Patricia Leavy returns to the Spotlight to chat about her latest romance novel
Author Name: Patricia Leavy
Book Title: Cinematic Destinies
Book Genre: Romance
Release Date: 9/2/25
Publisher: She Writes Press
Welcome back, Patricia! Please tell us about your latest book.
Cinematic Destinies is a celebration of love, art, and what it means to live. It’s a romantic ode to this glorious, messy, tragic, fleeting, magical, beautiful thing we call life.
What inspired the idea for this novel?
My favorite movie of all time is Cinema Paradiso. It’s an Italian film that came out in 1988. It’s about love, friendship, and the magic of the movies. The ending gives me all the feelings. I literally can’t watch it without happy tears that last for hours, days, sometimes weeks. To me, it’s so beautiful and really taps into something about love, art, and life. So, my entire adult life I’ve wanted to write a book that makes me feel the way that movie makes me feel. Cinematic Destines is that book. The pandemic proved to be the time. It started during the lockdown when like others, I was stuck at home bored and filled with existential doom. I wanted to escape to someplace joyful, romantic, and creative. Someplace affectionate where you could hug and kiss people without fear of killing them. Due to the pandemic, I was thinking about the big questions of life, and so I decided to write a novel following a group making a film about the meaning of life and living together in seclusion. Given the topic of the film, Ella, the protagonist, is a philosopher. When Ella arrives on set in Sweden Hollywood star Finn Forrester is instantly enchanted by her and a romance ensues. That book is called The Location Shoot. I loved writing it so much that I decided to continue with the characters and it became a trilogy. Each book in the trilogy inspired the next. The second book, After the Red Carpet, sees Ella and Finn building a life together and starting a family in the shadow of Hollywood. I wanted to explore the lives of those three children when they were grown up. How would the public fascination with their parents’ love story affect them and their love stories? Ella was always fascinated by what love might look like and feel like over a lifetime, so I also wanted to know how that unfolded for her and Finn. Finally, what ever happened to Jean, the filmmaker that brought them all together in the first place? What does it mean to create art for a lifetime? How might one look back? All these questions inspired Cinematic Destinies, my personal favorite in the trilogy. When I wrote the last few chapters, I cried happy tears. When my best friend read it, she did too. I told my husband that I had finally done it—written a novel that made me feel like Cinema Paradiso. We even made the book cover blue because the poster for that film has blue.
How has your real life (day job, hobbies, etc.) informed your books (or latest release)?
I’m obsessed with art—all the arts. I have a doctorate degree in sociology. I published many nonfiction books before becoming a novelist. My most well-known nonfiction book is called Method Meets Art. It’s in its third edition and has been translated into many languages. It’s about how researchers in any field can use the arts in their work. Every novel I’ve ever written has an arts narrative in it. Sometimes it’s subtle, sometimes very explicit, but it’s always there. This is definitely the case with the Red Carpet Romances and especially Cinematic Destinies. There’s a real celebration of the arts, and film in particular (I’m a total film junkie in my spare time). Sometimes readers pay me the lovely compliment of saying my novels have a cinematic quality. I think it’s because I love films so much so that’s influenced how my mind works.
In what ways do you think you’ve evolved as an author over the course of your career so far?
I’m a lot more relaxed. I used to put an unbelievable amount of pressure on myself for each release. If something went wrong, which was usually out of my control, it would cause massive amounts of stress, disappointment, and all the bad feelings. These days, I don’t stress. I’m definitely a Type A person. I still work really hard and plan things out. But now not only do I not freak out when something doesn’t go well, I expect it. So, I do what I can and roll with what I can’t control. I’ve been an author for about 25 years and my career has shown me very clearly that book releases are not the be all and end all. Books can have a long shelf life and often gain legs over time. My most successful books typically were not that successful right out of the gate. So now I’m focused on the long game. It’s made my life much better.
What’s your favorite part about writing/being an author? What do you find challenging?
I love writing more than anything else in the entire world. I write every single day no matter what. It’s my passion. Being an author is a job. It’s the thing I need to do in order to get to do the thing I love.
