Coastal Magic 2025 Featured Author Spotlight & Giveaway - - Sera Taino

 

Sera Taíno writes romances exploring the joy of love in the context of community and family in all its rich diversity with an emphasis on inclusiveness.

She was selected for the Harlequin Romance Includes You Mentorship, an initiative launched in 2019 to reach out to diverse communities of writers and bring more own voices stories to romance readers.

When she is not writing, she can be found teaching her high school English class, reading, or wrangling her husband and two children.

Welcome to The Romance Dish, Sera!  It’s a pleasure to have you visit. For those readers who have yet to discover you, please share what they should expect when they pick up one of the books in your The Navarros series. 

Hello! Thank you for featuring me on The Romance Dish! So excited to be here. 

Readers who pick up The Navarros series will get a hefty dose of the Navarro family dynamic, which is fiercely loyal and protective, but also extremely silly and fun. They support each other, call each other out on their nonsense, and won’t hesitate to have a good laugh at each other’s expense.

I love the food in these books, how it not only represents their heritage but is one of the things that binds the Navarro family together. Is this something that is important in your own life? Are you a cook? Or do you prefer to be the “quality control” taster? What’s a special dish or type of cooking that speaks to you?

I love to cook and often spend hours in the kitchen. I’ve evolved as a cook. I used to want to get all the traditional Puerto Rican family dishes correct for my family. When I married my husband, I wanted to learn how to make his favorite central-Italian foods. Now, I’m more adventurous, trying things out of curiosity, and challenging myself to see if I can pull it off. Like a souffle or a bar of Dubai chocolate. I’m cooking a lot more for fun now, which speaks to the fact that my children are older and I have fewer constraints on what I have to make. 

I really enjoy the diversity in your books and among the Navarro siblings, not only as it pertains to their romantic lives but also in their choices of occupation as well as the impact of their mother’s unexpected death. As their creator, did you have all of this mapped out before you began writing or did the characters surprise you with some of their choices along the way?

It was a little bit of both! I planned the books as a four books series (I always planned a book for Oliva as well), so the occupations were settled early on according to their personalities but also, based on what I saw around me and my own experience of immigrant families. The oldest, especially if they were a daughter, would carry the family, the middle child would have all the characteristics of a middle child, and the youngest would be the one most acclimated to her new culture. Olivia is my most self indulgent character after Etienne. They came almost fully formed in my mind. I am a bit of a discovery writer - I don’t always know what’s going to end up on paper until I write it, so each character surprised me at some point. Val was the least surprising because A Delicious Dilemma is the most autobiographical of the three books, while The Trouble With Exes was perhaps the most difficult of all my novels to write, because I had the least in common with Nati.

Your bio says you’ve lived all over the world. What was your favorite place? Or, top three if you can’t choose just one. What made them special? Is there anywhere you haven’t lived that you would like to try one day?

I lived in Europe for almost ten years, so I was fortunate to be able to visit most of the countries in the EU. I found Italy the most beautiful but Germany was the easiest to live in. I have always wanted to visit South America and SE Asia, and hope to cross those off my bucket list some day!

Amazon shows a new book (first in a series) by you coming in April 2025. This makes me very happy! What can you tell us about this new series?

Oh, that’s my new series set in the fictional town of Soledad Bay, Florida. In many respects, it’s a small town romance series, much as The Navarros, but I wanted to write something in my current home state to highlight the beautiful nature of the state.

Blurb for A Summer to Start Over:

She needed help…

He needed to begin again.

Single mom Indya Linares has always been Ms. Independent—especially when her family’s hurricane-ravaged resort is at stake. But when Indya’s boat breaks down at sea, she’s forced to accept help from a handsome stranger who immediately makes her heart beat faster. Who would have imagined that he’s also her stubborn mother’s pick for a new facilities manager extraordinaire? After Santiago Pereira left Venezuela to begin again in Soledad Bay, he’s got something to prove to his family…and a mission to bring his daughter back to him. But when Santi just can’t stop thinking about his new boss, will hospitality take on a new meaning for them both?

I will definitely be picking up a copy of A Summer to Start Over!

Let’s wrap things up with a few rapid-fire questions.

What are your passions (aside from writing)?

I’m one of those people who has a million hobbies! I read, and look for good audiobooks. I love cooking, and traveling, but also I enjoy being outside in nature. I grew up wanting to be an astronomer and a telescope. I read tarot cards and use them extensively for writing and journaling. I have fun with blackout poetry, and I enjoy a really good conversation with my friends.

What would readers be surprised to learn about you?

I speak four languages

I studied to be a genetic engineer for many years

What are you currently reading or looking forward to reading?

I am looking forward to the publication of When The Tides Held The Moon, a gorgeous queer, Latine historical romance by the amazing Venessa Kelly.

Where can readers find you online?

I’m serataino everywhere. I’m most active on Instagram. You can also follow my newsletter at serataino.com/mailing-list.

Thank you for joining us today, Sera. I wish you all the best in your future endeavors. I loved all three of the Navarro books and am looking forward to your new series in 2025.

Readers, have you read any of Sera's books yet?

Tell us what book you're currently reading or most looking forward to reading?

Are you an adventurous cook? What types of dishes do you most enjoy making?

One randomly chosen person who posts a comment before 11:00 PM, December 19 will receive a signed print copy of book one in Sera's Navarros series, A Delicious Dilemma. 

*U.S. only

*Must be 18