After the glorious, angst-filled saga that was the Forbidden Hearts trilogy, Alisha Rai returns with The Right Swipe, a smart, warm-hearted rom-com starring a former football player and the tech CEO who captures his heart. We talked to Rai about her brilliantly ruthless heroine, incorporating the #MeToo movement and more.

Readers (myself included) fell in love with Rhiannon when she appeared in your last book, Hurts to Love You. What made you decide to make her your heroine in this book?
I loved crafting a character that was so many things: both vulnerable and cocky, dedicated to her family and also desperate for space from them. I knew she’d be my next heroine the second she showed up, and crafting a whole new series around a snarky dating app creator was probably the easiest thing I’ve ever done.

Rhiannon is unrepentantly dedicated to her business, to the point that she pushes through her hurt feelings to pursue a business relationship with Samson and, hopefully, his aunt. Her silent business partner, Katrina, worries that Rhiannon’s actions border on manipulation. I was delighted by this tension and conversation, as I realized I had only rarely seen a heroine act the way male billionaire characters have been acting for decades. Why do you think there’s still such a resistance to female characters whose actions aren’t perfectly altruistic?
Women in real life are rarely applauded for things like arrogance or ambition the way that men are. It makes sense that fictional women are treated the same. I love reading books where all characters are unrepentant about getting what they want and need (so long as they don’t hurt others), and I really think attitudes are shifting.

Samson and his fellow former athlete friends felt so real and so charming, and were very different from the tired stereotype of alpha male football players. Were they inspired by any real-life athletes?
No one in particular, but I’ve spent time around athletes, both pro and semi-pro, and I’ve met many who are equally charming! Every profession has all kinds of people.

Which dating app have you had the best experience on? And which was the worst?
When you’re on enough of them, you realize that pretty much the same people are on all of them, too, and I’ve had good and bad experiences on every app. I think Hinge is currently the most user-friendly for people looking for more than just a hookup. Your mileage may vary, of course.

Rhiannon’s complicated relationship with her mother, Sonya, felt extremely realistic—equal parts love and guilt, shaped by Sonya’s attempts to protect and guide her clearly brilliant daughter. Do you think their relationship improves for good after the events of this book? How do you think Sonya and Samson would get along?
I think so. And I believe Samson and Sonya would adore each other at first sight. He needs to be mothered and smothered a little.

Quite a few romance novels have been tackling #MeToo in the last few years, and without giving too much away, The Right Swipe is one of them. What did you hope to add to the conversation with this book?
I started writing The Right Swipe well before the #MeToo movement took off in earnest, but I did have to tweak it a bit in later drafts to make sure it fit into the global conversation. My hope is that readers empathize with Rhiannon’s internal struggle with her past and the choices she’s made to cope with the things that have happened to her, whether they agree with them or not. Too often decisions are seen as binary, and we don’t spend nearly enough time considering why people make the choices they do, the valid factors that go into it.

What’s next for you?
I’m currently writing Girl Gone Viral, the second book in the Modern Love series, featuring Rhiannon’s roommate Katrina and the bodyguard who has always loved her.

Author photo by M. Ladrigan

If you follow romance authors and reviewers on Twitter, you probably already know who Talia Hibbert is. The self-published British writer’s books frequently receive glowing, heart-eyes reviews and entire threads of rapturous praise. But with Get a Life, Chloe Brown, her first traditionally published title, Hibbert is about to ascend to a whole new level of literary stardom. We talked to Hibbert about her favorite tropes, the importance of empathy and why her latest bad boy hero was inspired by the coziest of seasons.

In Get a Life, Chloe Brown, Chloe and Redford are attracted to each other off the bat, despite all the ways in which they annoy each other. Is this one of your favorite tropes? And are there any other tropes you love but haven’t explored yet in your own writing?
An initial flare of chemistry accompanied by a personality clash is definitely one of my favorite tropes. I love the idea of an attraction so powerful it exists in spite of common sense. Plus, I find it funny when characters are frustrated with themselves—you know, like, “Why the hell are you attracted to this waste of oxygen? What is wrong with you?!”

I adore tropes in general, so I could happily spend the rest of my life exploring them all. In particular, marriage of convenience has been on my mind a lot. It’s more common in historical romance, but I recently read Jodie Slaughter’s White Whiskey Bargain, which does an amazing job of handling the trope in a contemporary setting. That gave me all kinds of thoughts!

"I love the idea of an attraction so powerful it exists in spite of common sense."

Out of all of your characters, whom do you identify with the most?
This is a tricky question because a sprinkle of myself goes into everything I write. At the minute, I identify very strongly with Chloe because we have similar experiences and lifestyles. She’s a computer nerd, I’m a book nerd, we’re both socially awkward and we both deal with chronic pain. But I also identify with Ruth from my book A Girl Like Her. Ruth is autistic, like me, and writing her perspective felt so familiar and comfortable. She’s also an antisocial comic book nerd, so I guess the real answer here is: I identify with any character who doesn’t leave the house. LOL.

Where did you draw from to create both Chloe and Red? Was there a specific moment or source of inspiration for either of them?
Chloe popped into my mind fully formed, probably as a result of my own experiences. I have fibromyalgia, Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome and some other annoying stuff. I had these aspects of chronic illness and chronic pain that I wanted to share with the world, and she appeared as the perfect star for that story.

Then I worked on creating Red. At first, I was trying to build Chloe an ideal hero, but he never turned out right. I didn’t get anywhere with him until I realized—I have to stop creating him for Chloe and simply create him for himself. That’s when his character really started to work. I wrote Redford in autumn, and I think the rich colors, harsh weather and cozy comforts of the season inspired his personality and backstory.

How much from your own life, if any, did you draw experiences from for Chloe?
I drew from my physical experiences when it came to crafting Chloe. Knowing firsthand the kind of pain she might face and the things she might not be able to do—that took out the guesswork. I just had to think “Okay, if Chloe’s pain is at an eight right now, how is she going to interact with Red?” (Spoiler alert, the answer is: she’s going to give him a withering glare and hurry away.)

I also drew from my own life to create her family background. (Not the millionaire part, sadly, but the other stuff.) Chloe is from a Jamaican family, like my father. At the start of the book, she lives with her parents and grandparents, which is how we do things in my mother’s culture. It’s always fun, getting that on paper, because we can never have too much representation, right?

"I drew from my physical experiences when it came to crafting Chloe. Knowing firsthand the kind of pain she might face and the things she might not be able to do—that took out the guesswork."

Many of your books feature interracial couples. Can you talk a bit about the reception of that?
I started writing interracial romance because my partner is white, so I already had some idea how these stories might be received. I’ve had negative responses from neo-Nazis and eugenicists, but since they’re neo-Nazis and eugenicists, I can’t say I cared. On the other hand, I get positive responses for the wrong reasons—especially when I write black heroines with white heroes. People send me glowing emails about how the white hero allowed them to open their mind and appreciate the black heroine’s beauty. It’s like . . . thanks for letting me know you thought we were ugly last week, hope you’re proud of your superficial growth! LOL.

But on the whole, the reception is overwhelmingly positive—in a good way. At the end of the day, my readers are wonderful people who value diverse representation. I know they’ll be just as supportive when I publish more black romances, too, which is nice.

What are the differences, if any, in the reception of your work in the U.S. and in the U.K.?
My U.K. readers are just as supportive as my U.S. ones—but I have way more U.S. readers. Way more. I’m in more libraries and bookshops over there, too. Of course, that might be because most British bookshops are allergic to romance novels.

There are definite stylistic differences between U.S. and U.K. romance. Like May Sage and Charlotte Stein, I’m a British author who writes U.S.-influenced genre romance, and that could be why my books get more attention in the U.S. than they do at home. It might also have something to do with my backlist being self-published. I think U.S. readers and booksellers are more open to that than U.K. ones are. So we’ll have to see what happens with Get a Life, Chloe Brown, which is my first traditionally published book.

Either way, I’m eternally grateful that North American readers offer me so much support, because without them I might not have a job. So, thanks guys. Please keep that up. No pressure.

Do you have a particularly favorite scene in any of your books?
There’s a scene in Get a Life, Chloe Brown that might be my favorite of all time. I don’t want to spoil it, so I’ll just say that it’s the first cat scene, and I absolutely love it. Aside from that, I always think back to a scene in my book The Princess Trap where the hero is explaining something to the heroine, while the heroine calmly considers the logistics of throwing an ornament at his head.

Chloe’s grandmother, Gigi, is such a fun character. What inspired her character and what was your favorite thing about writing her?
When I was growing up, my paternal grandmother and maternal great-grandmother were close friends. They were both super glamorous, both had backgrounds in fashion design, both experienced being working single mothers—and they loved to party. Gigi is a combination of them, from her style and shameless attitude, to her constant support and creative endearments. I love that she’s a wildcard who doesn’t fit ageist, sexist ideas of how a grandmother should behave. I also love her subtle, stealthy manner of caring for her granddaughters. She’s secretly a ferocious mama bear, but she hides it so cleverly, no one really notices.

What does a normal day of writing look like for you?
When I’m in the process of writing a book, the characters completely hijack my brain. I can’t do anything without them offering helpful story suggestions, which I then have to write down on whatever’s closest. So as soon as I wake up, ideas start flowing. I usually stay in bed for a while and make notes on my phone. Actually, I’ve written whole scenes on my phone before even getting up to brush my teeth, which is always nice.

Once I’m done, I’ll get up, get dressed, get some breakfast, maybe do some physical therapy. I used to skip all that and get straight to working, but now I’m practicing this whole “self-care” thing, so . . . appropriate nutrition it is!

I get to my desk around nine, and then I write, write, write. I don’t stop until lunch, which is usually one o’clock. I take an hour to cook and watch TV or do some reading. Then I go back to my desk. If I’ve already hit my word count for the day, I’ll do some admin stuff, then finish early. But if I’ve had a slow morning or there’s a scene I’m struggling with, I’ll write some more.

Have you always wanted to be a writer?
Yes! It’s literally my lifelong dream.

What part of this book was the hardest to write?
Red and Chloe have a major argument toward the end of the book, and my editor and I had to fiddle with it so much. I wanted both characters to be justifiably hurt, and to pull away from each other, but I didn’t want either of them to say or do anything too terrible. They’re soft! They’re sweet! They love each other! In the end, it was about digging deep into painful aspects of their past—which I hated, because I prefer everything to be all hearts and rainbows. But it had to be done.

