Becky Hunter: Keep Going, No Matter What
In this interview, author Becky Hunter discusses writing impossible soulmates with her new romance novel, You Make My Heart Stop.
Becky Hunter grew up in Berkshire, U.K., and has loved reading since before she can remember. After studying social sciences at Cambridge University, this love of reading led her to a career in publishing, where she worked as a book publicist in London for several years before taking a career break and moving to Mozambique to volunteer with horses. It was here that she decided to give writing a proper go, though it was still a few years, a few more destinations, and a couple more jobs before she had the idea that would become One Moment, her debut novel.
She currently splits her time between London, Bristol, and Falmouth and works as a freelance book publicist and editor alongside her own writing. Follow her on X (Twitter) and Instagram.
In this interview, Becky discusses writing impossible soulmates with her new romance novel, You Make My Heart Stop, how her niece became a major source of inspiration, and more.
Name: Becky Hunter
Literary agent: Sarah Hornsley, PFD
Book title: You Make My Heart Stop
Publisher: Forever
Release date: April 22, 2025
Genre/category: Romance, Women’s Fiction
Previous titles: One Moment
Elevator pitch: What if your soulmate could only ever be the love of your afterlife?
What prompted you to write this book?
I originally had the idea of an “angel of death” who fell in love with the person he was supposed to be guiding to the afterlife—and the concept played around my mind for several years. The idea of two impossible soulmates, who love each other but can never be together just wouldn’t leave me alone! I also really wanted to structure a novel over the course of one woman’s entire life. It was only really when I figured out that Emery, the main character, has a heart condition that means she technically “dies” multiple times, that it all came together. The condition she has is inspired by something my niece, Lily, has gone through called Reflex Anoxic Syndrome, where someone can quite literally stop breathing because of a shock.
How long did it take to go from idea to publication? And did the idea change during the process?
The book itself took about six months to write, and a few months to edit, but it had been playing around my mind for years before then, never quite fully formed. I had the concept all along, but what really changed were the characters and the things the protagonist goes through in her “real life”—as opposed to the love story, which I always knew was going to be bittersweet. Because it’s my second novel I had a delivery deadline, and my agent was kind enough to look over the first 30,000 words of the novel. She gave me early editorial feedback which changed the way I wrote the rest of the novel!
Were there any surprises or learning moments in the publishing process for this title?
I have been through the process before, so I think I knew what to expect on the publishing front. It’s always nerve-wracking waiting to see how readers will engage, and whether the book will say—but I’d say that’s not really surprising! I think I learn more each time that you just have to try to write the best book you can, and most else of what happens is out of your hands.
Were there any surprises in the writing process for this book?
I found the love story really hard to write—I hadn’t really realized that the two love interests would always be alone together, with no one else to bounce off of, which makes for quite an intense experience! That was one of those things that I only thought about when I started to write. I also found the main character quite difficult to get to grips with when I started out—wondering how a condition like this would affect you, and the different ways someone might respond. Emery, the protagonist, is very flawed—and that’s something readers are picking up on—but ultimately, for me, once I figured out that she was the type of person who would rebel against what was happening, but also be a little scared of what it all meant, that’s when things started to come together.
What do you hope readers will get out of your book?
I hope that they can understand why the characters act as they do, even if they don’t always agree with them. I hope they might be encouraged to ask what “living in the moment” means for them. But ultimately, I hope it’s an enjoyable read to escape to for a little while!
If you could share one piece of advice with other writers, what would it be?
Keep going, no matter what—it’s only writers who don’t stop writing who make it! And keep reading books that inspire you, to try to keep improving, day by day.
Robert Lee Brewer is Senior Editor of Writer's Digest, which includes managing the content on WritersDigest.com and programming virtual conferences. He's the author of 40 Plot Twist Prompts for Writers: Writing Ideas for Bending Stories in New Directions, The Complete Guide of Poetic Forms: 100+ Poetic Form Definitions and Examples for Poets, Poem-a-Day: 365 Poetry Writing Prompts for a Year of Poeming, and more. Also, he's the editor of Writer's Market, Poet's Market, and Guide to Literary Agents. Follow him on Twitter @robertleebrewer.
