From the Londons with Love: Interview with Indie Author Amelie Rhys

By Leah Thakur

Amelie Rhys (she/her) writes swoony and steamy contemporary romance with characters that glue themselves to your very soul. The love and connection between her characters are so apparent, not only in the romantic relationships between her couples, but also in the family they’ve created. Since Amelie’s the queen of forced proximity, the situations her couples end up in always give the most perfect amount of tension and yearning that makes a book absolutely to die for. Don’t even get me started on how safe, gorgeously written, and hot her steamy scenes are! The men she writes about are simply the most loving and competent men to ever exist, and it’s impossible not to fall in love with all of her couples. 

I was so lucky that Amelie agreed to have me sensitivity read her latest release, Already At Risk, and get to introduce myself to her world. It has been a joy getting to talk to her and getting to know her more through this incredible book, so I was thrilled when she agreed to an interview with me. I talked to Amelie all about creating the Wildflower series, our favorite parts of Already at Risk, and all about her career as an incredibly talented indie author. Until release day, enjoy this peek into Amelie’s world!

Credit: @_readbyreilly on Instagram

Leah: How did you get started writing, and what made you want to become a writer?

Amelie: It’s definitely just always been something I’ve wanted to do. I wrote this novella in high school and I would bring the chapters to school and my friends would read it in the back of the classroom. I’ve just always wanted to be a writer. But it hasn’t really been a linear journey. I went to college to become a teacher so I didn’t really write in college, but after that I got back into reading more and therefore got back into writing more. I’ve always loved storytelling and romance in particular, and now, here I am. It’s always been a passion of mine.

Leah: Did you have any romance authors that inspired you when you were younger? 

Amelie: I was obsessed with historical romance in late high school and my early adulthood. I read all of the Bridgerton series way back when and all of Lisa Kleypas’s books and just all of the big historical romance writers. It’s been a while now but there was a time when I just devoured all her books, I was just obsessed.

Leah: What is it like being an indie author and what are you most proud of in your career so far?  

Amelie: Being an indie author is just wearing a million different hats that aren’t writing, which I’m sure isn’t super surprising, and there are a lot of pros and cons. You have a lot of freedom to develop where you want to go with your writing, what you want your brand to be, and create your whole persona as an author and there’s something that’s really cool. But, it’s also a lot of shouting yourself from the rooftops, which is challenging to get used to because I’m not typically a salesy person. So you just have to get over the fact that you kind of have to brag about yourself and share your work because nobody is going to sell your books except for you. At least until you find your readership and readers are amazing. When they share your books it’s just so awesome and so appreciated. As an indie author, we are so reliant on our readers and the relationship between indie authors and readers is so important. It’s such a big part of the entire experience and I love that I get to chat with people and we get to form a relationship.

I don’t know if there is one singular moment that I’m most proud of but I think the best moments of my career have been in the past 6 months when I’ve had the chance to go to some events and conventions and get to meet readers. I’ve met some readers who have told me they’ve been ARC reading my books since Alive at Night and that’s so nice! They’ve trusted me since I was just getting my debut started so I feel like moments like that are just the best. When you get to meet people and hear that they’ve enjoyed your work it just makes it feel more real. All of the interactions I have are online, but meeting readers in person, it just helps you to understand what you’re doing and why. 

Leah: What was your inspiration for the series and this family?

Amelie: So the Wildflower series is actually a spin-off of a college romance series I wrote online called the Wildfire series. I decided I wanted to keep writing some of the characters that were side characters in the original series and I wanted to try writing more adult romances. As I was getting older I wanted characters that were in the same stage of life as me and I knew I wanted to write Julian’s story first. Sometimes I see reviews of Alive at Night and people are like, some of these side characters have really complex backstories to them, and I’m like, yeah, because I did actually write a whole book about them! I’m hoping one day I’ll go back and publish that original series where it would be more of a prequel to the Wildflower series but I don’t know yet. 

(Don’t worry readers, I told her she absolutely should publish that first series!)

Leah: Though I live in NY now, I am a forever New Englander, so I was thrilled to find this series. Why did you choose to set the series in Boston?

