Visiting Elizabeth Castle: Jersey's Island Fortress

Elizabeth Castle is in St Aubin's Bay, just off the coast of St Helier on the island of Jersey. This historic fortress has been watching over the island for more than four centuries, and getting there is part of the adventure. You can risk the winding causeway at low tide or take a ride on one of the amphibious castle ferries.

I first explored the history of Elizabeth Castle when researching my book, Raleigh Tudor Adventurer. Walter Raleigh was appointed Governor of Jersey in 1600, and with typical flattery named the castle after the queen, calling it 'Fort Isabelle Bellissima' (Elizabeth the Most Beautiful).

Elizabeth Castle is a collection of fortifications with a rich history and hidden corners spread across a rocky tidal islet. Every section has its own story.

Sir Anthony Paulet, who handed over 

governorship to Raleigh in 1600

The castle was built in the late sixteenth century after the invention of gunpowder made Jersey's older fortress, Mont Orgueil, less effective as a defensive stronghold. The new castle was designed to protect the island and its harbour, and over the centuries served as a military base, a prison and a refuge during times of conflict.

Most people remember Walter Raleigh as the adventurer who searched for the mythical city of El Dorado, but few know he served as Governor of Jersey between 1600 and 1603.

Sir Walter recognised the strategic importance of Jersey and took a genuine interest in strengthening the island's defences. During his time as Governor, he inspected the fortifications and encouraged improvements to the castle's military capabilities. 

His influence can still be felt today.  As well as establishing hte lucrative Newfoundland fishing industry with a Jersey fishng fleet, he formalised the Jersey land register. This remains the basis of Jersey's property conveyancing system and is one of the oldest land registries in Europe. 

Standing on the ramparts and looking across St Aubin's Bay, it's easy to imagine Walter Raleigh considering how best to defend this small but important outpost of the English Crown. He is also credited with saving Mont Orgueil Castle from destruction when others suggested it be dismantled to provide materials for Elizabeth Castle.

Another of  Elizabeth Castle's significant events came several decades later during the English Civil War. While England was torn apart by fighting between Parliament and the Royalists, Jersey remained loyal to the Crown  - and Elizabeth Castle became one of the last Royalist strongholds.

In 1646, a young Prince Charles arrived in Jersey after his father, King Charles I, suffered a series of military defeats. At just sixteen years old, the future Charles II found himself living in exile. For several months, Elizabeth Castle became his home and a place of relative safety while events unfolded across the Channel.

It's strange to think that the man who would eventually reclaim the English throne once walked these same stone paths, looking out across the sea and wondering what the future held. Life in exile could not have been easy, but Jersey's loyalty provided an important sanctuary during one of the darkest periods in Royal history.

Visitors can still see the room in the Governor's House, which overlooks the castle's Parade Ground, and is traditionally associated with Charles II's stay. While it has naturally been restored over the centuries, standing inside offers a tangible connection with those turbulent years. 

Eventually, after years in exile across Europe, Charles II returned to England in 1660 as part of the Restoration, reclaiming the throne and ending the republican Commonwealth. Jersey's support was remembered, and the island retained a reputation for loyalty to the monarchy.

Elizabeth Castle is one of those rare places where the setting is every bit as memorable as the history. You arrive expecting an old fortress, but you leave having walked through centuries of stories involving explorers, kings, sieges and survival.

Whether you're interested in Sir Walter Raleigh's efforts to strengthen the island's defences or the remarkable tale of a teenage prince finding refuge before becoming Charles II, the castle brings history to life in a way that few attractions manage.

If Jersey is on your travel list, make sure Elizabeth Castle is too. It isn't just somewhere to tick off an itinerary. It's a place where every stone seems to have a story, and where the island's remarkable past is never far from view.

Tony Riches

Discover the real story of adventurer, courtier, explorer and poet, Sir Walter Raleigh, who has been called the last true Elizabethan: https://mybook.to/Raleigh

Special Guest Post by Namita Kumari, Author of The Serpent's Longing: The Naga Princess And The Himalayan Yogi

Available from Amazon UK, 

 Amazon US and Amazon India

For eleven stolen days, in the warm green dark at the edge of the world, a man and a woman who were each meant to be alone forever are simply, quietly, secretly happy. She has worn a thousand shapes and never wanted to keep a single one. He crossed a sea with nothing but a dream of her, having given everything else away, and arrived wanting only the woman the dream had promised. In the hours they steal together — talking late, laughing like fools, learning the shape of each other in the firelight — they find the one thing neither of them was ever built to survive: being truly known, 

and not wanting to be anywhere else.

