21. I can’t wait to share it with you.
Darke Passion is available from Amazon.