A note on LGBTQ+ romance representation in Pick Me Up - Ski romance out December 2024

I’ve kept quiet on this one so far because I didn’t want to overstate the presence of representation of different sexualities in my ski romance, Pick Me Up. 

My work in progress is a sapphic romance and should be published in 2025 (if all goes well and PMU sells enough copies in any format for me to believe that this will all work out and I will be a part-time author for the rest of my life!) but the representation in my debut novel is a little more low-key as it is to all intents and purposes, a romance between two straight, cis people. 

Thinking about it retrospectively, I have approached the idea of multiple sexualities in a fictional universe in the same way as Schitt’s Creek does. We all love people who have these different sexualities, and gender means different things to each of us but I wanted my characters to exist in a world where when they introduce themselves (or have their identity assumed by other characters), whatever their sexuality, they are just accepted. 

See Bonnie’s character profile for more information on her but, Bonnie is demisexual and while she refrains from mentioning it by name, Nick does after looking it up. She takes a minute at a crucial point in the novel to explain to Nick what sex and romance mean to her and how they are linked but as is the way most people live their lives, it’s just one part of her identity and it’s not something that she leads with when she meets someone. 

Bonnie’s sister, Sophie, is in the middle of a mid-twenties bisexual awakening. To date, she has only dated men but has begun to understand that she is also attracted to women. When she meets Nick’s cousin in the queue for a ski lift, this becomes more clear than ever. I wanted Sophie to demonstrate that sometimes it takes some time to figure out who we are as people and that that is perfectly fine. 

Kate is the only openly gay character in this novel. Nobody has to say ‘Oh, Kate’s into women’, it’s lightly acknowledged by her cousin and brother and is just a part of who she is, in exactly the same way that Nick’s fairly aggressive straight-ness is who he is. She is happy and confident in herself and has no questions about whether Sophie might be into her too. If Sophie fancies her back then that’s great (spoiler alert: she does) but if not, Kate is more than happy to just be friends. I love Kate’s confidence in herself at the age of 21 and I am wishing a happy ending on her and whoever she ends up with*. 

If you think you’d enjoy reading about these characters and all their romantic quests on the slopes, you can order Pick Me Up from this website as a print book or as an eBook from Amazon. 

*stick around and you might find out…