The Love Story Nobody Told: How a Research Grant Became My Debut Novel

 

It began as scholarship, not storytelling.

A few years ago, I was awarded a research project (book) by the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts — India's premier institution for cultural research, under the Ministry of Culture — to study the ancient cultural links between India and Cambodia. 

The project was academic in intent: to trace the threads of mythology, art, architecture, and civilisational exchange that connected these two worlds across centuries of maritime trade and cultural contact. The outcome of this research (book) will also come in late 2026.

What I did not expect was to find a love story.

Deep in my research into the founding myths of Cambodia, I encountered a legend preserved in 3rd-century Chinese chronicles and in Cambodian oral tradition: an Indian Brahmin named Kaundinya arrived by sea on the Cambodian coast. He carried a magic bow. 

When a Naga princess named Soma — daughter of the king of the deep waters — paddled out to meet his vessel, he shot an arrow into her boat. She agreed to marry him. Her father, the Naga king, drank up the great waters and drained a swamp to give them a kingdom. Together, Kaundinya and Soma founded Funan — one of the earliest recorded kingdoms of the Mekong delta, the civilisation that preceded the Khmer and eventually gave rise to Angkor Wat.

Cambodia still remembers this as the origin story of the Khmer people. Cambodian children learn it. It is woven into their cultural identity, retold in temples and oral tradition, living in the country's memory as the moment of their civilisational beginning.

And yet — as I travelled deeper into my research, I made a discovery that astonished me.

This myth is almost entirely unknown in India. It was from this country that Kaundinya set sail. It was from this civilization's mythology that Cambodia obtained its founding story. 

Most Indians have not heard of Funan; they know nothing about Kaundinya; and they are unfamiliar with Soma, the naga princess who stands at the root of Khmer identity. Outside of India and Cambodia, this legend has no significant presence—unknown in the West; lacking in the canon of world mythology; and never told as fiction in English.

A story so important, so lovely, so full of life to one country and so completely forgotten by another—it deserves a literary work that will give it the kind of exposure it should get.

As I continue to work with primary sources, I realize that the chronicles provide us with the foundation of the kingdom but do not provide us with the woman. Her name appears. Her lineage is listed. Her consent to marry is documented. 

And then she disappears into the founding narrative which like so many other founding narratives, is really the story of the man who arrived, and the kingdom he created. She is the woman whose waters he entered; whose father's sea he drained; and whose land became the kingdom—her footnote in her own story.

I couldn't leave her there.

Soma is a naga princess. What does that mean? In Indian and Southeast Asian mythology it means someone extraordinary. Not a human woman playing a mythological role—she is a shapeshifter of deep waters. 

A being capable of holding any shape you want her to take on and choosing none permanently. Ancient like rivers are ancient. Here is this yogi arriving from the Himalayas—a man who spent years mastering the art of wanting nothing—asking her to become one thing forever.

That tension between infinite freedom and singular love—is the novel.

I have written The Serpent's Longing": The Naga Princess And The Himalayan Yogi around my teaching schedule at my College in Delhi University.  It is not invented—the mythology is real, documented, ancient. I just gave it a voice it has been missing.

What I didn't expect to find when I started reading the mythology against today was how much of a role it still plays today in Cambodia. It is not just history. The founding legend of Funan lives—today it is in temples and in conversations. This is a part of the cultural identity of people who have survived extreme devastation and yet remember where they come from. 

The serpent's Longing reached #1 on Amazon India in Mythology & Folk Tales (for a short time above palace of illusions & Alchemist) with a 4.9-star readers' ratings. It also reached #3 on Amazon India in Fantasy. It is free on Kindle Unlimited. My next book will return to the same ancient Indian-Southeast Asian tradition.

To new writers, I would say this: sometimes the most important story you will ever tell will arrive disguised as a research question. Pay attention to these moments when scholarship becomes personal. If you think about that footnote every day—then probably that is the book you always intended to write.