What is the easiest thing about writing?
For me, it changes with every book. Sometimes the characters appear fully formed, sometimes plot points present themselves in an orderly fashion, sometimes the dialogue and description really flow. But only one thing can go well at a time. That’s the rule.

Can you define romance in your own words?
The romance genre is about respecting the power of emotion. Society brands emotion as inefficient or “feminine” (God forbid anything be feminine), but really, feelings are like water: They can heal, they can destroy, they can change the face of the earth. And they often do. Romance harnesses the power of emotion without shame, using it to transform characters and wrench visceral reactions from readers.

"Romance harnesses the power of emotion without shame, using it to transform characters and wrench visceral reactions from readers."

You portray mental health struggles in such a realistic way. How do you go about translating something like anxiety or lingering trauma to the page?
When I’m putting mental health on the page, I always come from a place of personal experience. But I haven’t experienced everything ever (obviously!) so if it’s a struggle that’s not my own, I start with research. Then, armed with understanding, I look for similar threads of experience in my life, and try to weave them together. Combining someone else’s truth with a ribbon of my own emotions helps me get it on paper.

I guess that’s a fancy, long-winded way of saying empathy. I just try to focus on empathy.

What does representation mean to you, especially in the romance genre?
Representation in romance means accepting, then celebrating, the fact that difference is normal. To do that, we have to carve out space for the voices of marginalized people, because underrepresentation can’t be fixed unless you actively do the work.

For example, publishing a few chronically ill heroines isn’t enough: We need countless books about chronically ill people, all from different authors, all with different conditions and backgrounds and tropes and heat levels, until they become as run-of-the-mill as books about healthy people. That’s representation.

What are ways that people can support more diverse romances?
Read them! Research like The Ripped Bodice’s annual diversity report shows that traditional publishers are not giving authors of color, for example, as much space to succeed as they give white authors. If we self-publish, we face higher production costs for things like cover images and promotional images that represent our characters. So if we’re given an opportunity, or we take a chance, and no one buys our books . . . we stop writing, because we’re busy working elsewhere to pay the bills.

Of course, it’s not readers’ responsibility to keep anyone in a job, and it’s also not as easy as saying, “Buy more of these books.” The real trouble is that diverse romance gets less support (from mainstream influencers, from publishers, from everyone!), and therefore fewer readers. You can change that by fighting their bias. If you follow websites like wocinromance.com, podcasts like The Turn On, blogs like Love in Panels—all resources with a commitment to inclusion—you’ll be exposed to more diverse content. And, once you’re aware of all these books that weren’t on your radar before, you’ll naturally read more of them. Because they’re amazing.

What’s the best piece of writing advice you’ve ever received?
I follow a lot of authors online, and the most common advice I see is to ignore writing advice that doesn’t resonate with you. I really love that, because it’s so easy to feel shamed or impostery if you don’t follow the same method as someone else. So I suppose this is communal advice: Do what works for you.

Consent is, of course, a requirement for sex and physical touch. Your characters show a deep understanding of this. Can you talk a bit about this?
When it comes to consent, society gaslights us all. From the media, to cultural perceptions, to the actual law, it’s always about dismissing the importance of consent. So, with my books, I like to do the opposite. My main characters treat consent as the bare minimum because that’s what good people should do. I suppose I’m adding my voice to a chorus that’s been shouting for a while: This is how things should be. Don’t listen to anyone else, don’t let them bullshit you. Anything less than this is wrong.

Is there anything you haven’t written about yet that you’d like to explore in future books?
So much! I love everything about romance with a burning, ’80s-clinch-cover passion. Every time I read something brilliant it’s like, “Oh my God, I need to write this. I need to play in this sandbox.” One thing that’s been on my mind recently is half-siblings. I have a lot of half-siblings and I think it’s a powerful and interesting relationship, something that would make a great theme or basis for a series. I’ve also been thinking about tropes around survival—like, love interests who go through something together, then have to deal with that survival bond and a romantic bond. Finally, I would love to write more paranormal romance. Everything, basically!

ALSO IN BOOKPAGE: Read our review of Get a Life, Chloe Brown.

Author photo by Ed Chappell.

Kate Clayborn’s Luck of the Draw series enchanted romance fans with its subtle mix of gentle humor and complicated, emotional love stories. With her print debut, Love Lettering, Clayborn casts a similar spell with an NYC-set romance that’s somehow both utterly magical and absolutely real. We talked to Clayborn about her hand-lettering heroine, why she only wrote from one character’s perspective and why it’s important to fight the right way.

When did you first become aware that being a hand-letterer was an actual job, and what led you to make your latest heroine one?
Well, first I should say, I’ve always been a little fascinated by handwriting and calligraphy, and my mom used to do quite a bit of calligraphy when I was growing up—I remember her addressing wedding invitations and doing some framed quotes for friends of hers. But a few years ago, I started bullet journaling, and anyone who has found their way down that internet rabbit hole knows that there are some amazingly talented people designing gorgeous planners. I keep mine pretty minimal (and tidy!), but I really loved watching people create such beautiful things that served such a practical purpose, and so that’s one of the things that inspired me. And because letters and words mean so much to me personally, something just clicked for me as a writer: What would it be like to tell a story about someone who tried to express herself through the letters and words that she designs, that she makes beautiful?

Extremely important question: What is your favorite font?
You must mean extremely excellent question! So, this answer is going to seem very on the nose for anyone who has read the book, but it’s true. When I’m at my day job, I prefer a sans serif font (I don’t even mind Helvetica!). But when I’m writing, it’s usually one of two serifs—Georgia or sometimes Palatino.

"I don’t know what other people’s experience of creative burnout is, but when I’m stuck it feels so desperately isolating."

When the story starts, Meg is in the middle of a wicked bout of creative burnout. Have you experienced something similar, and do you have any strategies to overcome it?
I certainly have—and I deeply envy any artist who hasn’t! But the truth is, writing about creative block in Love Lettering was really personal, and often very difficult for me. I don’t know what other people’s experience of creative burnout is, but when I’m stuck it really feels so desperately isolating, and of course Meg too experiences isolation in a very particular way at the start of the book. As for overcoming it, I certainly think it helps when I reach out to writer friends who know what it’s like. But also, some really basic stuff that is all too easy to forget when I’m in the thick of a block or burnout: making sure I sleep and eat well/enough, making sure I get outside, making sure I give myself time to read and watch things I love, making sure I spend time with people I love.

Why did you choose to write only from Meg’s perspective, and did that choice change the story at all for you?
This is the first time I’ve written only in one character’s point of view, and it was important to me for two reasons. One, I really wanted the whole book to be focused on how Meg interprets the world, because part of her journey over the course of the story is about how she has often misinterpreted that world, and how she has to learn to see it differently. Letters, words, signs—I wanted to show how Meg’s relationship to these things changes over time, and so I wanted to be deeply in her point of view throughout. Two, it’s really important to the story overall that the reader learns about Reid through Meg—her initial interpretation of him (which she realizes is, again, a misinterpretation), the new ways she learns to “read” him as they spend more time together.

Honestly, it’s a cliché at this point to call a book a love letter to New York City but I’m going to go ahead and do it anyway, since Love Lettering is such a wonderful one. Have you lived in NYC and if so, did you base parts of this on your own history with the city? Or was this aspect of the book based on another city that you love?
I have never lived in New York City, but it’s a place I love a lot. When I first got the idea for this book, I spent a lot of time in the city—walking, walking, walking. And something I realized on those walks is something Meg says to Reid early on in the book—she says signs in New York helped her organize her experience in such a vast, chaotic place. I feel a lot like this when I’m in the city, or really any new place. I’m always looking for a way to move through it with a touchstone in mind. Walking through New York with my eyes up, looking for these old signs, gave me such a new experience of the city. So, yeah, this book is a love letter, because I do feel in love when I’m there. It’s a place that forces me to see my surroundings in a new way.

"Conflict can be really scary for many of us who navigate a world where we’re encouraged to smile, to be nice, to not make too many waves."

Meg learns how to fight the right way over the course of this book, which was an arc that struck me as particularly relevant for a lot of women. When did that thread of the story emerge for you, and did you learn anything about your own approach to conflict through it?
Meg feels really threatened by conflict—arguments to her always feel like they’re going to result in loss or instability. That’s partly because of what you learn about her over the course of the book, but I definitely agree that conflict can be really scary for many of us who navigate a world where we’re encouraged to smile, to be nice, to not make too many waves. I knew I wanted Meg’s creative block to be tied to an emotional block, and the fact that she hides things in her work is a symptom of all the things she struggles to say in her day-to-day life. It was inspiring to write about Meg pushing through this emotional block to become a more honest, courageous fighter—and so yeah, I think I carry a bit of her with me now, always. I try to remember that her emotional honesty made her feel more complete and more creative.

What was the easiest part of this book to write? What was the hardest?
I try to say it loud and often: I think writing is hard, generally! So there were lots of hard parts, but the trickiest bits were where I had to show just enough of Reid while also holding him at a distance from the reader—chapter 11 was particularly challenging in this regard. I love writing scenes where women are interacting with each other, and there’s lots of that in this book. Those were fun, especially scenes in the paperie/stationery shop.

You’re also a NaNoWriMo coach. How would you counsel someone who was considering taking on the NaNoWriMo challenge, but not sure if they could do it or if it was right for them?
One thing I tried to emphasize as a coach was that the notion of “winning” NaNo—getting to 50K—is great, but more importantly, the exercise is great. Getting words down every day teaches you a lot about yourself as a writer, but it also teaches you a lot about your story. Most of the time, I really can’t write every day; I work full time and sometimes have to bring work home with me. But the ethic of NaNo translates really well to all kinds of writing practice, because it’s about establishing routine. I think that’s so valuable, and I’d tell anyone who was thinking about it to give it a try, and to think about it as a really immersive learning experience.

What’s next for you?
I’m working on a new standalone contemporary romance now, something I’m very excited about. I’m hoping we’ll have a blurb for it soon, but it’s early days still!

ALSO IN BOOKPAGE: Read our review of Love Lettering.

Image courtesy of the author.

The days leading up to my interview with romance phenom Lucy Parker are fraught with nerves. Not only have I read and enjoyed all five of her published contemporary romances, but I will be placing a call from the U.S. to New Zealand, many hours ahead. Pretty much every worst-case scenario I can imagine joins a list of possible obstacles that will keep this chat from happening.

