Kristen Donnelly: What drew you to writing an older heroine? Sophie Jordan: I’ve been reading romance since I was thirteen …and in that time I’ve read (and loved) countless fresh-right-out-of-the-school-room-historical heroines ranging from 18-21. I’ve read hundreds of them and will likely read hundreds more. As much as I enjoy them, I feel like there is a definite lack of heroines over thirty-five … and that’s what I wanted to write. Life doesn’t end at thirty … so why shouldn’t authors depict more mature women in romance novels? Basically … I wrote what I wanted to read, and that has pretty much been the ingredient to how I decide what to write next since forever. Kristen Donnelly: Was there an inspiration for this story? Sophie Jordan: I introduced Graciela and Colin in my previous novel, WHILE THE DUKE WAS SLEEPING, and they threatened to steal the scene a time or two. The fact that Graciela was older and Colin was younger was just a perk. Kristen Donnelly: You’ve written in a variety of subgenres within Romancelandia – do you have a favorite? Sophie Jordan: No! I don’t … that’s why I keep hopping subgenres. I love them all. Kristen Donnelly:…

It’s been almost 15 years since I immigrated from South Africa to Australia and began writing romance. In that time, I’ve published 30 books…and struggled with every one of them. It turns out the English language isn’t quite so simple as I once believed. You see, I grew up learning South African English, but I write Australian romance for American Publishers. Which means I’ve had to forget my 12 years of basic schooling, learn American spelling (color, not colour), while writing Australian lingo. Simple? Yeah, not really. Okay, not at all. Every day wording and expressions can get downright confusing. No matter how hard I try to write in Australian English, South Africanisms seem to creep in all the time. My characters often greet one another with “howzit, boet” instead of “g’day, mate”, and it’s only in re-reads or edits that I (or my editor) will pick up the error. The simple exercise of a character walking beside the road perplexes me. In South Africa, said character would walk along the pavement. In Australia, she or he would be on the footpath, but in America, it’s called a sidewalk. So please, someone tell me – where should my character walk?…