 

Namita Kumari

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About the Author

Namita Kumari is an Assistant professor at SPM College, Delhi University with a PhD from the University of Trento, Italy. Her research on the ancient cultural links between India and Cambodia was supported by the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA), Ministry of Culture, Government of India. A previously published author of a work on women entrepreneurship, her debut novel The Serpent's Longing: The Naga Princess and the Himalayan Yogi reimagines the founding legend of Funan — the myth that created the Khmer civilisation — as a fantasy romance rooted in 3rd-century Chinese chronicles and Cambodian oral tradition. The book reached #1 in Mythology & Folk Tales on Amazon India. Her second book is due in September 2026.  which is also set in the same ancient world of SEA.  Find her at on Instagram and amazon.in

Blog Tour Excerpt: Book Title: Queen of Shadows, by Anna Belfrage

Available from Amazon UK and Amazon US

She should have stayed in the shadows—but Leonor de Guzmán yearned for the sun. Castile in the 1330s is a place of constant turmoil. King Alfonso must contend with the incursions from the Muslim Marinids eager to reclaim Al-Andalus while struggling with repeated rebellions against his firm rule.

Excerpt:

Alma felt safer the moment she entered her city. One of the guards at the city gate recognised her and asked her to give his regards to her mother. She slowed her pace along the familiar streets, passed by the huge cathedral just as the bells in the Giralda rang out the noon hour, and came to an abrupt stop at the sight of her childhood home. The gates stood wide open, people spilling out from the courtyard within to stand in the street. She pushed her way through, her initial fear that something bad had happened assuaged by the laughter, the loud voices. 

    The small patio was crowded with people, and sitting on a chair in the centre was Ramona, her cheeks flushed. 

    “Alma!” Abuela greeted her with a hug. “How propitious that you should come today. We are celebrating.”

    One of the women present broke out in song. Several others fell in, some clapping out the rhythm. A song of love, of marriage and future babes, and Alma turned to blink at Ramona, who gave her a smug look.

    “You’re getting married?” Alma asked.

    “I am. The contracts were signed earlier today. I come with an adequate dowry, so Mamá has arranged a good marriage for me.” Ramona smirked. “Not much left for you. Or Nuria.” 

    For the first time ever, Alma felt a twinge of jealousy. Not because Ramona was to wed, but because she, Alma, would never have anything to offer someone like Rodrigo. 

    “Is he handsome?” she asked.

    Ramona shrugged. “I have not met him. Mamá says he is.” She lowered her voice. “He’s a widower, father of three.”

    “Ah.” Whatever jealousy she’d felt dissipated. “Is he from Sevilla?” 

    “No.” Ramona frowned. “He is from Cádiz.”

    So far away! 

    “Have you been there?” Ramona asked. 

    She had, some years back when Doña Leonor had instead on accompanying the king when he set out to visit both Cádiz and Tarifa, central locations for his plans to one day retake Gibraltar from the Marinids. 

    “Mamá says it is a good place to live.” Ramona snorted. “How would she know? She’s never been further away than the Sierra Morena.” 

    “It benefits from the sea,” Alma said. “It is never as hot as Sevilla because there is always a breeze.” And it was also very small compared to Sevilla, the protective walls resulting in cramped conditions, but she did not think Ramona needed to hear this. “Is your future husband a caballero?”

    “Sí. He now serves the king as a tax collector,” Ramona replied. “Before that, he served the local adelantado for years. He commanded men at the siege of 1333 but was grievously wounded and can no longer ride to war.” She cocked her head. “Mamá says the king should have persisted until he won.”

    “Mamá knows nothing of what it is to be king.” Alma knew, from listening to Doña Leonor, that the king had every intention of retaking Gibraltar, but then, back in 1333, he’d had to break the siege to handle Juan Manuel and his cohorts, who had been happily raiding their way through Castile. Outlaws and renegades the lot of them! Since then, Juan Manuel had been reined in—until last year, when he’d allied himself with Portugal. 

    “No, I suppose she doesn’t. Just as she doesn’t know anything about living in Cádiz.” Ramona sighed. “I won’t know anyone.”

    “You will make friends soon,” Alma told her. “Your husband will be so proud of you and will likely parade you round every plaza, every church.”

    Ramona gnawed her lip. “You truly think so?”

    “You are very pretty.” And also very young, only a year older than Alma. Her husband-to-be had to be at least twice her age if he’d held command in 1333. She dug into her basket and found the pair of ivory hair combs she’d intended to give Mamá. Of Moorish origin, they were old but beautiful. “Here. For the bride-to-be.”

    Ramona gaped. And then she threw her arms around Alma. 

