Latest / Main Chapter / Black Cowboy Romance Author Alexa Martin x Main Chapter

Transcript

Black Cowboy Romance Author Alexa Martin x Main Chapter · Main Chapter

• 0:02
  SPEAKER_01: Hello, my book butterflies, and welcome to this week's episode of the Main Chapter Podcast.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_01: My name is Brianna.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_01: If you haven't already, please be sure to like and subscribe so we can continue growing and spreading our love of books with the entire world.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_01: I just got done interviewing Alexa Martin, and we talked all about her new book.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_01: A black cowboy romance.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, that is her name.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_01: And she moves to a white or celestial texture.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_01: She buys a house without ever seeing it in person.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_01: And shocker is a complete fixer.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_01: Her bathroom literally falls through the ceiling.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_01: And she hires a handyman Jacob, who is guardian, but also sensitive.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_01: He is a local high school football coach who also used to be a cowboy in his family, also the most prominent ranch in town, lives right next door.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_01: So we meet his siblings, his parents, but also develops these positive female friendships.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_01: It's a beautiful found family trope that also talks about dealing with grief and representation.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_01: We break it all down into this upcoming conversation, as well as talking about our shared love of little mix and other bookish things.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_01: So I hope you enjoy it and let's go ahead and get started with the interview.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_01: So welcome to main chapter.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_01: I am so excited to have you.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_01: So this was actually my first time reading like a true cowboy romance.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_01: I've done a couple small town romances before, but this was a totally new subgenre to me.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_01: And I saw that when you moved to Texas, that's like when you felt like you found your community.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_01: Was that your spark for writing a cowboy romance?
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_01: What was the inspiration behind that?
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: Deciding to write a cowboy romance definitely came after our move.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I had been really wanting to do a small town romance where I kind of created the town in a fictional town.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: And then I like moved to Texas.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: And Texas is it's Texas, right?
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: Like there's no other way to describe it.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: There are some things that were happening.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, this has to go in a book.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: Like all this has to go into a book.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: And I had my contract was up and I was talking to my editor, and we were trying to figure out like what lane we were gonna go in next.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: And um we were like, what about a cowboy romance?
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: So it's like cowboy meets small town meets Friday night lights.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um it's to me like everything that like I imagine a small Texas town would be.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so it's my play on the cowboy.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um, not I would say it's like a good entrance into cowboy if you haven't done it before.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: This is gonna be a series, so it's like gradually getting more and more cowboy as the series goes on.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, so it's like it's like a gateway to the genre.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_01: Love a gateway to romance.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_01: And small town gossip was such a big trope in this book, for better or for worse.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_01: And I was wondering when you were developing the talent of celestial, was the small town gossip based off of something you've experienced?
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_01: And what's the most unhinged you've ever thing you've ever heard in the rumor mill?
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, let's, I mean, I've my son plays high school football.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: So, like that was the full like Friday night lights like reference, and why I had to do that.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: And I feel like that's where like most of like the gossip happens.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: Like it is so intense.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't know if I can share those ones.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: But then my husband also played like professional football.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_00: And I think like within communities, like especially like smaller niche ones, like there is so much that like goes on even in like the publishing world, right?
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: Like you hear something and somebody hears something, like within communities, it's such like a prevalent thing.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: Most of it pretty good.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I try not to like go down that lane.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: I like I have four kids, I don't have the capacity to be like that into it.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: But like you just like hear things.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: I'm trying to think of what like the most unhinged rumor I've ever heard is.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't know.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: There's I don't know.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_00: That's a good question.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: Let me come back to that one because I'm trying to think of something that's we're going to.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_01: Well, we'll come back to it.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_01: I've never like lived in a super small town.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_01: Like I grew up in the suburbs of Atlanta and now I live in LA.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_01: So I've never been in that rural area.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_01: But I've been in niche communities, like I've done pageants, I've done extracurriculars where I can imagine like there's definitely a gossip mill.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_01: And you're right, you can choose to participate in it or you can choose to kind of distance yourself from it.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_01: So it's sometimes hard to pull up to pull up that gossip.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I know.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: And especially because like when it's like nasty, I like can games.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: No, you know what I mean?
