After I’d completed writing THE INFAMOUS ROGUE (August 2009), I still wanted to pen more about Captain James Hawkins and sassy Sophia Dawson. The tale seemed unfinished to me. I had sketched their pasts in back-story that appeared in THE INFAMOUS ROGUE, but my editor had asked me to cut those scenes from the book as she felt they slowed the story’s otherwise lively pace.

And so, with even less about James and Sophia’s stormy love affair in print, I knew I had to keep writing. I submitted a proposal for a novella, MISTRESS OF PARADISE (a first for me). The proposal for the prequel was accepted and I went straight to work, penning James and Sophia’s first love affair … on the island of Jamaica. Why Jamaica? Why not England? I have author Jean Rhys, and her fabulous book WIDE SARGASSO SEA, to thank for that.

After reading about historic Jamaica in the book, I fell in love with the setting. It seemed right to set off for the West Indies. And I’m so glad that I did! The sultry island setting is as much a character in the novella as the protagonists. The steamy nights reflect the characters’ steamy affair. And their subsequent heartache—in paradise—serves as an emotional climax impossible to achieve in any other landscape.

What’s your favourite setting in a romance book? What setting would you like to see in a romance book?