Sunk in Love sets sail TODAY

welcome to the world Ros and Liam

Ros and Liam have ruined my life (complimentary) for a little more than three years and now they can ruin yours in digital, print and audio!

Not really on a cruise

Publishing is hard. But I REALLY love writing, and writing this story, unpacking these characters, unraveling their wounds, peeling back their layers, and puzzling together the pieces of their relationship, has been one of the highlights of my creative life. I love these characters, messy parts and all, and it is a great honor to share them with you today.

When I thought about what I wanted to say in this post, I kept coming back to something I’d already written and that’s the “behind the book” essay featured in the back of Sunk in Love. So that’s what I want to share with you today:

I like to think of Sunk in Love as the continuation of my first book. While Wedding Dashers was the journey both literally and metaphorically to the wedding, Sunk in Love is the journey after the wedding. The story of what comes next. The story of forever.

So often in romance we don’t see forever. We see the build up. The pining. The longing. The tension. The will they or won’t they. The struggle. After which comes the admission of feelings, the grovel, the grand gesture, then finally the big kiss where we get to walk away with the impression that everything works out. That all is right with the world and will remain so. Troubles may come and go, but our characters will stay frozen in a perpetual state of happily ever after.

It’s one of the things that keeps readers returning to the pages of romance. The guaranteed scaffolding of a happy ending, the satisfaction of knowing that by the end everything will be okay. It’s also what makes romance such a safe place to explore heavy topics like divorce and death and grief because we know that no matter what there will be a soft landing. No matter what, everything will end up alright.

But as we know real life doesn’t work that way. In real life there’s no guaranteed safety net of a happy ending to catch us when we fall, no warm embrace of a final kiss and the knowledge that everything will work out. In real life, things fall apart, and sometimes love isn’t enough to save them.

This was the question that sparked the idea for Sunk in Love. What happens in the aftermath of happily ever after? When love isn’t enough to hold us together? What if forever doesn’t last, well…forever?

Sunk in Love is ultimately a story of two happily ever afters. The first where they fall for each other and eventually say I do.The one that looks like butterflies and first kisses and allowing the walls you’ve built around your heart to fall. And the second that comes after I do. The one that looks like growth and healing and forgiveness and taking risks and asking for help, and learning to trust one another with their ugliest, messiest parts. The one that looks like choosing each other all over again.

Because as Roslyn learns, real life happily ever afters don’t end with I do.

In real life, the credits never roll, the last chapter never comes, the final page never gets turned. There’s always another day, another hardship, another challenge. In real life, forever isn’t a singular commitment, but a continuous one, one that must be made over and over, even when it’s hard, even when it’s scary. A choice to stay together, to show up, to do the work required to make something last. A choice to choose one another, messy parts and all.

I think that’s why I like to write about travel, about stories that take my characters out of their ordinary lives and plop them somewhere new, somewhere exciting, somewhere different than what they are used to. Because it’s in those experiences that we find growth and discover what we want and perhaps what we don’t want. Where we can rediscover ourselves and each other.

In a lot of ways relationships mirror physical journeys. They don’t stay frozen in time, forever immortalized in the final moments of an epilogue or last chapter, rather they change and grow and adapt—the same way people do. They take us to new and different and often challenging places where we might meet the messiest, least polished versions of ourselves and one another. Where we might even discover new versions. Sometimes we even lose our way or travel alone for a while. But we can always find our way back.

Perhaps that’s what happily ever after is. It’s not a finish line or a destination, or even a beginning. It’s an ongoing journey. One we don’t have to go on alone.

Thank you to everyone who has read, reviewed, preordering, purchased, screamed into my DMs, sent me crying selfies, playlists and therapy bills. Words literally can’t describe how much your passion for this story has meant to me. Thank you for helping me usher this story into the world with such joy, humor and kindness. I am so grateful for you all.

Upcoming Events:

If you’re in Seattle, I’ll be in conversation with the fabulous Jo Segura at Third Place Books (Lake Forrest Park) tonight at 7pm and I would LOVE to see you there!

Next up, I’ll be at The New Romantics in Orlando, Fl January 28th in conversation with my dear friend Amy Buchanan. Tickets include a copy of Sunk in Love and you can get them HERE.

Then, Love & Legends in New York, January 31st where I’ll be in conversation with my pookie London Sperry. Tickets include a copy of Sunk in Love and you can get them HERE.

Then, Book Passage in Corte Madera, Ca with the one and only Jessica Joyce on February 12th

On February 28th, I’ll be doing a joint event with Jo Segura (we can’t get enough of each other!) at Beguiled Books in Seattle. This is a free but ticketed event!

If you’re in any of these location, I would absolutely love to see you there!

Other updates:

If you signed up to receive the Wedding Dashers bonus scenes (in Jack’s POV), it will be delivered to your inbox soon! This was really fun to write and I’m excited for folks to get a little peek into Jack’s brain (it’s very sad, messy and horny in there).

I had a great time chatting with Jackie Varriano over at The Seattle Times about romance, (un)likable characters, and miscommunications! You can check out the interview here!

Stay tuned because I have another exciting announcement coming in the next few days 👀

Okay love you all! Bye!

Heather xx