In And Now, Back to You, B.K. Borison returns to her Heartstrings series with a charming opposites-attract romance between two meteorologists whose professional lives are as unpredictable as the weather they track. A follow-up to First-Time Caller, the book continues Borison’s love of interconnected love stories. To celebrate the release of And Now, Back to You, we caught up with B.K. Borison to talk about writing weather-obsessed characters, crafting a fast-paced romance, and why she loves revisiting the Heartstrings world.
This is the second book in your Heartstrings series. For readers who haven’t read First-Time Caller yet, can they dive straight into And Now, Back to You, or would you recommend starting from the beginning?
I think this series lends itself really well to being true standalones, but I always think it’s fun to catch up on the previous love story before diving into a new one. I love treating subsequent books as mini epilogues for the previous couple, so we definitely get to see what Lucie and Aiden are up too. One of the best parts of writing an interconnected series is that I don’t have to say goodbye to these characters after the last page. I can revisit them again and again.
The timing of this book feels especially fitting, with the U.S. and Canada experiencing brutal snowstorms earlier this year. What inspired you to pair two meteorologists together as romantic leads?
My husband told me the next book has to be a tropical paradise book. My powers of manifestation are just too great. I knew I wanted to feature a profession that’s not typically seen in romance novels, and I knew I wanted weather to play a heavy part in the storyline. Growing up, my family watched the local news and listened to the local radio every single day. Our local weather reporters felt like a part of our family. Choosing to create a story between a television meteorologist and a radio weather reporter felt like a nostalgic call-back to my childhood. I really had so much fun with it.
Weather plays such a central role in the story. What kind of research did you do to make the meteorology aspects feel grounded and believable?
When Jackson is nervous, he tends to ramble about random weather phenomena. Researching those was a delightful wormhole I got to sink into day after day. I also relied on the knowledge of a number of women weather professionals who graciously offered their time. One woman, Meg, from the National Weather Service, was particularly helpful with my questions. She taught me how Jackson and Delilah can flirt through weather models. She’s got her own shoutout in the book now. I simply could not have done it without her.
And Now, Back to You also explores career ambition and professional identity alongside romance. Why was it important for you to highlight this, especially since it isn’t discussed enough in romantic stories?
Our jobs take up so much of our day-to-day living, I knew it would play an important role in Jackson and Delilah’s love story, too. Both of their jobs are so integral to their personal growth stories. Delilah wants to be taken more seriously, and Jackson wants to break free from his routines. They start those journeys by flexing within the boundaries of their jobs, but that soon spills over into their romantic interest in one another. It was fun writing characters who are so fundamentally different, but actually worked together quite well.
Delilah and Jackson have very different personalities and approaches to both work and life. What drew you to an opposites-attract dynamic for this story?
I wanted them to have a similar inflection point for why they are the way they are, but completely different responses to that hurt. When faced with abandonment, Jackson turned inward and hardened his edges. He learned to rely on his systems and routines. Delilah turned outward and made herself a likeable as possible. She chooses to see the good in every situation. I really enjoyed watching how they met somewhere in the middle.
With the Heartstrings series continuing to grow, what kinds of emotional journeys or themes are you most excited to explore in future books?
I am very excited to meet our next couple. It’s the first true enemies to lovers I’ve written, and probably the most wicked male main character I’ve gotten to play with. They have so much chemistry, they really leap off the page.
