This week, we chat with authors Mara Heath and Annabella Lowe about the cosy romantasy debate, AI art scams, as well as their own works and upcoming releases. Mara fell in love with the romance genre when she first started reading the Sweet Valley High and Sweet Dreams series as a teen. Decades later, after working as an English teacher and taking time to be a mother, she's finally become the romance writer she always wanted to be. She's the author of the New Adult Contemporary Romance series The Secrets of Brownhill, with book one, Caged in Silver, releasing last year, and book two, Harnessed in Gold, coming out in August. In her stories, there's nothing Mara enjoys more than matching a soul-searching young woman with the man who truly "sees" her, especially in a setting where the supernatural collides with the real world. Mara lives in Maryland with her husband, son, and elderly cat. When she isn't writing, she enjoys reading, sipping hot drinks, and binge-watching shows from the early 2000s. Mara's website https://maraheathauthor.com/ Mara's Amazon Page: https://amzn.to/45hvlp4 Mara's Substack https://maraheathauthor.substack.com/ Mara's Instagram https://www.instagram.com/maraheathauthor/ Books have always been a passion for Annabella Lowe, who was raised on The Vampire Diaries, Shadowhunters, and Twilight, so it was no surprise that she started writing books that contained vampires—her first love! She published her first book, Find Me in the Shadows, in late 2024. She loves to blend genres to create something unique and add new and sinister twists to the paranormal mythology in her books. She has a talent for writing despicable villains, and she always aims, no matter the genre, to reveal the complexities of being human. Book Two of her series is coming out in 2027. She lives in a small town in the UK with her husband, teenage son, two spaniels, and a devious cat. She also has a photography business, and naturally she spends time writing, reading, and, more recently, learning to draw. Annabella Website https://annabella-lowe.com/ Amazon Author Page https://amzn.to/4hoKufp Annabella on TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@annabella.lowe.author Annabella on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/annabella.lowe.author/ MENTIONED ON THE SHOW Caged In Silver by Mara Heath https://amzn.to/3UcE61f Harnessed in Gold by Mara Heath https://amzn.to/3Ubf5U6 Find me in the Shadows by Annabella Lowe https://amzn.to/3RKm45T TENDER & TEMPTING TALES Tender and Tempting Tales Substack: Subscribe and get a FREE story! https://tenderandtemptingtales.substack.com/ Tender and Tempting Tales on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tendertemptingtales/ Tender and Tempting Tales ARC Team: https://booksprout.co/reviewer/team/56782/tender-and-tempting-tales Calls for Submissions: https://tenderandtemptingtales.substack.com/p/write-for-tender-and-tempting-tales ILLICIT LIAISONS PRODUCED & HOSTED BY Tara Leederman Substack: https://taleederman.substack.com/ Jenna Harte: https://jennaharte.com/ Outline and Show Notes: T.A. Leederman Editing: Jenna Harte
