Interview Questions
Will you keep writing more secret boyfriend stories?
I’d love to, yes! I’d never written that trope before Open Hearts and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience, especially since Jae and Emmett drew me in right away. I also love a fake boyfriend/marriage trope and would be very into crafting a story around that as well.
Who is the funniest character you've ever written? and what book are they from?
Emmett from Open Hearts rates high on my list of funny characters because there was just something really easygoing and lovely about his character and his voice was so clear. I’d also give Jesse Murtagh from The Speakeasy series a shout out, in part because he is quite funny (if I do say so myself) but also because he embodies a blithe spirit I can appreciate while remaining a caring and genuine soul beneath the megawatt smile.
Who's your favourite character to write?
Generally, the characters in any current WIP are my favorites, but I developed a special fondness for all of the characters in the Stealing Hearts series. The books are set in my home city of Boston, Massachusetts, and they gave me such good energy, I started planning other stories in the city. That’s how I met Connor Devlin, a character who surfaced last winter while I wrote Hooked On You, a story that helped me rediscover the joy I get in writing. Like so many writers, I had trouble wrangling my muse throughout 2020, but I had the best timewriting Hooked On You and felt completely re-energized by the experience.
Would you consider a series based on fitness instruction like HITT or cardio boxing?
Actually, I would. And I am! I started using an app called Daily Burn 365 in April 2020 and I’ve thought many times (while sweating and dying and loving it) that a fitness class would be a great place to set a story. There were several characters who tried to butt in on the Stealing Hearts series and Hooked on You but didn’t quite make it, so I think fitness classes might be their key.
What's the hardest type of scene to write?
I find scenes that involve causing my characters pain particularly brutal to write. Probably because I’m very attached by the time I get to the angst in a manuscript and putting the character through that kind of pain guts me, too. I shed real tears while torturing Jae and Emmett from Open Hearts, especially since both guys clearly had no idea why everything was falling apart out of the blue.
Do you write every day or do you take a day off?
I write or do some kind of publishing-related work every day except Monday. Due to my day job, weekends are the time I have lots of hours that are all for me and I spend big chunks of Saturday and Sunday writing. As a reward of sorts, I give myself ‘time off’ from writing each Monday night after the day job work has wrapped up. (That said, it’s Monday and I’m working on this document so something has clearly gone awry …)
What’s your process for developing and getting to know your characters?
Most of the time, characters pop into my head already talking and mostly fleshed out, which means I just need to do some fine tuning. That was definitely the case with Emmett from Open Hearts, who showed up almost entirely complete. Once I know a character is ready to talk, I do some work figuring out what they do for a living or why they’ve landed in their current situation, which often leads to a lot of googling and asking questions of the people in my life. Of course, sometimes characters surprise me with something new mid-way through a manuscript, which is equal parts fun and horrifying and one of the things I really enjoy about writing.
Quick Shot Questions
- Favorite movie – Pulp Fiction and A Room With a View, along with God’s Own Country.
- Favorite book – Neuromancer by William Gibson.
- Ideal snack – Fresh Chicago Mix popcorn (cheddar and caramel).
- Cats/Dogs – Dogs
- Tea/Coffee – Coffee (AM), tea (PM).
Open Hearts, Stealing Hearts #3
MMRomance, Nurses, FoodTrucks, AgeGap, FoundFamily, HurtComfort, SecretBoyfriends, FriendsToLovers, MulticulturalRelationship, AsianCharacter, PansexualCharacter
Open Hearts includes a May/December story with a secret relationship, a Pride parade, a bachelor party weekend, and romantic moments under the stars, and it’s on sale for only $.99.
Amazon Exclusive & available in Kindle Unlimited – Amazon US | Amazon UK
Some hearts are made to be opened.
Jae-seong Bak has never been in love. He prefers to let his personal life take a backseat to his career as a nurse, especially since no-strings hookups with men he's glad to call friends have always felt like more than enough.
