Interview with Author Liana de La Rosa
By: Shelby Cunningham
The third and final book of her series The Luna Sisters, Gabriela and His Grace, is available August 26!
I recently had the chance to sit down with one of my favorite historical romance authors, Liana De la Rosa. I fell in love with her writing and storytelling when I read the first book in The Luna Sisters series, Ana María and the Fox, the story of the eldest Luna sister. I am an avid consumer of historical romance, and I’m always looking for something fresh and unique. I was immediately impressed with the way she made the history and the politics of another era feel relevant and meaningful. My love for these Mexican sisters in London only continued to grow with the middle sister’s story, the loyal and intelligent wallflower of the family, Isabel of Isabel and the Rogue. And this month we get the conclusion to the series, the story of the youngest and most fiery Luna sister, Gabriela, star of Gabriela and His Grace. We talk everything Luna Sisters, the historical romance genre, and what we can expect from Liana De la Rosa next.
Liana De La Rosa, author
Shelby: Can you share how you got into writing historical romances?
Liana: “In college, I thought I was going to become a teacher. I wanted to be an English teacher because English was always my favorite class and my English teachers were always my favorite teachers in school. But I also adored history, and I especially liked the convergence of literature and history together. But when I was a senior, I got it in my head that maybe I should be an attorney. So I tested for the LSAT and I had intentions of going to law school, but I was so burnt out. I took a year off and then I didn’t go back. I ended up lucking out and finding really good jobs in the interim. After that I was staying at home with my two sons, and that's when I rediscovered historical romance.
I was gifted a Kindle and it was life changing. I felt like I had lost myself a little, like I was just mom. That was really hard for me. But I started to read historicals, and I was reading so many. At this point, I still wasn’t thinking about writing, not until I read Sarah MacLean's No Good Duke Goes Unpunished. The ending of that book absolutely blew my mind! One day my husband came home and he asked how my day was, and I have a crying baby on my hip, and I was like, it was okay, but let me tell you about this book. And he patiently listened to me tell him all about No Good Duke. He said, “I haven't seen you this animated in a long time, have you ever thought of writing your own book?” At first, I thought to myself that I’m not smart enough to write the kind of books that I like to read. Books by authors like Courtney Milan, Sarah MacLean, Tessa Dare. And he gave me that very loving spouse look, and said you ARE smart enough, and what you don’t know you can learn. And by the end of that year I was a member of the RWA (Romance Writers of America). That's how it started!”
Shelby: Getting into historical romance changed my life as well! I love the classics but I also really love current historical romances like The Luna SIsters that are feminist and relevant. Can you tell me more about how you weave in the history and the politics of the time into the fiction and romance?
Liana: “Ana María and the Fox had more politics in it because Gideon was a politician and because Ana María was interested in politics. Whereas with Gabby's book, there's not as much political storyline because that's just not something that she was interested in to the extent that her older sisters may have been. She still wants to know what's happening and wants to be able to converse about it. I think that there are certain skills that a good diplomat possesses, to be able to come to a table to have discussions. And Gabby had those skills, but they just weren't acknowledged. No one gave her an opportunity to cultivate them because she was just an object to be admired. She was just someone to marry.
Ana María and the Fox was more history focused. I've heard people say that it straddles the line with historical fiction, but I don't know that I agree with that. There is a lot of history but it is very romance forward. That book had to do a lot of things. It was the first book in the series, so I had to set up the story. It had to ground the other two books that followed it. It had to introduce the history as well as the characters. It had a lot of heavy lifting to do! And then on top of that, Gideon was a politician and Ana Maria was the eldest daughter who was very interested in politics. So naturally their story is more heavily influenced by the history of the time and politics and that sort.
I have a habit of adding too much historical detail. Thankfully, I work with a very good editor who reins me in and reminds me this is a romance so let’s focus on the couple! I'm a Gemini, so I'm very curious and I want to learn and I want to share what I learn. My editor allows me to word vomit historical details, and then kindly trims them back so that I'm only including what's supporting the story.”
Shelby: “On the topic of history and learning, I loved that we got to spend some time in Mexico in Gabby’s book. Did you always know that the story would end up back in Mexico? How was it writing those chapters?”
Liana: “Being the third book in the series, I always knew that some of it would take place in Mexico. I just didn’t know for how long. The chapters in Mexico were so fun to write, I really enjoyed it. When I was structuring those chapters, I decided on the city of San Luis Potosi. Oh my gosh, I watched so many videos of San Luis Potosi. And then I had to do a lot of imagining. How would it have been in the 1860s in this part of Mexico? We know that Mexico City was very cosmopolitan. I reason that it would probably have more wealth than a lot of other places because they were so close to silver mines. This area is known for its silver mines and other natural resources that were exploited by colonial powers. I spent a lot of time structuring and imagining how society would be.
