Thank You for the Kiss follows a traveling entrepreneur who arrives in Cuba, carrying heartbreak and longing with her, seeking an escape and a new identity for herself. Why was this an important book for you to write?

“Thank You for the Kiss” was an important book for me to write because it allowed me to explore the fragile intersection between personal longing and cultural complexity. At its core, it’s a story about emotional vulnerability -how heartbreak can push us to seek escape, reinvention, and connection in unfamiliar places. But it’s also a cautionary tale about the seductive glamour of tourism and the ease with which we can misread the world when we’re emotionally altered.

I wanted to show how, in moments of pain or disorientation, we can lose ourselves,not just in the beauty of a place, but in the illusion that we understand it. The protagonist’s journey through Cuba is not just physical; it’s a descent into the blurred lines between empathy and projection, generosity and vanity. Gina’s desire to help, to connect, to feel something real, is sincere, but it’s also tangled with misunderstanding, privilege, and the unconscious assumptions we carry when we move through cultures not our own.

Writing this story was punishing in its honesty. It forced me to confront how easy it is to let consequences drift when we’re consumed by our own emotional needs. But it also offered compassion, or the flawed ways we try to heal, for the mistakes we make when we’re trying to do good, and for the quiet hope that even in misunderstanding, there can be growth.

I appreciated the candid nature with which you told your story. What was the hardest thing for you to write about?

The hardest part of writing this story was admitting it to myself first. Revisiting those nine months meant confronting not just the events, but the emotional undercurrents that shaped them: the heartbreak, the impulsivity, the moments of vanity and misjudgment. Putting it into raw words,without softening the edges, was bruising. It exposed the flaws of the protagonist, who in many ways mirrored my own vulnerabilities.
But that candor was necessary. It allowed me to reflect with humility, to trace the journey from emotional disorientation to deeper self-awareness, and to offer readers something honest to connect with. I wanted the story to be more than just a personal reckoning,I hoped it would resonate with anyone who’s tried to help, who’s felt lost in unfamiliar terrain, and who’s learned, through discomfort, how to see with greater clarity and compassion.

What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?

Some of the most important themes I wanted to explore in Thank You for the Kiss were deeply personal, but also universally resonant:

EMOTIONAL INSTABILITY – I was drawn to the idea of what happens when we’re emotionally ddestabilise,how heartbreak can push us to seek new identities, new geographies, and new versions of ourselves. The protagonist’s journey is as much about internal transformation as it is about physical travel.

CROSS – CULTURALISM – A central theme was the fragility of cross-cultural encounters, especially when filtered through the lens of emotional vulnerability. I wanted to explore how easily good intentions can be misread, how privilege can distort perception, and how tourism can sometimes blur the line between connection and consumption.

GLAMOUR AND SEDUCTION – There’s a seductive quality to escape, especially in a place as visually and emotionally rich as Cuba. I wanted to show how easy it is to fall into the fantasy of a place, to romanticize it, and in doing so, lose sight of its realities and the people who live them every day.

VANITY, VULNERABILITY AND SELF-REFLECTION -This story demanded a raw honesty about the protagonist’s flaws and her desire to help, her longing to be seen, her missteps. It was important for me to write a character who is both well-meaning and deeply imperfect, because that’s where growth happens: in the tension between who we are and who we hope to be.

POWER/ A HARK BACK TO COLONIALISM AND THE NEED TO DO GOOD I also wanted to examine the complicated dynamics between those who have and those who do not. The protagonist’s attempts to help are sincere, but they’re also shaped by her own needs and assumptions. This theme was about interrogating the ethics of giving, and how easily we can project our own desires onto others under the guise of generosity.

I wanted the story to be not just about love or loss, but about the messy, beautiful, and often uncomfortable process of learning to see more clearly – both ourselves and the world around us.

What do you hope is one thing readers take away from your story?

I hope readers take away from Thank You for the Kiss, that vulnerability is not weakness ; it’s a doorway. The story invites readers to sit with discomfort, to witness the messy, imperfect ways we try to heal, connect, and understand both ourselves and others. It’s a reminder that emotional honesty, even when painful, can lead to clarity and compassion.

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