Q&A: Emily McIntire, Author of ‘Burning Daylight’

We chat with author Emily McIntire about Burning Daylight, which is the first in a brand-new, highly anticipated romance series that blends electric chemistry with secret identities, family legacies, and forbidden love.

Hi, Emily! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?

Hi! I’m a thirty-six year old avid reader who loves to write stories that make people fall in love over and over again. I’m a stage four cancer thriver (no evidence of active disease for over a year, woohoo!) and I am a mother to one beautiful daughter, a wife to an amazing husband, and pet mom to three cats.

When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?

I’ve been a writer my entire life. As a kid I was writing song lyrics, poems, picture books, and it’s always been the one thing that has grown with me and stuck. I can’t remember a time where I wasn’t writing.

Quick lightning round! Tell us:

• The first book you ever remember reading: The fox jumped over the box. I was VERY proud of myself for reading it.
• The one that made you want to become an author: All of them? The books that make you feel something are the best kind, and I’ve always wanted to inspire that within other people.
• The one that you can’t stop thinking about: Zoey Draven’s the Horde Kings of Dakkar series!

Your latest novel, Burning Daylight, is out now! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?

Legacy, loyalty, lust, lies, love.

What can readers expect?

Oh, you’ll be getting modern day Romeo and Juliet but with a happily ever after. There’s tension, yearning, angst, and banter that gives you the zoomies. Secret rendezvous that should not be happening. Fighting as their foreplay, and love that shows up in all the wrong places. Messy, dangerous, but still worth choosing. And mostly, you’ll get the story of what happens when two people try to rewrite their fate in a town built to keep them apart.

Where did the inspiration for Burning Daylight come from?

I never really know how to answer this question because inspiration doesn’t come to me in neat outlines. It just drops into my head as fully formed characters, screaming at me until I write them down.

With Burning Daylight, it started with the town.

Rosebrook Falls felt so vivid in my head. I could feel the moody vibe, the heaviness of it. Like a small town with a soap opera level drama, where every family has secrets and no one ever fully tells the truth.

And then this one line got stuck in my head: “Rosebrook Falls. Where love goes to die.”

And I thought…what if I wrote an entire series around that?

Tragic love stories are notorious for forbidden dynamics and messy, complicated characters. I could take them, throw them into a town that’s working against them, and then have them overcome their own tragedies. Have them choose love anyway, and let love win.

Romeo and Juliet was a no-brainer to start off this series, although each book will focus on a different tragic love story, all set in the same corrupt town.

Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?

All of them! This is probably my favorite group of characters that I’ve written. Their personalities are all so strong. Roman specifically, the main male character in Burning Daylight, is so flirty with Juliette, and they both have such strong banter, that reading it back after writing gives me butterflies.

Also, one of Juliette’s brother’s Alex, and her best friend Felicity are both comic relief that was really fun to get lost in and see their personalities shine through on the page.

Did you face any challenges whilst writing? How did you overcome them?

Definitely. I think a lot of times I’m my own worst critic. Coming off a popular series, it’s easy to start second-guessing everything. Wondering if readers’ expectations are too high, or if the next book won’t deliver in the way they’re hoping for. That kind of thinking can pull you straight into the spiral of what ifs… and that’s usually where writer’s block creeps in.

For me, the only way out is through. I have to remind myself that I’m writing the story the way my muse is giving it to me. That my job is to stay true to the vision, not to predict or control how it’ll be received.

Art is subjective. And even if someone ends up hating it, I’ve still done my part by telling the story the way it was meant to be told.

What’s next for you?

I’m currently working on book 2 for this series, and also a secret project that I can’t tell you about yet!

Lastly, what books have you enjoyed reading this year? Are there any you’re looking forward to picking up?

I’ve been in a horrible reading slump this year so haven’t read as much as I usually do. That being said, my go to authors are always Zoey Draven, Kennedy Ryan, Nisha Sharma, Amber V. Nicole, Sav R. Miller, Kandi Steiner…really the list goes on and on. Anything they write, I’ll read it!

Will you be picking up Burning Daylight? Tell us in the comments below!