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Mazey Eddings: Messy Characters, Sex Positivity, & Dental School | S2Ep2
283 Plays2 years ago
Mazey Eddings stops by the pod! We fangirl over her adult contemporary romance series “A Brush With Love” (which everyone should read, btw!), discuss neurodiverse joy, sex positivity, and how the heck Mazey managed to break into publishing while being a full-time dental student. Mazey also spills all the tea on her newest release, “Tilly In Technicolor” & tells us what readers can expect from her upcoming 2024 sapphic romance, “Late Bloomer”!
Read Tilly In Technicolor
Pre-Order Late Bloomer
Follow Mazey on Instagram @MazeyEddings
Follow @BringYourOwnPod to see our favorite Mazey Eddings Quotes
Follow Brandi @Brandos.Books
Follow Kendra On Instagram @Kendra.Readz
Follow Kayla on Instagram @Kaylas.Bookshelf
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Transcript
Introduction to Maisie Eddings and Her Mission
00:00:04
Speaker
Hey, guys. Hey, guys. Welcome to Bring Your Own, a catch-all bookish most of the time podcast. I'm Brandi. I'm Kendra. And I'm Kayla. And today we are so excited because we have with us today Maisie Eddings.
Maisie's Background and Writing Goals
00:00:24
Speaker
Yay!
00:00:26
Speaker
Maisie is a neurodiverse author, dentist, and most importantly, a stage mom to her cats, Yaya and Zadie. She can most often be found reading romance novels under her weighted blanket and asking her fiance to bring her snacks, relatable. And she's made it her personal mission in life to destigmatize mental health issues and write love stories for every brain. With Roots in Ohio and Philadelphia, she now calls North Carolina her home.
Hosts' Current Reads and Book Discussions
00:00:50
Speaker
Welcome, Maisie. Yay, we're so excited. Hello.
00:00:54
Speaker
Thank you so much for having me. I'm so, so excited to chat with y'all. And yeah, I just, I'm really glad to be here. We're so excited. We gush about your books all the time. So, um, yes, we've got so many questions for you, but before we dive in, ladies, what are we reading? What are we drinking? Um, I'll go first. I am drinking water in my very sturdy bottle.
00:01:17
Speaker
And currently, I am listening for the first time, but technically it's a reread. The Magnolia Parks audiobooks, the first two in the series just came out. It has been a journey. Brandy and I have been fighting all day. It's not good for our friendship. Very different opinions on certain
Spicy Books and Fantasy Favorites
00:01:35
Speaker
things in that book. So I'm listening to that, and then I'm currently reading Miranda Silver, who wrote Priceless, which is one of my favorite, like, spice reads ever. She just came out with a new book called Man of the Hour.
00:01:44
Speaker
I'm only like 30% in and it is so hot. It's so hot. And I think she does such a good job of like having her characters set up very clear boundaries with each other before they start to do anything like super kinky. So they have like this big conversation about like, they're pretty much exploring consensual non consent, like right off the bat. And I was like, well, this is it's good. I'm going to take my little time with it. But it's been very fun. So that's what I'm currently reading.
00:02:13
Speaker
Amazing. Kayla Ann. Uh, I am currently drinking some white wine right now. And I do have my, my, of course, my trusty book, Bonanza water bottle. Um, yeah, there you go, Randy. Um, I'm also re-listening or yeah, like Kendra said, listening for the first time, but rereading for the third time, Magnolia Parks, the audio book. It's very good. So it's just crazy to hear.
00:02:40
Speaker
these characters that I've loved for what feels like forever, finally in my ears. So it's amazing. And then you guys know, I've been on a fantasy kick for the past few months. And now I'm reading me Once Upon a Broken Heart series by Stephanie Garber. Very interesting.
Maisie's Love for Drinks and Historical Novellas
00:02:57
Speaker
It's like the fairy tale. It's literally like a Disney fairy tale. Like there's literally like a character named his handsomeness.
00:03:07
Speaker
and you know the Prince of Hearts like it's just so I don't really know how else to describe it except like a Disney fairy tale. Like cheeky. Yeah exactly it totally leans into that like aspect of the story so it's very fun. I'm almost done with the first book so that's what I'm reading.
00:03:25
Speaker
I love that. I am just drinking water right now. I am a teacher, and I start school next week. So I've been preparing my classroom all day, hydrating, rehydrating. So no fun drinks. But I am currently listening to Lord of the Fading Lands by C.L. Wilson, who wrote one of my favorite reads of the year, The Winter King. It's also a fantasy series.
Magnolia Parks Series Discussion
00:03:50
Speaker
And I see Jessa, who's at MIMO Reads, recommend her books all the time. So I'm listening to that, and I'm still reading Do Your Worst by Rosie Dannon, which comes out later this year, which is about a curse breaker and an archaeologist. And it's like enemies to lovers, spicy, fun. So
00:04:10
Speaker
It's so good. It's so good. I'm just getting to the point right now where they're become like, they're like done being enemies. So I am having a great time, but I haven't had a ton of eyeball reading time. So that's been taking me a little bit longer. But what about you, Maisie? I right now am drinking tonic water, because I am truly just a slut for anything fizzy.
00:04:33
Speaker
Um, and so yeah, I'll just down it. Like it's probably an addiction at this point. Um, and then as far as reading goes, Oh my God, I've been devouring, um, her name is Alexandra Vosti. It's Zastia Vosti, but she has this, these three novellas out right now in their historical romance. Um, and I think the first one is called, Oh my God, I get them all confused. Margo Halifax earns her shocking reputation.
00:05:02
Speaker
Um, the second one is in which Matilda Halifax earns the value of restraint. And then the last one is in which, um, Oh God, I'm the worst with tiger's mouth. I know Winnie, Winnie Halifax does something. They bang a lot like that. And they're so good. Like I cannot stop. Like I just keep rereading them too. Cause they're so delicious. Um, and they're all free right now through her newsletter.
00:05:30
Speaker
Oh, what fun. Yeah. So her debut historical romance comes out next year and that's called near Duke. Well, and that's another one that I read recently that I was obsessed with. But other than that, I've been like just kind of rereading. I feel like I should read Magnolia Parks after you guys. Just prepare yourself. It's very messy. Okay. Gossip Girl.
00:05:55
Speaker
Oh, yeah, of course. So like, imagine Gossip Girl in London on steroids in that Magnolia Parks without the Gossip Girl character involved. But like, rich socialites doing rich socialite things.
Maisie's Writing Journey and Creative Process
00:06:10
Speaker
So sensational. It's like, yeah, we read it like this time last year, and it still has all of us in a chokehold. So
00:06:20
Speaker
I love those covers too. Isn't there one with Daisy Yates or something where it's like a sculpture and then it's all tattooed up and everything? I love that cover. I see that all the time. That's solid. That's a good cover. Yeah, it is. Are you an author actually that reads romance? Because I feel like I come across so many that I'm like, no, I can't even read the genre anymore because I'm writing it. But are you someone that actively is reading cooking romance? Oh my god, yeah.
00:06:47
Speaker
For sure. I devour romance. My reading has taken a little bit of a hit lately because I've been on deadline for so long. But I rarely read anything besides romance. I tend, when I'm drafting, to read different subgenres. So it's harder to read contemporary when I'm drafting just because, one, I will read these books. And then I'll be like,
00:07:16
Speaker
And all of my friends are so brilliant and good at this. You know, I will like throw my laptop out the window and then to I think there's like this tendency almost like if you're so invested in a book that you almost want to like mimic the voice of it to while you're drafting. So yeah, I really read a lot of like,
00:07:36
Speaker
probably historical is like my biggest one when I'm drafting to get into but I love a little romanticy. I love like paranormal like have you guys read Nalini Singh's side changeling series?
