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Q&A with Amber Rose Gill
‘Love Island’ winner Amber Rose Gill has teamed up with Mills & Boon to write a feel-good summer romance story.
Caroline is deputy features editor at The Bookseller and chair of the YA Book Prize, as well as being a co-host of children's book radio ...more
Caroline CarpenterCaroline is deputy features editor at The Bookseller and chair of the YA Book Prize, as well as being a co-host of children's book radio ...more
How did this project come about?
Initially, Mills & Boon and HarperCollins got in touch because they were trying to strive for more diversity, especially within the romance sector. They said that middle-class white women were predominantly the authors, the readers and the characters, and they wanted to diversify that. As soon as they said that, I was up for it, because I love reading. Alongside that was Love to Write, a competition where [writers from] underrepresented ethnic minorities could enter and the winner got a one-year mentorship with Mills & Boon. I was one of the judges on the panel. Giving opportunities to people is one of the main things I like to do with my platform.
What inspired Until I Met You?
It was escapism. When we were first brainstorming, it was lockdown so I wanted to do something really feel-good and fun that I would love to read. It’s basically about going to a friend’s destination wedding in Tobago and navigating being there with loads of couples while being single. I chose Tobago because part of my heritage is from Trinidad and Tobago, so it’s close to my heart. I travelled there just before the pandemic and I thought it was beautiful.
People always want to know if I based the story on things that happened in my real life. No, my life is nothing like this! And the characters aren’t based on me, but there are certain traits. I wanted the heroine to be strong and independent, and there are friendships in there as well. There’s one friend that reminds me of me. I’m going to let people figure out who they think it is and tell me once they have read it.
You co-wrote the book with Nadine Gonzalez. How did you work together?
When Mills & Boon first came to me, it was scary and then they said “we’ll put you with a co-writer so you can see if you gel together and we’ll go from there”. I met Nadine and I absolutely loved her. She’s really fun, and she is the opposite to me in terms of her views on what romance should include. I can be a little bit on the cynical side, so it was good to have her alongside me to say, ‘No, this is where we can make it fun’. She helped articulate what I wanted to say a little bit better than I probably could have.
This is your first novel. What surprised you about the writing and publishing process?
It took way longer than I initially thought it would have. But I think in the writing process, I really gained a respect for how long it takes to craft the whole storyline, all the characters, all the little bits in between...
You’re a lifelong fan of romantic fiction yourself. Do you have any favourite romance writers or stories?
I’m just about to start reading Cecelia Ahern’s The Time of My Life. She was always my favourite—if I saw one of her books, I was grabbing it straight away! I just absolutely love reading her romance, I used to read every book two or three times over.
How do you feel now that people are going to be buying your book and reading it?
It feels really strange. As you’re writing, it doesn’t really dawn on you what you’re actually doing. And then Mills & Boon sent me the package and I was like, ‘I can’t believe this is real, this is so weird’. I don’t think people would expect me to do something like this, so I’m just really excited to see what people say.
Faye Acheampong won the Love to Write competition and her novel The Christmas That Changed Everything will be published by Mills & Boon in autumn 2023. Why did that story stand out?
There were so many entries, it was really hard… But it had such a nice vibe and when I finished the sample, I was dying to read more so I thought, ‘Well, that’s a good indictor’. It was just really beautifully written.
There can sometimes be snobbery towards the romance genre. I wondered what you make of that?
Obviously, everyone’s got their different tastes, but with the books that I read and the TV shows that I watch, I like to feel good. There’s nothing wrong with [stories] being a little bit predictable. Life is too unpredictable. When I read a book, I don’t want to feel on edge. I want to know that it works out in the end. One thing I love about Mills & Boon’s publishing is it’s always very feel-good and I feel like that’s what we need in life at the minute.
Do you plan to publish any more novels in the future?
At the minute, no. I really enjoyed creating this, but it does take a lot of thought and energy. I want to see how this one goes first... I’ll see the reception for it and then we can go from there. But I would love to do it! I would definitely stick to romance, I think.
Amber Rose Gill is the winner of “Love Island” 2019 as well as a fitness and skincare entrepreneur, TV personality and influencer. Mills & Boon will publish Until I Met You, co-written with Nadine Gonzalez, on 7th
July 2022 in paperback original, e-book and audio.
