Author Eva Rokk recalled feeling restless at home while expecting her first son. Driven by a desire to stay productive, she decided to write a story, despite having no prior writing experience.
“I couldn’t help but feel a bit useless at home. Maternity leave in Germany is two years, and I felt I had so much free time, what am I going to do?
“I needed to do something other than napping. So, I thought I’d pick up writing as a hobby,” Rokk, 34, told FMT Lifestyle.
Born in Kuala Lumpur, Rokk left the country to study at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology when she was 18, moving to Dusseldorf, Germany in 2016, where she married her German husband five years later.
Write what you know, as the saying goes, and Rokk ended up writing about crazy romance experiences her close-knit group of gal pals shared with her back in Australia.
Soon, she had gathered enough material for one very long story, which she split into two parts. After receiving the thumbs up from her friends, Rokk decided to self-publish, and her debut novel, “Definitely You: Part One” soon hit the bookstands.
The captivating romance tells the story of Nathiya, a freshly dumped and newly single woman in Melbourne. Alongside her feisty ride-or-die best friend Noa, she valiantly goes out looking for love, only to encounter a bevy of “man-children, mixed signals and modern-day Pinocchios”.
“Many guys in romance novels are portrayed as too good to be true. But that’s not always the truth of modern dating.
“Nathiya and Noa encounter their share of creeps through the book, and grow as they deal with them,” said Rokk, a passionate fan of old-school romance authors such as Julia Quinn, Sophie Kinsella and Nicholas Sparks.
“Many of the encounters in the book really happened. Some of them are slightly exaggerated, but they reflect things that women face when dating, especially in cities like Melbourne.”
Eagle-eyed readers may notice that Nathiya, as depicted on the book’s front cover, bears quite a striking resemblance to the author.
And indeed, Rokk said her protagonist is largely based on herself, save a few differences: for example, while Nathiya comes from a strict, highly cultural background, Rokk described her parents as “the most liberal in the world”.
Occasionally spicy, consistently hilarious, Rokk’s book completely captures how upside down the modern dating scene can be.
Readers will find themselves either nodding in recognition or shaking their heads in disbelief at the trials Nathiya endures in this whimsical 390-page romp.
“I tried to make it very conversational. I wanted readers to have the feeling that the author was sitting right next to them on the sofa, telling them the story directly,” she revealed.
Rokk is currently pregnant with her second son: she is also working on “Definitely You, Part Two”, which should arrive sometime next year. Hopefully before the baby comes, she said.
Her dream is to ultimately become a stay-home writer, comfortably penning columns over coffee.
According to her, the sequel focuses on Nathiya’s growth, and her realisation of the importance of self-love. Some elements in the book will be based on Rokk’s own relationship with her husband, she hinted.
The author said her book is a fun, humorous read perfect for anyone who wants to relax.
“I hope readers see themselves in the characters, and they come across as likeable and real. And if readers ever go through similar situations as them, I hope they take faith that it eventually does get better,” she said.
“While there’s a lot of romance, the book also focuses on a lot of friendship. I hope they will look at Nathiya and Noa and think, ‘wow, I wish I had a best friend like that’.”
‘Definitely You, Part One’ by Eva Rokk can be purchased from Bookalicious and Shopee.