The Real Cornwall Was Wilder Than My Fiction
I set my steamiest summer romance on this coast for a reason—and the truth was even hotter
When I started researching the Cornish coast for How to Lose a Prince This Summer, I thought I was chasing cliffs, tides, and salty kisses.
What I found was contraband, corruption, and kisses that might get characters killed. And when I started plotting this with my co-author, Tanya Wilde, we had so much fun with the setting and the summer themes.
The story takes place during Lady Seraphina’s final summer of freedom—before she’s forced into an arranged marriage to a foreign prince.
But that freedom tastes better than it should… because it comes with a man she shouldn’t want.
A stranger on the beach.
A man with secrets.
A man who kisses like the truth is a luxury they’ll both lose.
We needed a place big enough to hold that kind of tension.
And Cornwall—real, historical, Regency-era Cornwall—was it.
During the Regency, Cornwall was ruled by two things:
Smugglers. And secrets.
When I say the coast was lawless, I don’t mean metaphorically.
There were towns like Polperro where every family helped run contraband—tea, silk, tobacco, brandy—through underground tunnels that still exist.
At Prussia Cove, the infamous Carter family dodged the Navy for decades, operating an empire of hidden cargo and silent accomplices.
These weren’t pirates.
They were farmers. Fishermen. Priests. Bankers.
Living double lives.
Hiding fortunes in cliffs.
And trusting no one—except maybe the person you kissed in the dark.
Sound familiar?
That’s exactly the world we dropped Seraphina and Alex into.
A landscape where truth is smuggled more carefully than lace.
Where falling in love might mean betraying your name, your country, your duty.
And then, I layered in my favorite: a secret royal who is tied to my other series, Miracles on Harley Street.
Prince Alexander of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen.
On the run from responsibility. Hiding his title. Wading into the surf like he belongs to no one.
Except her.
She doesn’t know he’s the very man she’s promised to.
And he doesn’t know if he’ll ever have the power—or the nerve—to break his engagement.
What could possibly go wrong?
(Everything.)
Cornwall’s real history gave me the perfect setting to make their romance dangerous, forbidden, and urgent.
The tides hide secrets.
The cliffs watch everything.
And just like in real life, everyone has something to lose.
I don’t write empty settings.
When you read this book, I want you to feel the sea spray. Smell the brandy hidden in a tavern cellar. Hear the whispered plans of villagers who’ll risk everything to protect what’s theirs.
Cornwall wasn’t just beautiful.
It was brutal.
And that’s why Seraphina and Alex’s love had to begin here.
Not in London.
Not in a ballroom.
But on a beach where nothing is safe and everything is earned.
📖 How to Lose a Prince This Summer is now available in Kindle Unlimited
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FCNGHDMZ
If you love:
✔️ Secret royalty
✔️ Hidden identities
✔️ Star-crossed lovers
✔️ Kisses with an expiration date
Then this one’s for you.