Amelie: It was kind of just a natural thing. Though the original series was set in California, Julian was always from Boston so Juniper had to be from Boston too. And there’s just something about Boston! It also feels like a place where there’s a lot of young professionals and it would work for so many characters’ back stories. The medical scene is also pretty relevant for Blake, Delaney, and Natalie so it really just fits. 

Leah: Tell me all about your upcoming book, Already at Risk!

Amelie: Already at Risk is a single mom romance between Natalie, who is going through a child custody battle, and her custody lawyer, Cameron. Natalie's ready to get back out there after her divorce, but isn't really ready to commit to a relationship. So, when Cameron overhears Natalie talking about wanting to experiment in the bedroom a little bit, he jumps in to say that he would really like to help with that. I should mention, too, that their meet cute started about 6 months before they began working together. So, from the very beginning, they both had a lot of chemistry . . . and then she kind of disappeared like Cinderella. He'd been looking for her, and then she ends up in his office and he realizes that she is his new client. So it’s also a bit of a forbidden romance, there's a lot of sneaking around but also a lot of soft and healing and gentle love at the same time. It’s a mix of two different vibes and it’s super steamy. 

Leah: What's your favorite scene from Already at Risk?

Amelie: Without being too spoilery, I would say that there's a shower scene that I think is my favorite. Natalie is a trauma surgeon, and she comes home from a challenging shift and Cameron is there for this caretaking scene. It has the microtrope of he washes her hair, and the scene is also emotional and steamy. I love it because their relationship starts off as sex only, so this is the scene where everything starts feeling different and he gets to start providing more for her than just sex. But, there’s also some steam in this scene! 

Leah:  If this book ever became a movie, who would you cast as Cameron and Natalie? 

Amelie: For Cameron, I’ve always thought of him as Regé-Jean Page. Not just his appearance but in his confident demeanor and the way he carries himself. For Natalie, I always think of Jennifer Lawrence or Elizabeth Olson. I know they’re both superhero people and Natalie’s not, but she is hardened in a way and is a badass just like them. For Natalie’s ex, I picture Nichols Hoult but the way he acted as Lex Luthor in the new Superman movie. Not bald like Lex Luthor, but just as much of an asshole. 

Leah: I always love to read about queer characters and I actively seek out queer rep. I especially love to seek out queer men in romances and my man Cameron is a bisexual king! When did you know that he was bisexual?

Amelie: I’ve known Cameron was bi since the creation of his character, like the first chapter of Alive at Night, Cameron’s there and I think Julian references that he’s bi by Chapter 3. Even though I was writing hetero relationships, I really wanted this to be a queer-normative world so I wanted to include queer characters. Cameron is the most confident character in the series so far and that definitely includes his sexuality so it really just felt natural. 

Leah: Your books have such beautiful romance but they also handle more difficult topics so well. Did you always set out to write so heart wrenchingly about these harder topics? How do you find a balance between the romance plot and the harder things your characters go through? 

Amelie: I think yes and no. With Cameron and Natalie as an example, everything they went through was so ingrained in their backstories. Natalie is introduced in Awake at Dawn, and she’s gone through some challenging times so I didn’t want to write a story about her and not accurately portray everything she’s been through or make all that development happen before the book. I wanted to include it in her story and in who she is and not gloss over it. Then, in Cameron’s case, he and his family are still dealing with what happened to his dad. They’ve both experienced some trauma and I do love writing emotional romances. But I don’t think you need trauma to write a super emotional romance. The emotions they’re feeling around their trauma ties into their romance, but you can still write a heart-wrenching story without intense amounts of trauma happening to your characters throughout the story.

I feel like the balance comes with how the trauma connects to the character’s development and their romance. If it’s a true romance book, I do think romance has to take precedence so you just have to balance what they’re going through with that and decide what kind of story you want to tell.

Leah: Already At Risk was deliciously spicy! Is it important to you to write sex into your books? Do you have any thoughts about the constant discourse surrounding spicy romance?

Amelie: I do think it’s important for me to include sex in my books, but I also think it’s a preference thing. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with books without sex, but for me, I enjoy writing books where the romantic relationship and connection can be shown and developed in spicy scenes. Already at Risk is probably spicier than my other books, but that’s how their relationship started, Natalie wasn’t ready for an emotional connection. But, I really enjoy writing emotional steamy scenes. I think there’s a lot of connection and feelings that can be portrayed through sex and it can be an important part of adult relationships so I like portraying that in books.

