Tell us something about yourself that not many people know.
I’m a reality TV fan, completely coffee dependent, and my playlists are still firmly attached to the 90s and 2000s. I also have a weakness for pretty things and almost anything pink. Give me good coffee, a great book and absolutely no reason to leave the house, and I’m very easily pleased!

Why did you choose the themes in your book and were you aware of them from the start?
I was interested in what happens when the life you’re expected to want clashes with the person you actually want. Evie’s world is shaped by her career, her family and appearances, so Sydney’s luxury property market felt like a wonderful setting to explore that. There’s so much attention paid to presentation, desirability and value and people can find themselves judged in much the same way as the properties. Attraction, family expectations and personal choice were central to the premise. The questions about trust, secrecy and control became more layered as the characters developed. Evie and Tristan’s chemistry is immediate, but being attracted to someone doesn’t mean you know how to let them into your life. That tension gave me a lot to explore.

How difficult was it for you to write this book? Did you face any obstacles?
Finding the balance between the humour, the heat and the more difficult emotional material was a challenge. I wanted readers to enjoy the banter and the attraction while still feeling the consequences of the characters’ choices. The intimate scenes needed to tell us something about Evie and Tristan, including things they weren’t ready to say aloud. There was also the work of making all those elements feel like one story. A scene can be enjoyable to write and still need cutting or changing because the book needs something else at that moment. Learning to step back, question those choices and keep refining the manuscript was a big part of the process.