Author Nana Malone figures she was the only 9-year-old with her own, complete collection of Agatha Christie’s books — meaning she was always reading, anything and everything she could get her hands on.
“I loved paranormal stories. Memoirs. I was really nosy about people, so I wanted to know about their lives…If someone left something lying around, I would read it,” she says. “Once I discovered romance, there was no stopping me. It became my favorite genre.”
She says she used to spend her allowance on hardcover books and loved love stories, the enemies-to-lovers trajectory of the main characters, and the grand gestures. All of that was as a reader. As a writer? It wasn’t until she read Helen Fielding’s massively popular “Bridget Jones’s Diary” that she was inspired to begin writing the kinds of love stories she had always wanted to read herself — with heroines who looked like her and had these big, beautiful, consuming love stories, too. Her latest contribution is “Gold Coast Dilemma,” featuring Ofosua Addo, a Ghanaian heiress who works in publishing and initially hits it off with the hot, young successor to the company she works for — until they become adversaries.
Malone, 47, lives in La Mesa with her husband, Erik, and their daughter, Siaki. Malone was born in New York, grew up in Ghana, and moved back and forth between Ghana and the U.S. until attending college at Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania. She took some time to talk about how her upbringing has influenced her writing, and writing “stories full of heart, heat, heritage, and heroines who refuse to shrink.”
Q: Congratulations on the release of “Gold Coast Dilemma.” You’re a prolific romance writer with books about bodyguards, billionaires, royalty, or spies dating back to at least 2010 (is that correct?). First, can you talk about what inspired this story in “Gold Coast Dilemma”?
A: I sold my first book in 2010! “Gold Coast Dilemma” was born from my desire to spotlight the opulence, complexity, and vibrancy of Ghanaian culture, especially the aspects often overlooked in mainstream narratives. Growing up, I noticed that stories about Africans frequently centered on struggle or hardship, which didn’t reflect the multifaceted experiences I knew firsthand. I wanted to tell a story that celebrated the richness of Ghanaian heritage, the intricacies of family dynamics, and the challenges of balancing tradition with modern love.
Q: This story has a sharp wit, steamy moments, deals with professional success and family conflict, and also balances differences in culture—not just in an interracial relationship, but also differences in culture for Black folks who are from countries in Africa (or raised in the culture of that country) and those with generational history and upbringing in the U.S. What compelled you to get into those differences in this story? What did you feel it would help readers understand about the characters?
A: For this story, I wanted to highlight that while there are so many universal experiences for people of the African Diaspora, culture isn’t monolithic. The experience of someone raised with Ghanaian traditions versus someone whose family has been in America for generations creates fascinating dynamics and misunderstandings. I wanted readers to feel that richness, to understand that there are beautiful complexities within the Black experience that deserve spotlight.
I wanted readers to understand that my characters aren’t just navigating romance, they’re navigating identity. Especially for Ofosua, it’s about showing a woman who deeply loves her Ghanaian heritage yet struggles with its constraints. I needed readers to feel her internal battle between honoring traditions and forging her own path.
What I love about La Mesa…
The weather can’t be beat. And the all-romance bookshop, The Meet Cute.
Q: You also deftly address issues of tokenism, microaggressions, and having a Black female character who is smart, attractive, wealthier than a lot of the people around her (Black or not), but still has to navigate the idea of “strength” that is so often expected of Black women in situations where we really should just be able to have whatever emotions arise that are true to individual personalities. Can you talk about your approach to including these issues within a romance novel and figuring out how to strike the right balance for the overall tone you wanted to take with the book?
A: I think romance stories can do a lot of heavy lifting without looking like they are doing work. They can communicate so much within the confines of a love story. I love a happily ever after. Romance is cake—it’s sweet and delicious and everybody loves it, but I’ve layered in some things that are good for you, too. I’ve enriched the batter with some vitamins. When it comes to addressing what Ofos deals with in the workplace, I approached it like folding ingredients into my cake mix. These issues are part of my character’s reality, but they don’t overwhelm the sweetness of the love story. They are a reality that I know well. I wanted to highlight that while she had the privilege of wealth and beauty and brains, it still didn’t shield her. Ofosua is all of those things and still human, still vulnerable, still figuring things out. The myth that successful Black women have to be strong all the time is exhausting and it’s not realistic. We need . We have anxiety. We get overwhelmed. And, we deserve love stories that acknowledge all of that. At the end of the day, I’m serving up joy, but it’s joy that doesn’t require my characters to ignore parts of their identity or experience. It’s joy that comes from being fully seen, fully accepted, and fully loved—cultural complications and all.
