Edited and improved by the Galatea team.
Reposted from Inkitt.com.
Nathalie Pauline Hooker Francis, known to readers as Nathalie Hooker, originates from San Andres, a small island in the Caribbean belonging to Colombia. Growing up in a family of artists, she chose writing as her creative outlet. Despite her demanding job as a consultant for Claro Mobile Services and the responsibilities of being a mother to a four-year-old, Nathalie dedicates her spare time to writing.
Her efforts have paid off, as her book Hated by My Mate has become a beloved favorite on Galatea. We are happy to publish an updated interview with Nathalie Hooker.
Q: Welcome, Nathalie! I’m interested to learn about your family of artists. Can you tell us more?
Nathalie: My great aunt and godmother, Maria Cecilia Francis Hall, is a renowned composer. She wrote the anthem for our island, Beautiful San Andres. My mother, Cecilia Francis Williams, is also a singer. Additionally, she does a lot of painting and crafting with materials found around our island. My two older sisters also draw, and my younger brother draws manga comics and is a great violinist.
Q: That’s a lot of talent in one family! Your art is the written word, but do you draw or sing as well?
Nathalie: As a high school student, I loved to draw comics in manga style, and I spent a lot of my youth making adventure stories. Since I became an adult, I haven’t had time to draw anymore so I took up writing my stories instead.
I started writing Hated by My Mate as a means of distraction when my baby girl was ill and we had to spend a month in the hospital. To get my mind off of her illness, I wrote.
Q: Hated by My Mate is the book that captured our audience’s attention and put you on Inkitt’s radar. How did you first hear about Inkitt, and what was it like when you got ‘the call’ from Inkitt’s publishing team?
Nathalie: My eldest niece introduced me to the Inkitt app. She said young writers were publishing great stories on the platform, so I started reading a few of them. Eventually, I uploaded some of my work.
I didn’t expect Hated by My Mate to have so much engagement from people worldwide. When I got contacted by Leah Hinton from the Inkitt Team, and she said it had best-seller potential, I was in shock, to say the least. I can’t tell you how excited I was about this!
Q: Are you planning to continue the series?
Nathalie: Yes, I am currently working on the second book of the Hated series, and planning on a third book since I planned to make the story into a trilogy from the beginning.
Q: That’s good news! I’m sure your readers will be thrilled to hear this. Before we go, can you tell your fans three non-writing-related things about you that they might not find in your official bio?
Nathalie: Before I became a mother, I was a flight attendant for Avianca Airlines. I’m also really good at training dogs. Back when the pandemic situation began and we started lockdown, I learned to bake bread and rolls and started selling them around the island to have a steady income.
Q: I think many of us baked, and ate, a lot of bread during the pandemic! Thanks so much, Nathalie, and best of luck with your writing.
Here’s a teaser from Hated by My Mate…
An Alpha and an Omega mated by the Moon Goddess. Will things work out or will they drift apart and go against the Goddess’ will?
Aurora
“Happy Birthday Aurora!!” I heard everyone shout at me as a beautiful cake littered with eighteen candles was placed before me.
“Oh my God! Guys! You shouldn’t have…!” I said as I looked at the cake in awe.
“Oh, c’mon Rory! It’s not every day you turn eighteen.” One of the cooks said.
“Yeah, pretty soon you’ll hear your wolf, be able to transform into it aaaaaand,” Mrs. Kala dragged on as she looked at everyone. “Find your mate!!”
I rolled my eyes at the last statement as they all laughed.
After we ate some cake, we all headed back out to the hall to continue with our work when suddenly I heard a strange voice in my head.
‘Hi Aurora…’ It was faint but clear as the day. It was my wolf. She had awoken at last.
‘Um… Hello?’ I tried to talk back to her. She giggled. And that’s when she came into view. Her fur was white as snow and her eyes were purple.
‘It’s a pleasure to meet you Aurora. I am your wolf… Rhea.’ She said as she sat there staring at me.
‘The pleasure is all mine, Rhea’ I replied. ‘I hope we can get alo…’ My words were cut short when a delicious scent filled my nostrils. The scent were a mixture of wild pine, almonds and amber. It was captivating, almost as if it was pulling me.
I noticed that Rhea caught a whiff of it also since she had her nose high in the sky sniffing, when all of a sudden, she said the word that shocked me to the core.
‘Our mate is here. I can smell him.’
Wolfgang
“I said get of…” I was cut off when a heavenly scent soared through my nostrils. I pushed Max off me as I tried to sniff around the air for the source.
“What the… Hey!” Max started to whine but I cut him off.
“Do you smell that?” I asked him.
“Smell what?” asked Tallulah who I had completely forgotten was even there.
“Huh?” Max sniffed the air. “I don’t know exactly what I’m supposed to smell dude.” He said with a shrugged. I ignored him as I continued sniffing the air. It smell so sweet and delicate, like vanilla and marshmallows.
Suddenly my wolf was up howling like crazy in my head. He jumped and ran side to side as he too sniffed the air.
‘Mate… I can smell her. I smell my mate.’ Cronnos said from within my mind.
I stood frozen to my spot. This could not be happening. I haven’t found my mate in eight years. Why now?
“Wolfgang? Are you okay?” Tallulah asked.
“Yeah dude. You turned really pale. Are you alright?” Max inquired.
“Uh… Yeah. I’m okay.” I said, still stuck to the scent.
‘Our mate is finally here kid. Find her! I can smell her!’ Cronnos shouted making me snap out of my trance.
“I… Gotta use the restroom. Excuse me.” I said as I walked away from Max and Tallulah. I had to find her. It was as if the scent pulled me.
I walked amongst the guest, not really acknowledging any of them. All that was on my mind was finding her, aside from Cronnos constant shout about it being our mate.
I kept walking until my hand instinctively grabbed a small soft hand. I looked up and came face to face with none other than the gray eyed maid I saw earlier.
“Mate…” we both said at the same time.
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