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: Like that's why I watch reality TV.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: Like in my real life, I don't like to be involved.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: I like I like it to be like a window, but not like I don't want to be in the house.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_01: And so talking about cowboy romance too, it's a predominantly white genre.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_01: So, what was it like approaching that genre with a black couple and developing that story?
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: It's actually so let's try to figure out how I can say this.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: So this is my ninth book, and all of my books have people of color.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: Like when I started writing, it was the main reason I started.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: I was a really I read romance, like I loved romance, they ate it up, but it was kind of before I knew about the blogs and like I wasn't involved in like the reader community.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: So all of my recommendations came from like finishing a book and Apple books being like, you might like this book, and they were all white books.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: And I just like remember really wanting to see myself in a story, and that's why I started writing.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, the hard thing within publishing and the world is like racism exists, and sometimes it can be like sometimes it's so quiet that you're just like, Am I making this up?
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm biracial.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: I grew up with like my white family, so like I have a lot of experience of being like, no, no, no, no, that's not what it is.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: But then like even when it is, so I like try to kind of ignore, but sometimes it can be really hard when you're writing in these spaces and like your care, like there's dog whistles, right?
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: Like your characters are unlikable and that's unrelatable, and right, like they can't relate to these characters, yet somehow it's like alien romance vampires.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: Do you know what I mean?
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: Like all those things.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: And so there was like a point when I started writing this book where I was like, do I even want to like do I want to deal with that?
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: Like there was like a point for like a day or two where I was like, should I just like make them white and like let it fit into this genre?
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: Before I was just like, actually, no, it's the whole reason I write is to show diversity and to have like these like voices and spaces.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: Not that I'm I'm not the only diverse cowboy romance at all.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but like I was just like, we need more within these spaces.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: And so writing it was like really important to me to write it in a way.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: It's also part of the reason why it's like a fictional small town because I wanted it to be important, but not like a drawback.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't want like I wanted race like them to be black cowboys and to kind of see that history and this town started as a freedmen settlement, right?
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_00: Like it started with freed slaves settling there and creating this community.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: So kind of diversity, inclusivity is a cornerstone of this community.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_00: And I went from there.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: Like it's not, I wouldn't say like race, race isn't a problem they tackle in a book, but it's there, it's evidence, and it's important to acknowledge.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I'm glad that like having this cover with like two black characters on the cover was really important to me.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if that like fully answers the question, but it was really important when I was writing it, even if it's not like a racial story, right?
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: Like I don't want to teach anybody a lesson, right?
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't want to teach people to like not be racist because again, that's a whole other opera that I could go down.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_00: But it is something I was just like, we're here.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_00: We are also is like, you know, the time of cowboy Carter.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: It's you know, reclaiming these spaces and also understanding that the term cowboy was created for black people, right?
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it was back when it started, cowboy was only referenced for black cow cowboys, and the white ones were cow handlers, right?
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_00: Like it was like boy was to put them in their place.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: So it is important that like we're here and we're in this space.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly, because black people play such a huge influence in part in like the history of cowboys and ranching.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_01: And I really love that there was a like strong, prominent, like black family in this book who was like wealthy and really embedded in the community.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_01: And I like what you said, like what are you talking about?
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_01: When you were reading books, like there's a lot of people, like the algorithm would just push forward more white stories.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_01: And I started my reading journey or fell in love again with reading a few years ago, and I was falling into that same trap where they just push forward more and more white romances, and they're well written, but you want that diversity, you want it.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_01: And I've made it like a point for myself to like seek out like more black and like minority romances um this year.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm so I'm so glad that I did.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_01: So I always like to ask when I have a black author on the show because I'm lucky to have a few that what does like writing these black stories like mean to you personally?
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I'm just I mean, there's so many amazing like black authors out there.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_00: I'm excited that I can be one of them and create these stories.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_00: I think I just what can be so frustrating as a black reader is when you pick up a black book and you're just like, right?
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, we don't want to like self-insert, but you want to see somebody represent you.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: And I think it can be frustrating when there's only a small handful to choose from, right?
