Jennifer Armentrout

Memories, even bittersweet ones, are better than nothing.

My first celebrity crush was Jonathan Brandis. I even got to talk to him on the phone. I wrote a fan letter, and he answered. Talk about a surreal experience.

My first crush was my brother's best friend.

One constant writing ritual, no matter what I'm writing, is that I cannot write if people are around me. It wigs me out - the idea that someone is reading as I'm writing stuff.

While I'm writing YA, I can't read YA, and the same with adult. I usually only listen to music while I'm writing YA.

'Don't Look Back' is my first YA contemporary mystery/thriller. It's been described as 'Black Swan' meets 'Pretty Little Liars'.

I have such a soft spot for the really cheesy zombie movies, but if I had to pick a really good one, I'd have to go with an actual TV show and say 'The Walking Dead'.

You can make your own way. It's about getting out there and not letting rejection get you down.

I wrote 'Don't Look Back' in November 2011, and when I wrote the novel, it wasn't contracted, so there was a freedom in that - no expectations or anything like that. It was also my first contemporary novel I'd written and sold, which was to Disney/Hyperion in January of 2012.

All the old school Young Adult novels inspired me. I grew up reading R.L. Stine, Christopher Pike, Richie Cusick, and so on. I loved how you never really knew who the 'bad guys' were in their works, and I wanted to capture that feeling with 'Don't Look Back.'

I'm a bit more of a suspense reader on the adult side, but my favorites were the ones I grew up reading.

I think I'm always going to be a paranormal girl at heart. I'm always going to be intrigued by it.

I don't think with any book you get used to people falling in love with the story. It's been incredible just to realize your books are being read. It's a pretty amazing feeling.

I can't wait for everyone to read 'Don't Look Back.' It's something very different for me, my first romantic suspense novel, so I'm very excited to be sharing the book, finally.

'Tempting the Best Man' centers around Madison Daniels, who's had a major crush on her brother's best friend since she was a girl.