It all goes fine, of course. (Pretty fantastic, in fact!) Parker has a soft voice and bubbly demeanor. She is gracious about my praise for her London Celebrities series, which deals with real-life problems but still manages to feel warm and welcoming. When asked what it feels like to publish her fifth romance in five years, “surreal” is the word that immediately comes to her mind. 

“I wanted it to have that fast-paced vibe of old screwball comedies.”

She admits that her first book in the series, Act Like It, was written in a bit of a frenzied blur. “Things happened quite quickly. I sold it . . . quite fast, and even leading up to its release [in 2015], I really had no expectations. I don’t think anyone had,” she says, laughing. 

The London Celebrities series is set amid the U.K. theater and entertainment industry and has thus far featured actors, directors, theater critics and makeup artists as romantic leads. (When asked to pick a favorite book from the series, Parker says, “I love and despise them in equal measure, especially when I’m on a deadline.”) There’s an insular quality to the setting that appeals to Parker, who notes that it very much feels like a “play within a play,” with all the forced proximity and community such a form implies.

The highly anticipated fifth book in the series, Headliners, builds on events from Parker’s previous novel, The Austen Playbook, but with formerly supporting characters—two rival TV presenters—now in the spotlight. After Sabrina Carlton and Nick Davenport both experience career setbacks, they are forced to co-host a struggling morning TV show. If ratings aren’t higher by the end of the year, they could both be out of a job.

ALSO IN BOOKPAGE: Read our review of Headliners.

But working together isn’t easy. Both Sabrina and Nick are used to harder-hitting assignments than showcasing the hottest holiday toy of the year. And without spoiling too much, Nick has a lot of groveling to do to get back into Sabrina’s good graces. 

“[Nick] does begin Headliners with some serious apologies to make and an emotional journey to travel,” Parker says. “It was important to me that he acknowledge that some of his past behavior was wrong and that he is genuinely regretful about that and would never make that mistake again. He does work to win back the trust that he broke.” 

But Nick’s not the only one with issues to address. “Sabrina, too, has to work past some preconceived notions she has about Nick,” Parker says. “Both have known each other for a long time, but neither has seen beneath the public personas they’ve built through their careers. They have to peel away the layers of their professional masks.”

This is one of the many reasons Parker’s romances resonate: Her characters’ communication styles evolve to allow them to truly understand each other. She knows how to bring characters together in ways that show how they complement each other, rather than having them change for the sake of love. The result is a smart, kind, witty romance that is a balm to the soul. 

“I think the book deals with some severe subjects but overall is a positive, feel-good read,” says Parker. “I wanted it to have that fast-paced vibe of old screwball comedies, combined with things that are more affective and romantic.”

There was one element in particular that Parker knew she wanted for Nick and Sabrina, and that was for them to remain childfree. She wanted to push against the idea that “happily ever after” means raising children together.

“They both have children in their lives who they adore, but they have no desire to be parents,” Parker says. “It’s not the path they want in life. I think they will enjoy every moment of their full and happy life together as a nuclear family of two, or three if you count Nick’s dog.” (Parker also doesn’t rule out the possibility of them getting a cat at some point.)

She continues: “There are so many people that either do not want children or are unable to have children. In any forum, whether fictional or otherwise, I don’t think their lives should be considered any less full. A person’s right to happiness isn’t dependent on anyone else, whether it’s a child or a partner. You are a whole and complete person within yourself.” And that’s an absolutely perfect Valentine’s Day affirmation.

Twenty-five books is a milestone that few writers reach, and doing so in little over a decade is nearly superhuman.

The partnership between Lauren “Lo” Billings (pictured above, left) and Christina Hobbs (right) began over fan fiction but quickly transitioned into a whirlwind publishing career under the name Christina Lauren, which both the authors and their fans affectionately abbreviate as CLo. “We didn’t have time to think or do anything besides keep our heads down and write,” Billings says, laughing about those early publishing days. “We were just drinking from the fire hose at that point.” 

A “fugue state” is the best way to describe their original expeditious schedule, which saw them release four novels and two novellas in the span of just 10 months, beginning with Beautiful Bastard in February 2013. Hobbs quips, “If there’s anything I’d tell early CLo, it’s to not eat at your desk. Take care of yourself more.”

The Honey-Don’t List follows a hero and heroine who are roped in to playing mediator for a golden couple of home-renovation reality TV.

This isn’t the first time I’ve talked with CLo. I’ve interviewed them several times and attended a few of their signings. They once even located the house keys I didn’t know I’d lost at a book convention. Billings is the more talkative of the two, while Hobbs interjects with a one-liner or funny aside. Their conversation flows easily, and both take turns acting as either wingwoman or playful provocateur to the other. When I tease Billings about her bemusement at Adam Driver’s heartthrob status, Hobbs is quick to note that she’s indifferent either way but won’t miss a chance to rile Billings up. This push-pull also appears in their books, keeping readers laughing whether it’s between friends, siblings or lovers.

Their latest novel, The Honey-Don’t List, follows a hero and heroine who are roped in to playing mediator for Melissa and Rusty Tripp, a golden couple of home-renovation reality TV whose once loving relationship has totally devolved. Carey Douglas has worked for the Tripps for years, and the downward spiral of their marriage has taken a toll on her. Engineer James McCann was brought on to help with the Tripps’ new show but is quickly pushed into the role of babysitter for the philandering Rusty. Put them all in close quarters during a stressful book tour and show launch, and it’s a powder keg waiting to go off.

ALSO IN BOOKPAGE: Read our starred review of The Honey-Don’t List.

Dedicated fans of the authors’ work may notice a pattern of forced proximity. “We make their worlds stressful and small. . . . It’s like putting them under a microscope,” Billings says, though she insists they “don’t do it by design.” 

But Carey and James were created by design—specifically, the way they complement one another. “When we’re writing romance novels, we want to think about why this person is perfect for this other person,” Billings says. “[James] is really perfect for Carey, and that pairing comes through really clearly. You can see why he is perfect for her.”

CLo wanted to show the layers of Carey’s vulnerabilities, both in inhabiting a toxic workplace and living with dystonia, a movement disorder that affects the muscles. Billings speaks candidly about her experiences with movement disorders, a chronic condition that affected her late father and currently affects her sister. 

“Dystonia was part of Carey’s story from the get-go,” she says. “I think the reason why we put this in the book was not necessarily to shine a light on dystonia, although that will be a nice side effect to have more people aware of it. . . . When I look at my sister, she’s this incredible person who just happens to also have a movement disorder. It doesn’t define her or change the deep romance she has with her husband.  I think sometimes we forget that people are not their illnesses. Dystonia isn’t who Carey is; it’s just part of her day.”

“When we’re writing romance novels, we want to think about why this person is perfect for this other person.”

While the authors establish some things early on, like characterization and setting, their process changes from book to book. It also never gets any easier. “We were outlining our 27th book, and we just had this feeling of, ‘What are we doing?’” Hobbs says. “‘Maybe we should use Post-its and just put them all over the windows. Do you think we need dry erase markers? Oh, my God, we could just write on the windows!’”

Billings adds, “I think that when people ask us how we write together, they expect to hear a bulleted outline of how a book gets done, but we honestly don’t know. We do it a little bit differently every time. Part of that is because we have different things in our lives going on when we start a book, and our process has to be a bit fluid. And part of it is because I think we are 80% idiot, and we just don’t know how to write a book.”

With their 26th book publishing in October (a holiday romance titled In a Holidaze) and their 27th in the editing process, it’s clear that Christina Lauren has plenty more stories left to tell. And despite Billings brushing off their planning process as luck, their partnership is undeniably something special. “We put in just as much time making sure our friendship is strong as we do our business partnership,” Billings says.

“Lo is my best friend and my favorite person in the world, aside from the one I’m married to and the one I gave birth to,” Hobbs says. “We love each other as friends, as much as we love each other as co-authors.” 

When ex-model Katrina King’s coffee shop visit goes viral after two other customers live-tweet her conversation with a cute guy, she flees to her bodyguard Jas Singh’s isolated family home. We talked to author Alisha Rai about mental health, Twitter ethics and her latest romance, Girl Gone Viral.

Girl Gone Viral was partly inspired by the viral #PlaneBae debacle. For readers who are unaware, can you briefly summarize that cringey moment in Twitter history?
It was a situation where two strangers’ conversation was live-tweeted by a third party. It went viral as a “feel good” meet-cute, but not that many users initially seemed to care whether the “couple” had asked for or consented to the whole phenomenon.

Did this second book in your Modern Love series have a different setup before #PlaneBae happened? Did you always want to incorporate the downside of social media fame?
Nope! The premise was always the same. Having a date live-tweeted has long been a fear of mine, so I’ve been wanting to write about this intersection of social media and consent for a while. I think social media has created a world where we see people not as people but as characters for our entertainment, and if someone is a character, I probably won’t feel like they have much of a right to privacy as someone I consider a real live human. As technology grows and expands, I really think it’s important for our society to continue to have conversations about what we owe to each other in terms of privacy and consent and the impact being dragged into the spotlight can have on a person’s life.

You recently had your own personal experience with Twitter fame following a dating faux pas involving a cake pop. (Totally on your side, by the way.) The backlash was toxic enough that, for a period of time, you locked down your Twitter account. Did this affect the book at all? Were there any edits you wanted to make, or was it too late in the game to change anything?
Oh, it was way too late. The only thing I might have changed is that now I feel like maybe I can better understand how panic-inducing it can be to be the focus of all of that attention. Katrina has PTSD and panic disorder and retreated to a farm; I have neither of those, and I was ready to run away to the moon.

“Jas and Katrina’s love story was tough to write, but only because mutual pining is kind of a pain.”

Both Katrina and Jas are living with different types of trauma. What do you think is key to understanding these types of experiences and communicating them to the readers? 
My main goal when I write is for the reader to understand where my characters are coming from, so I do spend a lot of time thinking about what makes them tick. I honestly think the key is to walk into their heads armed with a ton of research—book research, but especially interviews with mental health professionals and people who have dealt with similar trauma—and sensitivity and kindness.

Jas and Katrina’s love story was tough to write, but only because mutual pining is kind of a pain. For me, at least. When the story is hate to love (one of my favorite tropes) you kind of have a natural internal or external conflict, i.e., you have to get over the “hate” bump. Why would two adults who have crushes on each other not be together? (You have to read the book to find out the answer to that.)

