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Author Interviews

Author Interviews Featured Authors

An Interview with Emily Sullivan

What’s something you are really good at that few people know about?

In general, I think any time I’ve really good at something, I don’t exactly keep it a secret, but I suppose not many people know I’m very good at Trivial Pursuit. My husband refuses to play with me!

If you could have been the author of any book ever written, which book would you choose?

Oh boy, this is a tough one. Well, I think Persuasion is a perfect second chance romance, so let’s go with that!

Is there a character you’ve written that feels closest to your own personality?

I’m sure there is a little bit of me in each of my main characters. I share Lottie’s interest in travel, for example. But part of what I love about writing is creating people different from myself.

Which do you create first, your plot or your characters? 

In the case of A Rogue to Remember the characters definitely came first. I then combined a couple of ideas I had been mulling over to form the plot.

If you could tell your younger writing self anything, what would it be?

Don’t give up! Some day you will have a BOOK in Barnes & Noble. A ROMANCE book.

What’s next for you? Are you working on a new project? If so, can you give us a teaser and/or an expected release date?

I am drafting book three in my League of Scoundrels series while waiting for copy edits on the second book, The Rebel and The Rake, which comes out on December 28th!

Author Interviews Featured Authors

An Interview with Reese Ryan

When you develop characters do you already know who they are before you begin writing or do you let them develop as you go?

Sometimes I need to write a few scenes to get into a character’s headspace. However, my stories are very character-driven, so I prefer to start with a clear understanding of who my characters are. I use profile charts to help me get a clear understanding of my characters and do a deep dive into that character’s history and past wounds. That work is typically done prior to writing the first words of the story.

Who is your favorite fictional couple? What qualities do they have that you love?

There are lots of fictional couples that I adore for one reason or another. My favorite is usually the couple I’m writing at the moment. Currently, I’m revising Return to Hummingbird Way—the follow-up to Second Chance on Cypress Lane. So I’m in love with Sinclair Buchanan and Garrett Davenport. We met them in that book because Sin is Dakota’s best friend and Rett is Dexter’s cousin.

They are basically each other’s high school hate crushes. Their best friends are high school sweethearts who reunite nearly twenty years later. Now, they are forced to work together for a couple of reasons. And I’m kind of in love with this couple’s vibe and energy. There is so much heat and attraction between them and that one-night stand five years ago no one else knows about. LOL. 

The book turned out differently than I’d intended, but I love the change. It’s been beautiful to watch Rett & Sinclair really seeing each other for the first time. They discover they don’t know each other as well as they thought, and a lot of what they believed about each other was all wrong. It’s been fun watching them really get to know each other and realize how much they have in common. What I love about them is that they are confident, strong, creative people. Yet, they are humble enough to admit when they’re wrong and apologize. 

If you could escape into one of the worlds you’ve created in your books, what character would you become and why?

I’d definitely spend time on Holly Grove Island, if I could. There’s that small time vibe, a strong sense of community, and beautiful beaches. And since I’m crushing on Rett right now, I wouldn’t mind being Sinclair. 😉

What were your favorite books growing up?

I was a huge fan of Judy Blume and Beverly Cleary. I read all of their children’s books and Blume’s teen books. But the book that made me want to become a writer is Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen. That book and Little Women by Louisa May Alcott continue to influence what I write: strong, unconventional heroines and lots of family drama.

What’s something you are really good at that few people know about?

When I first started playing corn hole (bean bag toss)—the unofficial sport of the South—I was surprisingly good at it. I haven’t played much in the last year or so, so I’m pretty rusty now. Also, my husband and I watch lots of mystery shows (mostly period mysteries right now.) I’ve gotten particularly good at figuring out the murderer (or thief) pretty early in the show.

What’s next for you? Are you working on a new project? If so, can you give us a teaser and/or an expected release date? 