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: Like it's hard to see yourself in that.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_00: So to like put more stories out there to give more opportunity to show different sides and different voices, like that's important to me.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: And I hope that eventually there's so many black voices and black stories in the market that it's it's like white stories where you don't necessarily like maybe you don't relate to this character, but that's okay because you know there's 800 other ones that you can.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: And so I'm just like glad to be one of the voices among many, kind of bringing that and like the options and showing kind of these different stories and representation within the genre.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_01: And I loved Luna as a character.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_01: I thought she was strong, but also really fun and whimsy.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_01: And she brings up her biracial identity a couple of times and talked about how she really had to work to feel connected to her black heritage.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_01: And you just mentioned that you're biracial as well.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_01: Did you pull from your own experiences when you were writing her?
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, yes, I think I I can't help but pull some of my like self in the stories and also like that part of my identity, right?
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_00: Like I did relate to Aluna a lot in that like her dad passed away when she was young, my dad passed away when I was young.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_00: We're both from Denver, which is a great city, but like there are certain pockets where are, you know, very white.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_00: And especially if you grow up with like very well-meaning family, like it's not that my family never acknowledged my blackness, but it was kind of hard to see.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_00: And so it is like the point where you like you have to seek it out and you have to kind of find your community because it's not necessarily available to everybody.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um, which and so I think community and finding your community and finding your place is kind of a topic that I touch on a lot throughout the story.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_00: It's something that Luna is fighting for, kind of you'll see, like her whole life to find her place.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, we definitely see this found family trope, and she also feels this acceptance with Tate and his family.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_01: And I really wanted to talk about him because I loved how developed his character was without he was guarded, but we understood why he was guarded.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_01: I feel so many times like you read like a moody or like quiet male protagonist, and you're like, why are they like this way?
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_01: Like they're a quirk, but like we fully understand what's going on in his mind.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_01: And what really stood out to me is that his football career ended because he violated um guidelines what versus you see a lot of times it's just like an injury that flushes it all down.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_01: What made you choose this route of choosing like rules versus like an injury instead?
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_00: Well, so again, my husband played, he played college football, he played in the NFL.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_00: Now then he coached high school, and now my son is playing high school and he's getting ready to go to college.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_00: And to kind of see the transformation of the landscape of college football over these years, it's been really wild, like really wild to see.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: And like right now, it's kind of like the wild, wild west.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_00: Like there's so many new things happening.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: And so to know, like my husband, like half the reason he declared for the NFL early is he was like, I can't afford to stay here, right?
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_00: Like football takes up so much of his time, he couldn't have a job, he wasn't making money, right?
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_00: Like he needed to help like support his family, he needed to like make money.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_00: And now college players are making more than what the like league minimum was when he was playing.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_00: And so, kind of to see that change.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_00: And I had watched um Johnny Manzel had a documentary on Netflix, and it was it's kind of so it was that's what happened to him.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, he's still like it didn't like end his career, like a lot of things ended his career, but that was a big part of like how he broke these rules and why, and also kind of like the logic behind it, like why for Johnny Manzel, like they had sold so many jerseys, they were making so much money off of his name that they were able to build a new stadium.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_00: And he got in trouble for making a little money off of his name as well.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_00: Like that it doesn't seem fair.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_00: And then now to see it where that's just accepted, that's that is what it is.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_00: And for Tate, it was like a lot of him trying to prove himself and you know, with those five family dynamics with his dad and not wanting to ask for help and feeling like he could do it on his own.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_00: And then I also now he's the high school football coach, and I really wanted him to have that backstory because now, again, with my son playing high school football in Texas, it is a lot.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_00: I really wanted to have a coach where his main priority was helping these like young men get into college grow, where a lot of times you see some of these coaches, and that is not their priority, right?
