The steamy novel will be released on Aug. 31.
When it comes to offering happily-ever-afters for all, theromance genreoften fails the trans community.
“The book is self-aware in a sense.”
Penny Aimes.Nikki Acosta; Harlequin
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: This is your debut.
PENNY AIMES:I’ve tried to write a lot over the course of my life.
I’ve always been a voracious reader and a lover of books, especially genre books.
Whereas if you just read a bad lit fic, it’s just nothing.
I was the token guy who turned out not to be a guy.
In the last few years, there’s been a big realization that romance is really for everybody.
And I found a lot of books I really loved.
But this was the one that just kept growing and growing.
Tell me more about where April French came from and how you devised her love story.
April is the person that I make a run at be.
She just effortlessly is that person because she’s a fictional character.
I would like to be better at that, but I’m not always as good.
I really exaggerated that.
I joined the kink community hoping to have some adventures or whatever.
I was like, “I don’t know how this happened.
I just have an aura of responsibility about me.”
I tried to cut loose in this virtual environment but no.
Why was that something you wanted to explore?
It’s something I wanted to explore because it feels very familiar to me.
Especially writing about a trans woman as a main character in a romance novel.
It’s self-aware in the sense that these are the characters who aren’t usually the main character.
The book also revolves around the BDSM community and a kink club.
Or are we both in the same shoes?"
This is something we all experience.
For the uninitiated, the words BDSM and romance probably evokes50 Shades, which is not accurate.
I did attempt to write something that was real.
I don’t have a ton of real-life experience, but I know a lot of people.
The difference between this and50 Shades of Greyis that it’s very explicit about consent and negotiation.
A lot of April’s journey is just allowing herself to want something deeply.
Why was that something you wanted to explore?
That’s a very common trans experience.
Because all their life they’ve been repressing these desires.
Then she got there, and at the end, her repression still kind of won.
She was still this responsible, repressed person at heart.
At the root, she was still the same person.
I hope that people see April and fall in love with her.
My goal is to show a trans woman who is as complex and lovable as any heroine can be.
I also wanted to give a little more authenticity to that experience.
They’re great, but they do lack some complexity.
What is her life like?
How does that experience reflect her life?"
Putting that reality in front of people is really important.