    “I bought them for you,” Alma said much later to her mother. “But Ramona—”

    “You did the right thing,” Mamá said. “You made her very happy.”  

Anna Belfrage

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About the Author

Had Anna been allowed to choose, she’d have become a time-traveller. As this was impossible, she became a financial professional with three absorbing interests: history, romance and writing. Anna has authored the acclaimed time travelling series The Graham Saga, set in 17th century Scotland and Maryland, as well as the equally acclaimed medieval series The King’s Greatest Enemy which is set in 14th century England. Anna has just released the final instalment, Their Castilian Orphan,  in her other medieval series, The Castilian Saga ,which is set against the medieval conquest of Wales. She has recently released Times of Turmoil, a sequel to her time travel romance, The Whirlpools of Time, and is now considering just how to wiggle out of setting the next book in that series in Peter the Great’s Russia, as her characters are demanding. . .  Find out more from Anna's website  www.annabelfrage.com  and find her on Facebook, Bluesky and Twitter @abelfrageauthor

Sign up to Anna’s newsletter to keep up with new releases, give-ways and other fun stuff: http://eepurl.com/cjgatT

Historical Fiction Book Launch: Massawa: a Tale of Espionage, Love, and Illusion, by Pam Webber

Available from Amazon UK and Amazon US

1942: During the height of World War II, Wild Bill Donovan, the director of the United States' first spy agency, believes women are the key to winning the intelligence battle with the Nazis. 

To that end, he partners fledgling agent Kit Thomas with British MI6 agent Mark Williams and sends them to one of the most perilous places in the world - Massawa, Eritrea - to investigate the theft of millions of military payroll dollars. 

In Massawa, Kit and Mark discover a conspiracy by Nazi sympathizers, known as the Vichy, to shut down the only Allied naval base on the Red Sea - which is an essential resource in stopping the Nazi invasion of North Africa. As they work to reveal the conspirators, Kit and Mark engage in a dangerous and tempestuous dance of trust versus mistrust.

“With empathy and care, Webber brings to life the hidden world of ‘The Wiregrass’ in the 1960s. This is a coming-of-age story that will move you profoundly.” Susan Breen, author of “The Fiction Room”

“‘Moon Water’ is a flood of love and tragedy. There is intense action and humor, soul satisfying courage and redemption, and throughout, Webber's knowing, authoritative hand with setting and character.” David L. Robbins, New York Times-bestselling author

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About the Author

Pam Webber is a bestselling second career novelist, and was honored to be a panelist at Virginia Festival of the Book, the Library of Virginia, and James River Writers. Pam is also an internal medicine nurse practitioner and former nursing educator. She and her husband, Jeff, live in the beautiful Northern Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Find out more Learn more at: www.pamwebber.com and find Pam on Facebook, Twitter: @PamWebber1 and Instagram: @PamWebber1

Special Guest Interview with Elisabeth Storrs, Author of Fables & Lies

Available from Amazon UK and Amazon US

Under a brutal regime, what price must be paid to preserve truth, treasure and love 

in a world built on lies.

I'm pleased to welcome author Elisabeth Storrs to The Writing Desk:

Tell us about your latest book

Thanks so much for hosting my book on your blog. Fables & Lies: A World War II Novel features Freyja Bremer, a patriotic museum assistant, raised on Nazi dogma. Through her love affair with Cambridge educated archaeologist, Darien Lessing, her eyes are opened to the rot beneath the Regime’s lies, as they both strive to protect their nation’s antiquities, in particular, Priam’s Treasure from Troy. 

Intertwined is Freyja’s forced marriage to Kaspar Voigt, a scholar from Himmler’s research institute, the SS Ahnenerbe. As such, Freyja’s safekeeping efforts and her journey to enlightenment form the spine of the novel, with her quest to learn about her husband’s twisted research threaded through the narrative. In this way, I explore the bravery of German museum curators as well as Himmler’s promulgation of the ‘Aryan Myth’ to justify invasion, dispossession and genocide.

What is your preferred writing routine?

I am quite disciplined with my writing so I sit down at my desk from around 10 am to 6.30 pm on my allocated writing days. However, I usually find my imagination really fires up in the afternoons so I tend to deal with research or structuring in the morning.

What advice do you have for aspiring writers?

Perseverance and practice! I believe in ‘bum glue’. You won’t finish a novel if you don’t schedule a time in your diary and actually sit down to write. It’s amazing what you can achieve in even a few hours per week.

