Today’s interview is with USA Today Bestselling author Golden Angel. She’s a prolific writer with a devoted fanbase.  It was so much fun getting to learn more about her writing style, publishing journey, life outside of writing and upcoming projects!

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HG: How would you describe yourself to somebody who isn’t familiar with your writing yet?

GA: Basically, if you love contemporary romance or historical romance with big friend and family groups, but wish they had more spanking… I’m your girl. I like to play with the story tropes and plots that I read so often and then add kink.

HG: Awesome, thank you. Tell us why you enjoy writing romance.

GA: For me, it’s the guaranteed happily-ever-after. Books have always been about escape for me, and I want to escape to a place that is ultimately safe, no matter what dangers have to be faced before the ending. Regardless of whether I was reading sci-fi, fantasy, mystery, etc. that always remained true, which is how I found myself being led to the romance genre. Here I can read any genre I want, knowing that there’s going to be a happy ending.

HG: I love that! What inspires your stories and why is that important to you?

GA: I get very inspired by other books and movies, but mostly because I want to change what I saw them doing. I love challenging the norms and also giving people a taste of something that’s similar to what they’re used to, but different. Whether that’s writing a historical romance about a mistress who gets to marry the lord who has been her lover or a contemporary romance about a dominant woman, I love to twist my favorite tropes.

HG: What feeling do you hope readers are left with when they finish one of your novels?

GA: A reader once told me that I’m her favorite ‘comfort author’ and that warmed the inside of my heart to the brim. That is exactly what I want to be. While there are always difficulties that my main characters have to overcome, my books are not super high on angst. They’re the warm hug you can go running to when another book has hurt you, the hair of the dog that you can consume when you’re suffering from a book hangover, and you can go in knowing that you’re going to laugh and live with my characters right up until you breathe a sigh of relief at their happy ending.

HG: A warm hug – how perfect! Switching gears, could you tell us a bit about your publishing journey.

GA: In June I actually celebrated my 10 Year Authorversary! I started out writing back in 2005 on an erotic website and in 2012 readers on that site asked if I could start self-publishing a story that they particularly loved so that they could own it. I discovered that actually uploading a book was actually pretty easy and started writing more and more books rather than stories for the site, and everything kind of snowballed from there. I am lucky enough to have become a full time author in 2020 and now I can say I’ve been doing this for a decade and it’s really pretty amazing all around.

HG: Wow, congrats! What have been the challenges you’ve faced in your publishing career?

GA: I was my own biggest challenge. It didn’t help that when I first started publishing 10 years ago there was a lot of stigma to being an indie author, and I absolutely bought into it. I didn’t consider myself a real author. Because of that it took me years before I finally joined social media as my pen name and started interacting with the author community, and even after that happened it took me a long time to really start digging in and following the advice they were generously sharing with me.

Even now, being a full time author, being a USA Today bestselling author, having hit the top 100 of Amazon multiple times, had multiple books be bestsellers on Barnes and Noble, Kobo, and Apple… it still feels like I’m getting away with something I shouldn’t be. I still worry about suddenly discovering that everyone’s just being nice to me and they actually hate my books. But I don’t let that stop me the way I used to.

HG: Thank you for sharing that. Is there anything you’d do differently? Advice to aspiring authors?

GA: I wish I had joined the author community sooner and listened to their advice sooner and seen myself as an author sooner. I wish I hadn’t held myself back. I think something that remains difficult for authors is believing that we’ve written something worth reading, and so it becomes easy to justify not doing things. Not spending the money on the cover we really want. Not putting our book into a promotion. Not talking about our book on social media. Not doing newsletter swaps with other authors. Not reaching out to other authors in our genre.

Listen to Nike – Just Do It.

HG: What amazing advice. Thank you! Tell us a little bit about your actual writing process. When and where do you write?

GA: We recently moved into a new home and I am currently in the process of setting up my dream office! It’s very pink. With every book I release, I buy myself one piece of furniture for it. So far I have a white and gold desk, sparkly pink curtains with gold and crystal rods, a pink office chair, a pink reading nook chair, a white bookcase, and a pink Christmas tree. The Christmas tree was actually not for a book release, it was because it was on sale after Christmas.

I am easily distracted so I write at my desk in spurts. I use pacemaker to keep up with how far along I am in a project and I write six little boxes on my planner for every day. For every 500 words I write, I check off a box. If I check off all the boxes, I get to cross them off my planner. I love checking boxes and crossing things off lists so it’s great motivation.

