Juliette Hyland and Scarlett Wilson join us on our blog to chat about the inspiration behind their brand new medical romances. As well as what it was like to work together for the first time!

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Juliette Hyland:

This duet is my very first and getting to write it with Scarlet Wilson was a dream come true. I’ve talked a lot about the fact that I was an avid reader of the medical line before writing for it, and Scarlet’s books were some of my favorites. She was very kind when I fangirled a bit on our zoom! As soon as we were done chatting, I called my sister (another big fan of medicals) and bragged that I met Scarlet. My sister let me know how jealous this made her…which as the oldest sister perhaps made me a bit too happy.

But it worked out well because Scarlet suggested we write sisters. Since I am the oldest and she is a younger sister that was how we broke it up.

Penny is my trivia-loving nurse and living with her sister after the demise of her engagement has been fun – though a bit challenging. She and Alice have a fun dynamic and we made sure that they had a happy childhood together. And the trivia piece…well, that is all me. I am a sucker for ALL kinds of trivia. Choosing some of my favorite random knowledge for Penny was great.

Once I had my fun-loving trivia nurse, I needed the perfect hero for her. Into my mind walked Dr. Benedict Denbar. The man is so smart, and caring. The kind of doctor we all hope our children have if they have to spend time in the hospital. But he has a secret of his own that keeps him from getting too close to anyone…except Penny breaks through all his barriers.

Writing this duet was a blast. I loved every moment, and I hope you all enjoy Penny and Alice’s happily ever afters!

 

Scarlett Wilson:

I love writing duets as I really enjoy the opportunity to bounce ideas around with another author. Writing with Juliette was so much fun, and although I’ve chatted to other authors I’ve worked with on the phone, this was the first time I got to zoom with someone I’m working with. Juliette is so enthusiastic to work with, we both knew we wanted to write our stories around sisters, and our editors wanted us to base the story in a neonatal unit. I had never written a story set in Washington and Juliette was a font of knowledge, especially around Washington subway stations. She even came up with name for our hospital, based on a real life person, Lillian Ward, the first social worker in the US to set up free clinics for immigrants.

The one thing we agreed was that our sisters could have a happy, solid childhood. So many of my stories have heroes or heroines who have been damaged in some way as a child, or ended up in care, or an orphan. It was nice to write a story where characters had a solid foundation, and a supportive sibling.

Of course, I have to have a grumpy Scotsman in my story and Douglas, or Dougie, was a pleasure to write. Alice, who ends up having to share her townhouse with my hero, has all her walls slowly chipped away by a man who can bake his way to her heart! I’m guessing I’ve been influenced by the Great British Bake Off recently and felt the urge to have a hero who could make amends for grumpy behaviour with delicious baked goods.

I also got to have my heroine show Dougie around the some of lesser known attractions in Washington and even found them a hotel with a bar with a view of the river. All places for a hero and heroine to fall in love!

I really enjoyed writing this duet, and hope that you will all enjoy our sisters with their happy ever afters!

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Read the Neonatal Nurses duet by Juliette Hyland and Scarlet Wilson here.

By Lauren Gardiner