Legends of werewolves and vampires have been around since what feels like the beginning of time. These stories have evolved, but one thing remains constant: the two species don’t get along. Britney S. Lewis’s new romance draws inspiration from the likes of The Vampire Diaries and Twilight to create her neck-biting new release, Blood Moon.
Supernatural and paranormal romances are an increasingly popular genre, with platforms like TikTok and Instagram providing a space to fill anyone’s to-be-read shelf. With the nostalgia surge for stories like Twilight, Supernatural, and The Vampire Diaries, it is no wonder that the people growing up consuming these stories wanted to create their own and fill them with the representation that was lacking. Moreover, to create a book with the beloved enemies-to-lovers trope, and what better way to create that tension than pairing a witch, a vampire, and a werewolf, commonly known enemies in the paranormal fanbase.
About Britney S. Lewis
Britney S. Lewis is the Kansas award-winning author of The Undead Truth of Us, The Dark Place, and the upcoming paranormal romance series, Blood Moon. She has a B.A. in corporate communications with an emphasis in business and art.
When Britney isn’t daydreaming about new stories, she is an urban hiker, exploring the city on foot, looking for iced coffee. She can also be found watching TV shows with her husband and her pup or practicing West Coast Swing. She lives in Kansas City.
Thank you for joining us, Britney. Let’s get started.
For any readers unfamiliar with it, can you give an elevator pitch for Blood Moon?
Blood Moon is an enemies to (star-crossed) lovers paranormal series for fans of The Vampire Diaries, Legendborn, and Twilight: New Moon. It follows 18-year-old Mira as she is mysteriously accepted into a university in a town known for its legends of werewolves and vampires, only to find herself in an accidental romance with one of them, and in the midst of a centuries-old war.
The legends of werewolves and vampires are rooted in various forms of mythology. Are there any stories in particular you drew inspiration from for Blood Moon’s lore?
Phew. There is SO much media that has inspired this story. I grew up watching fantasy and horror movies and quickly became obsessed. For a month straight, in elementary school, I watched Thriller (the music video by Michael Jackson) every evening before bed — that’s just a small example of my adoration for the paranormal.
As for the lore, there were a few very distinct pieces of media that helped me bring it to life. First, I really loved the Underworld series. It follows this kickass vampire, named Selene, as she gets caught up in a feud between extremely violent werewolves. I loved how everything was dark and grimy, and how the viewers begin to learn that the “greater evil” isn’t actually the werewolves, but the vampires.
For Blood Moon, I wanted similar twists and turns and acts of betrayal within family units. I was interested in finding a way to bring humanity to villains, just as much as the heroes (think Joker, for example). I was also inspired by The Beast of Gévaudan. This was a real documentation of an unknown creature, described as something scarier than a wolf, that killed over 100 people in France between 1764 and 1767. These deaths still remain a mystery today, and this unfortunate tragedy became the blueprint for the lore in Blood Moon.
I know Bonnie Bennet and Damon Salvatore from The Vampire Diaries were a source of inspiration for Blood Moon. What about these two characters and their connection spoke to you so much?
Literally everything, ha. More seriously, I loved how Bonnie & Damon would have been the perfect enemies-to-friends-to-lovers romance. The two of them were such powerful characters on their own, and I loved how, theoretically, the vampires couldn’t have existed without a witch. There was something so tragic about this realization that made me root for them. Not only that, but Bonnie and Damon grew so close toward the end of the series. They cared so truly and deeply for each other that I found myself waiting on pins and needles for them to kiss. To my detriment, that never happened.
While I did start writing Blood Moon out of revenge for how Bonnie Bennett deserved better on The Vampire Diaries, admittedly, it wasn’t an original source of inspiration. One afternoon, I was pitching the idea of Blood Moon to Tracy Deonn — the book was already on submission to publishers at this point — and she was like, “Oh, like The Vampire Diaries?” And I swear, a light bulb went off! There were so many similarities: small town setting, vampires and werewolves living in the midst of everyone, and a complicated romance at the center of it all.
This novel is set in your home state of Kansas. Are any of the settings in the story inspired by locations you’ve been in real life? If so, which ones and how did they fit into this book?