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_00: Their priority is winning and making like kind of like I feel like rewriting their history of as like high school players.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_00: And so I really wanted him to have that background where he was coming into this new job from the right place, where it is like protecting these kids and doing what like I think a high school coach is supposed to do.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it is insane seeing how like the landscape has changed over the years.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_01: Like I just graduated three years ago, which still feels like a long time.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_01: But like in my I think it was like my junior senior years, that's like when those NIL deals like first started happening.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_01: And I went to a basketball school, I went to UCLA.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_01: So, like, but our football players were still making a lot of money, even though we had an awful record in like our basketball players, like even our bench warmers had gotten like deals with mattress companies because they got a lot of sleep.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_00: So I know it's it's a lot like you see how much some of these kids are making.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_00: Also, like, yes, rightfully so, they should be able to make money and support themselves, but now it's just like like I said, I I don't know enough.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_00: My son is a senior in high school, he's like getting into it.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_00: And every time they tell me stuff, I just like zone out.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, there's too much happening.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's a lot, and it'll be interesting to see how it changes over the next few years.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_01: But it was nice to see like a book that's capturing like the timeliness of like this changingness in athletics, especially college athletics, and you see people staying in college for a lot longer, even finishing and getting their asking for extra years of like eligibility.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you can like finish your degree and start like your master's and still be playing.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_00: Like it's it's which is again, I mean, I don't really have I don't have strong feelings when I do have strong feelings that like athletes should be able to like make money and it shouldn't just all be going to the school, but um, I know I need to like know more before I can like put a hole my all my feelings out there.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_00: Don't don't have me.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_01: Well it's just take one day at a time and we're learning it.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_01: So when you were developing, did you start with his backstory and then developed his personality, or did you do like his personality of like, oh, he's guarded and then kind of worked backwards for like why he was this way?
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_00: Kind of came together at the same time, right?
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_00: I Luna came first in the story, right?
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_00: Luna star moving to celestial, running from grief, but like very whimsical.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_00: And so I did want him to be more guarded, a little grumpy, um, where they're both kind of dealing with family issues, but dealing with them in like different ways, right?
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_00: Like she's kind of ignoring it and being like very outgoing and trying to find new community where he's pushing it away.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_00: So I knew I wanted it part like that.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_00: And then once I decided that I wanted it to be kind of Friday Night Lights inspired, I knew that it was gonna be like the football stuff as well.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um, yeah, but they kind of came close together.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_00: I will say both of these characters came through pretty well formed.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_00: Like they, they're very like specific characters and were very fun to write.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_00: And it didn't take me like too long to know who they were.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_01: That's always nice when that happens.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_01: And so while Tate was dealing with his past with football, we also see Luna dealing with the past of her mom.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_01: And the book really shows kind of how grief it can be a tricky subject, especially when you're grieving someone you had a little bit of a problematic relationship with.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_01: And she talks about how she felt like relief when her mom passed away.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_01: When you were like writing those scenes, how did you like walk the line of like those emotional layers without her like appearing like cold or like heartless?
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_00: Well, so this was kind of another thing.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_00: So my mom had passed in 2020, and it was like a difficult thing to reconcile with.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_00: And it's a some, it's a story that I knew I wanted to tell, but like I knew I needed some space before I could write it.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and it is that I think a lot of times when we see grief portrayed, it's a lot of like they were amazing and I miss them and I'm so sad.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_00: But that's just not always the case, right?
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_00: Like just because somebody passes doesn't mean that erases all of the history.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_00: And if there is kind of history and hard times, it almost makes it harder to deal with it because you want to feel that, but there's so many emotions kind of blocking that.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_00: And so for Luna, right, like she does love her mom.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_00: She and she feels so much shame in her grief.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that's kind of what balance making it harsh was that she she feels bad about it.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_00: Like there is that like very like I think tangible level of shame in her feelings and how she's doing it right.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_00: One of her things is like she can't cry.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_00: Like it's like put this like whole block in her that like she's kind of shut down a whole part of herself to kind of move forward and move through this.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_00: And I think her and Tate both kind of dealing with their own family issues as different as they are, them being able to kind of open up to each other, right?
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_00: Her opening up and talking about it, and then actually able once she addresses, right?
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_00: Like I did feel a little relief.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_00: I I didn't feel it sadness, like I'm mad at her.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_00: She was able to kind of let that go and then also let in the good problem, the good feelings and those good memories.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_00: Because so many times, like if you do have those, it's hard to remember, right?
