Author Spotlight: Megan Darragh
What is Monster in My Heart about?
Imagine you were the only human in a school of supernatural
monsters. That’s the reality for Fiona, whose world is turned upside
down when she moves to a high school filled with supernatural
creatures. She's an easy target for terror, hate and magic. While trying
to find true love, Fiona must navigate her way through the dangerous
supernatural world where she battles vampires, witches, and zombies,
with the help of her new friends.
Fiona is surrounded by attractive male vampires and werewolves,
including the three love interests, the loyal and protective Min-bae, the
mysterious and intriguing Zeke, and the creepy but surprisingly sweet
Drake. Within the supernatural community it is common to have
multiple partners, bringing us an amazing new way of looking at love.
In this novel set in the beautiful countryside of County Fermanagh,
Northern Ireland, Darragh explores the life of a human alongside the
supernatural community. The sexuality of teenagers today is
confidently explored in this enchanting world.
My review:
The world changed when supernatural beings made themselves known to the human world but in a good way. They can now co-exist.
So when Fiona's family moves to Belcoo, Fiona finds out she is the only human at her new high school which is filled with witches, werewolves, vampires, mermaids, and zombies.
And because Fiona is the only human, no one likes her. Except the other two outcasts, Min-bea and Jodi. With their guidance, Fiona feels more at ease in her new surroundings until the other supernatural beings begin bullying her.
Throughout this book, I found myself turning the pages wanting to know what was going to happen to Fiona next despite the fact that this storyline leaned more toward an everyday life aspect of storytelling, as it followed Fiona's mishaps and relationships through the school year.
Sprinkled throughout the story were larger plot twists that were resolved and new discoveries about Fiona that further cemented her place in this new atmosphere.
My favorite characters were Zeke and Jodi as they felt so genuine.
I would give this book a 4-star review.
An Interview with author Megan Darragh
1. What inspired you to write The Monsters in My Heart?
I've always loved books, movies, and TV shows about the supernatural. The first supernatural movie I can remember watching was The Lost Boys, and I loved it. I also loved Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Twilight, and Teen Wolf. As a child, I read the My Sister the Vampire books and loved them. Since I loved supernatural things from a young age, I always wanted to write a romance book with them in it. To make my book a bit more interesting and different, there are witches, mermaids, and zombies in it, as well as vampires and werewolves.
I find it interesting how different the supernatural are portrayed in different media, and it was fun putting my own spin on them. When I read and watched Twilight as I got older, I wished Bella could pick both Edward and Jacob, which inspired me to write polyamorous relationships within The Monsters in My Heart.
2. What is your writing process like?
First, I come up with an idea and write it down, then I do a rough outline, with a few sentences on what will happen in each chapter. I usually stick to my outline, but, sometimes add and remove scenes as I'm writing. When I was writing The Monsters in My Heart, I ended up adding a brother and an extra boyfriend, which hadn't been planned at the start, but felt right.
Once, I've finished the outline, I start writing, and edit after every chapter. I used to leave all the editing until the end, but found it too boring and time consuming. Now, I'll edit as I'm going, then do a big edit at the end, which doesn't take as long as editing it all at once. After the book is fully edited, and I've got the blurb and cover done, I publish on Amazon KDP. I find that writing at night suits me best, since that's when I'm most inspired, and no one distracts me.
3. What authors would have strongly influenced you and why?
I'd say there are a few authors who have influenced me. Michael Morpurgo is definitely one of them, since I read his books all the time as a kid. I wanted to be an author like him because I thought it would be fun to create my own worlds and characters.
Stephanie Meyer is another one, she inspired me a lot to write The Monsters in My Heart, since the genre is the same. I loved reading and watching Twilight, and I'd love to be as famous as her some day.
Sienna Mercer, who wrote My Sister the Vampire, also inspired me because I loved reading her books as a kid. I found it very interesting that it followed twins, one who was a human and one who was a vampire.
Darren Shan is now one of my favourite authors. I watched The Vampire's Assistant as a child, and loved it. A few years ago, I found the books that the movie is based on, so I bought them. Reading those books brought me out of a reading slump, they were so tense and hard to put down. I love how he interacts with fans, and I hope to get as many fans as he has.
Lastly, Isaac Asimov inspired me when I was writing A Robot's Heart. I'd started planning and writing before reading his books, but about halfway through my book, I started reading his. I found them very interesting, and it was cool seeing the differences and similarities in our stories.
4. What is something readers should know about The Monsters in My Heart?
It's set in Fermanagh, around Belcoo and Blacklion, where I went on holiday a lot as a child. I picked this area because it has a lot of forests around it, the perfect place for supernatural beings to live. There's actually a scene in the book, where they go to a lake in the middle of nowhere, which is slightly based on a real life experience.
We were out driving in the night, and we went up a country road, then got lost, driving in a forest. We never found it again. A lot of the places within the book are places that I've been to.
5. Where else can people find you?
Amazon — https://www.amazon.com/stores/Megan-Darragh/author/B08VHQR35X
Patreon — https://www.patreon.com/c/MeganDarragh
Twitter — @MeganDarragh3
Facebook — @MeganDarraghBooks
Instagram — @MeganDarraghBooks
TikTok — @MeganDarraghBooks
YouTube — @MeganDarraghBooks
My website —https://megandarraghbooks.wordpress.com/
6. Do you have any upcoming projects?
I'm currently writing a superhero and villain romance book. It follows Cara, a new superhero, who has healing powers. There are 105 chapters in total, with the book being split into three, so it could take a few years to write. Once that book is finished, I'll be continuing A Robot's Heart series, with the third book.
You can get the book here: Monsters In My Heart