and i dreamt of the night and you.

I lowkey forgot to post this here LOL (subscribe to my Substack if you want immediate news!)

After years of publishing YA, I’m finally dipping my toes into adult. With a marriage of convenience romance novel! It features two people who are fed up with heartbreak, and with their families on their backs telling them to get married—so, naturally, they decide to marry each other to shut everyone up.

With no feelings involved. Obviously.

The book actually begins five years later, when they decide to secretly divorce. Which is a lot harder when your house becomes a revolving door for your extended family… and also when you start realizing maybe you’re not so indifferent towards each other as you thought.

The inspiration for this book was two-fold:

As a teen, I read countless romance novels. In particular, I loved marriage of convenience/arranged marriage romances. Especially modern ones. But all the ones I read centered white characters in often convoluted situations that required a marriage. Like, so-and-so won’t get his inheritance unless he finds a bride by his 30th birthday. Or, these two celebrities have to get fake-married for career branding. Stuff like that. And don’t get me wrong, I was still having a good time—but, I was also constantly thinking, “where are the regular brown people at?” People tend to associate arranged marriage with South Asian cultures the most, so why wasn’t anyone writing it? (The real question I should have been asking was: why wasn’t anyone publishing South Asian people? 💀). Regardless, the idea sparked. Which makes this book one of my oldest story ideas ever!

Many years ago I read a romance novel with an HEA that, deliberately or not, had an implication I strongly disagreed with (I will not name the book, as that is IMPOLITE. But it was controversial to be sure.). So, like many writers, I decided I would obliquely write The Thing I Personally Wanted to See. I was interested in what it would take to keep a marriage together when confronted with “irreconcilable” personal differences (IRRECONCILABLE DIFFERENCES was actually the title of this book before it sold). Would that even be possible? If so, in what situation? How far can love really take us in the face of such dilemmas? And, should we be willing to lose a part of ourselves to be with someone? To me, these questions form the soul of the story.

The romance world has changed since I first had these ideas. Much of what I was thinking about, has now been explored by other writers. But I still wanted to add my own spin. And most importantly, I still felt like I had something to say.

So I hope you’ll check it out—next year! Not only do I have a US publisher but i also have a CANADIAN publisher this time! Very exciting for me, personally.

I’ll have more to share as we draw closer to publication (we're currently starting the cover creation process!!). In the meantime, you can add it on Goodreads:

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P.S. Writing this book made me truly appreciate that romance writing is VERY hard. A whole book centered around a love story—the plot supporting the romance?? It has to be a VERY compelling interpersonal dynamic. The ending is already known, so the execution has to be strong enough to keep readers invested?? Man, that tension better be UNHINGED levels of good.

I am not sure I managed these things. But, I tried my very best, and I had fun, so I hope some other people will have fun reading it!

Rating: 4.5/5 Heat Level: 3.25/5 Pub Date: July 14th

My review:

This is the sexy paranormal romance-slash-thriller I'm HERE for— I'm actually a huge scaredy cat, but the way Julian slowly but surely seduces you as he seduces Sean, was nothing short of MASTERFUL, even as you're scared of what's to come, but like, in a hot way.

Julian seems almost too good to be true when Sean first meets him at her friend's ex-husband's wedding— he's a younger, uber-hot art gallery owner with Money. And look, Sean is a catch-and-a-half herself; this book doesn't suffer from the lack of a strong heroine POV as some single-POV romances are wont to do for self-insert purposes. Sean is in her thirties and is an established surgeon who sees herself as the rational, pragmatic type. Sean's hang-ups about Julian are less based in insecurity (for age reasons or otherwise), and more in the fact that she's had a shitty experience in the past, and she kind of thought herself above going for a younger man in a time when her colleagues are marrying twenty-somethings... until she does.

Julian coaxes Sean out of her shell with an openness and emotional maturity, not to mention the kind of frank sexuality that has her (and you) REELING. It truly is a fantasy that slowly evolves into something dreamier... and hazier, as Sean starts to forget certain interactions. The eroticism of this unknown, the niggling sense of doubt... and eventually fear, this invokes is stunningly-written by Shirlene Obuobi.

I won't spoil too much, but you can probably guess the flavor of paranormal this romance is— still, despite only getting Sean's POV, Julian isn't consigned to just being a beautiful, tormented monster she has to be Fine with; He's evolving through the book, even though you can barely catch a whiff of a flaw at first, and he ultimately grapples with both morality and mortality where Sean is at risk.

The sex:

I would say the sex is more (not to overuse the word but) erotic than explicit, though it is VERY MUCH open door. It's just very dreamy and almost like... there's a filter? Which adds to the erotic horror of it all.

Rating: 4/5 Heat Level: 4/5 Pub Date: July 14th

Premise:

After Ember's father, the CEO of a fashion empire and a more covert drug empire dies, her wicked stepbrother Asad takes over with one caveat: he has sixty days to marry, and he wants to marry Ember, not only because she's the genius behind the drugs they manufacture, and also because he's always wanted her.

My review:

The most batshit, horniest, and darkest Cinderella-inspired romance I've ever read and I mean all those words in a complimentary sense. In a time when even mafia romances are starting to feel sanitized, Naima Simone goes all-in on BOTH a hero and heroine who are morally-grey, fucked up, and twisted... which makes them perfect for each other.

In many ways, this feels like such a classic mafia romance because daddy's dead, there's a criminal empire succession crisis AND marriage contract to be fulfilled... which is how Ember is coerced into an engagement with her hot evil stepbrother and childhood tormentor Asad. Where Ember differs from your standard mafia romance heroine is that she's willingly taking part in the organized crime element— she puts her multiple degrees to good use by creating the designer drugs that fund her family's empire. Her test subjects are... deserving, and she isn't afraid to put more lethal compounds to good use. In that sense, she's Asad's perfect counterpart, even though she hates his guts FOR GOOD REASON. He was her bully growing up, and his mother, the wicked stepmother of this story, abused her. I think the dark romance of it all allows you to buy into Ember falling in love with Asad despite this, though it does take a minute— AS IT SHOULD.

Naima Simone writes moments of violence with genuine shock factor where Asad is concerned, and in a way, it feels refreshing (see: what I said earlier about sanitized mafia romances). On the other hand, he's actually pretty damn down-bad for Ember from the start, even though he kind of(?) tries to push her away... with death threats. And despite their initial enmity, his devotion to Ember almost never wavers. Almost.

The sex:

If there's one thing mafia romances love, it's a virgin and, I guess, a surprise virgin, so the sex is actually more tender than you think... dare I say, ROMANTIC, as far as sex between two stone-cold killers go, and the dirty talk is off the charts insane— I'm telling y'all, Naima is a romance author who is So Good at writing dirty talk in a way I'm seeing less and less these days.

Overall:

You want something fun (and funny!) and dark and hot, this is your book, and I would highly highly recommend you try Huntsman as well as Ember.