Paige Beresford asked Micalea Smeltzer:

Hi Micalea! I'm such a massive fan of your stories! What was the inspiration behind your Trace and Olivia series? Was there a message you were trying to get through in these novels? Why did you choose to write characters who (mostly) had a bad home life? Do you personally connect with any of these characters? Thanks!

Micalea Smeltzer Hi Paige! So happy to hear you're a fan. <3 Funnily enough, I got the idea for Finding Olivia when I saw someone get a flat tire. That first scene where they meet popped in my head. I was writing Undeniable at the time but Trace and Olivia quickly took over and I knew I wanted to see where their story went. Pretty soon after that the idea for her Live List was formed and it took off from there. It was only supposed to be one book but Trace is bossy and demanded another book. ;) Then it just spiraled out of control from there and I wanted to do the spin offs, lol. Ultimately, my message with Finding Olivia was don't focus on perfection because it doesn't exist and you hold yourself back if you try to be "perfect" because there's no such thing as perfect. We all define perfect as something different, therefore it doesn't really exist. The bad home life thing happens a lot because that can really help drive a plot forward--especially since I don't like a lot of drama between my couples. As a reader I hate when a couple is constantly getting together and breaking up so I definitely don't like to do that as a writer. Personally connect...not really, most are pretty different from me personally but from that series I connect the most to Olivia and her struggles to fit in. <3

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