I’m editing Return to Hummingbird Way, the follow-up to Second Chance on Cypress Lane now. Next, I’ll be writing the final book in my Bourbon Brothers series—a series about the romantic and business adventures of a family that owns a world-famous distillery in Tennessee. The release date of the final Bourbon Brothers book is February 2022. A date for RHW is TBD, since I’m still massaging the first draft of the book now. But I promise it will be oh so worth the wait. 😉

Author Interviews Featured Authors

An Interview with Jason Feifer and Jennifer Miller

Married authors Jason Feifer and Jennifer Miller both brought their own style and insight to their first, and only (so far!) romantic comedy novel, Mr. Nice Guy. Delivering a charming combination of flirty and steamy romance with your real-life romantic partner is no small feat, and we were thrilled the pair offered to give us some insight into their collaboration. Between juggling parenthood, a podcast, and two new novels in the works, the busy couple managed to give us the scoop on their writing process, their latest reads, and their winding career paths.

What is the biggest surprise that you experienced after becoming a writer?

JASON: It took a long time to figure out what kind of writing I was good at! I first thought of myself as a writer in high school, when I contributed to local music magazines. But as I pursued it professionally, I tried on many different voices and identities. I discovered, for example, that I’m a terrible screenwriter and an excruciating political columnist. I once thought of myself as a contemplative writer who used complicated prose, but ended up finding a groove as a fast-paced, straightforward writer who leans heavily on lessons and takeaways. It’s all been a surprise!

JEN: How hard it is to make a living…actually, I knew it would be pretty damn hard! 

When you set out to write a book, how do you begin?

JASON: Jen’s the true novelist between us, so I’ll shut up here.

JEN: I think about the main character in the book and try to imagine where they are and what they’re doing at a critical moment in their lives. In Mr. Nice Guy, that moment has Lucas emerging from the sweaty NYC subway to start his job at the city’s most popular magazine. In my debut novel, The Year of the Gadfly, it has my protagonist Iris being swept away to a new (and rather creepy) mountain town by her parents. 

Both of you tackled a new genre when you wrote Mr. Nice Guy. What inspired your collaboration? Would you do it again?

JASON: When I was in my 20s, I struck up an e-mail friendship with a sex columnist. That gave me the idea for a novel: What if two people each week slept together and then criticized each other’s performance in a magazine? But I had no idea how to turn this into a novel. I tried many times, over many years. I kept failing. Then… I married a novelist! After Jen sold one of her novels, she was looking for a new project and I suggested that she write something based on my idea. She suggested we do it together. And so the collaboration was born.

JEN: Writing a rom-com was one of the most fun exercises I’ve done. There was something incredibly freeing about being able to lean into satire and romance and cheese all at once. And we were able to play to our strengths. All the sexy, steamy columns are in the book—but I’ve never been much of a columnist, so I made Jason do that part!

If you could tell your younger writing self anything, what would it be?

JASON: Just keep experimenting. You may think a particular job, or project, or style of writing is lame—but you’ll learn a surprising amount from everything you do, and each experience will help you become a better storyteller later.

JEN: Stay away from social media. If you simply focus on your own work and what you love to do (and stop worrying about whether you’re successful enough), you’ll be much happier. My anxiety load significantly reduced when I finally quit Twitter! (I’m still there, but I only use it to track people when I can’t find their emails elsewhere and, occasionally, when I want to look up some breaking news.)

What’s the best book you’ve read in the past year? 


JASON: I am loving my friend Joe Keohane’s upcoming book, The Power of Strangers. It’s a nonfiction book about our relationships with strangers, and how to talk to them, and why connecting with people you don’t know is so important.

JEN: I’m currently reading Ron Chernow’s biography of Alexander Hamilton. It’s been super fun to compare/contrast the actual historical events with the Lin Manuel Miranda version (which I know by heart, because our 5-year-old is obsessed and demands we listen on every car ride). 

What’s next for each of you? Are you working on new projects? If so, can you give us a teaser and/or an expected release date?