00:07:49
Speaker
I have not, but I see people talk about it all the time. Like she has so many books, by the way. It's insane. It is unreal. Like so prolific though. That series got me through like the first couple of months of the pandemic and lockdown and stuff because there's just like the world building is just so incredible and like so clever and stuff like that. But yeah, so to answer your question, yes, I, I almost refused to read anything. Nice.
00:08:14
Speaker
If I read any litfic or anything that doesn't have romance, it's like an event. I'll read like maybe two or three litfic books a year and it's like I did that. They're like the most devastating reads and then you'll force us to read them and we're all crying. It's a whole thing.
00:08:32
Speaker
I read the Wikipedia page for, what is that one book? A Little Life. Oh my God. I did too. Oh my God. I read it. I read the whole thing to me. I was like, I'm never reading that. No, I literally, I read the Wikipedia page. I was sick to my stomach, sobbing, crying, like snot pouring out of my nose, devastated. And I was like, this, I mean, this is like Wikipedia dry as hell summary of this book. And I was like,
00:09:00
Speaker
There's no way. I mean, kudos because it's like to anybody that can read it because I'm sure it's just devastating and beautiful and wonderful and no shade whatsoever. But I get so upset if anybody's upset at any time. Yeah. That whole book is like pure pain and she doesn't let up. And I finished it. I have my best friend's house at the time. I walked into her room and I just like couldn't speak. I was like just like in a trance. Like it was not good.
00:09:29
Speaker
I'm sure. Yeah, I mean like I keep watching videos on book talk of people like reading it in public and just being absolutely destroyed and stuff and I was like, I feel like I'm like, you know, like one of them like, oh, yeah, I get it. I survived. I went through a convenient page. I get it. Yeah, I know. Oh my gosh. Yeah, never reading that ever in my life.
00:09:57
Speaker
It's a lot. But okay. So Maisie, Russia's Love was your debut novel and it followed two main characters who were in dental school. And we did our research and you actually published that while you yourself were in dental school. Like we said it earlier, you are a dentist, which is like,
00:10:13
Speaker
I know a lot of authors have other like day jobs but I think you are the first author I've encountered that is an actual dentist. In the first book I read that had characters in dental school like it was just so unique and refreshing but how did you do that going to dental school full time and like publishing your first novel what made you like want to decide to do this in the first place?
Mental Health Portrayal in Maisie's Books
00:10:35
Speaker
Well, I had a good old fashioned, uh, quarter life crisis, I would say. And like, you know, just, just like, oh my God, what am I doing with my life? Um, no, I.
00:10:47
Speaker
Okay, so it's kind of convoluted, but my entire life I've been just a huge reader and I've always put writers and authors and stuff on this pedestal almost where I just didn't understand how people could create stories, right? That was so out of the norm to me and just wild.
00:11:06
Speaker
and you know but then as a kid I was kind of always telling myself stories and I was writing a lot of short stories and I would you know attempt to write novels and things like that um but I could never like finish anything or get anything to complete it for um but anytime I had room for electives or stuff like that I was taking creative writing courses or you know um just reading courses or English there's the word
00:11:33
Speaker
But so I always kind of pursued science too because there's a lot of creativity in science and just you know kind of this expansiveness to it. And so I ended up going to dental school and I was so stressed that first semester of dental school like
00:11:55
Speaker
Never more unwell like I was just down bad. I wasn't sleeping I was just like I was so stressed and so anxious and things like that That yeah, I just I was really like my big escape was reading romance novels and like like I said, I couldn't sleep So I was reading like a book a night
00:12:13
Speaker
you know, and all this stuff. And then something kind of sparked just one day where I was like, I need an outlet. And, you know, so I try I picked up writing again, because I was like, I always loved that it always, you know, was like this really great space. And I think when you're working in healthcare and medicine, and you're seeing patients, you're actually really
00:12:37
Speaker
limited on how much you can do to help people or get them like exactly what they need. Like you're out of control of a lot of aspects of it. And so going into, you know, a novel and these characters
00:12:51
Speaker
it felt really safe knowing that in essence, I was controlling the story, but I also was kind of just like, I don't know, in the same vein, it was like handing over the wheel of my brain to these characters and letting them guide it and figure things out and letting them process in this environment and these feelings that I was also having.
00:13:14
Speaker
in a way that was unique to them but allowed me to almost feel connected to somebody. So yeah, I just I kept writing and it was the first thing that I ever writing A Brush With Love was the first thing I ever did just like fully for the joy of doing it for like the sake of it being fun. Like there was no intention of it being, you know, become having writing be a side hustle or like, you know, or like anything like that. I was just doing it just purely out of love for doing it.
00:13:44
Speaker
I think as people, we're really, really programmed to monetize any of our hobbies. For a long time, I didn't do that, but then I fell so in love with Harper and Dan that I was like, I want to see how far I can take this thing that I love.
00:14:08
Speaker
Yeah, I was like, I have nothing to lose by trying. And so I queried with agents and then got very lucky to get yeses. And then here we are. That's amazing. I hear so many authors speak about that. It's almost like the characters are the one writing the story and they're just the ones typing. And I think that's so amazing. I can't even imagine what that must feel like. It must be so fun or stressful.
00:14:34
Speaker
It's no it's so nice you get out of your own and you just like let that like you're just described for like what other people are doing and it's very freeing to let to let people be messy and I think that there's a really pure form of that before
00:14:48
Speaker
your publisher writing under contract where you really do just let the characters take control and then something shifts in your process when you realize that you know you will have readership and things like that where you almost have like your worst-faith reader reading over.
00:15:05
Speaker
And so it's very like you have to overcome that afterwards, like book after book, there's a new challenge, but it feels so nice to get out of your own head and let, let the characters figure their shit out for themselves. I was gonna say like you saying like you weren't sleeping in dental school and like had a lot of anxiety. Like that's literally Harper in a rush with love. So I could feel like that could be very cathartic to like put all your own feelings that you were experiencing out onto the page.
00:15:27
Speaker
It was. Yeah. And, you know, I get that comparison a lot too. And it's just funny because she felt like such a separate entity to me. And so like all of the, you know, that entire friend group became like my friend group, right? While I was working on it. And so I guess in essence, like,
00:15:47
Speaker
I, you know, Harper came from this like subconscious place where I just needed to connect with somebody about like my feelings and then know that she was like, Oh, I used to get it, you know, and just kind of, I guess, I guess to feel seen, I don't know. Is it weird to write books to write your own books to feel seen? No, I think that's like the best reason.
00:16:09
Speaker
Yeah, but so yeah, it was super cathartic and every book has been cathartic in its own way. And I just feel really, really lucky to be able to do this and keep doing it.
00:16:23
Speaker
and we're so lucky to be able to read it. So actually this conversation like leads me into my next question, which is like, you said that the characters kind of take control, but before you go into a book, I know a brush with love was a little different because it was your first book and you were writing it just for you, but with like Lizzie and the plus one, did you sit down and you were like, okay, I'm gonna write surprise
Maisie's Path to Publishing and Tropes
00:16:45
Speaker
pregnancy. I'm gonna write fake dating. Or was that like, oh, this is Lizzie's story. I already know it before I started writing.
