1. Tell us a bit about the Ever After series.

The Ever After series consists of three stories (with plans for more) that involve some aspect of Reality TV. Ever After is the name of the production company, and the four person film crew appears in each story. Other secondary characters appear, too, but each romance is standalone. I recently added epilogues to the first two books, The Honeymoon Prize and The Cinderella Princess, to align the series together. It was so much fun to revisit those stories! Continue reading →

Once upon a time, I wanted to be a princess. Sure, I lived in a small town near the Washington-Idaho border and attended a high school with the nickname Cow Valley, but in the mind of a bookworm teenager with an overactive imagination, anything was possible.

A few years later, when I learned that a real life, honest-to-goodness prince would be attending the graduate business school at my college, I thought this would be my chance. Princess Melissa still had a nice ring to it, even if I knew the life of a royal wasn’t as wonderful as I’d believed as a teen. But alas, I never did see the prince on campus, not even at a distance. So much for a cute, royal meet!

At least a real life one.

As a romance writer, I’ve been able to take my royal daydreams and turn them into stories. Seriously, this is the best job ever!

Last year, when Holiday Books’ senior editor, Kelly Hunter, and I were emailing about my next project, I kept seeing a prince hero. I asked if I could write a royalty-themed story. She said yes, and that led to the new series called Royal Holiday.

I’m so thrilled that THE CINDERELLA PRINCESS is part of the four book series along with Madeleine Ash’s HER SECRET PRINCE, Kathleen O’Brien’s HIS DEFIANT PRINCESS and Jeannie Moon’s HIS FORBIDDEN PRINCESS. Needless to say, I fell in love with my hero Prince Lucas Alexander Leopold Casimir von Rexburg aka Prince Luc, long before my heroine Emily Rodgers could tolerate him. Let’s just say, unlike me, being a princess was never one of her dreams.

Did you ever want to be a princess? Answer the question in the comment section, and I’ll pick a winner to receive a prize pack including a Tule Book Girls tote, a $10 Amazon gift card, an autographed copy of THE HONEYMOON SUITE anthology, a Harry & David chocolates and some bookmarks.

Melissa McClone’s degree in mechanical engineering from Stanford University led her to a job with a major airline where she travelled the globe and met her husband. But analyzing jet engine performance couldn’t compete with her love of writing happily ever afters. Her first full-time writing endeavor was her first sale when she was pregnant with her first child! Since then, she has published over twenty-five romance novels with Harlequin and been nominated for Romance Writers of America’s RITA award. When she isn’t writing, she’s usually driving her minivan to/from her children’s swim and soccer practices, 4-H meetings and dog shows. She also supports deployed service members through Soldiers’ Angels and fosters cats through a local non-kill rescue shelter. Melissa lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband, three school-aged children, two spoiled Norwegian Elkhounds and cats who think they rule the house.