HG: That sounds like a magical space and I love hearing about your check box system. You seem to be a prolific writer. Which series or standalones do you recommend readers start with to really get a sense of your style?

GA: I usually recommend The Sassy Submissive, which is free everywhere, for my contemporary romance and Philip’s Rules for my historicals. They’re both series starters and great introductions to the universes I write in. If sci-fi is more your thing, Lee Savino and I wrote a fantastically fun trilogy called the Tsenturion Masters, which starts with Alien Captive.

HG: Great! For fun, if the Deception and Discipline series was turned into a movie or television series, who would you cast as the main characters?

GA: Oh goodness…well, first of all, I would want to follow in Bridgerton’s lead for casting. I would love to see Regé-Jean Page in the role of Elijah and I would want Phoebe Dynevor too but not for him, I think she’d make a great Mary, who is the main character for the first book in the series. Rex, book 1’s hero, I think Liam Hemsworth would be great in. Regé-Jean would be perfect for the bossy second book hero, and I’d pair him with Anna Kendrick as Josie, because she has all the sass.

Book three, I would love to have Alex Pettyfer as Captain Jones and Zendaya as Lily.

For Book 4, Natalie Dormer as Evie, absolutely. She’s got the right mysterious mystique and ‘in charge’ attitude. And Stephen Amell as Captain Browne.

HG: Amazing choices! And the Masters of Marquis series?

GA: Oh gosh… this series is going to be nine books long… only the first three are out though so I’ll tell you my casting for the first four since it’s coming out later this year.

Book one – Mitch and Domi, Mitch has to be someone with a sense of humor and I think Chris Pine would be able to handle the back and forth switch between Class Clown and deadly serious Dom. For Domi, Daniella Alonso because I think she could hold her own with him, just like Domi does.

Book two – Nick and Avery, repeating myself, Liam Hemsworth again. I just think he’d be hilarious as the inexperienced Dom, and Margot Robbie for Avery because I think she’d be able to capture Avery’s uncertainties perfectly.

Book three –Selena Gomez as Iris, absolutely. She was actually who I was picturing in my head when I wrote the book. And for Law… I mean this is dream casting so even though there are going to be some people who I’m sure don’t agree with my choice, I totally want the Rock.

Book four – Nicola Mary Coughlan as Samantha, 100%. She’d make a fabulous sexy switch. And I’d pair her off with Michael B. Jordan. I think the two of them in a power struggle would be AMAZING.

HG: That’s so awesome. Love the visual of all those actors. What can you tell us about any other projects you have in the works?

GA: I have the next five years planned out. I wish I was kidding. Right now though I just finished writing A Season for Spies, the last book in my Deception & Discipline series, and it’s off to the editor and I’ve switched focused to Switch Play, the fourth book in my Deception & Discipline series. I’m also prepping to promote the fourth annual Dirty Daddies Anniversary Anthology, which has my story Taco Daddy in it. I’m having a lot of fun this year.

HG: Good for you! Switching gears, what do you enjoy doing when not writing?

GA: Cosplay and Renn Fair! Any chance that I have to dress up makes me a happy camper. I do also enjoy camping too, but not as much as I do cosplay and Renn Fair. I love sewing and making my own outfits and going and hanging out with my friends while all dressed up. I also helped found DC Cosplay Photo Shoots though I’m no longer an admin with them, and I attend the photo shoots when I can.

HG: If you could ask your author idol one question, what would it be? 

GA: Lexi Blake, can I write a book with you?

Kidding. Unless your answer is yes…

HG: Love that! For fun, before we wrap up, let’s do a fast five! First one…coffee or tea?

GA: Tea! I adore the smell of coffee but I can’t stand the taste.

HG: Bonfire or fireplace?  

GA: Oof that’s a hard one… I’m gonna go with bonfire though.

HG: Are you a morning bird or night owl? 

GA: Both LOL I’m always awake.

HG: eBook or paperback? 

GA: Ebook just because I can carry so many more of them at one time.

HG: Tropical beach or rustic mountains?

GA: Beach! Always the beach!

HG: For readers that want to find out more about your stories and keep up with you, where should they go to connect or learn more?

My website is www.goldenangelromance.com and I am most active on Facebook and Tiktok, especially in my Facebook group.

Thank you so much for having me!

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