00:16:52
Speaker
Yeah, so, you know, a lot of times I'll set thoughts or intentions of what I think a book will be, but it's always guided by, I have to like, I get into a lot of like plot trouble, if I don't, if I start writing something and I don't like very fully and deeply know my characters, right? And like, feel like I'm having conversations with them before I actually get to the page and start like,
00:17:18
Speaker
writing their story. And I've learned that the hard way through somewhat of a graveyard worth of dead drafts in my Google Drive. But yeah, I would say I don't necessarily pick tropes before I start writing a story. Like Lizzie, in the very beginning, Lizzie was also a dentist.
00:17:39
Speaker
Wow. Oh my gosh. That's crazy. Lizzie, Indira, they were all dentists. And when my editor ended up picking up my book, I had to do a revise and resubmit because The Brush With Love almost died on submission with editors too. I got a bunch of no's. Even my current editor had originally passed on it and she came back and she said, I can't stop thinking about
00:18:06
Speaker
the voice in this, would you be willing to do a revise and resubmit? So I completely rewrote like the last third, changed a bunch of stuff. But one of the things was, um, you know, there's too many dentists, like variety up in here. And I was like,
00:18:22
Speaker
fine and so yeah I mean Lizzie so but I had already started drafting Lizzie's book by that point and like I think her original story was um like a marriage of convenience and yeah yeah and it was like and her her and Dira were like
00:18:42
Speaker
mad fighting like it was like so messy. I know I hated it too. It didn't get very far. And then, you know, I had to rework it with this baking aspect because I had made her a baker in a brush with love. And she just was like
00:18:59
Speaker
It was like she blossom like she became her most authentic self. And then she was like, well, sorry to break it to you. I'm pregnant and I was like, no. How am I supposed to write this? Nobody likes this trope.
00:19:16
Speaker
And we love it. I've come to love it so much, actually, I just had like this preconceived notion. And so then, yeah, I was just exploring and then with the plus one, that book was originally epistolary, there was no fake dating, like I had to rewrite that book.
00:19:37
Speaker
in like six weeks and yeah and it was like it was bad I was like I turned it in and I was like I know that this is wrong I can't figure out what to do with it though and then um you know eventually like I just sat down and I tried to get to know Jude and Indira more and stuff and um there yeah their story kind of unraveled for me too so the best thing I can do is set no intentions for my books yeah figure it out
00:20:05
Speaker
That's crazy. I tell everyone, whenever they read the plus one, that it is probably the most realistic take on fake dating that I have ever read. Cause fake dating is usually like silly, goofy, like, Oh, like here are all the antics. And like, they're lying to a whole bunch of people.
00:20:21
Speaker
But they literally told everyone in their entire lives, like, this is what we're doing. Here's why we're doing it. It's literally just to piss off one person. I thought it was just so refreshing. And it's my favorite show. And I was like, this is just so freaking good. And the fact that you didn't even set out to do that, I'm like, wow, that's great. Even the brother's best friend aspect, sometimes a lot of the issue that people have with that trope is that, why should the brother be the one to be like, you can't beat us? Yeah. But he was totally cool. He was like,
00:20:51
Speaker
All right. He was like, don't hurt each other. Like I was like, that's how it should be. If there's a brother that's concerned, it should be don't hurt each other. Yeah, don't don't touch my side. Yeah. There's one line where he says something like, what? And like, and you're like, it got a little patriarchal there at the end.
00:21:11
Speaker
She's like, she's such a little shit. I love her so much. But yeah, I think like the other fun thing to do is once I do figure out what the tropes are gonna be,
Character Development and Mental Health Journeys
00:21:20
Speaker
it's kind of fun to invert them or toy with them in different ways too, because I was like, yeah, I mean, that's, I just felt like that was so endear, right? Like she's gonna be as petty as possible to like get one person and she's gonna rope in as many people as she can on her way to ultimate pettiness.
00:21:39
Speaker
Oh my gosh. I love them so much. All right, so we kind of talked about this a little bit with Harper. She's an oral surgeon, Lizzie is an erotic baker, and Indira is a child psychologist. So how do you go about deciding their professions? Like I said, we already kind of talked about Harper, but is there also a profession that you are personally dying to write about?
00:22:02
Speaker
Yeah, so I think when I got the directive, no more dentists, I was like, okay, let's see what these people do. Let's really figure it out. It was almost like I had the source material in a sense. I knew who each one was in the friend group.
00:22:23
Speaker
um but it was just that figuring out like what kind of career would be really well suited for them um in endeara you know from that point forward it just like made sense to me that she would be it's in some sort of like field in psychiatry or psychology because she's just very
00:22:42
Speaker
She's kind of tough love, she's very empathetic, very just in tune and emotionally intelligent. But I also knew that she had this level of almost immaturity to her where she was going to have to grapple with these two wolves inside her. And then Lizzie, I don't know.
00:23:06
Speaker
I don't know where baking came from for her. I guess I just thought of her as like a very creative person and then as I was toying with like what direction her book would would go, I was like okay what kind of jobs are out there where it's like it could be ADHD friendly but it could also be like super not ADHD friendly for her and like she might bounce around a lot and just kind of yeah I can't I don't know exactly where that came from with her and then
00:23:36
Speaker
Um, you know, now at this point, the careers just kind of end up being special interests of mine. Like, um, my, my book coming out in, uh, 2024 late bloomer has a flower farmer. And so like, I'm obsessed with flowers. And I was like, you know what, if I'm going to have to do research, I might as well do it on like, exactly.
Upcoming Book: Late Bloomer and Sex Positivity
00:24:00
Speaker
Yeah. But I would love to tackle, um,
00:24:05
Speaker
like somebody in publishing as a career but i'm also scared of it because it's like so many readers are also in publishing and like yeah you know you don't have as much wiggle room to like fabricate or like bend
00:24:21
Speaker
Yeah, you could tell me anything about a flower farmer. I'd be like, totally. Yeah, absolutely. The book, I'm like, actually, that's not how that works. And then you'd be in trouble. By the way, while we're talking about it, the cover for Late Bloom is stunning. So pretty. So beautiful. I know. I like died. When it came out, we had just done an episode about like book icks or something. And mine was like, I hate when they put flowers on covers. I'm so sick of it.
00:24:48
Speaker
unless like the girl is like a botanist or something like I don't want it and then you drop late bloomer and said that she like worked on the flower farm I was like this is exactly what I'm talking about this is perfect like this passes
00:24:59
Speaker
to the check, because now flowers are like everywhere. I think it's like a stunning image of like two women just like embracing each other and they look so hot. And I'm like, oh, I can't wait. I know, I know. I sent over. And so I literally put in my email because they let me like, just send the most unprofessional emails in the world about my cover ideas. Like they are so, like, so embarrassing. Every time I do it, I'm like, was that a fever dream? Like I can't believe. I might as well like send a floppy disk worth of like stuff there that is organized.
00:25:28
Speaker
Um, but yeah, I had, I had one thing that I did coherently say in there was like, I just think it would be so cool on a traditionally published book to see two women like really, really embracing and very like romantic and cinematic and things like that. And then for inspo, I was like, one Opal whose bond is just,
00:25:48
Speaker
Nicola Coughlin from Dairy Girls and Bridgerton and like all that because I'm just fully obsessed. I was like, I want her to look like this. This is what she looks like. And then for Pepper, who's the brunette, I was like, imagine like Kristen Stewart and Audrey Plaza have like a really sexy love child. Pepper.