I also think the policing of spicy books is just another way to control women. As soon as something is geared toward women, or created by women, or enjoyed by women, it’s a problem. Explicit content has been around for so long, but now that it’s being done in a healthy and sex-positive way, and geared toward women, society somehow construes it as being problematic. And I think that’s very telling. Then there’s the current discourse around yearning and as someone who loves a slow burn but writes spicy romance, I definitely think you can still have yearning even when the characters are already having sex. In Already At Risk, there are scenes where they just can’t be together. For example, there’s a scene after Chloe, Natalie’s daughter, gets sick and it cuts Cameron and Natalie’s time together short, and he so desperately wants to kiss her goodnight or even hold her hand and he can’t, so he drags his pinky across hers just to touch her. And even though they were seconds away from banging on the couch he can’t just touch her because her daughter is there and she can’t know about them. You can write yearning in books with spicy scenes, it’s all about their emotional connection, so it just depends how you decide to write that. You can easily have both and so many books do.

Leah: Who's your favorite couple in the series so far?

Amelie: That’s always a really challenging question and my go-to response is typically whoever I’m writing at the time because it’s really just who I’m most immersed in and who is really speaking to me. So, at the moment, I would definitely say it’s Natalie and Cameron. 

But their relationship was very different for me versus the rest of the series because they’re the only characters who haven’t known each other for a really long time so their relationship developed in a shorter time period. There are flashbacks in every book, including this one, and in the other ones they can go back a decade. So their relationship was different and kind of special to write about because it was them learning about each other and falling in love at the same time. It was fun to write both of those things at the same time. Also, sometimes it’s just a vibes thing and they have the right vibe and I’m in their world so at the present moment, they’re my favorite. 

Leah: What's your favorite and least favorite trope to write?

Amelie: This is really broad and I feel like it encompasses almost everything, but my favorite trope is anything involving forced proximity. Regardless of the dynamic between two characters, it just works. Whether they’re best friends and they’re fighting their feelings or they’re enemies and they’re fighting each other, just stick them in a room together and make them work on something together or make them fake date or whatever it is—and it just works. So all of my books have it. 

As far as my least favorite trope, I’d probably never write the cheating trope. I would have to rationalize it and I just don’t have a lot of experience with it, even reading, so with the current genre I’m writing, I don’t see myself including it. 

Leah: As a reader, what are your favorite and least favorite tropes to read?

Amelie: My favorite trope to read is anything with a fake relationship. I'm just a sucker for it. It could be literally anything, fake dating, or marriage of convenience, or arranged marriage, or anything like that. And I know it’s very similar to forced proximity. It's just a subcategory, but I like what I like. As a reader, I’ve rarely read a book with those tropes that I haven’t ate up. 

I feel like I haven’t read enough books with this trope but I typically avoid love triangles. I just struggle with the idea that there won’t be a HEA for one of the characters. [Here is where I suggested that all the characters should just end up together in love triangles and we started talking about how much we love why choose novels.] I really like why choose, but a love triangle? Not so much. 

Leah: What's next for you? Any projects or events you want to talk about?

Amelie: The other project I’m working on right now is a completely different contemporary romance series and I’m currently working on the first book. Each book is set in a different resort, so it’s kind of like White Lotus but without the murder. But there’s a little element of mystery to each book. The first one is set at a ski resort so it’s a little nostalgic to me because I grew up on the slopes and I live in a wintery place. It’s not a holiday book but the vibes are very cozy. It’s got a lot of banter and hate to love vibes, similar to Julian and Juniper, so it’s fun to go back to that energy and dynamic and play into the rom-com vibes. 

Then, I’m also working on the next book in the Wildflower series. Once you’ve read Already At Risk you’ll have a pretty good idea of who the next book is about, and it involves a trope I have yet to write so I’m excited to dive into that. Writing two projects at once is really hard for me and once I start writing I just want to be in that world with those characters, so I’m still in the plotting stage for this one!

Credit: @_readbyreilly on Instagram

Already at Risk comes out October 16th and I can’t wait for you all to meet Cameron, Natalie, and Chloe! Make sure to pick up Alive at Night, Awake at Dawn, and Attached at Heart to meet the rest of the characters in Amelie’s world!