I am thrilled to have interviewed author Jayne May, who shared with us details of her writing life, her book ‘My Dubrovnik Summer Love‘, which was released on 7th January 2024, and answered a few fun questions. This post contains affiliate links.

Jayne May writes romantic fiction books set in her favourite sunny destinations. Always having been inspired by travel, holidays over the years have given her ideas for uplifting romantic fiction books.

She loves learning Spanish, walking and making jewellery. Jayne lives in Worcestershire with her husband and ‘part time dog’ and has a day job as a receptionist. Watch this space for more books set in wonderful holiday destinations.

My inspiration actually came whilst on holiday in Dubrovnik back in 2013. We were eating our dinner at the hotel one night and I’m a big people watcher. I remember seeing the rep from our travel company chatting to one of the chefs as she helped herself to the buffet and it sparked an idea in my head. First of all, I was thinking about a possible romance between the two of them which then in my head developed into the story it became.

It was mostly in my head at first, but when we got home from our holiday I pretty much started to write the book straight away so I started to make masses of notes in a notebook. First of all, I usually make a list of all of the places/tourist attractions or excursions we’ve done on that holiday that I want to include in my work and develop the characters and the plot to include those.

My Dubrovnik Summer Love must have changed titles at least four times during writing! I finally made the decision a couple of days before publication, I knew I wanted the fact that my book was set in Dubrovnik to be in the title.

As the main character Luisa-Maria is half Spanish I did some internet research into some Spanish names and then again for the character of Luka, Croatian names. I tend to just keep researching until the name feels right.

It all happened very naturally whilst being on our holiday. Everything and everywhere that Luisa visits during her holiday are the things that we did too (except the wedding… although that would have been lovely to have gone to a wedding). From the trip to Montenegro on the coach and back on the ferry and walking around Dubrovnik old town and the city walls, to the excursion to the Elaphiti islands, we experienced all of that.

When the book goes over to Seville later in the story, I knew I wanted to include my favourite places we’d visited in Seville a few years before.

There’s no decision for me there, romantic contemporary fiction is what I love to read as well as to write. I love the feeling that being absolutely absorbed in this type of book brings.

It took me around 18 months originally but then I began to rework a lot of the book last year as I knew I could make it so much better. I’d learnt a lot whilst writing my previous novel – ‘Hola Madrid’, and it made me realise I could put more depth into my Dubrovnik book so I started to work on that again.

Uplifting romantic holiday

I think it’s letting yourself show your vulnerable side. I’ve always loved writing, even as a child I’d write poems and scripts, but I never let anyone read anything I’d written. I think being vulnerable allows you to put real emotion into writing.

If you’d like the perfect holiday read, a book that can give you that pure escapism and take you on a romantic journey to a wonderful holiday destination then this book is for you!

I have my Shih Tzu Ruby, part time… as she lives half of the time with me and my husband and half of the time with my parents so we get the best of both worlds. Sometimes she’ll just lie down on the floor beside me, but she has been known to enjoy lying in her bed on the desk next to me.

I always need peace and quiet to write I’d get too distracted otherwise, I even have to leave my mobile in a different room. I need to be cosy and warm, so can usually be found with my hands around a hot mug of chamomile tea or a coffee.

In my writing room, it’s a small space but perfect as it’s quiet and I have lots of our travel pictures on the wall beside me for the inspiration.

I think I would have to be a younger version of Pam, who is Luisa’s confidant throughout most of the book. She gets to hear all about Luisa’s past and encourages her to follow her heart. Being that character would allow me to do lots of that people watching I love…as I’d have a front row seat to see Luka and Luisa’s story evolve.

‘Wow, I have to go to Dubrovnik!!’

A big thank you to Jayne May for sharing her writing life with us and for a wonderful interview.