After years of moving around the United States, Jae takes a job in his home city of Boston, arriving just in time to celebrate his brother Ty's engagement. In reconnecting with friends and family, Jae befriends Emmett McNeil, a young chef and Ty's future brother-in-law, whose own bad luck with love hasn't dampened his enthusiasm for life.
As the summer passes and Jae and Emmett help their families plan the wedding, the spark between the two men ignites, though each agrees to keep their hookups under wraps in order to prevent potential drama. Taken off guard by the depth of his feelings, Jae backs away, only to find that going back to being just friends with Emmett is much harder than he ever could have predicted.
Now, standing with Emmett as their siblings make their vows, Jae must decide if he's really content to hold the man he loves at arm's-length or if taking a chance on more is in the cards.
Open Hearts is a 63K age gap sex buddies-to-lovers novel. It features a Nurse Anesthetist with a habit of putting his career before romance, a talented young chef who’s getting over a broken heart, wedding plans and a bachelor party in the woods, and the deliciously satisfying HEA you need.
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Competition
Competition: Open Hearts centers around some of my favorite tropes including Age Gap and Friends to Lovers. Comment with the tropes you love to read most and I’ll pick a winner at random!
Prize: Books 1 and 2 in the Stealing Hearts series/any two books from my backlist plus a $5 Amazon Gift Card.
My favorite tropes are friends to lovers, bisexual awakening and forced proximity.
I’ve always been a big fan of the first two and have recently discovered I enjoy forced proximity as well. More books for me!
Enemies to lovers, mpreg, gfy ☺
GFY/Bi-awakening is one of my all time faves to both read and write. So good!
Second Chances — Enemies To Lovers — Age Gap
Oh, all good ones. And I am *such* a sucker for Age Gap.
Favorite is friends to lovers also enemies to lovers.
I used to really enjoy enemies to lovers and then I fell off the bandwagon — I’m going to make an effort to climb back on!
My favorites are Body guard/musician, enemies to lovers, and Daddy kink.
Oooh, bodyguards, yes! (I’ll take them with pretty much anything but yes, musician is such a nice opposites-attract kind of thing.
I don’t have a favorite trope. It all depends on my mood when I’m selecting a book. Just give me a good story 😁
I have a ton of favorites because I can’t just pick one 😀 But I figure that’s totally okay and more books for meeeeee 🙂
My favourite is enemies to lovers.
Enemies to lovers can be so fun, especially if it’s more of a rivalry than real animosity. Like with sports, which can bring lots of heat.
I like Chance Meetings and Friends to Lovers.
Chance Meetings, oh yes. *applauds* I’m all for a meet cute and Friends to Lovers is also a big fave of mine.
Hurt/comfort is usually my favorite
I love Hurt/Comfort–it’s one of my big go-to tropes when I’m looking for something new to read.
Second chance, and more recently MM
Second chance can be *so* satisfying! I’m also a big fan of Second Act, which I think of as a character who is older (like 40+ lol) and ‘starting over’.
My favs are mpreg, paranormal romance and Daddy/little
I enjoy paranormal romance as well! I’ve been trying to read more new tropes — I just need more time to actually do said reading.
Friends to lovers with lots of angst.
Oh, yes — some angst to make these interesting is key, especially when you’re starting with friends (who probably are clueless about how much they really like each other).
I enjoy a hurt/comfort trope. Is time travel a trope? I like stories with a time element, too.
Time travel is totally a trope, yep! I really like the concept though I feel like a lot of time travel stories get tragic — I should explore more in the romance genre. And Hurt/Comfort is one of my all time faves.
Mine are absolutely MMM and rockstars 😁😁
I looooove MMM so much. I didn’t even realize it until I picked up a book by an author I’ve always enjoy and HELLO my reading world changed.
Definitely fake dating, followed by found family, and always ONLY ONE BED 🙂
These are all fantastic, especially fake dating. I’d love to write that trope into a story someday .
enemies to lovers. and opposites attract.
These are both great, especially if you can get both tropes in one story.
Enemies to lovers.