One thing I appreciate about your books is the important of mental health, and how your characters navigate struggles in that area. What motivates you to include this in your romances?
I try to write characters who are as realistic as possible, and in reality, people’s brains are wonderfully unique. It’s a part of a person that makes up the whole and if you see a character as a whole person, it’s hard not to be sensitive to them. Plus I love therapy, it’s helped me a lot, and I’m always looking for ways to destigmatize it and mental health care.

You’re my go-to recommendation for people who love a hot, angsty romance. What draws you to those sorts of emotions? Do you ever see yourself flipping the switch and writing a completely fluffy, closed door love story?
Sure, anything could happen. Changing things up is how I keep my writing as fresh as possible. I actually think Girl Gone Viral has a slightly different vibe than even the first book in this series. It’s sweeter, quieter and a little simpler. I don’t know how much of that is the story, the characters or the idyllic peach farm setting.

“Maybe it’s an aspirational universe, but if it is, it’s an achievable one.”

Issues that affect communities of color and especially women of color have played a large part in both this book and The Right Swipe. How do you find that balance of “the world is garbage and unfair and racist” and swoony love?
In the real world, people often have to battle systematic injustices. That doesn’t mean they don’t fall in love. I like to think that my characters make a space for each other to navigate a world that may not have ready spaces for them. They help each other achieve whatever it is they want. Maybe it’s an aspirational universe, but if it is, it’s an achievable one.

What’s next for you? Can I selfishly expect a romance for Lakshmi (Rhiannon’s assistant from The Right Swipe) in the future?
I’d love to write Lakshmi’s book some day! Right now I’m working on my little influencer, Jia, the heroine of book three of the Modern Love series. It’s like a catfish via DMs that works out really well. It’ll make sense when you read it.

I so miss your paranormal/dystopian romances like Hot as Hades and Night Whispers. Will readers see a return to those genres eventually, or should we go ahead and pour one out for those books?
I miss them, too! Someday zombies will be hot again, and I shall return triumphant.

Are there any books you’re reading and loving right now? 
Love Lettering by Kate Clayborn was my most recent five star read. I’m also currently reading and loving Suzanne Park’s Loathe at First Sight, and it’s out in August.

Author photo © Alisha Rai.

Lexi Blake’s work runs the gamut of contemporary romance, from paranormal and suspense to more gently paced small-town stories. Her latest book, Bayou Baby, may be set in the small town of Papillon, Louisiana, but its family secrets, surprise inheritances and forbidden love make it just as thrilling as her previous works. We talked to Blake about her inspirations for Papillon, whose side she would pick in her main couple’s biggest disagreement and the surprising third POV character who unlocked the story for her.

Your work spans a lot of different romance subgenres. What do you like most about writing a small-town romance? Do you find that your writing changes at all when you’re working in this subgenre?
I think small-town romance fits me really well because the strongest theme in my work is about found family, and that’s super easy to do with a small town. I love the idea that the town becomes a character itself. I think I use softer language when writing a small town. Those books have a dreamier quality to them.

"I think every family has an Aunt Irene who just tells it like it is and takes no gruff from anyone."

Most romances tend to stick to the two leads’ perspectives, but Bayou Baby gives us scenes from the perspective of Celeste, Harrison’s aunt. Did you always know that you would tell part of this story from Celeste's point of view? What did that choice open up for you as a writer?
I started writing it without Celeste’s POV. She was a straight-on villain. That’s when I got stuck. When I get blocked, I’ve learned it’s almost always because I’ve skipped a step. In this case that step was Celeste having her say. I think if you don’t get in her head, it’s hard to believe that she could change. Oddly enough, Celeste was the character I felt most while writing the book. She’s gone through a lot and she’s in a fight with her past and her own grief. I think the book is richer for having Celeste’s POV.

Did you come up with more backstory for Seraphina’s great-aunt Irene than readers eventually get in the book? Were there any other hilarious bits about her that didn’t make it into the final edit?
Great Aunt Irene is the old woman I think a lot of us want to become. Maybe with fewer cats. She had a lot of cats, but she lived life on her own terms. I think every family has an Aunt Irene who just tells it like it is and takes no gruff from anyone. I think a lot of her backstory is in the letter that accompanies her will. But I certainly could see Aunt Irene wrestling a couple of gators in her younger days.

The following contains spoilers! Click to show.

Did you base Papillon, Louisiana, on any real-life small towns? Did it have any fictional inspirations?
It’s not based on any particular town, but it was inspired by my best friend’s childhood. She grew up in southeastern Texas, very close to Louisiana, and has such a love for that area. On the fictional front I think Stars Hollow, Connecticut, is always an inspiration. That’s the setting of “Gilmore Girls” for the uninitiated. It’s one of those places you just wish existed. I would absolutely live there.

What books, movies or TV shows have been getting you through the pandemic?
I’ve definitely gone to my favorite authors for comfort. I recently read Rebecca Zanetti’s Disorderly Conduct and loved it. It’s another small-town book. And Jen Armentrout’s new fantasy From Blood and Ash. I’ve watched Eurovision more times than I’m willing to admit and am willing to send stuffed lions to Netflix to get them to do a follow-up for Dan Stephens’s character. I want someone to play “Jaja Ding Dong”! As for TV, I do a lot of binge-watching old favorites right now. I’ve rewatched “Parks and Recreation” and “The Office,” and now we’re working our way through “The Big Bang Theory.”

Is there a trope or setting you haven’t explored yet in your writing that you’d love to use one day?
Oh, so many settings! I love to travel—this year has been rough on me—and I like to spend some time in the places I want to write about. I’ve spent a lot of time in New Orleans, which is probably why I set many books in that part of the country. London and New York are settings I’m super comfy with. I live in Dallas so North Texas is a big setting for me. I had trips planned for Romania and Scotland this year. Both were cancelled for obvious reasons, but I hope to get to go and potentially write about both those places. I’m super excited to announce that all of my books for the foreseeable future will be set in my backyard. I know that sucker like the back of my hand now! Also, the squirrels have real drama.

ALSO IN BOOKPAGE: Read our review of Bayou Baby.

What’s next for you?
I’ve got the last book in The Forgotten series coming up in September, and I’m super excited for that. It’s called No Love Lost and it ties up a bunch of loose ends in my Masters and Mercenaries world and sets up for a new series. In December, I’ve got the third Butterfly Bayou book—Bayou Dreaming. It’s Zep and Roxie’s book and it’s a lot of fun.

Author photo by Annie Ray/Passion Pages.

In their new books, Olivia Dade and Rebekah Weatherspoon take on the celebrity romance, reveling in its fizzy escapism and dissecting the perils of public image in equal measure. Much of the social commentary in Dade’s Spoiler Alert and Weatherspoon’s If the Boot Fits comes from the fact that both of their heroines are fat. Being catapulted into fame due to their famous beaus is thus far more complicated than it would be for a heroine whose body hewed closer to our society’s restrictive beauty standards. BookPage spoke to Dade and Weatherspoon about their literary inspirations, the joys of fan fiction and fighting for fat positivity in romance.

Both Spoiler Alert and If the Boot Fits complicate the celebrity dating a non-famous person trope—April and Amanda are big, beautiful and smart women dating men who are part of an industry that generally neglects or is hostile to those who don’t fit a narrow mold. Can you talk about what inspired you, and how you approached writing a new twist on this familiar story?

Dade: For me, the part of the story I conceived first involved the star of a blockbuster show anonymously writing fan fiction critical of that show and falling in love with his online, also-anonymous BFF. Since I wanted to play out that story as realistically as possible, I couldn’t pair him with another star also writing anonymous fan fiction. One was enough! So I went with a non-famous love interest. The one thing I knew about their dynamic from the beginning: I didn’t want her to be overawed or intimidated by his fame. That lack of fear—that upending of expectations—was part of what made the story fun for me to write, and it also added one less complication to an already-complex story.

Weatherspoon: If the Boot Fits is part of a fairytale retelling trilogy, so a Cinderella story was always a part of the plan. Cinderella, at its core, is a story about a woman who rises out of poverty and neglect to be with a literal prince. Since the Pleasants were already involved in the film industry, Amanda’s role as an assistant seemed obvious. I made her fat because I always include fat characters in my series.

What are some of the books you’ve read that have done the trope of a celebrity dating a non-famous person particularly well in the past?

Dade: When I read this interview question, I looked at my bookshelf for romances that paired celebrities with non-famous love interests, and I didn’t find any. This surprised me, because I instinctively felt as if I’d read that trope many, many times before. Finally, I realized why: old-school historical romances. I grew up reading countless traditional Regencies in which dukes—handsome, wealthy, well-known pillars of the ton—fell in love with spinsters, wallflowers, governesses, bluestockings and lady's companions, many of whom had little or no social standing or wealth of their own. Those stories weren’t about regular people falling in love with celebrities, exactly, but the dynamic wasn’t entirely different, either, and I suspect I unconsciously drew from that deep well when writing Spoiler Alert.

"Writing fan fiction definitely drove me toward the desire to be paid for my words and my time." —Rebekah Weatherspoon

Representation matters. But more than that, the quality and content of that representation matters as well. It’s a particularly fraught and unresolved concept when it comes to body size and image in romance. Have the discussions on this topic within the romance community influenced what you write versus your own personal experience and perspectives?

Weatherspoon: Not really. I’ve always written body diversity in my stories, including weight and will continue to do so.

Dade: Over decades of being both fat and a romance reader, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about why and how the few depictions of fat characters I was able to find hurt me. Because in most instances, they did hurt me—and once I started writing fat characters myself, I didn't want to replicate that harm. I would say that the way I write fat characters is more influenced by that decadeslong contemplation than by discussion about fat representation within Romancelandia. That said, my convictions have been sharpened by such discussion, and I’ve become more aware of my own shortcomings through the work and words of people like Corey Alexander. I haven’t always gotten my fat repesentation right, in part because I’m still working through my own history of disordered eating, but I hope none of my books currently for sale would hurt readers the way I’ve been hurt in the past. If that’s true, insightful critics of the genre like Corey should get a good chunk of the credit.

What are some of your favorite fat or plus-size characters in fiction?

