Tell us something about yourself that not many people know.
I love to sun-bake naked (in the privacy of my own home!) and top up my Vitamin D . . . you need those fatty bits out to make it, apparently!

Why did you choose the themes in your book and were you aware of them from the start?
I wanted to push myself to write a romance that wasn’t set in Britain, my usual happy place. I’ve always been fascinated by India, and what it was like to travel there by ship in the 19th Century, so it was a natural, albeit challenging, transition. Luckily, I stumbled upon the diary entries of an English woman who had sailed to India during the 1820’s and I was able to observe many wonderful details into my writing to try and bring the experience to life for my readers. There is one quite heavy theme in Isadora that I gently touch upon (it is a humorous historical romance, after all, so I had to keep it light). That theme is white slavery. I was barely aware of the extent of the enslavement of Europeans by the Muslim Ottoman Empire and the North African Barbary pirates until recently, even though my heritage is Eastern European so I should have been more aware of my ancestors’ history. That part of the world suffered for around 500 years from slave raids and brutality at the hands of the invaders, and I only realised when I visited the region recently, how raw that memory still is for many. 500 years of stolen children and women forced into sexual slavery in the Ottoman harams would be difficult to forget.

How difficult was it for you to write this book? Did you face any obstacles?
I adore writing humorous romance. It puts me in a good mood every day, even if I start off feeling grumpy about life. So, though there are some hard days in terms of progress, I really can’t complain. The main difficulty with Isadora was the slavery theme I mentioned earlier. I had to find a way to make the difficult subject matter relevant to the story in a light, humorous way.

Do you always write in this genre or do you like to break out of the box?
So far I’ve written five historical romances and one contemporary romantic comedy set in the mid 2000’s. The Romcom is inspired by a screenplay I wrote when I was living in London as a 20 something, very loosely based on some funny experiences I had. I enjoyed my little foray into contemporary romance, and I may go back there again in the future, once I’ve finished the 3rd book of my latest trilogy.

What are your writing habits or idiosyncrasies?
I have a morning routine that gets me in the mood for writing. It’s basically a ritual: I clean the kitchen, prepare myself a cup of ceremonial cacao with whipped hot milk, shut the door to my office, and sit down to write in peace and quiet. I’ve previously guest-lectured on the subject of writing and I always advise the students to have a routine to get them started. It doesn’t matter what that routine is, it’s the consistency that sets the brain up and gets it ready for the writing day.

What would you do differently next time?
That’s a difficult question to answer as it implies you think there is a negative aspect that needs fixing, and my books are like my children; they have their own quirks and idiosyncrasies but you love them regardless. One thing that I always want to increase in my writing is the humour, so I suppose next time I’ll try even harder to inject it into every scene. We all need more humour in our lives!

With hindsight, what would you say to yourself as a fledgling writer?
Stop perfecting and re-writing and get your story out there so other people can comment and help you to improve. I spent too many years obsessing over individual paragraphs and did not want to show my work to anyone until it was perfect. I learnt the hard way that it will never be perfect. I now stick to the 80/20 rule: if I’m happy with 80% of the story, it’s ready to go to my editor. I’m not going to waste my time with the 20% when I can be writing another book.

If you worked with a professional editor, what was the experience like?
Best investment you can make as a self-published author. Writers need editors. Don’t fool yourself that you don’t.

What’s next for your writing?
Emmaline Book 3 of the Taming of the Dukes Series. Out in min 2027.