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_00: Like the good times when you have that much anger, and you have to be able to release each thing kind of a step at a time.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_00: And it is this whole, it's a journey, right?
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_00: Grief is such a journey.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_00: And I think with Luna, as she's kind of going on this journey, she's able to kind of touch, get in touch with like realizing, like, oh, my mom was just a girl.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_00: This was her first time living too, and she really tried.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_00: And also realizing that a lot of what happened with her mom was her grief unresolved and realizing, like, oh, if I don't acknowledge this, if I don't learn how to move through this, I'm gonna repeat the same cycle.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so kind of writing her journey and seeing that depiction of grief on page.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_00: Not again, I I know I'm not the first person to do it, but I hope that I love writing these deeper elements in romance.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_00: It's like always it's like the medicine and the milkshake, right?
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_00: Like it's you feel safety in kind of getting in there because you know there's that happily ever after at the end.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so I hope that if anybody has ever felt like this, I hope they haven't.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_00: I hope they're able to like see themselves and ease up in themselves.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_00: And like, you know, I hope it helps them on that journey.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_01: And I think grief, it's a very tricky subject.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_01: And you're right that we don't see a lot of different types of representation for it.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_01: It's a lot of times being like, oh, I just missed them and I'm so sad.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_01: But it's not linear.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_01: There's sometimes a lot of complicated feelings, and not everyone always has the resources to go to grief counseling or learn about it.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_01: So it's really important that we see them in books and media so people can feel seen, know like what I'm feeling is normal and I'm not alone in this.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_01: Uh no, that's a pretty heavy topic, but on a very much lighter part of the book was the female friendship.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_01: We see Karton having so much fun with Gabby, with Millie, with Sierra.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_01: They almost had as much page time as Tate does.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_01: So why did you want to include such empowering female relationships in your book?
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_00: I write romances, but for like the female friendship in all of my books, it plays to me, it's just as important to develop as the romance.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_00: I want my characters to be like real, fully developed people.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_00: And I think within that, it like you need the female friendship.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's really important.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_00: And honestly, I think like as like romances are developing, some of like the most fun parts are calling your friends and kind of telling them everything that's happening.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_00: And usually in my stories, there's like one best friend, right?
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_00: It would have been this story, it's Gabby.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_00: But she's moving to this new place and Gabby's not there.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_00: And so there's actually a lot more of it in this story than I had anticipated going in.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I knew she'd meet Millie.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um, who owns the craft store in town.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_00: But Sierra and their relationship kind of came as a surprise as I was building the story.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_00: I wasn't fully expecting for her to play as big of a part as she did and their friendship to be as prevalent.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_00: And so that was really fun writing it in some of those scenes.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_00: There's one scene where they're painting the chicken coop, and it's one of my favorite scenes in the book.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_00: Like it's just so much fun.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_00: I think it adds like a really, a really nice layer to like Luna and who she is, and also like how she opens up to Tate's.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I'm not a home renovation person, but I am a crafty person.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_01: So I definitely appreciate it.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_01: Like the chicken coop scene.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_01: Like my friends and I will have craft nights, we'll do paint by numbers, book bedazzling.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_01: So I was like, oh, I could totally see my friend group in them.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_01: And Sierra was such a sister, like not wanting to hear that they thought her brothers were hot or details, which I thought added a like real layer of like fun to it.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_01: And so, kind of speaking of Sierra, and also Sila's, you said in the beginning that this is going to be a series.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_01: And I felt like we had some unresolved with their story, Sierra talking about how she didn't feel like she was truly seen in her family.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_01: And Sila's kind of hinting that he's truly not over his ex.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_01: So are we gonna get any books on them?
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_01: And is there anything you can tease, even though by the bootstraps just came out?
