Meet the Author: Lena Layne

Leya Layne writes spicy romance featuring characters in their thirties or older! You can find her on social media @LeyaLayne_Romance or visit her LinkTree https://linktr.ee/LeyaLayneAuthor

Her book, You've Got Bookmail, is available on Amazon, Kindle, and KU. https://a.co/d/3a1GXMZ
And she has several other books out. Carol’s Christmas Awakening, Shar’s Story, Falling in Cole County: A Cozy Romance Anthology. I read Carol's Christmas Awakening last year and enjoyed this sweet with heat novella.

Tell us about You’ve Got Bookmail.
Kassandra is a reclusive author of spicy romance and romantasy. She writes strong FMCs who represent who she wishes she could be. Asher is a small town mailman who wonders about the stranger living in the big house who hasn’t ever been seen. One day, he decides to knock on the door rather than just drop off all the small packages on the porch. I actually wrote the book in response to a TT video I saw a couple months earlier asking why all men in uniform romances are cops or military. One of themes I kept in my head is that we all deserve to live a life in which we’re the main characters of our own stories. Tropes: *Story within a story *Over 40 FMC *Plus-size rep *Dual POV *Man in Uniform *Reverse age gap *Fake dating *Instalust *🌶️🌶️🌶️
 
Share a favorite line from You’ve Got Bookmail.
What in the world is happening? In one moment, I’m trying to distract her from the embarrassment of my ill-timed one-liner. In the next, she is staring into my eyes and putting her lips around my meat, or rather the piece of steak I’m holding out for her. 
 
What is a core memory that made you want to be a writer?
I actually never thought I could write creatively. It took someone asking me to partner with them on a project that opened the floodgates.
 
What is the most challenging aspect of being an author for you?
Marketing, especially since I have two pen names. It’s like a second full-time job.
 
How do you get past writer's block or being "stuck"?
I genre hop and usually fall back on poetry when a story isn’t flowing.
 
What are you working on right now?
I have a couple of anthology novellas and the follow-up to Carol’s Christmas Awakening that a couple readers have asked for. I’m also working on a secret project that may quick release for Halloween.
 
When is your next book coming out?
My next scheduled book is Clarissa and the Wallflower planned for February 2025.

When did your last book come out?
Shar’s Story came out in May. Shar is a mid-size model with only one major life rule—No fraternizing at work. Mack is a tech CEO in need of a spokesperson who only has one relationship rule—Don’t get involved. When chance finds them on the same beaches, on opposite shores, at the same time, they each must decide if the other is worth breaking the rules. Tropes: billionaire romance, he falls first, workplace romance, age gap, playboy/girl