Lena Brassard’s talent for perceiving disaster in every situation is most productively applied to tormenting the characters she writes. She began devouring romance novels at an inappropriately early age because she was a voracious reader, the nearest library was far, and a quarter at any yard sale bought a brown paper bag stuffed with Harlequins and Silhouettes. Lax security around an older sibling’s supply of horror and murder books during the same formative period ensured love and darkness became inextricably linked in her imagination. After many years of battling her natural inclination to add monsters and bloodshed to every meet-cute, she’s indulging her fondness for shady characters who must overcome multitentacled evil before they can live happily ever after.