Ylva Publishing’s German translation of About that Kiss by Harper Bliss is published, so we had a chat with Harper about her book, its connection to another of her novels, and the truth about her favorite romance trope.
In your own words, what is your lesbian romance About that Kiss all about?
It’s a celebrity romance about two Hollywood A-list actors who work together for the first time. Their movie is a big-budget same-sex romantic comedy and their characters’ first on-screen kiss makes more than a few sparks fly.
Some characters in About that Kiss will be familiar to readers. Who is that and how are they connected to this sapphic romance novel?
Charlie Cross from Release the Stars wrote the script for the movie that Faye and Ida are starring in. And Charlie’s partner, Ava Castaneda, is Faye’s neighbor and one of her best friends.
It was really lovely to bring back these older characters and revisit them. If I was going to set a book in Hollywood, Charlie and Ava simply had to turn up.
Both of your main characters are big Hollywood actors. What makes them still relatable to readers?
Actors are humans too, and they go through the same tribulations as the rest of us. They just have more money to deal with stuff.
Both Faye and Ida have been through the same kind of hardships that so many people go through. Ida is deep in the closet when she first meets Faye. She even married a man to hide her sexuality. And Faye’s marriage broke down after she and her husband couldn’t have kids.
You have written multiple characters in the past who didn’t know they were queer until they fell in love with a woman later in life. What are the best and hardest aspects of writing their journeys?
It’s really funny, because until quite recently, I did this subconsciously. Until a reader pointed out that, without me even being fully aware, my favorite trope isn’t age-gap, but toaster-oven romance! 😉
It’s an endlessly inspiring trope, and there are so many kinds of drama a character like that can run into.
I’m fascinated by people realizing later in life that they may be queer and by how people change over time and how sexuality, specifically, is so fluid. It’s very fertile ground for a writer.
What is your favorite scene in this lesbian romance novel?
I have quite a few, because the kiss theme returns in every act, and the intensity builds with every kiss as the book progresses. But every single time I think about this book, the scene that always sticks out is the ‘morning-after’ the final day of the location shoot in Miami, when Ida grants Faye one final kiss on a spot on her body of her choosing… 😉
Harper Bliss is a best-selling lesbian romance author. Among her most-loved books are the highly dramatic French Kissing and the often-thought-provoking Pink Bean series. She is the co-founder of My LesFic, a weekly newsletter offering discount deals on lesbian fiction.
Harper lived in Hong Kong for seven years, travelled the world for a bit, and has now settled in Brussels (Belgium) with her wife and photogenic cat, Dolly Purrton.
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