00:26:08
Speaker
Oh my gosh. So excited. And they nailed it. It looks stunning. Like truly amazing. We are all, like we just said, so excited. But like all your books so far in the Brush With Love series, and I haven't read Tilly, but Brandy has, they all tackle like mental health in some capacity. Like you see characters with ADHD, characters with anxiety and panic attacks, PTSD. Why is it important to you to like showcase characters going through these things and like dealing with them?
00:26:37
Speaker
Well, um, I'm mentally ill. It's the mental illness, babe. Um, no, I, I guess I just, I think about it and like, um, with a brush with love, I was trying so hard for Harvard not to have an anxiety disorder. Like I was, I was really, really giving it my all. And then I probably got 50 pages and I was like, damn girl, I am so sorry, but like, yeah.
00:27:09
Speaker
And from then on out, I was just like, well, you know,
Intimacy and Character Growth
00:27:14
Speaker
my brain and the way that it works and kind of navigates this, this big wild world.
00:27:23
Speaker
turns out isn't like how everybody else does it, but nobody does it the same. And so might as well just kind of honor the intricacies of that and the nuance and stuff. And I also was just kind of tired of seeing media that portrays mental illness as this disgusting thing or this thing that we don't talk about or just this
00:27:44
Speaker
trauma porn aspect of it. Like, you know, I, I battle with anxiety, I battle with depression, I'm autistic, I've ADHD, but like, I still have like, a really, really full and wonderful life. Like, those are just components that affect my days, but they don't
00:28:02
Speaker
like hinder my ability to have a really happy and lovely life. And so I wanted to look at that in the framework of, of happily ever afters and like, you know, finding somebody that loves you full-throated on your best days and your worst too. And so, yeah, I've just, I've been very lucky too to have an editor and people supporting that kind of aspect of it and everything. And
00:28:26
Speaker
And also I just, not being neurotypical, it's hard for me to understand how neurotypical people work. And so it's almost a lot harder for me to read from that perspective.
00:28:39
Speaker
Yeah. You're like, what's it like to be normal? Yeah. Or what is perceived as normal. Yeah. I'm like, what's it like to just not lie awake panicking about the end of the world? What could it be like? And like, as the Brush with Love series are all in third person, but you obviously get both of their perspectives, like watching both of them.
00:28:59
Speaker
And as somebody who I have major depressive disorder and my partner also has major depressive disorder and like watching somebody navigate their partner's mental health and like how to be a good partner in that is also like such a beautiful thing to watch like watching rake learn about Lizzie and like what she needs and like endear about Jude like it's just it's really beautiful. So how like not only them but like how do you plan
00:29:26
Speaker
how your characters are going to grow throughout their books and in relation to their mental illness or mental health rather. Like how does the journey play out? Is it just part of the plot? Yeah, I think part of it is it's always going to be a facet and it's always going to like
00:29:46
Speaker
create a unique lens for what they're going through and what their external conflict is and things like that. But I always try, I always try to like, you know, picture, I initially picture my characters as like two blobs, right? And so they're supposed to like grow into fully formed humans. And then I always imagine that they have to end up holding hands at the end.
00:30:09
Speaker
right? Like so they're not like merging into one person, but they're like discovering themselves and like really refining themselves. And then through that process, they're reaching out and grabbing this other person that went through this refinement journey too. So it's like it's always very much like a choice, like they're choosing each other.
00:30:27
Speaker
and they'll choose each other time and time again because that's what makes a really strong foundation in a relationship, I think. You're actively choosing every day to love and cherish this person that you're spending your time with and your life with.
00:30:43
Speaker
the characters are very much like that too and I think you know their stories often are you know not only are they love stories you know between the couples but also learning to love themselves because that's that's one of the hardest things we have to go through right like yes it's almost easy to love somebody else and just like adore them and cherish them and think they're amazing but to to reflect that back on yourself is like incredibly difficult and so you know
00:31:10
Speaker
watching them find that place that stable ground where they're kind of accepting of of their lot in life and their brain and how this is this is how it's going to impact the way they move through the world but it doesn't have to define the way that they move through the world yeah and so you know and and that looks different for every character and you know it's not always like at the very beginning of drafting like an intentional choice like they're going to go through x y and z for their arc but um
00:31:38
Speaker
and just kind of let them find it organically. I'll say from, you know, me personally, I suffer with anxiety, but I don't suffer from like PTSD.
Writing Techniques and Challenges
00:31:50
Speaker
I don't have ADHD, things like that, right? So, and I've said this before on the podcast, but when we've talked about your books, but praised your books, I've said, you know, even though I don't personally like
00:32:04
Speaker
have that. I don't personally have that struggle. Watching or reading about Jude specifically and somebody like Lizzie, the way that you wrote them and their journeys, it's not that I necessarily never... I think it just helped me empathize and understand a little bit more. So just as somebody, even though I don't struggle with it, it's still
00:32:27
Speaker
Anytime I interact with somebody else that might have that, it just gives me a lot more perspective on that, I think. And so I really appreciated that. And I know sometimes authors are like, it's not my job to teach people about this. It's never my job to educate people necessarily. But I just really appreciate that kind of aspect of when you're writing your characters that way. And so just thank you for that.
00:32:48
Speaker
No, thank you because I that that really truly means the world to me because I I think I always set out to I I'm not very good with talking like I I really struggled to like verbalize my thoughts in a way that makes any sense and especially with my feelings like over you know throughout my life like it's it's very it's been very frustrating to try to like
00:33:12
Speaker
I know that technically everything's okay, but my body feels like the world's ending and things like that. But I feel very lucky that through writing, I'm able to articulate those feelings and those sensations more. And so a goal with every book is when I am kind of portraying or representing some facet of PTSD, ADHD, anxiety, things like that.
00:33:39
Speaker
I want to put it in a way that somebody that hasn't experienced it can understand. I look very much at the physiology of it and what your body actually is feeling like in a very visceral way. You can be like, oh, okay. I can understand that feeling and then that somebody's going through that. Then on the flip side of that, I'm always trying to
00:34:01
Speaker
to honor the lived experiences of people. So if they also struggle to verbalize their feelings, they can point to something and be like, this is how I feel. This is how X, Y, and Z makes me feel, or this is what it's like on a day today. And just kind of bridge that gap between, I don't know, just people understanding each other better. So I thank you for saying that. Yeah, I know. I think you do such a good job, too, because I remember when I was reading Lizzie, I posted on my close friends. I was like,
00:34:29
Speaker
It's towards the end when she's like beefing with her. No, no, it's good. It's towards the end when she was beefing with her mom. And I was like, my mommy issues are on 10 right now. Like, it's just great. Like, it was so and like, I realized that in all your books, there's some parental like, struggle between the characters. But that one, because like, I read about daddy issues all the time. I love my dad. I'm like, Oh, whatever, but mommy issues. I'm like,
00:34:50
Speaker
being a little too loud right now and Lizzie and I like we saw each other so much I was like oh my god like it's like you were in my brain sometimes like that's insane well I wanted to show people just like choosing to cut out a toxic relationship like normalize cutting out toxic people from your life instead of like fixing things and everything I'm like some relationship there's just no fixing and Lizzie and her mom were one of them so
00:35:17
Speaker
Yeah, Lizzie. Switching topics a little bit. The entire A Brush With Love series is very sex positive on top of having a lot of smut throughout. So is sex positivity something you think can be approved upon in the adult romance genre? And what are you hoping that your readers gain from the conversations around sex and sexuality in your book?