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so book two will be Silas's book.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um it's second chance.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um I just turned it in, like the first draft a couple of weeks ago.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_00: I know I love it, it's so cute.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then I want the third book to be Sierra's.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I would yeah.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_00: So I want each of the siblings to kind of have their own story.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um and I just really love that family.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_00: And then again, kind of seeing it because you're right, like you meet them all, but there is a little like there are questions left for each sibling, I think, and like what's gonna happen to them.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_00: So um, yeah, I hope everybody like I hope everybody loves them as much as I do.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_01: I'm excited because I love Silas.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_01: And while I understand while Luna ended up with Tate, like the first like 30% of the book, I was like, girl, Silas is like right there.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_01: Like he's emotionally available, he's showing you attention, like please.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_00: I know, I know.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_00: I've never done like a love triangle light before.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, if you read the back cover of the copy, like you know who she chooses, you know who he is.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_00: But it was still really fun to introduce him that way and to kind of see like both of their personalities against each other, and I just think it like really sets him up for like being a leading man in his story.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_01: And one other fun thing, going kind of back to the chickens, is you name the chickens after Little Mix, which is a deep pull.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_01: I rarely heal hear people talk about little mix, and I love little mix, so I have to ask so much.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_01: Of course.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_01: I have to ask, what is your favorite song and who is your favorite member of Little Mix?
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, I feel like I have been placed on this earth to preach the gospel of Little Mix to the masses.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_00: They are my favorite.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_00: I have, I think maybe for like my last like five books, there's a little mix reference inside of them to the point where my editor was like, again, I was like, Yes, again, every time.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_00: Like I thank them and the acknowledgements.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_00: I love them.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_00: I love little mix.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_00: My daughter was obsessed with them, and like one night I couldn't sleep, and I watched like their journey on the X Factor, and I was like, that's it, that's it.
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_00: I'm in.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I don't know if I can choose a favorite member.
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_00: I love, I mean, I'm an LM3 girly, no offense.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, everybody else.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_00: However, it's so Perry, Jade, Lee, and Lee Ann for me.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_00: And that's who's in like the book.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_00: There's yeah, I noticed that.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, interesting.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I will I will not go on that whole deep dive as much as I want to right now.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_00: So there's Perry Eggwards, um, Jade Clockwell, and Lee Hen uh Pinnock.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_00: And I just love, let's see, favorite song.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_00: I love so many of their songs.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um I love Don't Forget About Us.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_00: It's LM5, I think is a perfect album.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_00: It's one of my like top five albums of all time.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know what the other four are, but I know that LM5 is one of them.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I love Touch.
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um I love, I mean, oh, I when I like am stuck in writing, like I will always go to YouTube and I will watch them performing Secret Love Song live on the third, little mix of the third, like that performance.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_00: It gives me goose bones every single time.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_00: Like my girls can sing, they can dance, they just they're honestly, I don't under I know I don't understand how they didn't hit it here.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_00: It's like there's a lot to be mad at in America, but like that is one of the things I'm angrious about and I will never forgive.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I also love their solo stuff.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_00: Like um Leanne's new album is perfect.
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um Me Minus You is like one of it's such like it's such a great song.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_00: And then Jade's album, uh Silent Disco is like one of the songs that like I have for this book.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_00: Like I think it's like I think it's like Luna and Tate's song.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's like the perfect song for them.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um and yeah, I just love little mix, I love them so much.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_00: I Leanne's gonna be on Traders UK in one of my bookish friends was like, Oh yeah, I can't wait to watch.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, Yeah, Leanne.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_00: She's like, Oh, I can't wait to listen to her music.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_00: And I was just like, Oh, you don't know who they are.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, you'll know who they are.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_00: I showed you my phone of like our messages.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_00: There's like 13 like separate messages of me just like explaining little mix and like the song she should listen to.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, and I didn't send you videos because I'm trying to be that was me trying to be reserved.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_00: And she was like, Send me videos.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_00: So I was like, Oh, say less.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_00: It's just like links on links and links.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um, yeah, I love them.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh, Wasabi, Joan of Arc again, LM5.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_00: Perfect.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh.
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_00: Perfect.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_01: I feel like I'm gonna go listen to some little mix after this interview, but Secret Love Songs, one of my favorite songs.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_01: So the music video kills me with Jason Darillo.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, well, I I that's why I like the live performance.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_00: I can't let him him bouncing off the wall.