Yes! Absolutely! So Blood Moon takes place in a town called Timber Plains. Timber Plains isn’t a real town in Kansas City, but I’ve imagined it to exist within two counties that do exist — Wyandotte County and Leavenworth County. Wyandotte County Lake & Park inspired Timber Plains Park — which is where many of the monstrous animal sightings have taken place in the book.
Tell us more about your main character, Mira! Is there anything you can tell us about her that readers might not know from reading the excerpt of Blood Moon?
I love Mira. Like the previous main characters I’ve written — Zharie in The Undead Truth of Us and Hylee in The Dark Place — Mira is going through an emotional journey. She is a grumpy girl. She’s smart, witty, and kind of funny. Since her mother’s disappearance, she’s become somewhat of a loner. The confusion of the situation caused her to lash out on her friends, which scared them away, and even on her father, Bobby. She’s learned to manage her anger in therapy where she found that running calms her nerves (to be honest, she hates running, and she only does it so she feels more human).
As well, Mira is a daddy’s girl to her core. She secretly adores Bobby, and if she wasn’t so worried about making sure he took care of himself, she would have attended a university on the West Coast, so she could have left her old life and midwestern town behind.
Can you touch on the importance of BIPOC representation in supernatural stories like Blood Moon?
I would LOVE to. It has unequivocally become something I’m very passionate about. As a child who loved fantasy with themes of romance, I truly thought characters weren’t allowed to be Black or part of the BIPOC community. No one told me this, but I believed it to be true simply because there was no “real” representation. I loved shows like Charmed, Supernatural, Teen Wolf, The Vampire Diaries, and True Blood. While there were some diverse characters in these shows, many of them were killed off within the first thirty minutes or made out to be villains. If they didn’t die, or they weren’t the villain, then generally it was a one-episode thing, or their character was used as a device to move the plot forward, e.g., the supportive side character.
In a world of make-believe, why were there no Black or Asian main characters? I so desperately wanted to see someone like me exist as a main character — I wanted to see them fight the bad guys, make awful decisions, choose between multiple love interests, and uncover a hidden world of superheroes. I kept waiting for it to happen, I kept waiting to be seen, and when I finished reading The Twilight Saga as a teen, I decided enough was enough. That was the day I opened my laptop and started writing my own stories. I’ve never looked back.
This is your third book exploring dark themes (loss, death, grief, and darker aspects of romance). What draws you to these particular themes?
It’s sad to admit this, but really, my life has been so riddled with these themes that writing about them was a form of relief. Like Zharie, I know what it’s like to be parentless. To be clear, both of my parents are alive, but they were absent in my teen years. Like Hylee, I know what it’s like to have survivor’s guilt and be displaced. And like Mira, I know what it’s like to be angry at a mother who left without reason.
Are you working on any future publications that explore different dark themes, or are you thinking about exploring any others?
You know, this is such a great question. As of right now, I am working on the second book in the series. The title hasn’t been released yet, but I can tell you the main theme revolves around monstrosity in humanity and how far one might go to fuel their own desires — think Sam drinking demon blood in Supernatural, or Damon in the first few seasons of The Vampire Diaries fighting between living morally and immorally.
Readers are always interested in what their favourite authors are reading. Could you please recommend a few of your favourite supernatural-inspired novels for them?
I love recs! Some of my favorites include The Year of The Witching and House of Hunger by Alexis Henderson; The Book of Azrael by Amber Nicole; Sing Me To Sleep by Gabi Burton; The Legendborn Cycle by Tracy Deon; This Poison Heart by Kalynn Bayron; and The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina by Zoraida Córdova. I’m currently reading: Phantasma by Kaylie Smith and looking forward to To Steal A Throne by Gabi Burton.
Thank you so much, Britney, for participating in our interview. It was incredible to speak to you and get to know more about Blood Moon and the author behind it! For those who are interested in reading the book, don’t wait — pre-order your copy of Blood Moon, set to release on the 9th of September 2025! Make sure to grab The Undead Truth of Us and The Dark Place whilst you’re there, too!
Want to connect with Britney S. Lewis? Follow her on socials, on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and her website!
Also a fan of Phantasma? Read our Author Interview with Kaylie Smith here!
Looking for more paranormal recs? Have a flick through our bookshelves here!
