Welcome to my author spotlight, where I’m featuring paranormal romance books in anticipation of my own YA paranormal romance release Paramour! Today’s feature is on Cynthia Brubaker, author of Sails and Sirens, a new adult PR to be released August 27, 2025. Sails and Sirens is a contemporary Little Mermaid retelling with a Siren Princess and a Sea Hunter against a tempestuous Floridian backdrop. It has forbidden love, forced proximity, hidden identities, and spice.
What inspired you to write paranormal romance, and what draws you to this genre specifically?
Supernatural beings have always fascinated me; especially when there are high stakes such as romance, chemistry, combat with other races, and electric banter. Shows like The Originals, The Vampire Diaries, and books that involved werewolves and vampires were always enjoyed by me. Inspiration would hit from these sources, or even a day-to-day event would spark an idea to add to a story with supernatural elements (ie, one of my parent’s difficult family dynamics with siblings became a theme for my FMC, Eliana, in Sails and Sirens).
If you could spend a day with any of your paranormal characters, who would you choose and why?
At this point in time, I would choose Darren, the Vampyr Prince from Of Hearts and Hunters (released on February 5th of this year). He is intellectual and patient, and enjoys coffee and reading. He also wouldn’t tear my throat out, though he’d be tempted to. As far as Vampyrs go in that world, he’s one of the safest!
How do you balance world-building and romantic tension to keep readers engaged?
I try to always plot out how I want my worlds to be beforehand (ie, siren kingdoms, the realms in my Gomada Academy Series and what supernatural entities frequent them, etc) so I have a better understanding of what I am pulling from when it comes to writing. I like to focus a lot on side characters and how they interact with my MCs and the world around them, which helps balance out the romance. I also tend to lean toward slow burn/enemies to lovers/forbidden love, so the chemistry and banter pick up the pacing of the book but still add time for other plot devices or themes (ie, the ghost in the Gomada Academy Series) to take root.
What paranormal romance trope can you never resist, either reading or writing?
Definitely forbidden love and forced proximity. They are in every single book I’ve written so far! And I can’t get enough of them when I am reading other books!
Tell us about a scene in your book that readers particularly love or provide an excerpt you’d like to share.
Sails and Sirens hasn’t released yet but my Alpha readers have enjoyed the scene in my book where the Siren Princess (in human form, fake dating the Sea Hunter but has accidentally fallen for him) and the Sea Hunter have an impromptu spicy rendezvous on his sailboat.
What’s one paranormal power or creature you haven’t written about yet but would love to explore?
I want to write a less common and more “natural” shifter, and will be writing a black panther shifter in one of my next WIPs!
If your paranormal romance couple had to face off against Edward and Bella from Twilight in a Hunger Games-style competition, which couple would win and why?
Will Sawyer, the Sea Hunter, and Eliana Leilani, the Siren Princess, would definitely win in a battle against Edward and Bella. Will has been trained in Sea Hunting but Land Hunting is also something he can do in a pinch if necessary. He has been excited to fight vampires (he goes on a mission to do so in SAS) and can easily use his sword to chop off Edward’s head. Eliana would use her siren song to stop Bella in her tracks and could then use her claws to slash her. (Sorry, I wasn’t sure how brutal you wanted this fight to be!)
Real Reader Response:
ARC applicants and author friends who have read snippets of it have likened Will to Sam Winchester and really like his golden retriever vibes!
Excerpt:
“Eliana?”
Emery and I turn. The breath is knocked out of me when I see Will, standing too far away to have overheard us, but close enough to tell that we were embroiled in a dispute.
I whip my head back to stare up at my taller sister. “I do not need your warnings. I do not need your help.” I narrow my eyes at her. “Your concern for my safety is oh-so touching, sister.”
Emery steels herself against my words, her jaw clenched, her eyes piercing into mine. “Maybe I’ll kill him myself.”
“If you do–” I hiss, hands balled at my sides. I stop my threat, looking down at my white knuckles.
And then, I realize…
Emery is right.
Somewhere along the wave, I stopped acting and started feeling. This Hunter, this murderer of sea creatures–
I care for him.
And I know it will be my undoing.
How can you find the author?
Click the links above for Cynthia Brubaker’s bluesky, facebook, instagram, and linktree!