00:35:41
Speaker
Yeah, I love this question. And I think I, well, first of all, like just from coming from the genre and like reading it, you know, I love open door, like, you know, like, I love what my characters are slutty. Like, I love it. I love funny characters doing slutty thing. Like, I mean, I mean that in not a pejorative way, but
00:36:07
Speaker
But I, you know, originally writing A Brought You With Love, I was like, I really like clammed up in the initial draft. And I was like, oh, am I writing a closed-door romance
Introduction to YA Book: Tilly and Technicolor
00:36:20
Speaker
here? And my one side was like, absolutely not. Like, you know what you need to do here. And so I said, we love you. Yeah.
00:36:32
Speaker
So kind of after getting that first one out of the way, like busting down that door, I realized how empowering and how important it is in my books and like the character's journey on like how their physical intimacy can be.
00:36:47
Speaker
either a reflection or counter the emotional arc that they're having, you know, depending on where they're at, like, like with Lizzie, for example, like, obviously, she sits on his face 25 pages in and like, you know, she doesn't really. We were like, did she just say cock in a traditionally published book, like? Yeah, yeah, I know. They really like it. It wasn't it wasn't cock that got us.
00:37:15
Speaker
I was like, yes, yes, yes. I know, I know. But my fiance was listening to that. He's like, you dropped a hard C in this one. I mean, he's from, he's Australian. Like, they can come all the time. It was cultural. It was cultural. Dude, on the other hand, he just has a filthy mouth. Yes.
00:37:42
Speaker
But in Lizzie and Rick's story, like initially their intimacy is very, very based on like the physical and it's very like quick and dirty and like, you know, like, let's get to it. We have a finish line, we have a goal in mind here, right? And then there are, as they become emotionally closer, their love seems to become way more intimate and emotional.
00:38:02
Speaker
and kind of less, you know, physically adventurous in some ways. But, you know, so I guess where I was going and I got totally lost just thinking about that. I'm sorry, my bad. But yes, I think it's so important, you know, and I think that closed-door romance definitely has
00:38:22
Speaker
it's placed and a lot of people are very comfortable reading that and that makes them feel safe and comfortable and I totally respect that and like I get that it's just not necessarily what how my characters navigate things and it's also just not what I prefer reading and so if I'm gonna have to read this thing like a billion times editing it I'm like
00:38:44
Speaker
somebody needs to get off here. Like, I need to do them a favor. And I do think that we can have a lot more discussions too. I'm just like, you know, I think right now there's a ton of sex positivity in romance. But I think one thing that could be really cool is to see more of like,
00:39:03
Speaker
the female playboy, you know, instead of just like, you know, we attribute a lot of things to male characters and like, you know, their actions or their grunts or their dirty talking or things like that. And I think that, you know, one thing that could really just kind of open the door even further is analyzing these gender roles that we've created the language around sex and like how we can
00:39:24
Speaker
you know, bust those down too. So, you know, and then just a side note, like, one of the one of the edit notes that I got for the plus one was how many sex scenes are there? Do you think do you think there might be too many? Should we cut one? And I just wrote back no with like a little heart period.
00:39:46
Speaker
I don't think those two went through way too much. We are not cutting, if anything, I'm going to add another one. I can't think of one scene, one sex scene from that book that I would cut. You're like, with peace and love. No. While we're on the topic of the plus one.
00:40:03
Speaker
I think 69-ing is wildly underutilized in books. Thank you for writing 69-ing in that book. You know that emotional 69-ing too. Like the fact that he cried afterwards, I'm like, what a place. What a Pisces.
00:40:18
Speaker
I could not. I was like, that's so hot. Yeah, my fiance has coined that or calls Jude the muffin man because he's just like down there getting fizzed. And there's nothing better than like a romance book here to me, a romance book hero who loves
00:40:43
Speaker
There's a special place in heaven for men that love eating pussy. An angel gets its wings. Oh my gosh, yes. It's so funny.
00:40:56
Speaker
I love what you said earlier about like women having just a little bit more like, I guess like agency when it comes to audio books. Cause that's what I loved about Lizzie because like, yeah, I've been a little, little slutty myself. You know, I've slept around a lot myself and
Maisie's Next Book and Writing Style
00:41:10
Speaker
like seeing a character like that and own it and like not feel any like shame around it. It's just so refreshing to see. Cause yeah, it's usually always a guy who's like, I've slept with a hundred different women and oh, here comes this like, and again, like,
00:41:23
Speaker
it's it happens but then usually like the girl will be a virgin and like all this stuff I'm like no like I want to read about women who are just like sluts like who have gotten around yeah and that was Lizzie and I was like again like her and I we are just like we are linked you wrote her for me oh of course just for you
00:41:38
Speaker
And yeah, I mean I kind of wanted to play on the fact that his name was Rake and then she was like essentially the Rake and you know like that was just like a very tongue-in-cheek thing. I don't know with that because yeah, I just like I wanted I felt like I wasn't at least I wasn't reading a lot of books or finding a lot of books where it was like the woman very in charge and like very you know strong sex drive and like very
00:42:02
Speaker
owning that where it's not like, Oh, I have to go to like the secret sex club because nobody can know that I have a libido, you know, like, and so yeah, I had so much fun with Lizzie. Like she, she's my, my down and dirty girl. So I was reading the fallen men series, um, earlier this year by Gianna Darling. And it's very, I'm not sure if you're familiar with it, but it's very dirty.
00:42:28
Speaker
Um, and Kendra one day was like, I bet you can't read these with a straight face because I was like, I know I can read smelt with like a straight face. Like I can be in public and I can be on my phone in the line at the grocery store and I'll be like, you know, reading with the straight face. I'll be fine now.
00:42:43
Speaker
Well, I was going to say like at home sometimes I'm giggling. But honestly, even when I'm sitting at home on my couch, I'm just like, you know, inside those things are happening. But like, I'm fine. So I do like pride myself personally on being able to read smut with a straight face. And I think most I think most seasoned romance readers can probably say the same.
00:43:02
Speaker
but when it comes to you writing like actual sex scenes talk us like through your process for that like do you find yourself giggling like is it awkward and how do you like decide what like the thing is for like that particular couple like their kink or something like that
00:43:18
Speaker
Yeah, I think, you know, I used to be giggly about it and like, I still have a hard time reading copy edits on my sex scenes because it will be like, you know, is this physically possible for me? And then sometimes it just has to be like,
00:43:39
Speaker
Yeah, I'm gonna go ahead and say that it is. But, you know, that's where I giggle and I like have a hard time looking directly at the screen because it's somebody else's like very technical points on this very raunchy moment. And I used to, well, every couple has been different. Like, Harper and Dan were just so like,
00:44:02
Speaker
earnestly horny, right? Like they were, it was very just like, I don't know, just like a tenderness or almost innocence about it. And so for their sex scenes, I almost felt like a voyeur. I was like, Oh, they would die if they knew I was like peeking in on this, right? I know. And then we'll see and break
Audiobook Experience and Upcoming Releases
00:44:20
Speaker
obviously like
00:44:21
Speaker
Lizzie would love it. She would think that's hilarious. And you know, so like, each book, it's felt different. But I think I don't know if I just got it out of my system with a rush with love where I was like, okay, I'm done being like, giggly or nervous about this. But yeah, I would say I just feel like very like it's like a lot of times I get to the point with writing a book where it feels like I'm just like plugging my brain into the keyboard. And so I'm like,
00:44:49
Speaker
it doesn't feel like an active process. It doesn't even feel like I'm really that involved, to be honest. It's more just, I'm just like the fuel source for like the typing machine or something like that. And so yeah, I mean, I just feel like very invested.