What have you found to be the best way to raise awareness of your books?

This is an interesting question because there is a difference between marketing and publicity. Word of mouth among bloggers, reviewers and fellow authors is really important in raising ‘brand’ awareness but sales only really flow from free or discount promotions for short bursts of time. This helps with visibility on Amazon in various sub-categories. I’m lucky that my publisher is prepared to use this strategy but it’s important to set a budget and track return on investment if you are an indie author.

Tell us something unexpected you discovered during your research

Fables & Lies arose from my fascination with the archaeologist, Heinrich Schliemann, who not only proved the ancient city of Troy existed but also discovered Priam’s Treasure. Schliemann smuggled the trove out of Turkey then ‘bequeathed’ it to the German people. During WWII, the treasure was kept in the Pre and Early History Museum in Berlin in a street then known as Prinz-Albrecht-Strasse (now Niederkirchnerstrasse). 

The museum was housed at No. 7 in an amazing building known as Martin Gropius Bau. When I visited Berlin I was astounded to find the building was next to Gestapo HQ at No.8 (an ominous address). As a result, Martin Gropius Bau was under constant threat of becoming collateral damage. Freyja risks her life packing the collections while watching the museum take hit after hit.

Niederkirchnerstrasse stands today as a time capsule for various eras in Berlin’s history. No.8 has been razed. A museum known as ‘The Topography of Terrors’ has been established to serve as a reminder of the oppression of the Regime. The street also holds echoes of misery from the German Democratic Republic as a section of the Berlin Wall that ran down the middle of the road remains.

Next to this wasteland, Martin Gropius Bau rises in its splendour. The West Germans reconstructed it in 1978 with further renovations occurring after reunification. It is a delight to behold – one of the most beautiful historic buildings in Berlin – well worth a visit.

What was the hardest scene you remember writing?

Given the novel is set in wartime, there were many scenes I found harrowing to write as I highlight the suffering experienced by Berliners under Allied blockbuster bombs. I also deal with dark episodes of Himmler’s research programs. However, one scene I found difficult to write was early in the novel when Freyja is swept off her feet by Kaspar who has gained fame as an explorer on an expedition to Tibet. 

Himmler sent such scholars to the Himalayas to find traces of ‘Proto-Aryans’ who had survived the sinking of Atlantis. The theory was Germans were descendants of these super-humans who had spread throughout the world to seed all great civilisations. This partially underpinned the concept of the ‘Aryan Myth’. As such German-Nordic people were supposedly part of the ‘Master Race’. I knew I was spouting dangerous rhetoric but it was important to demonstrate how Freyja had been indoctrinated throughout her schooling by such ideology so readers can appreciate her journey to enlightenment.

What are you planning to write next?

After the battle of Berlin, Soviet Trophy Brigades stole Priam’s Treasure and transported it from Germany only to claim it had been lost in transit to Moscow in the post-war chaos. The whereabouts of the gold was unknown for 50 years until the Russians admitted in the 1990s they had hidden it in a secret room in the Pushkin Museum.

I am currently writing the ‘companion’ novel to Fables & Lies entitled The Pinocchio Door. Spanning 4,000 years, I tell the journey of Priam’s Treasure through the eyes of four women with their own secrets: Annitti, a Trojan goldsmith; Sophia, the wife of archaeologist, Heinrich Schliemann; Safinova, a Soviet Trophy Brigade Major; and Freyja’s granddaughter, Mia, who seeks to solve the mystery of the gold’s disappearance.

Elisabeth Storrs

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About the Author

Elisabeth Storrs has a great love for history and myths. She is the award-winning author of A Tale of Ancient Rome trilogy which was endorsed by Ursula Le Guin, Kate Quinn and Ben Kane. Now her obsession lies with Trojan treasure and twisted Germanic prehistory in her new release, Fables & Lies: A World War II Novel. Elisabeth is also the founder of the Historical Novel Society Australasia and the $155,000 ARA Historical Novel Prize. She lives in Sydney with her husband in a house surrounded by jacarandas. Find out more at https://www.elisabethstorrs.com and find Elisabeth on Twitter / X: @elisabethstorrs, Instagram and Facebook

Book Launch Spotlight: The Queen's Painter, a new take on the Anne Boleyn story through the eyes of the Tudor court's painter. by Wendy Holden

Available from Amazon UK and Amazon US

When the brilliant young Holbein arrives at the Tudor court, Anne Boleyn is among his first patrons. As she rises to the top, Hans rises with her. Courtiers clamour for his portraits of life-like accuracy; pictures which tell the truth about their subjects.

