Catching up with Author Kiley Dunbar

To, I have the great pleasure of catching up with a fabulous author who I met through UKRomChat. Like me, Kiley writes love stories set in beautiful places, exploring the themes of self discovery and love. And, also like me, she is proudly a MASSIVE Shakespeare geek (dips head to The Bard). Today, we will be chatting about her latest book, Summer at the Highland Coral Beach, the first in a new series.

Tell us what inspired you to write Summer at the Highland Coral Beach?

I spend a beautiful week in Plockton, a seaside village in the Scottish highlands, in August 2018. The whole family was there, including my kids, husband, parents and Amos the dog. We stumbled across a little bay made of white coral pieces and with turquoise blue water to rival any tropical bay. I knew as soon as I set foot on that beach I was somewhere magical and the story ideas started fizzing.

When did you start writing seriously?

Surprisingly recently. I wrote as a child and teenager but when I got to uni I stopped and focused on an academic career. So I published lots of articles and book chapters about the Victorians, suffrage campaigners and their writings, but gave up on my creative writing. The need to write kept niggling away at me until August 2017 when I couldn’t hold back any longer and I started writing One Summer’s Night which turned out to be my debut novel.

What do you love most about being an author?

I get to make people up, give them a world to inhabit, threw problems in their way, then soothe away all their sadness with love and romance. Then I get to share them with other people. What’s not to love about that!

What are you working on now?

I’m editing my fourth book, One Winter’s Night (that’s the working title anyway). It’s the sequel to my debut novel and it follows my heroine Kelsey Anderson as she stays in Stratford-upon-Avon over autumn and winter and sets up her photography studio. There’s a lot of steamy romance and festive feels in this one. It was a blast to write. (out September 2020)

What do you hope readers will take away from Summer at the Highland Coral Beach?

The message of Summer at the Highland Coral Beach is that there is always sweetness after difficulties and rainbows after storms, so hold on. Things will get better.

Also, I hope readers will take away an indelible impression of my craftsman hero – the grumpy, redheaded Scot, Atholl Fergusson, who is hotter than the sun.

Blurb

Escape to the Highland Coral Beach – where broken hearts can be healed.

Beatrice Halliday needs a break from life. Booking a trip to the Highlands on a whim, Beatrice hopes learning Gaelic in a beautiful Scottish village might help her heal her grief after losing her baby, her husband and her much loved job in a space of months.

But Port Willow Bay isn’t exactly as the website promised. Instead of learning a new language, she’s booked in to learn the ancient skill of willow weaving, her hotel room is Princess and the Pea themed (with a stack of mattresses for her bed!) and worse still, her tutor is Atholl Fergusson, grumpy landlord of the hotel where Beatrice is staying – and she’s the only one doing the course.

But as Beatrice finds herself falling in love with Port Willow Bay and its people, and as she discovers the kind heart beneath Atholl’s stony exterior, can she really leave?

Escape to the beautiful Scottish Highlands with this utterly romantic, feelgood book; one visit to Port Willow Bay and you’ll want to come back! Fans of Sarah Morgan, Carole Matthews and Holly Martin will be captivated.

Buy links (currently on sale in all countries!)

Amazon UK | Amazon AU | Amazon US | Kobo

More about Kiley

Kiley Dunbar is the author of heart-warming, escapist, romantic fiction set in beautiful places for Hera Books.

Kiley is Scottish and lives in England with her partner, two kids and Amos the Bedlington Terrier. She writes around her work at a University in the North of England where she lectures in English literature and creative writing. She is proud to be a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association and a graduate of their New Writers’ Scheme. She’s was a ‘Joan Hessayon Award for New Writers’ finalist in 2019 with her debut novel One Summer’s Night.

Follow Kiley

Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads