Indie Support Sunday: Veronica Peartree

Jun 22
8 min read

While I’d been following Veronica Peartree since the cover for her book, The English Professor, appeared on my feed, it was only after I read her Playing A Round series that we really spoke to each other. Currently a three book series following female athletes and the men that come into their lives when they least expect them, this series is brilliant. It’s the first series I’d read that featured golf and while I still don’t understand it, I was captivated from the get-go. Veronica ties in her experiences of living in Scotland with the sport and produced three incredible rom-coms that I highly recommend. Even better, there’s a spin-off coming soon and a fourth book in the series that I’m so very excited for.

Like a lot of us newer indie authors, Veronica decided to take the publishing idea seriously during the pandemic. While invigilating an exam, she wrote her debut and then kept going! And I’m so grateful because her stories are sexy and fun and have characters that every single one of us can relate to.

You can read all of Veronica’s books in Kindle Unlimited right now!

BEING AN AUTHOR

Who or what inspired you to write?

Although I’d been an avid romance reader in my teens, I only started dreaming about writing when I was in my early twenties. Back then, Bridget Jones and A Girl’s Guide to Hunting and Fishing were top of my reading list and I thought I’d love to write a rom-com about a twenty-something who couldn’t get her life together. It would be a long time before I gathered up the courage to actually put pen to paper. I “studied” the self-publishing world for a long time, watching as others found success, lurking in groups and trying to absorb as much as much as I could that way. There’s only so much about writing that you can learn from watching—at some point, you have to start “doing.”

When the pandemic hit, I thought I would finally give it a shot. I secretly wrote The Red Phone Box while I was quietly invigilating exams at our local school. A year later I published The English Professor and then I finally delved into the rom-com world and wrote a three book series set in the world of golf in Scotland.

What’s the best and worst part about being an indie author?

Best: Freedom to write what you like but no deadlines

Worst: Freedom to write what you like but no deadlines

Why did you choose to self-publish instead of going the traditional route?

I had waited so long to even attempt writing that when I finally gave it a go, I didn’t want any barriers in my way anymore. I was racked with self-doubt and wasn’t sure if anyone would even want to read my books so I thought, the faster I put it out there, the less time I have to rethink it. And it’s the best decision I’ve ever made.

When you’re not writing, what do you do to get the creative juices flowing?

Music, art, documentaries and pitching new book ideas to my husband. He’s my biggest supporter and I can honestly say that I don’t think I would have ever taken the plunge without his positive words to keep me going. I’m also lucky enough to live in a beautiful old English University town which was the inspiration for the fictional Castle Eden University world in which The English Professor is set.

If you were to recommend books to me (in any genre), what would they be?

I tend to stick to reading romance (with the occasional sci-fi or cosy mystery thrown in), so anything by Tessa Dare or Tiffany Reisz. Also having started my indie author journey, I have found so many talented self-published writers within the community: Amber Cooper, Ellie Mack, Beatrice Bradshaw, Sara Ohlin, to name a few.

What are your top 5 tips or pieces of advice for aspiring authors?

Write a book that YOU want to read. That’s where I start with each novel.
Also, you need to know (and love) the genre you’re writing in. Read everything you can, especially the bestsellers, to get a sense of where you might fit into that body of work.
Give readers a reason to root for your two main characters to get together.
Write fast and edit slow.
And finally, don’t let one negative review overshadow all the positive ones.

ROMANCE AS A GENRE

Why did you choose romance as the genre to write in? What is your favorite thing about the genre?

I grew up reading a lot of romance. From about twelve onwards, I read everything I could get my hands on—Judith McNaught, Victoria Holt, Jude Deveraux, and Virginia Henley, to name a few. First I “borrowed” my mother’s books, then I moved on to our local library. I can still remember the librarian saying to me, “Does your mother know you read these books?!” To which I replied, “Yes.” And it was true. My mother was the first person in my life to encourage a deep love of reading.

My favourite thing about romance is its authenticity which may come as a surprise to some because the genre is often slated as "unrealistic" (why are some people so hung up on happy endings being unrealistic?!). But I’ve always found there to be an honesty in romance that I don’t find elsewhere. Perhaps it’s to do with the dual POV structure that really allows us to get inside two different people’s mindsets. However, I think that romance’s focus on relationships, feelings, emotions, etc. has always intrigued me. I can’t imagine anything better than having a front row seat to see how and why two people fall in love. No matter how many romance books I read, I will never tire of a good love story.

