Love, Lust, and Laughs: An Interview with Tessa Bailey

Tessa Bailey doesn't shy away from sex, love, and romance—sometimes even a finger or two in a taboo spot.

Bailey's new book Unfortunately Yours, follows vineyard heiress Natalie Vos and ex-Navy SEAL August Cates. The two find themselves in a marriage of convenience so that Natalie can gain access to her trust fund and August can get a bank loan to start his own—successful—winery in Napa, California.

This is Bailey's first marriage of convenience book, and she believes certain aspects of the trope resonate with readers: "You have these things that are built into a marriage of convenience, which is fidelity. I think we love this sort of, like, the safety of 'okay, they're married,' that I think romance readers really crave."

In a marriage of convenience trope book, the wedding typically happens in the beginning. In Unfortunately Yours, the ceremony does happen at the start of the book, but with a very memorable moment. August has a line he says to calm Natalie down after she's walked down the aisle: "Your tits look insane."

After writing that line, Bailey said August is one of her top three heroes. "He's a hero for the ages. He's one of my favorites. And that line definitely put him in the top three." She wrote the line because August isn't the type to say the conventional thing, saying, "Their love language is arguing and bickering."

What’s another scene to solidify August as a top-three romance hero? The rescue scene. A storm sweeps through Napa, and as a former SEAL, August goes out to help. Bailey says her editor was hesitant of the scene, but she says it's the perfect rom-com moment:

"I'm not going to have this like six-foot-four brick shithouse sitting around and not having him f—king rescue someone. Like we need him to show off his Navy SEAL skills. We need to show him being heroic."

When it comes to Bailey's heroes, she knows how to turn up the heat. A common thread in Bailey's books is the spicy, steamy, sexy scenes. When writing smut, Bailey says, "There has to be some progress made in the inner journey, to understand each other in those scenes."

Bailey continues, "Gratuitous sex is fine like I'm not knocking it, but I do really like something to be revealed in those moments. I've got this chance to take their filters off, to have them completely stripped down to just pure honesty."

She jokingly says, "What am I going to stick in there? I mean, I know what I'm sticking in, but what emotions? What little nuggets am I going to give them to work in the next chapter? It's like a free move—this chance to advance them somehow."

When writing male romance heroes, Bailey says there's a balance, "They are possessive, and they are jealous—kind of alpha males. So, it's a balance between sort of like this feminism and also this classic alpha male."

While the alpha male hero is sexy, Bailey says these books are more than sex, "I think people assume that we read these books just for sex, and I think that's a huge part of it. And that's okay. But I think it's also the communication."

When characters reveal something, and the other hears them out and expresses their emotions, Bailey says, "That's sexy, sometimes even more than a bedroom scene, and that's such an important hallmark of romance that I think people overlook."

Bailey says she's very protective of romance, "I'm so defensive of the genre when people are like, 'Oh, it's not a real book.' It's not one of the respected genres, and people don't know the way these stories can change lives."

This book may have just released, but Bailey has many exciting projects: "I don't even know if I'm allowed to talk about this, but who cares? I'm releasing an Amazon-exclusive hockey novella in November. But before that, in October, I'm releasing a Christmas book called Wreck the Halls. And then I'm starting a sports romance series next year. So, there's a lot coming."

And one of those books in the sports romance series will be about a golf pro falling for a fan and will be released in February next year. Bailey says, "It's literally one of my favorite books. I feel like I say that constantly, but this one was special to me."

Bailey’s love for romance is indisputable, and it shows in Unfortunately Yours, as the book reached The New York Times Bestselling List at #5 on Print Paperback and #8 on Combine Print and e-Book.

As Bailey releases more stories, readers’ hearts will continue to swoon and deepen their love for romance (and a little smut).