00:45:06
Speaker
of it all. But with each couple, they just make it pretty apparent on how they best express themselves in sexual situations and their sexuality. And it can take some time and some
00:45:22
Speaker
awkwardness, like figuring out a new person too. But like, yeah, when it came to when it came to Lizzie, like it was very obvious that like she feels out of control of a lot of elements of her life, but where she takes charge is her sexuality is having sex. Like she very much just has this
00:45:40
Speaker
I don't know, get up and go vibe about her. And that's how she initially is in those first couple hookups, but then Rake challenges her in a sense. So she's always kind of like the dominant one in their encounters, but slowly he starts to challenge her more. Rake gets a little bratty.
00:46:02
Speaker
Oh my God, dude, I write a spin-off where Rakes a Brat, like yes. Oh my God, like a newsletter bonus scene. Oh my God. Okay. I love that. I know what I'm doing today. But then with, you know, Jude, like he is very, very controlled and like shut off on all emotions and things like that. And then
00:46:25
Speaker
you know he just he just goes in like but he feels like so in his connection with Indira he feels so safe and secure to finally like let his guard down and express himself in that way with her and so my man my man i know i know like i can't yeah i know i love him and it made so it made a lot of sense to me like that he would you know
00:46:50
Speaker
offer a lot of praise and like that he would you know be really into giving like oral stuff like that because like that's just you know he feels like Indira shows up for him in so many ways and so it's almost like reciprocation um and then yeah but each you know each couple like really just unfolds kind of how how they
00:47:16
Speaker
move through the world and with each other and all of that. And so it's fun to figure out too. And those are my favorite scenes to write. Like when I'm really, really stuck, like with writer's block, I'm like, okay, let's get them kissing. And so then I'll just, they should have sex. Yeah.
00:47:37
Speaker
But you know, I write out of order too. So it's like I can just throw that wherever I need to later. Oh, that's so interesting. Oh, yeah. No, I write out of order. I don't really plot like yeah, I just I kind of yeah, it's all chaos all the time.
00:47:53
Speaker
I feel like I remember you talking about that briefly. I got to see you talk on the panel at the LA Times festival. Yeah, I feel like I remember somebody asking about plotting and you were just like, No, I don't do that. Like, couldn't be me wish it was couldn't be me.
00:48:09
Speaker
But you can't tell because everything comes together so seamlessly, especially the plus one. Another thing that we talk about a lot with that book is Jude's emotional journey in that book, especially his journey with medicine. I thought that was so well done. And the time that was spent with him discussing the ethics of being a doctor and the responsibility of it all and really grappling with that, it was just stunning. You wrote this man who was so hot and so horny.
00:48:38
Speaker
the next chapter, we're like crying. And he is too. He's crying too. He's such a pricey. I was like, oh my god. He really is with Jude again. I swear, I've read the plus one twice in the last month. I can't stop thinking about Jude ever. But the fact that it was so realistic too, how he had everything so locked down, and then he cried once with Indira, and then he just couldn't stop. That is so me.
00:49:06
Speaker
like i so like i yeah i don't know it's also just really beautiful to see like male vulnerability like i especially in romance books where like sometimes i love like an alpha hero like i love that and it has place but like soft broken men
00:49:23
Speaker
love. I was just going to say, so I've read your books through audio. That's how I've read them. I own the physical copies, but I've, I listened to them first. And, um, in each book that I've read by you, I have cried each time. So like I felt for those people in such a strong way that I was crying and I don't, it takes kind of a lot for me to cry in romance books. Like I maybe I can count like on my hands, like how many times
00:49:53
Speaker
I've cried in romance books and these take up like two of the spots. So it's like the scene with Rake and it was after she had her fight with her mom, that scene with Rake and- In the bedroom? Oh, don't get me started. When I had read that scene, Kendra was the first of like our group to read that book. And so I was texting her and I was like, why am I crying? It was very emotional, yeah.
00:50:22
Speaker
Well, I cry pretty much the entire time writing this. A lot of times from frustration. But sorry for making you cry also. You don't mean to hurt your feelings. No, it's the best. It was beautiful. It was like happy tears because it was a beautiful scene. Again, that's just what I love about the genre. If I know that they're going to be happy,
00:50:48
Speaker
They're going to find their way. I can do tears along the way. That's fine. True. I know. I literally had this conversation today with my editor, because I'm on deadline for a book with something. And I stress out with angst. And even though I know it's going to have a happy ending, I still get so stressed and stuff. And so I tend to, I feel, write lower angst books.
00:51:12
Speaker
And my editor was like, listen, you have to make the messy choice here. Like you have to make the one that's going to be really, really angsty. And I'm like, I'm scared for so long. She's like, it's going to be worth it. There are times when I like close a book at the Third Art Conflict because I'm like, I don't want to watch them fight.
00:51:29
Speaker
I can't do it. I love them too much. That's not my business. On the topic of like kind of low angst, Tilly, I mean, it has its angsty moments for sure. But Tilly and Technicolor, at the time of the podcast coming out, it will have been a fresh born baby into the world, two weeks old. But at the time of recording, we are pre release date. So can you kind of elevator pitch Tilly for us? Like, how would you describe to people?
00:51:59
Speaker
Yeah, so I would say Tilly is my kind of YA, N.A. love child. And so they're 18 year olds and Tilly just graduated high school. She's been white knuckling her way through it, struggling with poorly managed ADHD. She has no idea what she wants out of life. She just knows she doesn't want to go to college. And so her parents sent her to be like a quote unquote intern for her perfect older sister's company for the summer in Europe.
00:52:29
Speaker
And on a flight of just countless international disasters. A lot of those are from my personal experience too. That is hilarious. A lot of that. I have some of the worst travel luck, and I think I just dumped my trauma into those chapters. But her and her seatmate, who's named Oliver Clark, they just really go through the wringer of the worst possible situations you can have on a plane.
00:52:58
Speaker
And Oliver is similarly 18, he's from the UK, he's autistic and he knows exactly what he wants out of life, like, you know, down to the second and hit the, he really struggles with connecting and communicating with people because of, you know, social norms just don't really relate. He doesn't get them a lot of times because of his autism, but the way that he communicates and navigates through the world is through color and color theory and color psychology.
00:53:25
Speaker
And he has this really successful social media page with it, and that's where he gets his emotional fulfillment with other people. But he kind of has this feeling that he is not ever going to be able to intimately be with somebody in a relationship sort of thing.
00:53:42
Speaker
These two leave this airplane hoping to never see each other again and lo and behold they're both interns for the company and they have to spend the summer together traveling across Europe and butting heads and just like it's a lot of like oh my chest hurts so bad like I must be having like a heart attack instead of like the obvious like I'm very much in love with this other person.
00:54:06
Speaker
So lots of feelings now. And yeah, it's just kind of my love letter to neurodiverse brains and teenagers that, you know, I didn't grow up with a lot of media that I felt like showed joy in the way that my brain worked and like,
00:54:24
Speaker
you know, excitement about that. And so, yeah, I was just really, really excited to write a joyful story that has like stimming and hyper focus and info dumping on the page. And that's like, you know, celebrated and normalized and stuff like that. And so, yeah, I just had so much fun with those two there.
00:54:42
Speaker
They're chaotic. They are. They're so cute. I've got lucky enough to get the arc for Tilly from NetGalley. So this book ripped me out of an eyeball reading slump. I was doing only audio reading for almost all of the month of June. And then I got approved for the arc. And I stayed up until 3 AM reading it. I woke up the next morning. And I didn't even get out of bed. I grabbed my Kindle off my new can and finished it that morning. I read it in less than 24 hours. I loved it.