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, I'm sorry, Jason Darillo.
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_00: So you watched the live version and they're just like sparkling and their voice vocals go crazy, and it is it's perfect.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_00: I was saying to my um, I did like a little tour around Texas and I talked about little mix every single night.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_00: And whenever anybody like tagged me in a post and used like little mix is like their song, I was like, I did it, my job is done, my job is done.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_01: You're you're a little mixed fan first romance out there.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_01: Correct.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_00: Correct.
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_00: We there's levels, and I understand my main position in life.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_00: Perfect.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_01: Perfect.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_01: So we have a few minutes left.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_01: So I have some more fun questions here.
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_01: So did I read correctly on threads that you were writing a spicy scene and someone with a Jesus pin sat next to you?
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_00: I so I yes, I live in Texas and I have four kids.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_00: And as they come into the room during this, like all the time, like they don't understand that like a closed door is like a request for privacy.
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_00: They're just like, oh hey, like she just wants us to come in louder and more often.
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_00: So I like to write in coffee shops and living in Texas, like every coffee shop I write at, like there is a an a man with an open Bible within like tables every single time.
• 29:25
  SPEAKER_00: So yes, like there's always like an open Bible, like right there.
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_00: Just like me like hiding my screen.
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_00: Like, don't look over here, don't look over here, don't look over here.
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my gosh.
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I don't even write like reading spicy scenes in public.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_01: I can't even imagine like writing one.
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_01: And I grew up like in the Bible belt, and my parents, I would always like drive down from Atlanta to Orlando for Disney, and there's always these billboards about like Jesus and these zombies and they're really cheesy.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_01: And I put my romance book like as I'm reading them, like, oh my gosh.
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_01: I can't look, I know.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_00: I know.
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_01: I can't look.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_01: And so kind of also we're coming full circle here this summer with your book intercepted, giving this beautiful cover so much so gorgeous.
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_01: So, what does it mean, kind of having this full circle moment for you?
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_00: I my editor reached out, I think like last summer and was just like, hey, I think we're gonna do this.
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, wait, what?
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I haven't heard about like people will still tag me in it, which is like amazing.
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_00: It's been almost 10 years since it came out.
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_00: So the fact that people even still read that book and then having this like new cover, which just um Lenny Kaufman designed it, who also did like the icebreaker once, which is like she was like, What do you want the cover?
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, I don't know.
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_00: It's like I want her jersey to be bedazzled.
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_00: Like that was my contribution to the cover.
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I'm just I'm really excited.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_00: I I love that book.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_00: I love that series, I like the stories that I tell.
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_00: It's like it's my debut book.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so there's like this like innocent sweetness of like that.
• 30:57
  SPEAKER_00: I remember of like writing that story before I knew like expectations and like had any kind of thought about what how it might be received.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_00: And so to kind of have it come out again and kind of a little bit, well, no, I actually I still don't know what I'm doing, but to try to like promote it again and get back into it.
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_00: I'm really excited.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_00: I'm really excited to kind of dive back into that world and um it's just a new cover.
• 31:21
  SPEAKER_00: There's it's not like a new story within that.
• 31:23
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but it's like still beautiful, yeah.
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and it's gonna be in stores in Walmart, which it never was before, and so I'm hoping that I can find a new like lease with like readers.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I'm excited to scream about it.
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, people unfortunately don't judge a book by its cover, is not always true of people who are book shopping.
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_01: So I feel like the cover is gonna attract like a whole new audience of its color and it's design.
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_01: So you started in sports romance, and I actually had a book club friend who was a hockey wag and she could not stand sports romance, specifically hockey romance, because she thought that there was just Sony inaccuracies, it was overly romanticized.
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_01: So, you being an NFL wag for eight years, what are your opinions on sports romance?
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_01: And do you try to add any like realities into your story that people don't see?
• 32:08
  SPEAKER_00: So funny.
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_00: When I started writing, my husband was still playing, and I said, I will never write a football romance.
• 32:14
  SPEAKER_00: Like, this is not romantic.
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_00: Like I was, I was anti, I wasn't I was staunchly against doing it.