When his beloved Anne is beheaded on false evidence, Hans is heartbroken and enraged. And he's not alone. Poet and diplomat Thomas Wyatt is agonised at his own unwitting part in her tragedy. He and Hans join forces and vow revenge on the person they blame for Anne's downfall: Thomas Cromwell, the king's ruthless chief minister.

But what can a poet and painter do against the most powerful man in England? The answer comes when Henry VIII seeks a fourth wife. Cromwell turns to Holbein and Wyatt, his trusted artist and envoy, to travel across Europe to find and paint a new bride. Cromwell's position depends on a portrait of someone young and beautiful, painted with Hans' trademark truth. Anything less could bring the whole court crashing down.

It's the opportunity they've been waiting for...

Praise for The Queen's Painter:

'A thrilling tale of danger and revenge' Literary Review

'InThe Queen's Painter, Wendy Holden brings a well-known piece of history to life with a fresh and vivid perspective. Utterly gripping and portrayed in exquisite detail, this is a story to lose yourself in entirely.' Elizabeth Lee

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About the Author

Wendy Holden's books have sold over 3m copies in 14 languages worldwide. Born in Yorkshire, Wendy read English Literature at Girton College, Cambridge and spent fourteen years as a journalist on the Sunday Times, Mail on Sunday, Harpers & Queen and Tatler before becoming a novelist.  Her experience on glossy magazines was the inspiration for her debut, the smash-hit comedy Simply Divine. Wendy then pivoted to historical fiction with the bestselling Windsor Trilogy. The Governess was about Marion ‘Crawfie’ Crawford, the young Scottish teacher who brought fun and normality to the childhood of Elizabeth II. The Duchess explored the incredible rise of Wallis Simpson whilst The Princess traced the young Diana Spencer’s extraordinary path to the altar.  Find out more at Wendy's website 

https://www.wendyholden.net/about_me.php

Historical Fiction Spotlight: No Ordinary June By L. N. Jacobs

Available from Amazon UK and Amazon US

Miss June Fairmont, second daughter to Baronet Fairmont, believes in true love. Gregory Kendall, Earl of Kendall, believes in practical arrangements.

One dance. That's all it took for Gregory to decide June would make an adequate Countess of Kendall. The next morning, she overhears him presenting her father with a marriage proposal—complete with a list evaluating her suitability. When she bursts into her father's study, fury barely contained, Gregory has the audacity to look amused. 

Worse, he offers a wager. He'll give her one Season to find her perfect romantic match. When she inevitably fails to find this "true love"—and he's clearly certain she will—she'll accept his practical proposal.

June agrees instantly—let him watch her prove that love conquers logic. But Gregory proves an insufferable shadow throughout her Season, offering his pragmatic assessment of every swooning poet and debt-ridden rake. Somewhere between his dry observations and brutal honesty, June makes a horrifying discovery: she's starting to enjoy his company. His wit makes her laugh. That insufferable smirk becomes almost... attractive.

One Season. One wager. And a growing suspicion that the real danger isn't losing the bet—it's winning it.

Filled with sharp banter, a wager that changes everything, swoony kisses, and one insufferably pragmatic earl, "No Ordinary June" is the witty Regency romance you've been waiting for. A closed-door enemies-to-lovers where the tension is in every glance, and the slow burn will leave you breathless.

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About the Author

L. N. Jacobs is an Italian paediatrician living in Sweden, where she's perfected the art of balancing hospital shifts, family chaos, and an unhealthy obsession with happy endings. By day, she wrangles tiny patients and their worried parents. By night (and early mornings, and lunch breaks), she writes emotional romances about imperfect people finding love in the messiest, most unexpected ways. Her stories blend the high-stakes drama of medical life with sizzling chemistry, sharp banter, and characters who feel like friends you'd text at 2 AM. Think ER meets happily-ever-after, with a hefty dose of wit and a side of Swedish fika. When she's not writing or saving lives, you'll find her devouring romance novels, hoarding chocolate like it's currency, plotting her next adventure, or convincing her family that "just one more chapter" is a valid excuse for everything. Follow the author at Instagram and Bluesky: @luby-writes-books.bsky.social