Elizabeth O’Roark is a former medical writer (unsurprisingly, writing romance is much more fun than writing about pediatric heart surgery) and therapist. She has a couple of degrees that have proven completely useless, and now she lives in Washington, D.C., with her three kids. She has written 21 titles. Follow her on Facebook and Instagram.
In this interview, Elizabeth discusses the inspiration behind her new contemporary romance, Good At Being Alive, her hope for readers, and more.
Name: Elizabeth O’Roark
Literary agent: Kimberly Brower
Book title: Good At Being Alive
Publisher: Dell
Release date: June 16, 2026
Genre/category: Contemporary Romance
Previous titles: 22 previous titles, including the Favorites series, the Grumpy Devils series, and the Summer series
Elevator pitch: A party girl and a grumpy British CEO fake a dream European honeymoon for a reality TV show that could save their travel agency—and give them both a new lease on life (and love)—if only they’d take the chance.
What prompted you to write this book?
I’d read about this tragic car crash. I have no idea what led me to think, This could make a super cute rom-com.
How long did it take to go from idea to publication? And did the idea change during the process?
About two and a half years, during which I published six indies. So, the pace is very different.
The idea changed a lot. In the initial iteration, Bex has just lost three biological family members she adored, and Theo had lost someone in the same crash. A lot about that didn’t work. There wasn’t enough to draw Bex and Theo together, so I made him her dad’s business partner. I also couldn’t buy the idea of Bex recovering from so sweeping a loss, even a little bit, in a year’s time. I needed the relationships to be more complicated (and thus the evil stepmother). It ended up being my favorite aspect of the book—the ways Bex had contorted herself to keep this blended family together.
Were there any surprises or learning moments in the publishing process for this title?
The biggest surprise was that I’d expected the editing process to be really onerous. When you read about traditional books getting edited in fiction, it always looks as if it’ll be this major rewrite, and I was full of dread, but it wasn’t like that at all. I also thought I’d get a lot of “you can’t say that”, but they only asked me to cut one joke.
Were there any surprises in the writing process for this book?
I’d never intended this to be a sort of love letter to her stepsister. I feel like I discovered it slowly, just like Bex did—that in the end, the family member she’d really cared about, and who’d cared about her, was the one she wasn’t related to.
What do you hope readers will get out of your book?
I hope readers will see that it’s OK to grieve in your own way. There’s this expectation that you’ll be very sad, then get over it. But sometimes you feel OK, or you’re furious, and eight years later, you’re crying or resentful. I also think that some losses—parents, in particular— can be an opportunity to re-evaluate things. To ask how much of who you are was just a story they told about you, one you assumed was true, and if you still want to tell that story going forward.
If you could share one piece of advice with other writers, what would it be?
I’ve known a lot of writers who think there’s something unsavory about publishing independently and they sit on a book for years waiting for an agent to pick them up. As far as I know, those books all remain unpublished. If you need to cross a river, don’t sit on the shore for a decade waiting for a faster boat than the one you already have. You’re a million times more likely to get an agent or generate interest if you’re already selling, and that book that’s really special to you can still get picked up as a trad release down the road.
