We chat with author Lana Ferguson about her steamy paranormal romantic comedy, The Fake Mate, which follows two wolf shifters who agree to be fake mates but unexpectedly find something real, along with book recommendations, writing challenges, and more!
Hi Lana, thank you so much for chatting with us! Firstly, can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
Hello! Thank you for inviting me! Outside of writing high-spice romance (which I could do until I am dead, if people let me), I am really just a walking and talking six-cats-in-a-suit-fighting-for-space who likes thrifting and crosswords and musicals. (Oh, and Baldur’s Gate. Have we talked about Baldur’s Gate? Everyone should play Baldur’s Gate. If my next book doesn’t meet the deadline, let this be my official call out to Baldur’s Gate.)
Where did your love for writing and books come from?
I love having a space to dump all the silly things running through my brain. I feel like living in my head is like sharing an apartment with five other personalities at any given time, and being a writer means not having to ignore them aggressively (and possibly vent about them to my therapist), but instead write them down, free them into the world, so to speak. Writing means the stories running through my head and the ideas that wake me up in excitement in the middle of the night aren’t just for me, but something I can share with everyone, in a sense, and that is just very cool to me.
If you could describe The Fake Mate in five words, what would they be?
Spicy. Fun. Giggle-worthy. Swoony. Knotty.
What sets The Fake Mate apart from other paranormal romances?
I think if anything at all, this genre being dropped into such a contemporary romcom setting might feel fresh? Faking dating is a classic; add in some wolfy dynamics and possessive instincts and you’ve got (or at least I had) a fun time.
How did you prepare to write this wolf shifter doctor romance, such as any type of shifter or medical research? Perhaps binging some Greys Anatomy too?
I have an RN friend that works in the ER who really did the most and came through with helping me through a lot of the hospital setup and medical talk. Fun fact: she had no idea what a shifter romance was before agreeing to help me and still blames me for the questionable facebook suggestions she gets to this day. I was already pretty obsessed with shifter/omegaverse dynamics so I really just played with what I already knew! One of my favorite parts about this genre as that it’s so flexible; you can really make it your own and bend it to meet your needs, since sadly, knotting does not exist for us in real life.
Did you have a favorite scene or chapter you really enjoyed writing?
There were a few I really loved, but to avoid spoilers, I will say: the doctor roleplay scene. Something about these two playing pretend at their actual professions and allowing themselves to be silly (especially Noah, given that he is just so incredibly serious in every aspect of his life that doesn’t involve Mackenzie) was just so much fun to write. Fun fact: it didn’t exist until my friend Kristen beta read the book and said: “Wait, there’s no doctor roleplay?” Much to my shame, there was none before that.
Did you encounter any challenges while writing The Fake Mate and, if so, how did you overcome them?
I think the medical bits were the hardest (which is so funny, since there are probably only a good ten percent of readers who were going to fact check my portrayal of a proper laryngoscopy, but I was going to make those ten percent proud if I could), but between hours of watching medical instruction videos (I feel like I could at the very least pass along the right tools to someone doing a laryngoscopy at this point) and my aforementioned RN friend (who would like their code name to be Kale, for whatever reason), somehow I made it through (hopefully).
Can you tease any details about The Game Changer or any of your other upcoming releases?
I can tell you that The Game Changer is a brother’s best friend/friends to lovers/hockeyxbaker romance that includes competitive flirting, seductive cooking sessions, and a hilarious conversation about why groins are so important to hockey.
What’s next for you?
The Game Changer comes out in July and is now available for pre-order!
Lastly, what books should romance readers should definitely add to their 2024 TBR lists?
So some of these I have read and loved and some are on my TBR but I KNOW I will love—so in no particular order: Savor It by Tarah Dewitt, Tastes Like Shakkar by Nisha Sharma, Sex, Lies and Sensibility by Nikki Payne, Fish Out Of Water by Katie Ruggle, Swift and Saddled by Lyla Sage, The Prospects by KT Hoffman, Love and Other Conspiracies by Mallory Marlow, The Partner Plot by Kristina Forest, Bride by Ali Hazelwood, Shots and Barbs by Lily Mayne…Okay, so you didn’t ask me to type out my entire immediate TBR, but I did anyway.