Weatherspoon: Phyllis Bourne’s Taste for Temptation, If the Dress Fits by Carla de Guzman, Such a Pretty Face by Gabrielle Goldsby, His Until Midnight by Reese Ryan and basically everything by Katrina Jackson. She always includes fat Black women in her romances and those women are having the time of their fat lives.

Both of you also write fan fiction. How did that influence you as writers? Which fandoms have been important to you?

Dade: I’ve read an endless amount of fan fiction in the last year and a half, but I don’t write any. The main fandom I follow and in which I’ve immersed myself is the Jaime Lannister/Brienne of Tarth pairing; it boasts some absolutely spectacular writers. For many of those authors, I would pay good money to buy their work in print, but it’s all free. That still amazes me, to be honest.

Weatherspoon: I mostly wrote Twilight fan fiction. I haven’t dabbled in the drabbles in years though. Writing fan fiction definitely drove me toward the desire to be paid for my words and my time.

Spoiler Alert has been called a love letter to fandom; it goes deep into that world, from fan fiction to cosplay and more. Olivia, what made you want to delve into this topic?

Dade: During that year and a half when I essentially read nothing but Braime fan fiction, the vast creativity of that fandom stunned me—how they take a story and a set of characters and harness their talents and dedication toward that story and those characters to create something entirely new within a cradle of familiarity. They’ve filled in canon with stories that enrich the text and bring greater depth to the characters. They’ve formed online communities bursting with camaraderie and enthusiasm and support. They’ve worked on their craft, and they’ve made each other laugh and cry, and—and they’re incredible. Just incredible.

They love Jaime and Brienne, and that love has bloomed in a million creative ways, for the enjoyment of all. Like any community, there are issues and problems, because of course there are, and I tried to address that too. But their work has brought me such joy, and so Spoiler Alert is a tribute to them. I hope it reads that way.

Olivia, my sources (Twitter) show that you have some things in common with April: 1) You love fanfic; 2) you have a rock collection, and April studies rock formation. Is April’s story a particularly personal one for you? Tell us about her and why you decided to make her a soil scientist/geologist.

Dade: The fandom elements in this book were definitely inspired by my total immersion in Braime fan fiction over the past year and a half. In my previous books, I mostly gave my characters jobs I’d previously held myself (teacher, librarian, etc.). But for Spoiler Alert, I was trying to be more ambitious, as I said, so I gave my main characters professions that would involve much more research on my part. April is a geologist because one of my good friends is a geologist, and I knew my friend would willingly and patiently walk me through what her work entails. I’m sure my love of rocks played a role, but my inherent desire to avoid unnecessary extra work played a larger one.

How does writing for a major traditional publisher differ from writing independently in terms of content or the process? How do you decide what you want to work on independently and which stories you want to tell within the traditional publishing world?

Dade: When conceiving of stories I want to shop to publishers, I try to come up with higher-concept premises featuring more inherent drama or conflict, or ones where the stakes are higher. Otherwise, I have a tendency to tell quieter stories, and those are the ones I usually self-publish. I think readers appreciate both types of books, and they both have a place in our genre, but publishers tend to acquire one and not the other.

Weatherspoon: [It comes down to] bills mostly, they need to be paid and on time. The story depends on the publisher I’m trying to work with. Working independently gives me certain kinds of freedoms, like setting my own release dates, but you take on more pressure because everything is on you, from hiring an editor to scheduling all promo.

Dade: Traditional publishing offers me resources and reach I simply don’t have on my own. Optimally, I’d love to keep publishing both ways, at least for now.

Rebekah, cowboys are a staple of romance, but that niche has been a bit more segregated than some others. What kind of reception have you had for the Cowboys of California series?

Weatherspoon: I am definitely not an author you should be reading if the idea of Black cowboys bothers you, so I haven’t bothered myself with the segregated portions of publishing. I’ve seen a lot of new readers who enjoy cowboy romances pick up A Cowboy to Remember and that’s wonderful.

ALSO IN BOOKPAGE: Read our starred review of If the Boot Fits.

Olivia, you’re juggling multiple types of storytelling and also managing dark and light elements with April and Marcus’ relationship and their pasts in Spoiler Alert. What process did you use to work them out and were there any big changes along the way?

Dade: The interstitials between chapters—where I introduced elements like fan fiction snippets, script excerpts, fandom direct messages, etc., and accordingly varied my writing style, verb tense and so on, depending on the ostensible “author”—were mostly written after the main story was drafted, which I think helped me keep my voice consistent within the actual chapters. I had a blast writing those interstitials, because I got to play the authorial version of dress-up.

Making certain the book remained light enough to be honestly called a rom-com took a little thought. I tried to counterbalance the more serious elements of the story through those interstitials, which provide some straightforward comedy, and also through the secondary characters in the story. Alex (Marcus’s BFF) and the cast chats especially helped in that regard. 

Rebekah, you did quite a bit of research about Black Hollywood for If the Boot Fits. How did that come to play in the story?

Weatherspoon: I worked in film and television production for 10 years, so most of my additional research informed how I crafted the Pleasants’ matriarch, Leona Lovell, who has been in the industry for decades.

Sam and Amanda in If the Boot Fits are coming from pretty different places in their careers. She’s a struggling writer/assistant; he’s a star. She’s middle class, and he’s Hollywood royalty. What makes them work so well?

Weatherspoon: They are both kind, caring people with a similar sense of humor. They like to make each other laugh and they both bloom when they are honest with each other in tough conversations.

A lot of romances focus on found family, but in If the Boot Fits, Sam’s tight-knit biological family plays a central role. Why was that particularly important here? Is there any chance we’ll get to see his grandparents’ love story?

Weatherspoon: When I sold the trilogy, the plan was to write three brothers and not just three friends or co-workers, so the family aspect was built in and I filled out the supporting characters from there. I have no plans to write Miss Leona and Gerald Sr.’s story. If the series continues, Lilah Pleasant would be the next main character.

Olivia, you've made presentations for chapters of RWA and YouTube videos on the subject of fat representation in romance. What are some of your chief concerns?

Dade: My primary concern, always, is that vulnerable readers—who may be struggling with disordered eating or body-image issues—not be hurt. Like it or not, our words have power, and they can both harm and hearten people. Depictions of fatness that equate it with ugliness, greed, laziness or evil cause harm, and so does dehumanizing language (“blubber,” “elephantine,” etc.) used to describe that fatness. An endless parade of self-loathing fat characters, or fat characters determined to lose weight, drives home the same message: If you’re fat, you should feel shame about it. There is something wrong with you, and you should try to fix it. Which isn’t to say that there aren’t evil or self-loathing fat people, or that fat people on diets don’t exist or shouldn’t be in books, but they also shouldn’t be almost the only fat people we see on the page.

Spoiler Alert is more explicit in dealing with the issue of fat shaming in our culture than your previous books. Why was that important to tackle that in this book?

Dade: I chose to make fatness a more critical element in Spoiler Alert, as you say. I did so because, first, fat people have a wide range of experiences. For some, their body size really is a minor part of their lives. For others, though, fatness will inform their experiences in the world in major, unavoidable ways. I wanted at least one of my books to acknowledge the latter group, but in a way that still didn’t harm readers. Hopefully I succeeded. Second, I’ve read too many books where characters were fat-shamed by family members and loved ones, and no pushback against that ever occurred in the story. To me, the implicit message seemed to be: If you want a family and loved ones, you just have to accept that this sort of behavior will happen, however painful it may be. I don’t think that’s necessarily true. In fact, I think that’s a harmful message when repeated often enough.

So one of my goals in Spoiler Alert was to show April setting boundaries on page with a loved one in response to fat-shaming. She doesn’t have to learn to love herself as she is. She already does. What she does need to do is find the courage to say, in service to her own mental health and well-being: “You’re hurting me, and it’s harming our relationship. If you don’t stop, that relationship may not survive.”

ALSO IN BOOKPAGE: Read our starred review of Spoiler Alert.

What’s next for Marcus’ “Gods of the Gates” crew, and for Olivia Dade beyond that?

Dade: My next book for Avon, Slow Burn, features Alex, Marcus’s reckless, loyal, chatty, charming and highly annoying co-star and best friend. In short, he’s a delightful asshole. Because of his perceived misbehavior, the “Gods of the Gates” showrunners have assigned him a minder to keep him out of trouble: Lauren Clegg, who’s serious, steady, working on her BHE (Big Hag Energy) and—according to Alex—“improbably short.” Even apart from her fatness, she’s considered unattractive by conventional beauty standards. And that was important to me—April is fat and gorgeous; Lauren is fat and not-so-gorgeous; both women can and will be loved.

Slow Burn has some of the best dialogue I’ve ever written, and I think—I hope—readers will fall in love with both Lauren and Alex. I certainly did.

Rebekah, what fairy tale are you taking on for Sam’s brother Jesse’s story? And can you talk a little about his love interest?

Weatherspoon: Jesse’s story will be a "Beauty and the Beast" retelling. His love interest is Lily-Grace, a former classmate he hasn’t seen since the eighth grade. She gives him a run for his money.

Talia Hibbert has a finely tuned sense of how to balance social observation and swoon. With Act Your Age, Eve Brown, she outdoes herself with a hilarious slow-burn romance between Eve, a chaotic ray of sunshine, and orderly grump Jacob, both of whom are on the autism spectrum.

The Brown sisters come from a close-knit family and have a lot in common: All three are attractive, witty and smart. What distinguishes Eve from her sisters? What was different about writing from her perspective?
Chloe and Dani Brown are successful, professional women. Their insecurities are mainly social—can they have richer lives, can they deal with romance? They never doubt their ability to take the world by storm in other ways.

Eve, unlike her sisters, did poorly at school, and it’s always made her feel like a failure. Her talents don’t lie in traditionally respected areas, so she feels silly and useless. She questions her worth in every way possible. Of course, she’d never admit that, not even to herself. Her sisters are grumpy and cynical, but Eve keeps things light—because she’s the baby of the family, and because she doesn’t see herself as a “proper adult.” I had to balance her determinedly upbeat attitude with her inner monsters, and that’s a very vulnerable thing to write. 

"He’s the kind of man who will judge you for your choice in curtains but not for your mental health. . ."

Can you tell us a bit about Eve's love interest, Jacob? What draws Eve to him, and why will readers love him?
Jacob is used to being rejected for his differences. He knows people will read him as cold or alien no matter what he does or how he feels, so he’s learned to reject them first. And possibly my favorite thing about him: He refuses to soften. He’s proud. That’s an important shield for someone moving through a world that devalues them—but it bites him in the butt when he meets someone who’s willing to see him as he really is.