JASON: Yes! We both have book projects—though both are nonfiction and neither of them are anything like Mr. Nice Guy

I’m currently working on a book called Build For Tomorrow, Not For Yesterday, which will come out in the summer of 2022. It’s about how to become more adaptable and find opportunity in change, with lessons drawn from the history of innovation and the smartest entrepreneurial minds of today. If you want an early taste of it, you can download a free audio course I created on the subject!

JEN: I’m writing a young adult non-fiction book about first-generation college students. It follows three students, all the first in their families to attend college, through their freshmen year. And we’re talking 2019/2020, so it was all quite unexpected and dramatic. 

Author Interviews Featured Authors

An Interview with Lauren Billings

An Interview with Lauren Billings

What’s the strangest thing you have ever had to research for a book?

Probably New York sex clubs or how often people die in the Utah slot canyons.

Which of your characters do you relate to the most and why (any book)?

Bennett & Chloe, because of their ambition. Harlow for her fierce love for her friends.

If you had to write yourself as a villain, what kind of villain would you be? What would you be named?

I would be the villain in a mediocre man’s story about how a highly qualified, emotionally intelligent woman got the job he half-assed his way to the interview for, haha.

What is the first book that made you cry?

Oh, good question. For sure Where the Red Fern Grows, and I’m so glad they don’t include that in our district’s curriculum because I wouldn’t be emotionally prepared to help my kids work their way through that heartbreak. As an adult, I cried the hardest after finishing Forbidden, by Tabitha Suzuma.

What is your favorite part, and your least favorite part, of the publishing journey?

Hands down, my favorite part is working with my best friend every day, and getting to collaborate with a team of people who are so good at their jobs it’s awe-inspiring. I really am so lucky to be able to do this job, with these people. And least favorite part would be the hurry-up-and-wait aspect to the industry. There is a lot of that built into the publishing process.

What’s next for you? Are you working on a new project? If so, can you give us a teaser and/or an expected release date?

The Soulmate Equation is out on May 18th, and it’s our first hardcover release. We are so proud of this book! It’s the story of single-mom Jess, who is skeptical about a new dating service that matches people based on their DNA, but does it on a whim and finds that she matches with the company’s founder, in their highest level of compatibility ever. It has mild enemies-to-lovers, fake dating, a cast of characters I adore! And we also just finished drafting our 2022 novel, which is Romancing the Stone-meets-The Hangover and I honestly don’t know if we’ve ever had so much FUN writing a book before. Writing these two books has been the best writing experience of my life.

Author Interviews Featured Authors

An Interview with Christina Hobbs

An Interview with Author Christina Hobbs

What’s the strangest thing you have ever had to research for a book?

I LOOOOVE doing research for books. It’s like I need to feel competent in whatever the character knows (within reason) to write about their daily thoughts. After Dirty Rowdy Thing I know a lot about the Canadian fishing industry, and with Roomies I learned a ton about the US immigration process.

What was the best money you ever spent as a writer?

Probably a good computer? But also we have an outside PR rep (Kristin Dwyer @ Leo PR) and she is worth her weight in gold.

If a film were made of The Honey Don’t List, who would you cast in the leading roles?

We are the absolute worst at this. I don’t have an idea for Carrie or James, but Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard would be hilarious as Melly and Rusty. 

If you could spend time with a character from one of your books who would it be? And what would you do during that day?

Fizzy is the best friend in The Soulmate Equation and she’s a total scene-stealer. She’s also a romance novelist and I think we’d be instant besties. 

If you could ask one other successful author three questions about their writing, writing process, or books, what would they be?

  • What is the single best piece of promo they’ve done? It’s hard to know where to reach readers and what moves the dial.
  • I assume they’ve had a long career, so the best piece of advice for that longevity.
  • The best advice they were ever given.

What’s next for you? Are you working on a new project? If so, can you give us a teaser and/or an expected release date? 

We have The Soulmate Equation out on May 18th. We just finished a first draft of a Romancing the Stone meets The Hangover type of book for 2022, and are currently brainstorming our next one!