Guest Blog: Tessa Adams asks 'Why are Shapeshifters So Sexy?'

When my editor first approached me about writing a paranormal series, I spent a lot of time thinking about kind of series I wanted to write. Did I want to do vampires, who are admittedly very sexy but at the same time have so many different series out that I wasn’t sure I could come up with an original idea? Did I want to do witches, who I love to read about or did I want to have the series be connected through my heroes instead of my heroines? Did I want to do fairies or immortal warriors or psychics? The list went on and on, but even as I considered each choice (all of which I really love reading) a part of me knew that I was going to write about shifters all along. There’s just something about them—the ability to change form, all that animal magnetism, all that heat and sexiness and darkness—that I just can’t resist, as a reader or a writer.

And that’s when my new series idea, Dragon’s Heat, was born—a group of dragon shifters who live in the caves of the modern day New Mexico desert. Struggling to keep themselves hidden despite their war with another clan and a disease ravaging their people, my shifters are searching for their place in a world that doesn’t believe in dragons. Tall, dark, tortured and sexy as all get out, it’s been a joy to write the first two books in the series and I’m looking forward to writing the third in the next couple of months.

But what is it about shifters that is so sexy? What is it about them that appeals to me so much? Is it the fact that most of them have dark, tortured pasts? Probably, as I love to put my characters through the wringer. Or maybe it’s the fact that they’re always walking a fine line between being in control and out of control. All that heat and passion and emotion right on the brink of exploding always gets to me. Whether I’m reading Nalini Singh’s Psy/Changeling series or Patricia Briggs’s Mercy series, I’m always sucked into the angst and struggle and search for identity that most shifters must go through.

So what do you think? What is your favorite type of paranormal creature to read about (if you like paranormal creatures, that is)? And if that type happens to be shifters, what is it about them that you find so irresistible? Since I’m anxiously awaiting the release of Dark Embers, my first Dragon’s Heat novel which hits shelves on Tuesday, I thought I’d give away a copy here. So leave a comment to be entered in the contest.

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Learn more about Tessa Adams by clicking here.