He’s also very bitchy and sarcastic as hell, so his perspective was hilarious to write. He’s the kind of man who will judge you for your choice in curtains but not for your mental health, and I think readers will enjoy that. For her part, Eve reluctantly appreciates his humor. Even when they clash, she likes his rigidity because it’s true to who he is. So she kind of admires him against her will.

ALSO IN BOOKPAGE: Read our starred review of Act Your Age, Eve Brown.

If you think about it, Eve and Jacob are the embodiment of chaos and order. What brings Eve and Jacob together, and what makes them work?
Jacob is uncompromising because he’s very high-strung. His thoughts won’t slow down. He notices everything. He physically cannot stop caring. Eve, on the other hand, knows how to be flexible, how to relax, how to forgive. That makes her someone Jacob can learn from, and at the same time, she learns how to stand up for herself by watching him refuse to bend. 

But beneath those differences, they’re actually quite similar. They’re both respectful and sensitive where it matters; they’ll piss each other off, but they won’t cross certain lines. They both try really hard at everything they do. They both know the value of a home and a family, even if they learned those values in very different ways. 

Most of all, they fascinate each other. Eve could never be as subtly cutting as Jacob. Jacob doesn’t know how Eve can bear to be so bold. Neither of them can look away.

There’s an interesting duality between Eve’s confidence and her awareness that the world doesn’t value her as she does herself. As a fat, dark-skinned Black woman, Eve doesn’t fit society’s preconceptions about beauty and was pigeonholed in villainous or comedic side-character roles when she attended a performing arts school. Why did you choose to confront these issues more directly than you have in other books?
The Brown sisters have a really loving, supportive family, so they’ve been raised in this microenvironment of absolute acceptance. (Also, they have a lot of money, which helps.) But obviously, they also live in the real world, so they’re very aware of all the ways they’re marginalized. Chloe and Dani find it relatively easy to ignore because, whenever they’re hurting, they can remember that loving world they have back home. It’s like a thin layer of insulation that makes all the difference. But Eve doesn’t have the same experience of home that they do. She knows her family loves her, but she also knows that she confuses and exasperates and sometimes disappoints them. Her insulation has holes. 

On top of that, her life goals were, at one point, built around an industry that’s very image-conscious. When I was a kid, I was involved in performing arts, and they will tell you to your face, “You’re too fat for this, you’re too ugly for that.” So Eve’s hyperaware of how she’s perceived in a way her sisters aren’t. It makes sense that she’d think and talk about those issues more directly.

You’ve been open about the fact that, like Eve and Jacob, you are on the autism spectrum, but you’re representing different variations and aspects of autism with these two characters. Did you prepare in any special way to write this book?
Alongside my own experience of ASD, most of my friends are autistic or they have ADHD. (I personally believe there’s a lot of overlap.) And then there’s the fact that my mother is a teacher who specializes in behavioral needs. So when I was preparing to write this book and I was mentally building these characters, I sat down and wrote everything I already knew about being autistic and about the ways autistic people are treated. Then I tried to ask myself questions that kind of . . . exposed the things I didn’t know, the things I’d never had to think about.

After that, I spoke with my friends about the characters. It was great getting insight from other people, because I knew I wanted my main characters to be different from each other—or rather, to experience autism differently. And once the book was done, I worked with a sensitivity reader, too. Because like I said, autism is different for everyone, and I’d written characters who weren’t necessarily like me, so I wanted to make sure I wasn’t being a dick about it.

"The characters don’t instantly understand each other just because they’re both autistic. They do have similarities, but they have to discover those similarities the same way they’d discover anything else about each other."

More broadly, are there any particular considerations—good, bad or neutral—that are unique to telling a romance between two characters on the spectrum?
I think my autism informs everything I write. It takes genuine effort to write characters who don’t come off as autistic. My first explicitly autistic character was Ruth in A Girl Like Her, but actually, Ruth’s entire family has ASD—she’s just the only one who’s diagnosed. The characters don’t know that; I know that. (Then I got comments from autistic readers asking if that was the case, which made me very happy.) It’s kind of the same thing with the Brown Sisters series.

This book is the first time I’ve written both leads as autistic, and it was very satisfying because it’s a pairing that makes sense to me. It also reflects the relationship I’m in personally. However, I don’t think it was necessarily a unique romance writing experience. The characters don’t instantly understand each other just because they’re both autistic. They do have similarities, but they have to discover those similarities the same way they’d discover anything else about each other.

The one thing I’d say was unique was writing their similar experience of the world. They’re not treated the same: Jacob is a white man with a diagnosis, while Eve is a Black woman, and that’s a large part of why she isn’t diagnosed. That’s also why Eve has been forced to mask more and is better at socially masking than Jacob. 

But they both have this feeling of being out of step, of being purposefully misunderstood (it does feel purposeful, even if it’s not!) and of consistently misunderstanding. That experience has shaped them in different ways, and it was fun to show those different ways while acknowledging they shared a root.

How do the books you want to read differ from the books you want to write? Or is there no difference for you?
It’s 50-50. I do try to write the kinds of books I love to read. Warm and funny and hot, that’s my goal, so I feel inspired when I read authors like Danielle Allen or Mia Sosa. But I also enjoy super complicated stories with very high stakes. I love mysteries like the ones K.J. Charles weaves into her books, or adventures like the ones in a lot of Beverly Jenkins’ novels. 

With “Virgin River” and “Bridgerton” on Netflix, there’s been a lot of buzz about taking romance from the page to the screen. Is there a novel or series of yours that you’d most like to see adapted?
I think the Brown Sisters series would work very well on screen because they’re so . . .  rom-com-y, for want of a better word. The Princess Trap would probably make a good adaptation, too. There’s a fake engagement and an evil royal family and so on. Very soapy. (I love soapy.) 

ALSO IN BOOKPAGE: Act Your Age, Eve Brown is great on audiobook! Narrator Ione Butler goes straight for the heart but never loses the humor.

Did the COVID-19 pandemic change your reading habits? What were some of the books that helped get you through this incredibly challenging year?
Before the pandemic, I would read whenever I had free time and a good book. These days, I read in gluts of please-help-me-escape desperation, interspersed with lengthy periods of listless, bookless apathy. I’m also much slower now, and I struggle to remember what I’ve read. But I definitely remember Courtney Milan’s The Duke Who Didn’t, which came out last year. It was a cozy historical rom-com delight, and I felt like it woke me up. 

Get a Life, Chloe Brown was many readers’ first introduction to your writing, but you have a whole body of work you self-published. How does this work compare to the Brown Sisters trilogy, and where do you recommend readers start who want to dive into your backlist?
The Brown Sisters series was the first time I consciously set out to write a rom-com, so I suppose the main difference is that my other books aren’t as hooky or light. There’s still a ton of banter and sarcasm, but the stories don’t have those classic rom-com tropes. They do, however, have tons of classic romance tropes, like friends-to-lovers or only-one-bed. They also have a lot of mental health representation, a lot of family dynamics and a lot of sex. For readers who like more domestic, cozy stories, I would recommend starting with the Ravenswood series. For readers who like a bit more angst, try Work for It. 

Author photo by Ed Chappell UK.

Author Uzma Jalaluddin deploys romance tropes to expand the boundaries of the genre.

After updating Pride and Prejudice with her debut romance, author Uzma Jalaluddin turns to a more modern but no less beloved classic: You’ve Got Mail. Her sophomore novel, Hana Khan Carries On, is a retelling of the beloved Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks rom-com that swaps the film’s duelling bookstores for halal restaurants. The titular Hana helps run Three Sisters Biryani Poutine, a community staple that’s owned and operated by her family. Unfortunately, sales are down, and an upscale halal eatery opening nearby could put them out of business for good. 

But Hana’s heart is not in the restaurant business. She launched her own podcast while interning at a local radio station and recently formed a flirtation with an anonymous caller. Add in a fearsome, scene-stealing aunt and a cousin so compelling he seems destined for his own spinoff novel, and Hana has her hands full. 

Hana Khan Carries On was dozens of drafts in the making, and Jalaluddin freely admits to reworking the story several times over. “The book itself took me many, many years to write. Like a lot of people, I wear a lot of hats,” she says with a laugh during a call to her home outside Toronto. Not only is she a mom, but she also writes a column for the Toronto Star and teaches high school English. Her love of language is evident in every sentence of Hana Khan, as is her gift for precise plotting and clearly defined, immediately lovable characters.

“You don’t usually see a woman in a hijab having agency and being the star of her own love story.”

A lengthy crafting process isn’t new for Jalaluddin. Her first novel, Ayesha at Last, also took a long time to write, beginning in 2010. “I wasn’t writing every day, but it did take me around seven years to reach a final draft,” she says. She describes that story’s Jane Austen connection as a “happy accident,” as it was some time before she noticed Lizzie and Darcy reflected in the novel’s characters. 

“I know that sounds ridiculous looking back on it,” Jalaluddin says, “but I also feel like I was writing in a vacuum.” Jalaluddin’s parents immigrated to Canada from India, and she seldom saw an experience like hers represented in the type of books she wanted to write. “In the early 2010s, there was so little South Asian representation in romance or comedies, especially South Asian Muslim representation,” she says. “Part of the reason why I decided to turn my head toward Jane Austen in my first book was because I was a little bit scared that people wouldn’t know how to deal with my story.”

Jalaluddin’s concerns were justified. Even with the Austen hook, Ayesha at Last was rejected countless times by publishers who didn’t know how to sell a novel that featured characters and storylines outside of the industry’s narrowly defined expectations for a Muslim romance.

“You don’t usually see a woman in a hijab having agency and being the star of her own love story,” she says. “You expect a story about her arranged marriage where she runs away, takes off her hijab and dates a white boy. That’s the story we usually hear—not one where she falls in love with a conservative Muslim man who changes a bit but still has his beard at the end of it.” 

By adopting familiar frameworks, like the beats of a rom-com or the slow burn of an Austen novel, Jalaluddin artfully deploys classic tropes to give happy endings to characters from backgrounds that are rarely represented in the works she is referencing. And those happy endings aren’t just about romantic love. Jalaluddin also addresses other aspects of her heroines’ experiences such as community, identity and honoring your faith in a secular society. 