I went through a phase where enemies to lovers wasn’t working for me but I’m coming back around to enjoying it. Especially if it’s more of a rivalry than real animosity (because then there’s a ‘I secretly like you way more than I should’ vibe going on).
Daddies!!
This is a trope I’m *just* starting to get to know!
I love grumpy/sunshine best but I’m also a big fan of age gaps.
Oooh, grumpy/sunshine is great and totally on my list to explore writing.
Older men (re)discovering love with peers and finding a HEA
Such a great choice. I’ve come to think of this trope as Second Act and find it makes for a truly satisfying reading experience.
Favourite would be age gap but I am also partial to single Dads
I’m sort of new to the Single Dads trope but I love it. Maybe not as much as Age Gap (which is very high on my faves list) but definitely one I enjoy.
My favs are mpreg, paranormal romance and Daddy/little
I enjoy paranormal romance very much but the other two have never been go-tos for me so I’m trying to expand my trope reading.
I always love marriage of convenience stories.
Yes, such a great trope! I’d be so mad if it happened in my real life but I love reading it.
I really enjoy the friends to lovers. I like the awakening to finally see what was always in front of you.
Yes! I’m a big fan of this trope ane really enjoy it when one of the friends is way more clueless than the other–to prolong the torture! 😉
Hurt/comfort is always a favorite for me
I don’t think I’ll ever be tired of this trope, honestly–there’s so much room in there for exploration and it definitely keeps the reading experience interesting.
Friends to lovers.
Enemies to lovers.
Especially when brothers and family members get involved!
I love where you’re going with that–getting family involved in those dynamics is such a great way to develop the plot and characters.
Enemies to lovers & age gaps are my absolute favorites. Love bi-awakening too. 🙂
Oooh, I really enjoy all three. Especially together. Like a big, delicious trope salad!
Friends-to-lovers and second chance stories are favorites.
I love these tropes and thinking about combining them in a story is making me go all happy sighs. <3
I like enemies to lovers’ but I really like just about anything.
Reading across tropes is so smart and pushes you to discover a ton of new material and authors. I’m trying to read more widely across tropes for that very reason–I want to read new authors!
Too many to choose! At the moment I’m loving single dad romances, especially with friends to lovers element. Thank you for the chance!
Single dad + friends-to-lovers can be two of the sweetest and most satisfying tropes to read so I totally get you there. (I now want to read so many new books just from the replies to this interview!)
I just emailed you to let you know that I drew your name from a hat to receive the prize package. Congrats! <3
I like second chances and soul mates
Great choices, especially when combined!
I love taboo, forced submission, and gay for you
I don’t read a ton of taboo tropes but I do want to change that. Why not, right?
I like books that feature single parents. I also enjoy books that have a Cinderella plot.
I love the idea of a Cinderella plot! I haven’t read a ton of books that use that trope but it’s so fun, as are single parents.
I like most of them but my faves are hurt/comfort & daddy/little.
I read a ton of tropes too and I’m literally so terrible at picking a favorite. So I have lists of favorites haha 🙂
I love a steamy enemies to lovers romance which starts with a standoffish rivalry and ends with the characters being head over heels for eachother.
Heck yes–talk about a satisfying read. Especially since we know alllll along that they’ll end up together if they would only stop being stubborn.
I absolutely adore Fake Relationships. The awkwardness and the slow awakening is just adorable
Oh yessss, me too, so much! It’s funny because I didn’t really realize I was drawn to trope until someone pointed it out to me. Talk about slow awakening haha
i love to read daddy/ little , second chance
I was just talking to a reader about how much fun second chance stories are and they’re absolutely high on my list.
GFY – Age gap – friends to lovers – daddy/little. Love just about all of them.
I have such a hard time choosing favorites of anything and especially tropes, particularly because I keep finding new ones to love.
Thank you everyone for sharing your fave tropes with me — your comments made me smile!
I just chose Xanthe Anderson to receive the prize package, so congrats to Xanthe <3