Steamy Romance Meets Political Upheaval: Why This Genre Mashup Works with Author Deborah J Brasket

About this episode

Teri M Brown interviews Deborah J Brasket about her novel 'This Sea Within' and the intersection of steamy romance and political upheaval.

My guest today on the Online for Authors podcast is Deborah J Brasket, author of the book This Sea Within. Deborah Brasket spent six years sailing around the world with her husband and children. When she returned home to the Central Coast, she taught English at Allan Hancock and Cuesta colleges before joining SBCAN. After retirement, she settled among the golden hills and vineyards of Paso Robles to write the kinds of novels she loves to read. When Things Go Missing was published in September 2025. Her second novel This Sea Within will be published in June 2026. In my book review, I stated This Sea Within is a political thriller by Deborah J Brasket. We quickly meet Lena, a young woman on the brink of discovering who she truly wants to be. However, her mother's absence, and Lena's anger on the subject, have gotten in the way. So, she decides to go to San Balanque, her mother's homeland, to figure out the parts of her she's missing. If only life were that simple. Instead of a few simple lessons about her heritage, Lena soon learns of an underground revolution trying to overthrow the cruel dictator - and the activist in her wants to know more. When she meets Raoul, the leader of…

People in this episode

Host: Teri M Brown

Guest: Deborah J Brasket

Topics covered

• steamy romance
• political thriller
• genre mashup
• character development
• activism

Keywords

• steamy romance
• political thriller
• Deborah J Brasket
• This Sea Within
• character Lena
• activism
• Aguileros

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Aguileros

Books & works: This Sea Within, When Things Go Missing

Places: San Balanque

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