Melissa Cunningham (also known as M.E. Cunningham) was born in Oregon but grew up in Utah, where she was raised on a steady diet of fine literature from Charlotte's web to the The Trumpeter Swan, and then plenty of romances in her teen years. She now lives with her husband on a little farm in northern Utah where all she can see out of her back door is miles of pasture and stunning sunsets. Not only does she raise horses, dogs, cats, and chickens, but her five kids also. When Melissa is not writing you can find her spending time in the outdoors with her family or dancing wildly to rock music in her living room. She loves running, camping, and all things fiction--scary, mind-numbing stories preferred.
Featured Free Book Today:
Reluctant Guardian Blurb:
Death was nothing like sixteen-year-old Alisa Callahan thought it would be. Resting on pink, fluffy clouds for eternity with her gram and best friend sounded like a dream come true. After all, enduring one torturous experience after another in her short life deserved some kind of reward, right? Unfortunately, eternal rewards aren't given out so freely when you take your own life.
Required to pay the debt for her actions, Alisa must become a guardian. It sounds easy enough, but not when the boy she is forced to protect has a dangerous secret and wants absolutely nothing to do with her.
Brecken Shaefer isn't any normal teenager. He has special gifts that are sure to make Alisa's afterlife miserable. When feelings develop between them, everything spins out of control. Not only must Alisa face her own demons— but to protect Brecken, she must face an evil so heinous that it threatens to destroy their souls completely.
Alisa is tired of hiding from her past. When the easiest thing to do is run, can Brecken give her the strength to stay?
Required to pay the debt for her actions, Alisa must become a guardian. It sounds easy enough, but not when the boy she is forced to protect has a dangerous secret and wants absolutely nothing to do with her.
Brecken Shaefer isn't any normal teenager. He has special gifts that are sure to make Alisa's afterlife miserable. When feelings develop between them, everything spins out of control. Not only must Alisa face her own demons— but to protect Brecken, she must face an evil so heinous that it threatens to destroy their souls completely.
Alisa is tired of hiding from her past. When the easiest thing to do is run, can Brecken give her the strength to stay?
Download for Free!
Available at:
Reluctant Guardian Teaser:
This is it. This is my moment, and I'm not going to let some stupid boy and a bunch of his idiotic friends scare me into failing. Closing my eyes, I float through the closed door, letting myself enjoy that slight pull on my soul as I meld with the wood for one second, feeling its aliveness, its purpose. This is one part of being a spirit that is genuinely cool. Everything is alive.
Once through, the brightness in the room surprises me. As unexpected as that is, what amazes me even more is that the glow radiates around one person in particular.
Brecken.
He sits sprawled at his desk, his feet clad in heavy, black combat books, his ankles crossed. A thick, ratty sweatshirt stretches over his wide shoulders, and even though his hair is a mess, it fits him, making him much sexier than is healthy for a seventeen year old boy. (pg 62)
Once through, the brightness in the room surprises me. As unexpected as that is, what amazes me even more is that the glow radiates around one person in particular.
Brecken.
He sits sprawled at his desk, his feet clad in heavy, black combat books, his ankles crossed. A thick, ratty sweatshirt stretches over his wide shoulders, and even though his hair is a mess, it fits him, making him much sexier than is healthy for a seventeen year old boy. (pg 62)
Reluctant Guardian's Playlist!
See what music inspired Melissa while writing!
- Down, by Jason Walker
- Holding on and Letting go, by Ross Copperman.
- Poison and Wine, by The Civil Wars
- Farewell, by Rosie Thomas
- Your Guardian Angel, by The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus
- Almost Lover, by A Fine Frenzy
- Fix You, Javier Colon
- Nobody's Home, by Avril Lavigne
- Someone Like You, by Adele
- His Love, Vickey Pahnke & John Canaan
- My Own Worst Enemy, by Casting Crowns
- In My Arms, by Plumb
- Without You, byt David Guetta & Usher
- Possibility, by Lykke Li
Don't miss the rest of the
Ransomed Soul Series
Interview with Melissa:
- What is your next project? The third book in the Ransomed Souls Series, The Undoer, is coming out this spring! It’s by far my favorite out of any books I’ve written!
- Name 5 of your favorite movies. The Count of Monte Cristo, because Jim Caviezel is beautiful and I love how it’s a story of redemption and coming back from your lowest point (which I too have had to do). The Lord of the Rings, and do I really need to explain why? LOL The Hobbit, because I love Lord of the Rings. Princess Bride, because it’s a classic with some of the best one-liners ever written. I could watch it over and over. Pitch Perfect, because I’m a music buff. I used to be a music major in college. I sing, play guitar and piano, and used to write music. Now I write stories.
- If we googled your name what would we see? That would depend on if you put my middle initial in there! If you don’t, you get an actress who is my same age and dresses like a porn star. But I’m right beneath her! (on the google page) J
- What’s your pet peeve? Dang! I can’t even think of one! I can think of a bunch my husband has though!
- What is your favorite poem? I love, love, love Invictus. But I have quite a few I like. My grandmother and mother were both wonderful poets, so I have that talent flowing through my veins if I ever put it to good use.
- What is your best advice for aspiring writers? Just keep going! Never stop. You’ll get better and better as you go. If I could find a publisher while dealing with neurological Lyme Disease and publish FOUR books while sick and crazy, you can too! (I don’t recommend being sick and crazy, but to each their own)
RSS Feed
