The Secret Guide to Dating Monsters

With the final Secret McQueen book, A Secret to Die For, coming out in December, I thought it would be fun to revisit all the books in chronological order and do a bit of behind the scenes trivia about the stories leading up to the big finale.

The Secret Guide to Dating Monsters was the second Secret story I wrote, but takes place first in the Secret Universe. It’s a quick, fun read about what happens to Secret when she tries to have a normal dating life, and gives us a good glimpse at what her life is like under the thumb of the Tribunal.

I decided to write the prequel novella because I wasn’t quite finished the second book, but part of the story of the first novel was nagging at me. The “subway platform incident” that gets mentioned several times in the first book was something I wanted to know more about. I knew Secret had gotten herself in some trouble, but I wanted to see what would lead a hardened bounty hunter into making that kind of big mistake.

The answer: a very, VERY bad vampire who just happens to be one of the biggest celebrities in Hollywood. I love the idea in these stories of bringing in elements of real life, and it doesn’t take a big stretch of the imagination to see what inspired the character of Charlie. Which leads to my list of trivia!

5 Facts About The Secret Guide to Dating Monster:

1. Charlie was not-so-loosely based on Robert Pattinson. I got a real kick out of the idea that someone who plays a vampire in movies might actually be one in real life, and how he would use his fame to manipulate people.
2. Detective Tyler is named for my friend Shawn, whose middle name is Tyler. And the bar McCarthy’s is named for Shawn and his wife Jessica who is one of my best friends. On that note, the fake name Secret gives Charlie is “Jessica.” This is a nod to the 4 of my good friends name Jessica, and Secret even takes a poke at the “unoriginality” of the name.
3. Tyler was only every supposed to appear as a one-off character in this novella, but I liked him so much I brought him back in Secret Santa and he stuck around for the rest of the series.
4. This was actually the first book I wrote in the series after visiting New York. I hadn’t yet seen the city in person when I wrote Something Secret This Way Comes, so a lot of the descriptions of places are much more detailed than they were in the first book.
5. The Columbia Hotel, which re-appears in Keeping Secret, is a nod to both my Canadian heritage (it’s designed to reflect the British Columbia interior) and is also meant as a subtle way for Lucas to embrace his werewolf nature. Since he isn’t publicly “out” as a werewolf, he uses the design of the hotel to show his affinity for nature.
6. Bonus fact: though we don’t learn what Desmond’s job is until much later in the series, and he isn’t even mentioned in this book, he was the lead architect who designed the hotel.

Overall, The Secret Guide to Dating Monsters remains one of my favorite books in the whole series. It’s a great introduction to the characters and the world. It can either be read chronologically first, or following Something Secret This Way Comes to give a little more of the nitty-gritty detail of the infamous “subway platform incident.”

What is your favorite tie-in novella for a series?

*****

For more information on the Secret McQueen series, including excerpts, blurbs, and reading order, visit sierradean.com.

And for the chance to win a digital copy of The Secret Guide to Dating Monsters just leave a comment below. The winner will be drawn on Sunday. Good luck!