00:55:11
Speaker
so much like I feel like they're my babies and I just like want to protect them from everything like I just want to wrap them up in a blanket and like oh I yeah sorry they're so excited they're so I oh they're just both so different
00:55:27
Speaker
But so lovable and the way that you said just like, there's just so much joy in this book, and there's just like, so such a celebration of like the teenage experience, and also through like their unique lenses of like them as individuals. It's in first person. Yes, yep, yep, that was a big change for me.
00:55:46
Speaker
It looks like I'm writing in first person now. I don't even know. Late Bloomer? Late Bloomer is in first person. The book I'm working on right now is in first person. I had no idea that was such a hot topic.
00:56:02
Speaker
um like reference for people and stuff um and until being told specifically that i will not read your books because i'm like oh really people are i see it all the time like people will pick up a book and they're like oh it's third person like i'm not reading it and that was something i didn't even there are so many things that i didn't know until i joined like bookish communities like sandwich
00:56:23
Speaker
Same as surprise pregnancy. I thought everyone was like down with it. And then I get on book talk and you see, I will never read this book because she gets pregnant. Yeah. Literally grow up, literally grow up. We were just talking about like sex positivity and spiciness in adult books, but like Tilly is also so sex positive as a YA book.
00:56:46
Speaker
And like I said, I got to see you at the LA Times Festival of Books this year. And you were on like this, the Writing from YA to Adults panel. And you guys did talk briefly about like writing sex scenes in adult books versus like sex in YA and stuff. And at that point, I remember you talked about Tilly. That was way back in May, but this book is so sex positive. Like there's no point where like Tilly or Oliver is like ashamed of their sexual wants. Like how
00:57:16
Speaker
was it different writing it in a YA book versus adult? Yeah, I think the big thing is like, well, first of all, it was super, super important because we, we had some conversations because there's like, I don't even know how I would describe like the love scene between Tilly and Oliver because it's not necessarily fade to black, but it's very like,
00:57:40
Speaker
fuzzy, you know, and there's not a lot of perfect way to describe it. Yeah, it's like a lot of feelings, less like body parts doing stuff. And so yeah, it was it was a very emotional I got actually I got dinged big time by
00:57:55
Speaker
a friend of mine who, who read it and she was like, bro, you have them like just bare butt on the sand. Like you need to throw a blanket. And I was like, Oh my God, I really do. So I had to throw a blanket in there. You have sex on a beach. And I was like, okay, but also you don't really realize how bad of an idea that is until you know, you, you really realize how bad of an idea I digress. But anyway, so
00:58:23
Speaker
It was really important to me because I think one of the hardest things about ADHD and autism is the infantilization that happens to people that have it, right? Where it's like you're too precious and you're too
00:58:38
Speaker
you know, childlike and we can't, you can't have wants or desires or want to have sex or like you need to be shielded from it completely. And I think that, you know, for so many people, love and romantic love and sexual like relationships are a very huge component of what they want out of life. You know, obviously there's like the wide array of the asexual spectrum and stuff like that, which, you know, is just as valid, but like,
00:59:07
Speaker
I didn't want to pigeonhole these two young adults, for lack of a better term, into falling into that trap where it's like they're too naive or they can't possibly
00:59:22
Speaker
process what it means to have sex and stuff like that. We were going back and forth on whether to keep that scene in and then it was kind of a very intentional decision. I think it needs to be on there and I think it needs to not be totally fade to black because it's also super important to show how enthusiastically they consent
00:59:41
Speaker
they do it with like protection and stuff too. And just like, you know, like they have their ducks in a row. And they're like, they're ready. They're ready to party. And like such like a beautiful, Kendra and Kayla, I'm sorry, I'm trying not to say spoilers, but they're such like a beautiful progression of their relationship that feels so realistic for that age. Like they are 18 year olds, they're
01:00:04
Speaker
sharing a bed first for a couple of weeks and they're like touching and they're like thinking about each other and I don't know it's just like young love when it's done well is just so like oh heart bursty and that is just so them and yeah.
01:00:20
Speaker
Yeah, and I think that's like, you know, you asked if it was if it was harder to write that and stuff and like for for Tilly and Oliver wasn't I think one thing that feels pretty consistent with all of my characters is like the way that they fall in love feels almost
01:00:39
Speaker
first lovey right because it's so grand and it's so big and it's so profound for them like so even if it isn't necessarily their first love like it kind of has that like bubble gum pink sensation like yeah heart burst of it all and so you know and then fertility and all over it really was their first love and you know first time and everything like that and so yeah that book didn't didn't feel that much harder to
01:01:04
Speaker
to navigate the romance and stuff like that because they were just ready to fall in love too. They were. I love the family relationships that you explored in that book as well. Tilly and her sister, Tilly and her parents, Oliver and his moms, Oliver and his sister.
01:01:22
Speaker
I love reading about family dynamics. I know Kendra talks about that all the time. Family dynamics are sometimes even more intriguing for me to read about than the actual romance. Both were so beautifully done in Tilly, but I loved seeing them gain their independence as young adults as well. I totally get what you say about this book towing the line of new adults, so it feels very mature.
01:01:46
Speaker
Thank you. I was trying to go for that. They're dumb and they're young, but they're also, who is it? I'm 28 and I'm dumb and young. I think also young adult struggles a lot with sex positivity.
01:02:05
Speaker
that's all all I read was young adult until probably I was like 21 like all of college and I would always seek out the books where I was like I want to see teens like actively talking about sex I'm not afraid of it either like until it makes me really happy that like more and more authors are starting to explore teens like having sex
01:02:22
Speaker
Cause like, I don't know. I think it's important. Like I was a horny teenager, like they exist. Like they know what a lot of people know what's happening. Like just show it. I mean, obviously there's a conversation versus like smut in sex scenes. And I think that is important, but like, yeah, just like, let them talk about it.
01:02:36
Speaker
I completely agree. I think that through YA books and stuff, it's a very safe place for people to learn and understand sex and consent and emotional maturity to enter that level of a relationship or what it can mean for you.
01:02:53
Speaker
And what it doesn't have to mean, right? Like we placed all this weight on sex too to be like this massive emotional thing and it doesn't always have to be. Like if that's what you need for it, that's fine. But yeah, I think that including it in YA books really again creates a safe space for people to explore that and like what they might like out of life and like a sexual relationship and stuff.
01:03:18
Speaker
So yeah, I'm all for it in YA and you know, it's a very nuanced conversation and unfortunately I think nuance gets lost a lot. But yeah, I think I'm really happy with like the direction that the genre is heading and stuff too. Very excited. I'm gonna read it this month.
01:03:38
Speaker
So next year you have a new book coming out which we've been talking about this entire time Which is late bloomer the thing that is probably makes me the most excited is that it's sapphic I'm bisexual brandy's bisexual like we love girls on this podcast. I'm I think women are hot, but I am straight sadly you're our ally
01:04:09
Speaker
What can you tell us about Late Bloomer? Like, what can we expect?
01:04:15
Speaker
Oh my god, I just adore this book. And like, okay, so I'm gonna have to like, you guys are gonna have to let me know your thoughts on this, because I've heard from a couple people, like on my pub team that they think it's my steamiest yet. And I don't think so. I really don't think so. Like, it's, but like, on his face, 25 pages in, you know, like, I don't, I
01:04:39
Speaker
Okay, but then again, I've heard that the plus one's my stevia. Okay, yeah, wait, quick question. Sorry, let me interview you really quick. Which is your Lizzie or the plus one?
