Who is the audience for ROYAL FOR A SEASON?

I started writing this book as YA because it’s ultimately a coming of age story, but as the themes grew older (sex, domestic abuse, infertility), I knew it would find it’s home with an older audience. And women in their 30s and 40s have been driving the YA market lately, so it’s not uncommon to see mother and daughter reading the same books!

Finish this sentence: If you like (blank), you’ll like ROYAL FOR A SEASON:

Oh! Fast-paced, character driven thrillers with romance! If you like The Stars Between Us by Cristin Terrill, Court of Fives, Kate Elliot, The Chemical Garden, Lauren DeStefano, Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard (this one heavily influenced RFAS!), The Belles, Dhonielle Clayton — the imagery in this book is fantastic!, The Grace Year by Kim Liggett was a modern Handmaid’s Tale, a really brilliant book, and lastly The Selection by Kiera Cass.

What made you want to write this story?

To be blunt: I'm tired of reading books where men are in control. I compare this book to Bridgerton because there are many glamorous balls and gorgeous dresses, and lots of kissing - BUT I'm tired of the goal always being marriage. In this story, women are in charge of everything, including their lives, their bodies, and their autonomy (but, of course, that doesn't mean life is perfect, right?)

Tell us about your main character. Why will we care about Nixa Chai?

We meet stubborn yet thoughtful Nixa Chai, an eighteen-year-old midwife living in the queendom of Herland, a couple days before her entire life falls into madness. She grew up in the low middle-class, separated from her biological family, all because she can’t conceive children. And in Herland, there are great differences between the Royals, the 1%….and everyone else. Sound familiar?

So when Nixa all of a sudden learns she can conceive children, it’s the equivalent of winning the lottery. She’s now a Royal, she has unlimited wealth, security, privilege. She now attends balls in gorgeous gowns, has trysts with gorgeous men behind rose briers, and can choose to do whatever she wants.

But, why then, can’t she decide what she wants??

What fictional character (tv/books) would be your protagonist’s best friend?

Farley, from Victoria Aveyard's Red Queen, because she's so prickly and sarcastic on the outside, but has a heart of gold on the inside. And she's brilliant. One of the characters in NIXA was inspired a bit by Farley!

Which fictional character (book, TV, or film) would be your best friend, and why?

Alice McKinley from Phyllis Reynold Naylor's award-winning and also often-banned Alice series, also Mia Thermopolis from the Princess Diaries —are you seeing the theme here? Awkward, uncoordinated heroines with a heart of gold who brazen through life's embarrassing moments mostly with grace. And I would be remiss if I didn't include Claire Dunphey from Modern Family (because she's me, literally).

Do you have any other projects in the pipeline?

Absolutely! On my backlist is a YA thriller about teens causing mischief for money on the internet — until things go too far — a timely #MeToo novel. I have a YA romantasy in the works, a sea adventure where two sisters must discover the truth of their families' history or be doomed to repeat it. And currently, I’m working on an Ottoman Empire-inspired fantasy (with help from my Lebanese background!), an Aladdin redux where the princess is a bloodthirsty vampire…