Fat Meet Cutes
An interview with author Leonor Soliz
Today, I have the amazing privilege to share an interview with one of my favorite authors, Leonor Soliz. She has written over 10 books (all of which I have voraciously read—some multiple times!) and includes diversity, progressive themes, and plus-size female main characters (FMCs)!
1. How do you identify? For example, I’m a fat and disabled, white Latina cis woman. My pronouns are she/her.
I am a fat, racialized, white-presenting Latina immigrant and a cis woman in a straight-presenting monogamous relationship. My pronouns are she/her.
2. Tell us a little about yourself!
I was born and raised in Chile. I moved to Canada more than a decade ago for love! While I’m a therapist for my day job, I’ve been writing Meet Cutes since I was eight years old. Love stories have always been important to me, and I wrote many unfinished novels and tens of short stories.
It wasn’t until the start of 2022 that something clicked and I realized I could actually publish my stories and be an author. My debut came out in November 2022 and, three years later, I feel like I just began.
3. What drew you to writing spicy Happily Ever Afters?
I have always loved romance. It was always my favorite part of any story! Due to cultural reasons back home, I didn’t know Romance was a genre until I came to Canada. Once I found books about falling in love and intimacy that guaranteed a happily ever after, I never looked back.
In a similar manner, every story I ever wrote was Romance-- even when I didn’t know it. When I realized I could publish my writing as an author, writing spicy HEAs was as natural as breathing. It’s what I’ve always known and loved!
4. Ethical billionaires, huh? How’d you decide to go with that route for one of your series?
The honest answer to this is that, at the time, I was experimenting with finding a niche for my stories. I had learned that to have visibility in the sea of options, finding a smaller corner of the Romance genre could be a good idea. That’s how I landed in the Billionaire Romance world.
At the same time, I’ve always wanted to write stories that made sense to me. I only want to write stories that feel authentic to who I am! That’s why I knew I needed to make my billionaires ethical. While I don’t believe ethical billionaires exist in the real world, having wealthy characters allowed me to explore the fantasy of endless access, security, and freedom. The world is your oyster if you don’t have to worry about paying the bills at the end of the month! But I also knew I wanted to explore the interaction between that and privilege, social responsibilities, and ethical use of power.
5. Did you start writing your own meet cutes in order to see yourself in the genre?
Even though I didn’t start writing with that in mind, it was a beautiful discovery as I wrote books to be published. Writing Latina, racialized, big-bodied FMCs came naturally to me. Words appeared on the page without me planning them!
One day, while writing my second book, I wrote the FMC, Ely, wearing a bikini and walking confidently toward Alex, the hero. I described “little earthquakes all over her body” as she moved. I felt such joy-- something akin to body euphoria-- writing that, that I knew right then I would forever write characters like her. Like me.
6. How does your “everyday life” inform your writing?
Being a therapist can take a toll on your soul. At least, it does for me. As rewarding as it is, burnout is a real threat. Especially when you’re aware of moral injuries, and you realize that there’s little you can do to change the world to be safer and more fair to everyone.
That’s where my books come in. In my stories, I get to create a world I would love to live in. Happily ever afters are guaranteed in Romance, where they’re not for myself or my clients.
7. It’s so empowering to see women more like me in books with romance and spice. Have your readers responded to that?
I think a large part of my readers gave my books a try because they hoped to see themselves in a Romance. In all honesty, I think there’s a subsection of my readers who have stayed because of it! Even when they may not usually gravitate to slow burn, feel-good stories.
Beyond that, I have a few experiences that tell me, yes, they can matter to people. From DMs to opportunities like this one, to people tearing up when they meet me (it really happened and I will never forget), I think there are readers who see something valuable to them in my books.
This is incredibly important to me. My books are authentic and represent big pieces of me. There’s a lot of vulnerability in sharing myself like this in public through my books and my presence. When someone sees themselves in my stories, they see parts of me too and resonate with that. It helps me feel less alone.
8. What do you want your readers to take away from your books?
I want my readers to come to my books knowing I will handle their heart with care. I want them to come to rest, knowing they will swoon, cry for the MCs to finally confess their feelings, fan themselves with the spice, and know they can ask all of that for themselves, too. My books will hopefully show them a way of being loved they get to have, and a love they wish they can live in, too. Maybe with that as a vision, we’ll be able to make it happen.
9. Anything else you want to share with my subscribers?
Thank you so much for giving me the chance to share a bit about me and my stories with you! If you loved what I had to say and are interested in books like mine, you can join my newsletter at leonorsoliz.com/newsletter - you’ll get three short stories as a gift if you do. You can follow me on social media, too! My most active profile is on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leonor.soliz/
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