01:04:50
Speaker
I think they both do different things very well. Lizzie, you can argue just because it starts earlier and sometimes people will count that as CMIR just because like, oh my gosh, like right out the gate where plus one was more of a slow burn. But Jude's dirty talking, it's very hot. I think I would say plus one. I would agree. I also think that sometimes the slow burn makes it even shorter. I personally think the plus one.
01:05:19
Speaker
okay but lizzie gave rake a blowjob in the shower yeah yeah she did did you did she
01:05:30
Speaker
Yeah, because it wasn't seen, but you mentioned it, like, oh, if a cock ended up in a... Oh, yeah, yeah. It ended up in my mouth, like, what was she supposed to say? Yeah, I'm like, oh, I don't know. I think it totally comes down to personal preference and enjoyment. And for me, that was the plus one.
01:05:50
Speaker
Maybe that says too much about me, but that is the case. If they're saying late bloomer is the steamiest, I'm seated. I'm okay with that, yeah. I know. I just don't want to inaccurately set up expectations because to me,
01:06:05
Speaker
I don't know. I mean, to me, it's, it's the same level as like the plus one and Lizzie, but I was curious how everybody's gonna feel about that. But anyway, so, um, yes, basically, this book is my two by disasters. They are just like, really, really messy. The book starts off with Opal. She's working as an inflatable ice cream cone, like,
01:06:30
Speaker
really not a good time. And she ends up winning the lottery, a scratch off lottery ticket, and it kind of ruins her life in a lot of ways. Because she's like, a people pleaser, bend over backwards. And so all these people are coming at her for money. And what it boils down to is she's like, I need to get away. I need to escape. And so what does any responsible 20-something-year-old artist do?
01:06:58
Speaker
she buys property off of Facebook marketplace of course of course of course to go start a shoe painting business on Etsy and like frolicking flowers um and so she shows up at the thistle and bloom flower farm and you know all her dreams are about to come true but who does she meet but grumpy lumberjane pepper who
01:07:22
Speaker
is autistic for one. And she's also like, what the fuck? This is definitely my flower farm. I own this. And so there's a con involved, and the two have to work together to figure out who actually owns the flower farm. And they're also staying in a super cozy cabin, and there should be huddled together for warmth. Yes. Yes.
01:07:50
Speaker
Yeah, there's Waffle House dates. There's just like a lot of really silly fun stuff as they deny their feelings and try to, oh, also there's a let's get it out of our systems moment.
01:08:08
Speaker
I know. But yeah I had so much fun with that book and like it yeah it really was a joy to write and like it's so goofy it's probably it's probably the most like in line with what you think of as a with of a rom-com out of all of my books because it's just very hijinksy very like silly lots of banging um lots of fun so
01:08:36
Speaker
I love that. Not to like continue to blow smoke up your ass, but like, I feel like I can tell when an author is funny. And like, I can tell that you're funny. So like saying that this one is like even goofier than the others. I'm so excited. You know what I tell my I ask my fiance every day what it's like to be engaged to the funniest. So lucky.
01:09:02
Speaker
Yeah, I tell my my husband every single day. I'm like, can you imagine if you like actually married someone who wasn't like really weird? Like, I know. Oh, yeah. Yeah. He tries to say I made him super weird, which I think I did. But I knew I was hiding under there. Like, you know, like calls to like. Yeah. Like calls to like for sure. Like I like saw, you know, I could sense it. I was like, oh, you're a little freak, huh?
01:09:28
Speaker
But you know what that's making me think of in the plus one? I think about this scene all the time. It's the opening with the peanut butter. That was just never explained. Maisie explained it. What? Okay. Okay. I need to set the record straight. I need to look at dress. Was it a one time thing?
01:09:49
Speaker
No, it was their thing. It was their thing. No, I, God, I don't know. Okay, so to be completely honest, I was like, so I had to rewrite this book pretty quick, right?
01:10:06
Speaker
I, and originally Indira wasn't dating Chris, like none of that happened. She had this like long distance relationship or like pen pal thing with Jude and like that was the main focus, right? And so I'm adding in Chris, this like shithead boyfriend where she feels just very like at her what's end and like there's no spark and everything and she walks in and I knew that she was gonna walk in on him cheating on her
01:10:34
Speaker
And I wanted it to be, I don't know why, I just wanted there to be shock value to it, right? And then I was like, okay, well, what kind of like kink situation can I put in here that like wouldn't get me canceled on Twitter? And like, and I was like,
01:10:50
Speaker
Okay, let's explore food plan, but that could still be king shame, like peanut butter. Nobody's gonna king shame me for being like, what the fuck with all this stuff. And so I just threw it in there. And I think I had every intention of changing it to something more normal as I went along. But then I turned in the book, I kind of forgot about it, honestly. And my editor never said anything, like it never came up until really close to release when everybody was like,
01:11:20
Speaker
What's going on? Like, I totally forgot that there was just like this very bizarre subplot. I think it's I honestly like it makes it so much funnier that it was never explained. Like, Chris could have been like, Oh, yeah, it's a one time thing, whatever. Like, no.
01:11:36
Speaker
He just said, oh, we're just really like peanut butter. The narrator nails that part so like it's hilarious. That was from Amani Jade Power's perspective, I think, right? Yeah, he was so good as a dear. She killed it. I was like,
01:12:02
Speaker
When I heard her audition for the audio book and everything, I knocked everything over. I was like, that's her. That's the one right there. Oh my God. That's got to be so fun. Yeah. Oh, it is. Do you listen to your own books?
01:12:17
Speaker
Um, you know what? The times when I do start giggling is when I try to listen to the sex scene. Somebody else. Yeah, we're big audiobook girlies here. So we love, I love audiobooks. Yeah. So anytime that we see like a narrator on a book that's like upcoming by an author that we love, we're like, yeah. Is the Tilly audiobook also releasing on the 15th?
01:12:42
Speaker
It is, it is. I have not heard that one yet. Yeah, usually I listen to a couple chapters and then I'm like, Oh my God, there's a billion things I would change in this stupid book. And then I like it all. And I'm like, okay, so that's not for me to listen to. Um, but for a couple minutes there, it feels like really amazing to hear it brought to life and stuff. And then you start judging yourself really hard. Um, but anyway, the Tilly audio book is coming out. I'm super excited. I love, um, uh, Oliver's.
01:13:12
Speaker
cute little accent. And I was like, he's so precious. He has a British accent. And like, that was really fun. Cause I just kept like replaying the auditions for that one too. I was like, Oh, I love a man with an owl. Yeah. Amazing. Okay. Yeah. So Tilly and Technicolor comes out August 15th. And so at the time that this podcast was going live, you guys can get it on. Anywhere, anywhere where you get your books. And when does the light bloomer come out?
01:13:45
Speaker
April 14th. Wait, hold on. That's my dad's birthday. Did you do it for me? Happy birthday to your dad. It's actually April 16th, 2024. April 16th, 2024.
01:13:58
Speaker
We will be seated, literally. I will not shut up. I'm so excited. I'm so excited too. I hope you guys enjoy it. My cheeks hurt from smiling so much. This is so much fun. This has been so fun. Y'all are amazing. I've loved chatting with you three, so thank you for having me. This really made my day. Yay. Awesome. Well, we'll catch you guys next time. Bye. Bye. Bye, guys.