My own uncertainty, along with imagining what my grandmother may have felt about never knowing her background, was a big part of my idea for this book.

Theresa Christine – 21 March 2025

The Back Flap

Tough but tender Juniper Martin should have tossed that DNA test. A frustrating workday and one too many cosmos later, she mails a sample that unearths her half-sister in Ireland. Raised in a broken home, Juniper grants trust sparingly. But when she’s assigned a career-changing article about the findings, Juniper travels to the small town of Ballygrá to meet Cara and attend her wedding.

After Aidan McCarthy’s brother died, he dropped out of postgrad to help his parents. Only his best friend Cara knows he wants to pursue photography and not pour pints at his Da’s pub forever, but duty to family comes first. He desperately needs something—or someone—to inspire him and breathe new life into his old dreams.

When Aidan and Juniper must work together and help with Cara’s wedding preparation, neither can deny the chemistry between them. But Juniper can’t stay in beautiful Ballygrá forever—and when a discovery calls into question everything she’s worked for, she must decide how much to open her heart to the family she never knew she wanted and to the man she never anticipated falling for.

About the book

What is the book about?

June, a fiercely independent journalist, travels to a small Irish town to meet the half sister she never knew existed—but she doesn’t expect to fall for her sister’s best friend, Aidan, a man torn between his dreams and his family’s expectations. As she becomes more enmeshed in her new family and her connection with Aidan deepens, June must decide how much of her heart she’s willing to risk.

When did you start writing the book?

April of 2020. Up until I started The Half of It, I was a travel journalist and spent half of the year away from home. The pandemic changed that overnight, and I suddenly had a lot of time on my hands.

How long did it take you to write it?

The actual writing part took me two years or so.

Where did you get the idea from?

There were a few things that shaped the idea for The Half of It. I love travel and knew that I wanted to write romances that involved vacations or interesting destinations. Right before the pandemic, I had taken a trip to Ireland, so it was fresh in my mind as I sat down to start writing. The most significant influence on the story, though, was my late grandmother’s ancestry. She was adopted into an Irish family, and when she had her own children, she raised them with the Irish traditions she grew up with. My mom then did the same with me and my siblings, although I did always feel a hint of disappointment at not knowing for sure if I was Irish. My own uncertainty, along with imagining what my grandmother may have felt about never knowing her background, was a big part of my idea for this book.

Were there any parts of the book where you struggled?

There was one scene in particular that I kept putting off—an evening of storytelling at the local pub. Aidan, the male main character, gets up in front of a crowd and shares a tale that his grandfather told him as a child, and in doing so has some revelations about his own life. I wanted the book to make people feel like they’d really traveled to Ireland and gotten to experience some of the culture, and storytelling is an Irish tradition. But representing Ireland respectfully and honestly in this book was also really important to me, and I couldn’t do this scene alone.

It wasn’t until I spoke with Johnny Daly of Irish Folk Tours that I could finally write this scene. Johnny listened to what my plan was for the book and gave me some invaluable input on the setting to make the night feel real.

What came easily?

Some parts of the book were very clear in my head from the start and haven’t changed much, like this one road trip rainstorm scene that has remained largely the same throughout all of my edits. Also, line editing is definitely a strength of mine, so that was a step that felt a bit more natural for me. But honestly, The Half of It is my first full-length novel, and it was a hard process! I loved doing the work, but it felt like every step had its own challenges.

Are your characters entirely fictitious or have you borrowed from real world people you know?

Although I had the spark of an idea from my grandmother, the people in this book are all fictitious.

We all know how important it is for writers to read. Are there any particular authors that have influenced how you write and, if so, how have they influenced you?

So many! If I’m reading good romance books, then I’m inspired in my romance writing. I love Kate Clayborn—her characters feel so grounded and lovable, and her lyrical style of writing is absolutely gorgeous. For spicy scenes, I don’t think anyone can top Talia Hibbert, and I feel like I’ve learned so much about writing chemistry and steam through her books. I greatly admire K.A. Tucker because her romance books have so much heart in them. When I feel like my writing needs a little levity, I pick up a Mhairi McFarlane or Christina Lauren book—they weave in humor into their words and the characters in such a subtle way.

Do you have a target reader?

As a contemporary romance author, my readers typically identify as women and are often in their 20s or 30s. I’m definitely writing for BookTok and Bookstagram girlies.

About Writing

Do you have a writing process? If so can you please describe it?

Once I have an idea, I really like to immerse myself in it and spend a lot of time writing. I typically go in chronological order, and I tackle my writing scene by scene (rather than just trying to hit a certain word count every day).

