KINGSTON, Jamaica — Author RD Hemley has officially published her first book dubbed ‘ICE: An Adventurous Jamaican Love Story’.

The paperback version of the novel was made available on Amazon and rdhemley.com on October 22.

“It’s definitely a morally grey type of romance. The plot follows two best friends while they move into adulthood trying to tackle their own personal growth while trying their hardest to figure out how to keep each other in their lives, or rather at what length to keep each other in their lives. The emotional rollercoaster rears its head often because they’re basically ‘yin and yang’. Regardless of what comes their way, they’ll always choose each other even when it doesn’t seem like it. Sprinkle in some crime and a dash of family trauma and plot twists, and that’s ICE,” Hemley told Observer Online.

Author RD Hemley (Photo contributed)

The writer is an alumna of Glenmuir High School and the University of the West Indies, Mona, where she completed a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics.

However, she always had a creative side — even launching her own clothing line called ‘Nire Era’.

Hemley added that writing was a passion of hers from as way back as she can remember.

“I’ve always wanted to write because I’m not much of a talker. My mom will tell you she’s found a few books that I shouldn’t have been writing at my age. I don’t want to sound boring but the inspiration definitely came from school. I remember winning an essay competition about the triangular slave trade when I was 10 or 11 years. My opponents were much older teens but I’d always tell myself, ‘just do it for fun’, and I think that win and that mantra is what inspires me not just with writing but in any other aspect of my life. Just do it, even for fun. With this specific book though, I was stuck at home last year for a few weeks and I couldn’t find any Jamaican romance books where the female lead was painted as the villain in the relationship from the jump, so I decided to write it,” she said.

Hemley also said she completed ICE in approximately 12 weeks while editing and other finishing touches took around three months.

She said that the feedback from readers has exceeded her expectations.

“The feedback has been better than I thought it would have been. Oh, my gosh! I don’t know why though, when my readers were the ones who basically bullied me into making it a hardcopy. They’re in love with the cover and a few have already expressed that they love the edited version much more,” she said.

— Kediesha Perry