Q: Without giving too much of the story away, I appreciated seeing Ofosua contend with not being seen as “angry” in the workplace when there are instances that legitimately call for anger; have moments of gently providing explanations to counter people’s ignorance and other moments of choosing her own peace and refusing to take on that labor; or figuring out how to advocate for herself and what she wants despite the ideas around tradition that she’s pressured with. I don’t recall seeing this often in stories that center Black women; why was it important to you to tell these parts of her story in this way?
A: I mean, simply put, it’s the reality of the character and of so many women that I know. I wanted Ofosua to be allowed to feel everything: rage, exhaustion, joy, ambition, tenderness-and not be flattened into a stereotype. The “angry Black woman” trope is so insidious that it often forces us to self-censor, to shrink, to smile through disrespect just to be considered “palatable.” What happens when a woman decides she won’t perform anymore? When she lets herself be-unapologetically? That’s what I wanted to explore with her. Ofosua walks a tightrope that so many Black women recognize-between honoring her culture and forging her own path, between correcting ignorance and protecting her peace. Showing her choose when to speak, how to advocate, and when to let things go wasn’t just about realism, it was about agency. These are not ive choices. They’re acts of resistance, of self-love, and of strategic survival.
Q: Your website says that your love of romance stories started when you were 13 and got your hands on a copy of a “tattered romantic suspense” you borrowed from a cousin and began reading on a summer afternoon in Ghana. What do you recall about that experience that led you to seek out more love stories, and to go on to write them yourself?
A: It all started with a Greek shipping tycoon romance. When you grow up with strict African parents, romance is strictly on the no-go list. My version of “the talk” was my mother saying, “Nana, boys pounce.” That was it. No follow-up. Just vibes and warnings. So, when I stumbled across that that first book, thanks to a cousin with a gift for sneaking in the good stuff, it felt like I’d unearthed treasure. The drama, the ion, the tension—I was instantly obsessed. That book cracked something open in me. It made me feel seen in ways I hadn’t known I needed, even though the characters didn’t look like me.
I’ve always been fascinated by relationships—why this person and not that one? What makes two people click? Why do we risk our hearts at all? Romance gave me a way to explore all of that through story. It wasn’t until I read “Bridget Jones’s Diary” that I even thought about becoming a writer. That book changed everything. Reading “Bridget Jones” was the first time I saw a character’s voice that felt like me. The humor, the messiness, the way she talked about life and love—it sounded like conversations I had with my friends. It was raw and funny and honest, and I thinking, ‘Wait. You’re allowed to write like this?’ That’s when the idea clicked: maybe I could write stories, ones where women like me were front and center. Where we get to be messy and magnetic and powerful and soft. Where we fall hard, find our voice, and claim our happy endings. That first romance novel planted the seed. “Bridget Jones” gave me the blueprint and now I write stories full of heart, heat, heritage, and heroines who refuse to shrink.
Q: Can you talk a bit about how and where you grew up? And, what kind of influence did that have on your pursuit of a writing career and the kinds of stories you wanted to tell?
A: I was born in New York, but before I could crawl, my parents moved us to Ghana. So, I really grew up in Accra, this vibrant, electric, fast-paced city where culture, community, and chaos all collided in the best ways. I also spent part of my childhood in Cape Coast, which had its own kind of magic-slower pace, coastal breeze, and history steeped into every street. My father actually started the computer science department at the University of Lagon, so education and innovation were always in the air around me.
That mix-city life in Accra, the academic influence in Cape Coast, and the back-and-forth between Ghana and the U.S.-shaped everything. It gave me a strong sense of identity, pride in my roots, and also this layered lens through which I saw the world. Then, we moved to Massachusetts when I was 6, later to Maryland, and back and forth again until I went off to college at Carnegie Mellon.
All of that movement-between countries, cultures, accents, expectations-made me deeply observant. I was fascinated by relationships and what makes them tick. That curiosity naturally evolved into storytelling, even before I had the courage to call myself a writer.
Q: What kinds of books/stories do you find yourself drawn to now? Who and what are you currently reading, and what is it that you enjoy about these stories?
A: What can I say, I have always and will always be a sucker for a good love story. I do dabble in a thriller or memoir every now and again, but I always come back. I just finished Ana Huang’s “King of Envy” and I’m eagerly waiting for “Bitter Burn” from Sierra Simone and “Can’t Get Enough” by Kennedy Ryan.
Q: What is the best advice you’ve ever received?
A: It’s okay if people don’t like you, not everyone has good taste.
Q: What is one thing people would be surprised to find out about you?
A: That I have modeled for book covers before, including my own.
Q: Please describe your ideal San Diego weekend.
A: Grabbing brunch with the family, then walking down to The Meet Cute bookstore and finding a cozy place to read.