Author Jesse Q. Sutanto posted on social media about how she wrote 40k words in 72 hours, and that inspired me in the past year or so to do at-home retreats to knock out drafts at a quicker pace. I’ve had great success setting aside a few days to just focus on my writing (I even wrote a blog post about how I do it). The Pomodoro method has been a game changer for me as well, so I’ll do 20 minutes of work, then take 2-3 minutes of a break, over and over. There’s a reason so many people rave about the Pomodoro method—for some people, like myself, it really works!

Do you outline? If so, do you do so extensively or just chapter headings and a couple of sentences?

With The Half of It, I did light outlining. I knew some of the major beats and where I wanted the story to go, but it was my first full-length book, so I went through a lot of trial and error. There are whole scenes that just didn’t make it into the final version because I’d planned poorly. While I don’t think any writing is wasted writing—at the very least, those scenes got me closer to the characters and improved my work as an author—but I outline much more extensively now so I can avoid huge, time-intensive rewrites. My next two books both have lengthy outlines which make sitting down to write much more enjoyable for me.

Do you edit as you go or wait until you’ve finished?

This is another aspect of my process that has changed since writing The Half of It. I used to edit as I went, but I now keep my writing and editing separate (as best as I can, at least). I can focus on the task at hand much easier this way.

Did you hire a professional editor?

Yes, I worked with the amazing Stephanie Fung, and I hired Angela Garcia at Romance the Page, LLC, for proofreading. I actually worked with them on my novella freebie, Match Made in the Maldives, as well.

Do you listen to music while you write? If yes, what gets the fingers tapping?

Yes, but it usually has to be something without words. I’m usually listening to lofi music channels on YouTube—Lofi With My Cat is a favorite YouTube channel of mine to put on in the background or to play through my headphones. I make playlists for my books, but they’re more often just for fun or to get in the mood to write than to actually listen to while writing.

About Publishing

Did you submit your work to Agents?

I spent a little over a year querying in small batches before I decided to self publish.

What made you decide to go Indie, whether self-publishing or with an indie publisher? Was it a particular event or a gradual process?

Querying was a good experience—I got some full requests, and even an incredible rejection from an agent I greatly respect. They basically said that they liked my book a lot and had many good things to say about it, but they just didn’t feel the spark needed to represent The Half of It. That sounds like frustrating feedback, but it was actually a really lovely and encouraging message.

That rejection highlighted to me how a book can be a perfectly good book but still not find a place in the traditional market. It also depends so much on luck—querying the right person at the right time. So, rather than wait around for the perfect moment when someone would grant me permission to bring my book into the world, I began looking at self-publishing more seriously. About half a year after that particular rejection, I withdrew the rest of my queries. It took me those six months to warm up to the idea, to gather my courage, and to make a plan of what I wanted my author journey to look like. If I was really going to do it, I told myself, I wanted to commit and feel genuinely excited about the decision.

I’m open to traditional publishing sometime in the future, but I have really enjoyed the creative control over my book and the freedom to choose my projects that come with self-publishing.

Did you get your book cover professionally done or did you do it yourself?

Morgane Flodrops was my illustrator and cover designer. I wanted a book cover that was sexy, scenic, and like a piece of art, and she created something beyond my wildest dreams.

Do you have a marketing plan for the book or are you just winging it?

I’m doing a marketing plan based on vibes, you could say. I’m doing everything I can on my own, like sharing on TikTok, writing a bi-monthly newsletter, sending out ARCs both on my own and through NetGalley, and reaching out to romance book review sites and literary podcasts. Having a journalism background has certainly helped in knowing how to reach out to people and promote myself for certain opportunities. But I’m not allowing the marketing aspect to detract from my ultimate goal, which is making a career as an author, so I still have a big focus on my next books.

Any advice that you would like to give to other newbies considering becoming Indie authors?

Don’t do it alone. Writing a book is solitary work, but publishing a book takes a team—and as an indie author, you get to assemble that team. I’m lucky to have some outstanding critique partners, a welcoming writing community at The Writer’s Helm, an editor, proofreader, and cover designer who I adore, and loved ones who support me. My self-publishing journey would not have been the same without them.

About You

Where did you grow up?

A small town in South Carolina.

Where do you live now?

Hamburg, Germany.

What would you like readers to know about you?

I’m a former travel journalist who has been to all seven continents, which is why I like to set all my books in dreamy destinations. I’m also an incredibly sensitive and emotional person, so my male main characters are always men who fall hard and are down bad for the love interest. Life imitates art, I guess!

I’m a proud cat lady, and I often post about my extremely energetic cats, Cosmo and Celeste, on my social media.

What are you working on now?

Book #2! I’m currently in developmental edits for my California desert estranged friends-to-lovers romance. Book #3 is outlined and I can’t wait to sit down and write that first draft.

End of Interview:

For more from Theresa Christine visit her website and follow her on TikTok and Instagram.

Get your copy of The Half of It from Amazon US or Amazon UK.