Seen follows a morally grey antihero in jail for a crime he didn’t commit, who obsesses over clearing his name and getting revenge, till he spots a young woman and she becomes his obsession. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?

I was walking to work one morning and a prison van drove passed me on its way to the courthouse in the centre of Belfast City. I noticed that it had blacked out windows and I wondered if the prisoners inside could see out. My brain immediately made the jump to ‘what would happen if someone inside saw a person on the outside and that obsession became everything’. That small notion continued to grow in my mind until I had the makings of a whole organised crime family, perhaps a sign that I had ventured too far down the dark romance/mafia rabbit hole.

While doing research for the book I visited some of the main locations and even managed to get a tour of the inside of a prison van as well as the cells within the courthouse. I wanted to show an authentic story when it came to the characters, locations, and storylines. Therefore, each book in the series contains certain societal issues prevalent within Northern Ireland e.g. Drugs and criminality in book 1, human trafficking in book 2, and book 3 will be slightly different in that it will be a sports romance, specifically boxing, and features 2 men as the main characters. Northern Ireland is still far behind other countries in relation to the acceptance of the LGBTQIA+ community so I am aiming to highlight the internal struggles of this for one of the characters in particular.
​
Aodhán and Nora are interesting characters who have their character flaws but are still likable. How do you go about creating characters for your story?

I always knew I wanted Aodhán to be a flawed but loveable character, someone who could be morally grey but would be a cuddly teddy bear for the right person. Nora is the epitome of every dark romance reader who loves a bad boy on paper. A woman who is both terrified and intrigued by a man with such clear red flags. When developing them and the surrounding characters I built individual profiles of their personalities, likes, and dislikes, and some of them are even loosely based on people within my life.

Are you a fan of the dark romantic comedy genre? What books do you think most influenced your work?

I was first introduced to the dark romance genre in October 2023 and became a firm fan, reading as many stories-mostly by indie authors as I could. Books to me are an escape from reality and the indie author community offered a much-needed space for raw and unadulterated stories. The romance comedy element came naturally when writing Seen as I wanted it to be authentically Belfast and we Irish are known for our dark humorous nature.

I would say I am probably most influenced by Brynne Weaver’s Ruinous Love Trilogy, CJ Riggs’ No, For An Answer, Luna Mason’s Beneath the Mask series, and Nikki J Summers’ Soldiers of Anarchy series. These stories all contained elements that resonated with me while I was building my characters and storylines.

Is this the first book in the series? If so, when is the next book coming out, and what can your fans expect in the next story?

Yes, this is the first of a 3-book series. Each book focuses on one of the O’Neill brothers. I don’t have a publication date for either of the follow-up books and I am currently writing book 2. It focuses on the eldest brother Cormac and the female character is Eireann Collins. Book 2 centres around the aftermath of Eireann, who was captured and tortured at the hands of a human trafficking ring. It focuses on her healing journey and ultimately her revenge on those who hurt her. Cormac is also working to take down the same perpetrators. Their journeys will intersect but it is made more complicated by their shared history. Book 2 is already shaping up to be darker than Seen, however, it does still retain some of the Belfast humour.

Author Links: GoodReads | Facebook | Amazon