What’s capturing your imagination these days outside of reading and writing?
Travel. My dog, Daisy, died in February 2025. She was the center of my world and the heart of our house. It’s been a massive loss. My husband and I decided the only way to find a silver lining was to travel as much as possible, something we could not do on a whim when we had our beloved Daisy. We started right away. Daisy passed on a Monday and that Friday we went on a spontaneous trip, cashing in points at various hotel chains to do it. I cried the whole time we were gone, but it was better than crying at home without her there. Ever since, we’ve been traveling nearly nonstop. I’m doing this interview from Copenhagen and in a few days, I’ll be in Stockholm. Traveling is always inspiring, so I’ve been writing so much.
Can you tell us about what you’re working on now?
I have a nonfiction book, part memoir part guidebook, called The Artist Academic coming out October 6. It’s the first book I’ve written of this kind, and I’m excited to share it. For years people have asked me how I merged an academic career and one in the arts, and how I ultimately transitioned from nonfiction author to novelist. This book is my answer. I have lots of fiction on the horizon too. My next novel comes out March 24 and it’s called Twinkle of Doubt. It’s the second book in a big series I’ve written called The Celestial Bodies Romances which follows the healing love story of a novelist and federal agent. For people interested in the series, the lead title Shooting Stars Above is available everywhere books are sold. There are many other novels done and ready to be rolled out, but I’m keeping them under wraps for now. I promise more romances and a few surprises.
Where can readers find you?
Website: www.patricialeavy.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WomenWhoWrite/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/patricialeavy
X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/PatriciaLeavy
Simon & Schuster: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Cinematic-Destinies/Patricia-Leavy/A-Red-Carpet-Romance/9781647429485
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Cinematic-Destinies-Novel-Carpet-Romance/dp/164742948X
Thank you, Patricia! Cinematic Destinies is out NOW.
Cinematic Destinies
For fans of Tessa Bailey and Hannah Grace, Cinematic Destinies is a feel-good, contemporary romance about a trio of adult children searching for love and beauty in the shadow of their parents’ legendary Hollywood fairy-tale romance.
Legendary actor Finn Forrester and his wife philosopher Ella Sinclair Forrester met on the location shoot for Jean Mercier’s film Celebration. The world has been captivated by their fairy-tale romance since Finn famously proposed on the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival. As the couple now prepares to celebrate their thirtieth wedding anniversary, they wonder if their children will ever find love.
Eldest daughter Betty is excelling in a medical residency program in New York City—and has convinced herself that distancing herself from emotions is the path to success. Youngest son Albert, a recent college graduate, is trying to find his footing in Boston as he struggles with his identity. Free-spirited Georgia, her mother’s spitting image and an actress following in her father’s footsteps, has been cast in Jean Mercier’s final film, mysteriously titled Beauty. When she arrives on set in Iceland and meets her costar, sparks fly. Is history repeating itself? How has growing up in the shadow of the world’s most iconic love story affected each of the Forrester children?
In this highly anticipated conclusion to The Location Shoot and After the Red Carpet, we see how Finn, Ella, and their children fulfill their cinematic destinies.
Author Bio:
Patricia Leavy, PhD is a novelist, sociologist, and arts advocate (formerly Associate Professor of Sociology, Founding Director of Gender Studies and Chairperson of Sociology & Criminology at Stonehill College). She is widely considered the world’s most visible proponent of arts-based research, which merges the arts and sciences. Patricia has published over 50 books, nonfiction and fiction, and her work has been translated into numerous languages. She has received over 100 book awards. She has also received career awards from the New England Sociological Association, the American Creativity Association, the American Educational Research Association, the International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry, and the National Art Education Association. In 2016 Mogul, a global women’s empowerment network, named her an “Influencer.” In 2018, she was honored by the National Women’s Hall of Fame and the State University of New York at New Paltz established the “Patricia Leavy Award for Art and Social Justice.” In 2024 the London Arts-Based Research Centre established “The Patricia Leavy Award for Arts-Based Research.” In recent years, her passion has turned to penning romance novels. For more information, please visit her website.