Though both of Jalaluddin’s novels contain similar pleasures, the author sees differences between her debut and Hana Khan Carries On, which was written during a time of political and social upheaval. “In the past few years, I was more aware of the storm clouds gathering, and I think that comes through in Hana Khan Carries On.” she says. Within the course of the book, Hana and her community must deal with microaggressions and hate crimes while pursuing their dreams. 

ALSO IN BOOKPAGE: Read our starred review of Hana Khan Carries On.

But passion flows through it all, from the devotion of Hana’s family to keeping their halal restaurant afloat to Hana’s excitement and ambition in launching a podcast. It’s similar to the passion in Jalaluddin’s voice when she’s discussing her path from reader to writer. 

“When I was growing up, I wondered, where is the Muslim Bridget Jones? Where is the Muslim Meg Cabot?” Jalaluddin says. She has become what she sought as a young reader, and if another young girl has those same questions now, hopefully she’ll discover that the answer is Uzma Jalaluddin.

Author photo by Andrea Stenson.

The idea for Sally Thorne’s latest romance sprang from a joke she and a close friend used to make about the hijinks they planned on getting up to when the day comes for them to move to a retirement home. And Thorne clearly has a blast portraying the lovable residents and charming quirks of her fictional Providence Luxury Retirement Villa in her latest novel, Second First Impressions, which blossoms into a moving tale of self-love, liberation and second chances.

All three of your romances have been standalones. Why do you love writing a standalone novel as opposed to writing within a series? Have any of the worlds of your books tempted you to return to them? And if you were to write a series, what would it be?
The challenge with writing a series is that if the reader has not read the first book, they are unlikely to dip into that world partway through. A standalone can be picked up by anyone, and they are satisfying to write because I get to create one great big happily-ever-after-forever. As more readers get to know my writing style, and hopefully decide I’m a one-click author for them, I think I’ll have more scope to try writing a series. They’ll trust that the journey will be worth it.

In my second book, 99 Percent Mine, there are sparks between the main character’s twin brother and her best friend, and I did want to write a standalone book for them. If I had carte blanche to write a series following a large group of characters, I’d do something unexpected, dark, sexy and gritty, like a motorcycle club.

Your books have also all been entirely told in the point of view of your female main character. Why do you think you gravitate towards this way of telling a love story? Have you ever thought about writing from the perspective of both halves of a central couple?
I like writing from one point of view to give the reader an intense experience of falling in love that the protagonist often doesn’t understand. It takes a lot of skill to be able to balance both perspectives and conflicts of a romantic couple when alternating chapters—it's a challenge I haven’t tried yet, but maybe one day!

"One of my top requests from readers is to have 'The Hating Game' rewritten from Joshua Templeman’s perspective. I would sell a lot of copies of that, and even my mum wants me to do it."

If you could choose the perspective of one of your male love interests to write from, which would it be?
One of my top requests from readers is to have The Hating Game rewritten from Joshua Templeman’s perspective. I would sell a lot of copies of that, and even my mum wants me to do it, but I don’t think I could do justice to the Joshua my readers hold dear in their imaginations. If you knew what he was thinking the entire time, your experience of rereading the original book would be changed.

If I could pick one of my characters, I’d go back to Jamie from 99 Percent Mine. I’d love to tell the story from the perspective of an arrogant overachiever who enthusiastically hits the dance floor at weddings, falling in love with his sister’s homebody best friend.

Speaking of perspectives, there is a lot going on in Ruthie's head during Second First Impressions. How did you get into her headspace? How do you write a character who is often shying away from bad memories or hard truths?
Ruthie’s humor and observations are very dry, and hopefully she is a fun narrator for this book. No character comes to me fully formed, and writing Ruthie required many drafts of adding layers to her. She has a trauma from her past that she processes this in the book. It’s a balancing act of what to reveal, and how to creatively “show” rather than “tell” the impacts that this has had on her, and especially difficult to do in a book that is essentially a comedy. I hope I did it.

". . . he [gives] Ruthie the open-hearted affection and love she has craved all her life."

The Providence retirement community was such an enjoyable setting. What was fun about that for you? Where did you get the idea to set a romance in a retirement community?
A friend and I used to joke that when we were old and wealthy, we would share a room in a luxury retirement villa and hire a handsome young man as our personal assistant. That’s pretty much the plot of Second First Impressions—but it’s told from the perspective of office manager Ruthie, who supervises the hijinks of her wealthiest residents, the Parloni Sisters. They try to break Teddy’s spirit, Ruthie tries to resist his gorgeous hair and a good time is guaranteed.

Which of Renata's incredible outfits would you most like to own?
Renata Parloni was a fashion editor for a (fictional!) magazine called Hot or Not, and she still walks around at 91 years old dripping in labels and jewels. I am a sucker for Chanel, so that’s the tag I’d be searching for when ransacking her closets. I’d wear a pink tweed skirt suit, a matching quilted flap bag, a beret and about 10 pearl necklaces. Then I’d go have a fancy lunch.

The question of who is the "taker" and who is the "giver," and whether someone can be solely one or the other, is constantly hovering over Ruthie and Teddy's interactions. When did this question become clear to you in the writing process and what drew you to explore it?
Someone once told me their theory that every relationship has a giver and a taker, or an adorer and adore-ee, and that was something I wanted to explore. At the beginning of the book, Ruthie has decided to attempt dating after six years of barely leaving the retirement village. Then she meets Teddy, who literally has “give” and “take” tattooed across his knuckles. He sure gives the first impression as a taker—he even borrows her shampoo.

Teddy is hired in a caregiving capacity to be at the beck and call of his employers, which makes for some of the most tender moments in the book as he also gives Ruthie the open-hearted affection and love she has craved all her life. It’s equally enjoyable seeing Ruthie begin to take things for herself.

As someone who has used many, many TV shows as comfort objects, I felt uncomfortably seen in Ruthie's obsession with the fictional TV show "Heaven Sent." Why do you think Ruthie is devoted to this show in particular? Have you had similar relationships with media in your own life?
“Heaven Sent” is inspired by “Seventh Heaven,” and it is Ruthie’s comfort show because she grew up in a religious household and this show became her weekly touchstone, grounding her and providing stability. Now, she runs a forum dedicated to keeping this show alive.

When I’m living in a luxury retirement villa one day, you will find me binge-watching “Party of Five,” “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” “Veronica Mars,” “Degrassi,” “Gavin and Stacey” and “30 Rock.” I assume I’ll either be watching these via a chip inserted into my skull, or high-tech 5D glasses. My young assistant will work it out for me.

I loved Ruthie's coworker Melanie so much. What type of person do you think she'll eventually end up with? Or will the genius behind the Sasaki Method ironically end up happily and contentedly single?
Melanie Sasaki, matchmaker extraordinaire, developed a return-to-dating plan for Ruthie called The Sasaki Method (patent pending): a program of worksheets, checklists, a makeover and (eep!) an eventual date with a human man. She warns Ruthie most ardently to not fall for the first man she meets. Ruthie disobeys.

I like to imagine Melanie as a version of Jane Austen’s Emma, and I think she would end up with a dry no-nonsense Knightley; perhaps a guy she’s known all her life.

ALSO IN BOOKPAGE: Read our starred review of Second First Impressions.

What's next for you?
I am looking forward to The Hating Game movie finding a distributor and hopefully making its way to a screen (large or small) near you soon. It finished shooting just before Christmas in 2020, in what was a very challenging year to make a movie, and it stars Lucy Hale and Austin Stowell. It’s utterly fabulous and I’m very happy with it.

I am also working on my next book, which is still a work in progress and a mystery even to my publisher. I will do my best to create heart-flutters in readers for many books to come!

Author photo © Katie Saarikko.

Some occupations are more rom-com friendly than others, sometimes even to the point of cliché (Why do so many male love interests work as architects? How on earth do writer or journalist characters earn enough to live in such enormous apartments?). But Sophie Breeze, the heroine of Katy Birchall’s The Secret Bridesmaid, has a job that is both refreshingly unique and perfectly suited for the genre: She’s a wedding planner who goes incognito as a bridesmaid on the big day (and sometimes before), allowing the happy couple to maintain a facade to their guests that all the festivities have been put together with no professional assistance. We talked to Birchall about her favorite wedding traditions, the real-life inspirations for her rom-com and why she’s anti-canapé.

Where did you get the idea for a professional wedding planner going incognito as a bridesmaid?
A few years ago, I read online that professional bridesmaids genuinely exist and I remember being amazed at the idea. The more I thought about it, the more I considered how it must be both fun and incredibly stressful to go undercover at someone’s wedding. You’d meet so many interesting people and find yourself in the most bizarre and joyful scenarios—there’s nothing quite like a wedding—but also have to learn everything there is to know about someone in a short amount of time to pass yourself off as their close friend. I mulled over the idea for a couple of years before I had the courage to start writing the book!

"I could definitely live without the first dance. The idea of everyone watching me attempt to dance is a genuine nightmare."

How long do you think you would survive if you had to do Sophie's job? Or do you think you would be great at it?
I’m not sure I could be nearly so levelheaded and efficient as Sophie in such high-stress situations, especially as a wedding is one of the most important days of someone’s life. It’s a lot of pressure to get it right!

Having said that, I absolutely LOVE being a bridesmaid and have been lucky enough to be one a few times. All those bridesmaid experiences made me so passionate about weddings that I wanted to write a book that revolved around them.

What is your favorite wedding tradition? Which one could you live without?
My favorite wedding tradition is the speeches. I love the personal anecdotes that are revealed in speeches, especially the comedy ones. Also, a lot of people I know don’t declare their love for one another openly—maybe that’s down to the classic British stiff upper lip—so I think it’s quite sweet that it’s a rare opportunity in life to stand up and say how you feel about that one person.

I could definitely live without the first dance. The idea of everyone watching me attempt to dance is a genuine nightmare. I will certainly be scrapping that tradition when I get married!

All of the weddings Sophie works on are so unique and fun! Which one would you most like to attend as a guest? Are there any that sound like a nightmare to you?
I would love to attend Nisha and Luke’s. I had so much fun writing that chapter! I love how many days the celebrations run over and the fusion of the two cultures. I also would happily attend Cordelia’s as I’d say that would be rather spectacular.

None sound like a nightmare to me. That’s honestly the best thing about weddings, they are all so different, but always fun, because the happy nature of the day means that everyone there can just let go, celebrate and have a day off from life.

