Guest Post by Meredith Allard!

And today, I have a wonderful guest post from Meredith Allard!!! If you didn't get to read my review of her novel, Her Dear and Loving Husband, or our interview, click HERE. And if you already have, help me welcome Meredith back to Butterfly Feet!!!


As I began my journey into the vampire world, having decided to write my own vampire story, I noticed that some readers are very particular about how they like their vampires. I’ve seen more than one criticism that vampires these days are too soft. Vampires are bloodthirsty, angry, violent creatures of the night, they say. That’s what vampires have always been, and that’s what they always should be. Fair enough, since we all have our likes and dislikes about what we like to read.

I realized that I had another important decision to make as I was writing Her Dear & Loving Husband. How violent were my vampires going to be? As I stated in a previous guest blog post, the main reason I had never been into the vampire genre was because I’m not a fan of violence in any way, shape, or form. I can’t even watch The Real Housewives because their heated arguments are too much for me. I’m not a wimp (well, maybe a bit), but it’s not entertaining to me to see people or animals being hurt. As I was deciding how brutal my vampires would be in their search for blood to drink, I had to consider what violence means to me.

I’m not fascinated by violence. To me, violence is the lowest common denominator. When we’re angry we want to lash out, physically or verbally, whether it’s with loved ones, the barista at Starbucks, at that guy in the gray BMW who cut us off in traffic. To me, giving into violence is weakness because it means I’m letting outside circumstances control my emotions and my behavior. And it seems, as I get older, that it’s becoming more accepted to be mean and rude and angry and violent.

Rising above that violence to be calm and rational, even kind, is an amazing thing, especially since it’s so easy to give into the anger. It takes an extra thought process, an extra determination, to overcome the fury. Now I was onto something. Overcoming our baser instincts to be better than we are. That fascinates me. And that’s the journey we’re all on—struggling to be better today than we were yesterday.

That is also the journey that James Wentworth, the vampire protagonist in Her Dear & Loving Husband, is on—being better than he was. Is he violent? He can be. But he’s working toward being more human than some humans. His motto is “Live and let live.” It’s a motto I try to live by as well.

Thank you for reading my post. I hope you enjoyed it.

Purchasing information for Her Dear & Loving Husband can be found here:
http://www.meredithallard.com/
http://www.copperfieldpress.com/


Thank you, Meredith for coming back!!! :D