We chat with author Alexandra Vasti about the steamy Regency romp Ne’er Duke Well, which follows Lady Selina who is determined to find the Duke of Stanhope the perfect wife—the only problem is she’s starting to think that might be her.
Hi, Alexandra! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
Hello! Thank you so much for having me. I’m a British literature professor who lives in New Orleans (aka the best city in the world and the hometown of the hero of Ne’er Duke Well!).
When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?
I’ve been reading romance since I was eleven years old, when my mom handed me Whitney, My Love by Judith McNaught. I’ve always loved historical romance, and I decided to finally try my hand at writing it when I finished my PhD at Columbia in 2019.
Quick lightning round! Tell us:
- The first book you ever remember reading: I have no idea the first, but I remember being obsessed with the Thoroughbred books as a kid. Maybe I started writing historical romance so I could include a lot of horses?
- The one that made you want to become an author: Outlander! Which I read at a shockingly young age, at which point it permanently rearranged my DNA.
- The one that you can’t stop thinking about: Flirting with Disaster by Naina Kumar, which comes out in January!! It’s sexy, angsty, and divine.
Your latest novel, Ne’er Duke Well, is out July 23rd! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Sexy, rompy, whimsical, loving, fierce
What can readers expect?
Ne’er Duke Well is about Peter Kent, a radical American upstart who unexpectedly becomes a duke. In order to gain custodianship of his siblings, he must marry respectably—so for help, he turns to the capable Lady Selina Ravenscroft. But disaster strikes when sparks fly between Peter and Selina—because Selina secretly runs an erotic library for women and is definitely not a suitable bride.
Where did the inspiration for Ne’er Duke Well come from?
This book’s inspiration was all Selina Ravenscroft! I had a very clear sense of this prickly, hyper-competent, secretly soft-hearted woman, determined to fix the way that her society kept young women in ignorance. I was also thinking a lot about book banning and how important it is for young people to be able to access information about sex, gender, and sexuality.
Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
Peter has a complicated relationship with his half siblings, and I loved writing the slow coming-together of their family unit. I also really enjoyed writing all the ways that his sister repeatedly roasts him over the course of the book.
And I thoroughly enjoyed writing about Selina’s expansive sexual knowledge from her library, which doesn’t always work in practice the way she imagined it in theory. This is a furniture-breaking kind of book, haha.
What do you love about the romance genre as a reader and writer?
I think romance can be really radical in the ways that it centers love and joy, particularly for people who aren’t often envisioned as romantic heroes. Historical romance in particular I think allow us to look at contemporary issues in new ways—like the importance of information access discussed in Ne’er Duke Well, which is set in 1815. On a lighter note, I also love how fun romance can be!
What’s next for you?
My next book, Earl Crush, comes out on January 21, 2025. It’s the story of Lydia Hope-Wallace, one of the side characters from Ne’er Duke Well. She’s a wallflower heiress who’s secretly been corresponding with an impoverished earl for the past few years, and the book begins when she shows up on his doorstep and proposes marriage. Unfortunately, it turns out that his brother has been catfishing her for the past few years, and the real earl has no idea who she is.
Lastly, what books have you enjoyed so far this year and are there any that you can’t wait to get your hands on?
Two of my favorite reads so far this year are You Should Be So Lucky by Cat Sebastian (a gorgeous 1960-set queer historical about a baseball player in a slump and the definitely-not-sports reporter assigned to cover his season) and A Shore Thing by Joanna Lowell (a romance about a bicycle shop owner and a botanist that thoughtfully explores trans identities in the Victorian period). And I’m really looking forward to reading The Truth According to Ember by Danica Nava and The Earl Who Isn’t by Courtney Milan when they release later this year!
