What is the title of your latest release?
PRIDE COMES BEFORE A FALL
What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
Sparks fly in this Regency Romcom when a principled, fiercely independent woman who wants political reform but finds herself falling for one of the enemy - A duke!
How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
I’ve set it in Bath because it’s a city that I love but have never set a story in. It was also a really good excuse to go there for another research trip.
Would you hang out with your heroine in real life?
I absolutely would because Portia Kendall is a no-nonsense, intelligent woman who stands up for justice - which the world could do with a bit more of nowadays. However, I think I would be a bit like her best friend Kitty in the story, who likes to poke fun at her and encourages to be less serious. Sometimes poor Portia, who does love to lecture, really does need to take a chill pill.
What are three words that describe your hero?
Funny, loyal and overprotective
What’s something you learned while writing this book?
LOL - I learn something when I write every book! But in this one it confirmed that I simply cannot plot. I thought I had one for this book and my odd, need-to-wing-it brain had other ideas. So my planned ending turned out to be the middle of the story before it all went on an entirely different tangent.
Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
Again, my odd brain won’t allow me to move on if what I’ve written before isn’t perfect, so I guess that I edit as I go along to write one perfect (or near to perfect) draft. Obviously, I do take my editor’s advice when the revisions come in to tweak it, but typically, I send the manuscript to her on the day I write the end on that first draft.
What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
Fortnum and Mason’s chocolate fruit creams. I’m salivating just thinking about them.
Describe your writing space/office!
It’s very me. Painted in a neutral cream but with one feature wall in my favorite color - bright scarlet red. Lots of bookshelves, obviously. I have a comfy sofa for reading, taking calls or just having a break on and a very modern electric desk that I keep pretty much clear except for my sleek desktop computer. Because I can’t plot, I never use a notebook (although I get loads of them as gifts which are greatly re-homed to either my daughter or my daughter-in-law who always use them), but I do always have a colorful stack of post-its within reach in case I have an idea and want to remember it. There is also an embarrassing amount of Mr. Darcy-themed stuff dotted around. I have a portrait Colin Firth as Darcy mouse mat, a miniature version of the Matthew Macfadyn Darcy bust from his version of P&P and a gilt-framed picture of his iconic hand flex from that same film. Just the hand. It was a gift from my author friend Deb Marlowe and I love it!
Who is an author you admire?
So many, it would take forever to list them, But if I had to pick one, then its Nora Roberts. She’s just the goddess of romance writing and MONTANA SKY remains the best romance I have ever read.
Is there a book that changed your life?
Again, so many, but if I had to pick one, then it would be A CHRISTMAS CAROL by Charles Dickens because that’s the first actual novel I read from cover to cover at nine. I did it all in one sitting too on a rainy afternoon and it turned me into a lifelong reader.
Tell us about when you got “the call.” (when you found out your book was going to be published). Or, for indie authors, when you decided to self-publish.
My first “Call” was way back in 2015 when Harlequin bought THAT DESPICABLE ROGUE, the book that became my debut. I remember being both speechless and elated.
What’s your favorite genre to read?
Romance! But I don’t mind a good detective story when I’m in the mood.
What’s your favorite movie?
That’s a tie between Love Actually and The Mummy (Brendan Fraser version). Both are so well written and have romance at their core and both are laugh out loud funny in places.
What is your favorite season?
Spring
How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
Whichever way happens so long as it involves champagne!
What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
I really enjoyed The Other Bennet Sister. The characters and love story were divine, and I do love anything to do with PRIDE AND PREJUDICE.
What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
Curry! I live in London, which is a very multicultural city and growing up, my lovely next-door neighbors were Pakistani, so I learned to love and appreciate spices at a very early age. I also love Thai food, Italian and you can’t beat a good plate of British fish and chips.
What do you do when you have free time?
I love to travel and I’m currently working my way through my bucket list trips. In the last two years I’ve done India, Japan and Egypt. Australia is already booked for 2027!
What can readers expect from you next?
The final book in the Miss Prentice’s Protégées series, PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT, comes out next Summer and after that who knows…
Miss Prentice's Protegees #3
A Novel
In the third installment of this witty Regency romcom series, a headstrong chaperone is torn between following her rigid principles or her heart
Despite his many responsibilities, there is nothing Leopold Sloane, the 11th Duke of Debden, takes more seriously than the safety of those he loves. When one of his sisters is injured at a protest rally, he drags his family to Bath for the summer to keep his reckless and rebellious siblings out of harm’s way. The only flaw in his plan is his overwhelming but inexplicable attraction to the new chaperone he has hired to watch out for them. An outspoken conundrum of a woman who soon causes him more trouble than both his sisters combined...but who calls to his soul regardless.
From the moment Portia Kendall read her first revolutionary pamphlet beneath her bedcovers at Miss Prentice’s School for Girls, she realized that her true calling was to make the world a fairer place for the masses downtrodden by the aristocracy. A calling that led her to Equitas, a radical newspaper that champions reform. But as Portia discovers, writing doesn’t pay the bills. To make a living, she must push aside her principles and serve the very people she criticizes weekly in her column. A temporary position as a chaperone in the home of a pompous duke seems like the perfect way to earn enough to follow her heart. Unfortunately, the duke who hires her seems to be more dashing and noble than pompous and soon begins to call to her heart too—as much as she tries to deny it. But dare she risk her principles for love or will her pride always come before a fall?
Romance Historical | Romance Comedy [ St. Martin's Griffin, On Sale: July 28, 2026, Trade Paperback / e-Book, ISBN: 9781250896117 / eISBN: 9781250896124 ]
When Virginia Heath was a little girl, it took her ages to fall asleep, so she made up stories in her head to help pass the time while she was staring at the ceiling. As she got older, the stories became more complicated, sometimes taking weeks to get to the happy ending. Then one day, she decided to embrace the insomnia and start writing them down. Thirty-two books and four Romantic Novel of the Year Award nominations later, and it still takes her forever to fall asleep. Virginia lives in London with her long-suffering husband. When she isn’t furiously writing Romcoms fuelled on far too much English tea, she likes to travel to far off places, shop for things she doesn’t need and be dragged around the streets by her devoted Labrador Trevor.
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