If not romance/subgenres of romance, what genre would you like to write in?

I tried writing a mystery once—it turned into a romance.

What are your most and least favorite tropes?

Favourite: forbidden love

Least favourite: secret baby

What are some tropes you want to write in the future?

I would love to write a fake dating romance.

What are some topics (sensitive and otherwise) that you think should exist more in romance?

At first, I wasn’t sure about writing my Playing A Round series where the sports romance follows FMCs who are professional athletes (and not the MMCs), but I’ve had some really supportive comments and reviews about doing this. Readers told me it was refreshing. I love the idea of subverting “traditional” roles or jobs for FMCs in romance. It’s something I really enjoy both reading and writing.

If you write open door romance, why did you choose that and what inspires your sex scenes?

The truth is, I had always read open door romances and I couldn’t imagine writing a romance without including those scenes. Those books always felt different from romances without sex scenes, like they could have been a whole different genre. Reading open door romance was like stepping into a secret world. Like those books unlocked a whole new level of intimacy and honesty about love and the human experience that I couldn’t get from other stories and I was immediately and irrevocably sucked in. As a romance writer, I’m constantly trying to figure out who my characters are, what their motivations are, and I can’t imagine doing this without also exploring how they connect and interact in the bedroom—or on the kitchen counter.

YOUR BOOKS

Can you briefly tell me about your books?

I write British contemporary romance with lots of heart and steam. I have one series set in a northern English university town that follows a group of professors and the women they can’t resist (forbidden office romances)—the Castle Eden University series. I also have a lighter, feel-good sports romance series set in Scotland—the Playing a Round series. And I have more books planned!

Do you already have a favorite character from the stories you’ve written?

This might come as a surprise, but my favourite character so far has been Arron (Campbell’s older brother) from Match Play. As a side character, Arron McLeod wasn’t meant to take up that much space on the page, and yet as I kept writing, he kept growing and shifting into someone I eventually ended up falling head over heels in love with.

If you were to cast your book for a movie/television show, who would you cast in the lead roles?

The English Professor: Matthew Goode would make the perfect tall, dark, and brooding English Professor with secrets to keep.

Making the Cut: Erica Durance would play my prickly Canadian pro-golfer to absolute perfection!

How much of yourself do you put into these characters?

I definitely draw on the world around me. It’s really important to me to write characters who are true to themselves (there’s nothing I hate more than watching a film or reading a book and going: there’s no way that character would do that!). So while I draw on real world experience, I always try to put myself into the mind and body of the characters that I write.

This aside, some of the conversations between the two main characters in Making the Cut (Madison and Lewis) were VERY LOOSELY based on some of the conversations I’ve had with my Scottish husband (me: you really want to eat a pie with beans on top after the pub?!). Readers told me they loved the “Scottishness” of this book (and this series) and I owe that to being able to see Scotland through the eyes of someone new and as someone who has a deep connection with the country.

What is a story/stories that you really want to tell?

I have so many stories inside of me that are bursting to be told. I love family dynamics and how these can play out over a series. I have a celebrity brothers series that I’ve been mulling over for some time, a series with four Scottish brothers who run a mountain rescue in a secluded locale in the Cairngorms, and an idea for a Scottish billionaire brothers series. Stay tuned!

Is there one common element that readers can find in all your stories?

Readers have said I write believable characters with witty banter.

For my Playing a Round Series, I’ve been delighted that so many readers have found the books to be both funny and romantic and this makes me so happy! I’m a huge fan of 90s rom-coms and I took some time to study these movies and to really pick out what makes them so good and ultimately I decided it comes down to the feel-good element. They’ve got to have those moments where you’re grinning ear-to-ear or pumping your fist in an “Oh yeah!” moment. A good rom-com is a satisfying experience that takes you on a roller-coaster ride of emotions with humour and sincerity and, most importantly, delivers a show-stopping happy ending - or a happy ever after. I try to do this in all of my stories, whether they are rom-coms or forbidden professors.

What’s next on the bookshelf for you? Anything you can tell us about a future project?

I have two books I’m currently editing now. The first is called The Rogue Professor and it’s my follow up to The English Professor. The second is Out of Bounds, Book 4 in the Playing a Round rom-com series. I also have a couple of partially written books that I’m going to take the leap and query soon.

When you write these stories, what are you hoping your readers will feel?

As a writer, the greatest compliment is for someone to tell me they enjoyed my story, that they forget about the world for a while and got swept along. I read books to escape and I hope that my books allow readers to do the same.