Fullerton-based romance author Melissa Whitney’s sixth novel “Book Boyfriends” is a nostalgic and whimsical comedy.
Credit: Irvin Rivera
When she isn’t working at her full-time job in health care, Whitney spends her time diving into the world of whatever book she’s currently writing. The author and disability advocate has been publishing novels for nearly two years and has already come out with seven books (the latest of which, released in November, is the third in her “Home” series). Each story she crafts is steamy yet heartwarming, and explores themes of mental health and disability. “Book Boyfriends” is a wild journey that blurs the lines between reality and the fantastical as the main character tries desperately to find her happily ever after.
Your books explore themes of disability and trauma. What inspired that?
“I’m legally blind. I grew up as a disabled kid, so there’s a level of trauma and grief with that in a sense of never quite fitting in. There’s always a sense of wanting to be seen and wanting to see stories that deal with disability, deal with trauma, and also deal with mental health and disability in a non-traumatic way but in a way that celebrates disabled joy. That was really important to me to have stories that had (disability) be a part of the story, but not have that be the focus.”
What is “Book Boyfriends” about?
“I tend to write contemporary romance, but this is a full-on rom-com. It’s got the late 2000s rom-com vibes like ‘When in Rome’ or ‘27 Dresses.’ The book centers around Georgia, who is a romance author who can write everybody’s happy ending but her own. She makes a wish to know what her happy ending will be, and then suddenly, the three fictional men from her books poof into existence. The book is fun and silly, and it takes those rom-com archetypes and tropes and plays with them. The book, in essence, is a conversation about the happy ending we see for ourselves versus the happy ending that life actually has in store for us.”
Why do you write romance?
“At its core, it’s about relationships, and not just the relationship between the couple, but the relationship the character has with themselves, with the world around them, with other people. It’s a study of people, and I’m always curious about what makes people tick and what makes people happy, what makes people get through trauma everything that kind of goes into the sauce of our living experience. That’s what drives us as humans being in community with each other. And that’s what romance is about. It just fills me with so much joy as a writer to be able to explore that.”
Does Orange County play a role in your books?
“All of my books take place in Orange County or Western New York, where I grew up, and a lot of the time an extra character in my books is the community that they live in. If you live in this area, when you read my books, even places that were fictionalized I think you can figure out what real places inspired those. ‘Book Boyfriends’ takes place in Tustin, and I weave in fictional elements of the city of Tustin, as well as real elements.”