It just so happens that when I was an undergrad, I minored in history and I took several Mexican history courses because I just found it fascinating. I am Mexican American, and growing up in the southwest we went to Mexico all the time. Well, I saved all of those textbooks. No matter how many times we moved I brought them with me. Once I started working on The Luna Sisters, I pulled them out. One of them was specifically about women in Mexico. It was a history of how women were treated and the lives they lived during specific eras in Mexican history. It had all this information about what life was like under [President Benito] Juarez and what women were doing and how they were viewed within society. Those books really helped tremendously when I was drafting the chapters in Mexico. They really gave me a peek into what high society at the time would have looked like and the way that they would have viewed Gabby. It helped me understand how Gabby would navigate those circles, being the daughter of such a high ranking official. You also have to remember her father was an indigenous man who looked indigenous and her mother was a Spaniard who lived in Mexico. Many people would have viewed their marriage as unequal and controversial. So Gabby had to navigate high society with that sort of stigma. But Gabby also had the benefit of looking European, whereas Isabel did not. However, having this privilege was a double-edged sword, because then she was also treated like a commodity.“
Shelby: “I’m so excited for everyone to read Gabriela and His Grace! Was there anything about Gabby’s story that turned out different than you anticipated? Anything that surprised you?”
Liana: “Gabby was much more vulnerable in her book than I anticipated. When you first meet Gabby in Book One, she's very bratty. She’s nineteen and she is forced to leave her home, the only home she’s ever known. And at that time she was not close with her sisters. In that book, Gabby is being described from Ana María’s perspective. She’s the eldest sister, and she views her youngest sister from a certain lens.
Then when I wrote about Gabby in Isabel's book, she and Isabel had a very special relationship. They were very close, and because Ana María had married and moved away, it was just the two of them and they relied on each other. In many ways Gabby was Isabel’s protector. And I think Gabby liked having someone else to protect, because when it came time to protect herself, she tended to run away. She could be very stalwart for the people that she loved.
But when it came to defending herself, she would rather just turn tail and get out of there. She would avoid any situations where she knew that she would come out as the loser. So she had a choice: if she stayed in London, she would be maligned by the rumors circulating about her. And if she stayed in Mexico, her father would find someone for her to marry, and it wouldn’t be someone Gabby would want for herself, it would be an ally that would be advantageous to her father. She had a lot of anger, because she didn't have a lot of control over her life or the little strands of control that she was able to grasp were often ripped from her. And I was really surprised by how emotional she was. But she had to go through that, to be able to really open herself up and be ready for love. Of all the love declarations in the three books, I loved Gabby's the most because it felt so true to her.”
Shelby: “I wanted to talk to you about historical romance in publishing. I have read some really amazing historical romances that have been published in the last few years, but I’ve heard authors say that historical romance books are not getting picked up. Can you share your thoughts on the current state of historical romance in traditional publishing?”
Liana: “Earlier, we were talking about how a lot of historical romances that have been published within the last few years are more diverse and progressive, they're more feminist. And I think that that alienated a lot of the old school readership. I'm a longtime historical romance reader, I love the genre. I have been in Facebook groups for probably over a decade now that just focus on historical romance. And I can count on one hand the amount of times they've ever mentioned The Luna Sisters. I hardly see them mention Adriana Herrera. It’s mostly older historical romances like Lisa Kleypas, Joanna Lindsay, Tessa Dare, etc. It seems like these newer, more diverse, more progressive stories coming out have alienated many in the old guard.
At the same time, some younger readers, especially readers who maybe came into the genre during the pandemic that tend to skew younger, have preconceived notions about historical romance. I was on a panel last year at a book event, and we specifically were talking about historical romance, and someone in the audience flat out said, ‘When I see those book covers, I think of my grandma.’
The TV adaptation of Bridgerton had a huge impact on historical romance. Bridgerton Season 1 came out in December 2020 and The Luna Sisters was acquired in April 2021. I just happened to have this idea of these three Mexican sisters going to London, and it was exactly what publishers wanted at that time: they wanted to capitalize on Bridgerton. The problem was the first book didn't come out until 2023, and I think interest had waned. I have heard of a lot of Bridgerton viewers who see this diverse show with this diverse cast of characters and are disappointed by the books, because they read the books and find that they are not really like the show. And because they like the show better, they aren’t encouraged to try other historical romance books. We thought there would be this interest in the book [Ana María and the Fox] from Bridgerton fans that just didn’t happen.
My next book is a contemporary romance and that’s not for lack of pitching historical ideas.
For further reading on this subject, Liana de La Rosa was recently interviewed among other historical romance authors for an article that recently came out in Book Riot called “The Unmaking of the Historical Romance Genre.”
Shelby: “On that note, what is next for you and where can we keep up with you?!”
Liana: “My contemporary is called Mutual Discord, and it's out next summer! [2026]. We're already starting to discuss the cover, I'm very excited! It is about a Latina TikTok influencer who highlights the historic theft of women's scientific and entrepreneurial innovations. She has [a] popular TikTok series about the Matilda Effect. Her best friend is a high end brand influencer, and her best friend comes to visit her and brings her new boyfriend. The new boyfriend happens to be one of the heroine's most active followers and they’ve even communicated before, and she finds her heart stolen by the one man she cannot have. I've never played with a cheating trope before, so it's been tough. I've really stretched my writing skills with this book. But I'm also excited because it's messy.
Conclusion:
Be sure to watch for the release of Gabriela and His Grace, coming out August 26, 2025! Follow Liana on Instagram @lianainbloom and sign up for her newsletter through her website to always be up to date on what’s coming next.