Was Cordelia inspired by any real-life celebrities or socialites?
When I was at school in the 1990s, there was a huge obsession at the time with “It Girls,” British socialites who were rich, fashionable and always photographed at celebrity parties. I’ve always loved glossy magazines and those It Girls were constantly on the front of them. I think Cordelia was influenced by a mix of those women, and also by modern, reality TV stars—specifically the ones who end up surprising you.

Are you Team Sophie or Team Tom when it comes to the subject of canapés? If you are Team Sophie, what is your ideal appetizer situation?
I am Team Tom on this one. I genuinely panic at the thought of eating one. Do you attempt to eat half and risk a mess? Or do you throw caution to the wind and eat it in one, risking an awkward pause in conversation because your mouth is too full to speak? What if you’re holding your clutch and a glass of champagne and you’re offered a canapé? What then? How do you hold everything? And, on top of all that, sometimes you’re offered a napkin too. How can you hold a napkin in one hand under the canapé in the other, as well as holding a glass?!

Canapés boggle my brain. They have to be teeny tiny for me to handle the situation or I completely avoid them.

One of my favorite things about this book is that Sophie so clearly, clearly is her parents' daughter. How did you develop their characters? Did they spring more or less fully formed once you had Sophie down? Or did it take a few drafts for their personalities to come into focus?
Once I’d worked Sophie out, I could imagine her parents quite vividly. They’re so different, but their personalities complement each other, a dynamic that is a lot of fun to write. Sophie is efficient and determined like her mother—I knew right from the start that her mum was much more preoccupied by Sophie’s unique career path than her romantic relationships—but has the gentle nature of her father.

Your website says you are "mildly obsessed with Jane Austen." Who is your favorite Austen heroine, who is your favorite hero and do you have a firmly held but unpopular opinion about any of the books or characters?
My favorite Austen heroine is Emma Woodhouse. She’s smart, elegant and sure of herself, but is also snobbish, self-centered and stubborn. She makes so many mistakes and ends up acknowledging that and doing her best to learn from them. She’s not a perfect heroine in the slightest, which is why I love her. I aspire to be more Lizzy Bennet, but Emma’s story has my heart!

My favorite hero is a toss-up between Mr. Darcy (too obvious?) and Henry Tilney from Northanger Abbey. Mr. Darcy has that attractive broody-but-secretly-nice-guy vibe, but Tilney wins by a long way when it comes to excellent chat and a corking sense of humor.

I’m not sure if it’s that unpopular an opinion, but I root for Mary Crawford in Mansfield Park. Her materialistic flaws aside, she’s brilliant, fun, charismatic and a lot more interesting than our irritating protagonist, Fanny. I’m not convinced Mary is a villain at all.

ALSO IN BOOKPAGE: Read our starred review of The Secret Bridesmaid.

What's next for you?
I’m currently having a ball writing my next wedding-themed romantic comedy, which will be hitting shelves in 2022, as well as working on a few children’s and young adult novels. It’s very busy, but in the best way.

Author photo by Imogen Forte.

With an appealing new love story set on the Q train, the bestselling author of Red, White & Royal Blue is poised for a swift return to the bestseller list.

If you’re looking for an affordable and romantic date, Casey McQuiston thinks the New York City subway is the perfect setting. “The Q is the most romantic line,” she says. “From Midtown to Coney Island is a picturesque ride.” 

From the gleaming skyline to the architecture of the Brooklyn Bridge and the calm waters below, the Q offers several romantic views for riders to enjoy. From there, McQuiston imagines her date’s next steps: “Hop off at Prospect Park to do a little pedal boat ride. Hop back on and take it all the way out to Coney Island, where you ride the Wonder Wheel and put your feet in the ocean. Get a hot dog from Nathan’s and then get back on the train.” Where are you going to eat that hot dog? On the train, of course, because as McQuiston notes, you’ll have a lot of downtime waiting for the Coney Island train to leave the station. Plenty of time to gently wipe a smudge of ketchup from the corner of your partner’s mouth with a napkin, if you’re so inclined.

McQuiston’s love for NYC (where she now lives, though she grew up in Louisiana), and specifically its subway system, is clear on every page of her sophomore novel, One Last Stop, which she describes as “a public transit crush romance with a time slip twist.”

ALSO IN BOOKPAGE: Read our starred review of One Last Stop.

Its protagonist is August, a “lost and confused 23-year-old who moves to New York [City] because she’s lonely and cynical and she wants to live in a lonely and cynical city, as she sees it,” McQuiston explains. “She gets there and discovers friends and family and love in all of these weird, broke, early-20s, New York types of ways.” Despite her cynicism, August quickly finds her people, including a trio of quirky, smart roommates. She also finds a potential romantic connection in Jane, an alluring young woman she meets on the subway. 

After Jane gives August her scarf to hide a particularly ghastly coffee stain, August can’t stop thinking about her, even though she knows the odds of seeing her again are incredibly slim. But Jane’s reality turns out to be much more complicated than August realizes: She’s been, somehow, displaced from the 1970s into the present day and is now stuck on the Q train, with no memory of how she got there. Because Jane is unable to leave the subway, the romance between her and August is a little challenging. But throughout their burgeoning relationship, McQuiston makes certain that no bare body part touches a subway seat, a detail that, if it had been overlooked, surely would have made any New Yorker cringe.

The time slip element of One Last Stop has been present since McQuiston first began working on the novel. “The first flicker of an idea came to me when I was on a trip to New York and had ridden the subway a bunch,” McQuiston says. “There’s something super romantic when you’re on the subway and another train passes you, and you can briefly see into the windows of the other train. It feels like such a liminal space, and it’s inherently magical to me.”

As she tried to decide what time period Jane should be from, McQuiston realized she wanted to create a character who had a connection to the subway before getting stuck on it, which meant that eras before its invention were definitely out. The author also notes that since there’s already so much going on in the story, “we don’t have time to also explain to Jane what being gay is,” so she also wanted Jane to be fully out and as queer as she could be during her time period. A historical event triggered Jane’s time slip, and though McQuiston doesn’t want to spoil it, she says that once she landed on that moment, it became easier to write Jane and her ’70s punk aesthetic.

“The ’70s were such a rich time for social movements, and I love the idea of this girl who is this punk rocker who also was deeply involved in different activist movements, like the antiwar movement, the Asian American movements, post-Stonewall uprisings around the country,” McQuiston says. “All of these things fell into place to tell me that the ’70s were the sweet spot for this character.” 

Although August isn’t a time traveler, she’s also a bit of a mystery to the reader and to herself—just as she was to McQuiston at the beginning of the writing process, as she struggled to create a character who is a bit prickly and wary of others, while still pushing them to advance the plot and making them compelling and lovable on top of it all. “August was hard to nail down,” McQuiston says. “The first draft, I really struggled because I tried writing in first person, which I hadn’t done in a really long time. During revisions, I realized that on a meta level, I wasn’t really clicking with her because I was too close to it. I couldn’t see her from the outside and figure out how she fits into her own life. I went through and changed the entire draft to third person, which was fun for me,” she says, laughing.

“For a lot of queer people, coming out is not the end of a story, it’s the beginning.”

With its time slip mystery and more contemplative, thoughtful tone, One Last Stop is a markedly different read from McQuiston’s debut. Compared to Alex Claremont-Diaz, first son of the United States and the main character in McQuiston’s bestselling 2019 novel, Red, White & Royal Blue, August is a shift in the opposite direction. Whereas Alex was “extroverted and extra,” August is more internal and reserved. 

August also carries some baggage due to her unconventional upbringing, which McQuiston says was partly inspired by the mother-daughter duo of Lorelai and Rory in “Gilmore Girls.” Although August and her mother embody the “us against the world” vibe of Rory and Lorelai, McQuiston also wanted to explore the darker side of how that type of codependent relationship can affect a person in adulthood.

August’s mother, who’s a bit of a conspiracy theorist and hoarder, has been obsessed with the disappearance of her brother, August’s uncle, since August’s childhood. “August’s mom is just complicated, and that’s how a lot of our parents are. Early adulthood is about figuring out who you have grown into and then being like, ‘Oh no, it’s my mom!’ Or, ‘It’s my dad!’ The thing about generational stuff is that with every generation, you do it a little bit better than the generation before you. You can have absorbed these personality traits and these habits and these interests from your parents, [but] maybe do it in a way that works better for you,” McQuiston explains, pointing toward August’s love of puzzles. Whereas her mom lets unknown answers consume her, August sees them as opportunities to challenge herself. 

Which is exactly why Jane intrigues August so much. Their attraction begins as a “fleeting moment of connection between strangers in a big city,” so August certainly doesn’t expect to see Jane again in the exact same subway car or to eventually find out that she’s not from this time period. Once she learns the truth of Jane’s situation, August becomes determined to use all her puzzle-solving know-how to help her.

Another critical difference between McQuiston’s debut and One Last Stop is that August and Jane are fully out, both to those around them and to the world at large. Although coming-out narratives are a crucial part of queer identity (and played a large role in Red, White & Royal Blue), McQuiston says One Last Stop is “the story that comes after coming out. For a lot of queer people, coming out is not the end of a story, it’s the beginning. I don’t necessarily want to rehash my coming-out story again and again, because the richest experiences I’ve had as a queer person have come after that.”

Those who are beginning to explore their queer identity might feel as though coming out or putting a label on how they identify is like putting a period on their journey. But in actuality, that initial discovery gives way to a lifetime of new experiences. The themes of found family and figuring out who you are as an adult, separate from whatever familial environment shaped you, wind through both of McQuiston’s novels. The importance of “finding your people and letting them guide you” is one of the more powerful messages she imparts, knowing that shared communities are integral for many queer people who may feel misunderstood by family or even openly derided. 

As McQuiston gradually builds a welcoming backlist for queer readers, it’s hard not to wonder what her younger self would think of One Last Stop. “I had to be at this point in my life to write [this book], because it’s so personal in a way I’ve only become secure enough to write about in the last couple years,” she says. “I think a young me would be floored that I had the nerve to write something so personal and think, ‘Oh my God, this is what we get to do? We get to write books? That is so cool!’ They would read it and be stunned that they could be this gay in public.”

With One Last Stop, it’s clear that McQuiston has come into her own as a person and an author. Whatever direction her work takes her next, McQuiston is unstoppable.

Author photo by Sylvie Rosokoff.