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_00: And I got into this writing competition, and my mentors were just like, you have a very specific point of view.
• 32:24
  SPEAKER_00: Like it doesn't have to be the romances that you've read.
• 32:28
  SPEAKER_00: Like you can write it how you want to.
• 32:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so yeah, there definitely are.
• 32:32
  SPEAKER_00: The first book is like very fun, it's a lot lighter.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um it's you know, her, she was dating her high school sweetheart for a long time, and then they break up and she starts dating like the new quarterback on the team.
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it's like very fun.
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_00: It's like very much like the game.
• 32:48
  SPEAKER_00: I said it was like real housewives meets Friday night, or not Friday night lights meets any given Sunday.
• 32:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so it's really fun.
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_00: But in the second book, like I touch on CTE, right?
• 32:57
  SPEAKER_00: Like I bring that into it.
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_00: It's not it's not like a head.
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_00: It's still, I think all my books are rom-coms, even if I like try to go a little deeper.
• 33:05
  SPEAKER_00: I think they're still like rom-coms.
• 33:07
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but that one touches on CTE and Snaps kind of discusses like racism within the league and like how they treat their players who have retired.
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_00: And so I did bring in other kind of perspectives, I think that I felt like very uniquely qualified to put in the story.
• 33:27
  SPEAKER_00: Also the story like with the women in that book, right?
• 33:31
  SPEAKER_00: Like the first one, it's like she's got still has her best friend.
• 33:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but the second, like the as you go on, like the friendships develop and they deepen.
• 33:39
  SPEAKER_00: And then there's some where like, oh my god, that's my best friend.
• 33:41
  SPEAKER_00: And then in the third book, she's not there anymore.
• 33:43
  SPEAKER_00: She got traded.
• 33:44
  SPEAKER_00: Sorry.
• 33:45
  SPEAKER_00: Like she can't do it.
• 33:46
  SPEAKER_00: And right, there's injuries, and um, so even though it's still like a romance and still fun, like there are perspectives that I tried to put in to make it feel like right to me.
• 33:57
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, more realistic.
• 33:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, like I couldn't write about football without touching on the dangers of it.
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_00: And like I just I couldn't do it as much as like I'd want to ignore that, as much as I like to still try to, especially now that my kid plays and that my husband has been retired for so long.
• 34:15
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I I would love to like put blinders on and pretend it doesn't exist, but I have to kind of acknowledge it a little bit, even if it's not like, you know, I'm not writing concussion.
• 34:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 34:27
  SPEAKER_00: But but it's still, you know, I still like to talk about it.
• 34:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, talk about both the bad and the good.
• 34:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 34:33
  SPEAKER_01: So my final question for you as we wrap up here is now buy the bootstraps, it is out, it is in everyone's hands.
• 34:40
  SPEAKER_01: What do you hope is the main thing that people take away from it?
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_00: I hope, I mean, I think it's community.
• 34:46
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's like finding yourself.
• 34:48
  SPEAKER_00: And even if you are alone and you've gone through hard times, I hope it's that like there's still a place for you, you still belong, you still deserve your happily ever after, no matter like how you're feeling in the moment, like there is a path forward, right?
• 35:00
  SPEAKER_00: Like you can get back up on that horse and keep going.
• 35:03
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's probably the main one.
• 35:05
  SPEAKER_00: Like everybody is deserving of like happiness and they're happily ever after to be loved well.
• 35:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's what I think everyone wants in a romance to know that they are deserving of love and that beautiful relationship and riding into the sunset with their cowboy.
• 35:20
  SPEAKER_01: But thank you so, so much for taking the time to speak with me.
• 35:24
  SPEAKER_01: I really appreciate it.
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for reaching out and having me on.
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_00: This is so fun.
• 35:29
  SPEAKER_01: Of course.
• 35:29
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much for listening.
• 35:31
  SPEAKER_01: I hope you enjoyed that.
• 35:32
  SPEAKER_01: Be sure to follow Alexa and keep up with the additional Starlight Ridge books that are coming out.
• 35:38
  SPEAKER_01: I am so excited to see CLS and Sierra's story.
• 35:42
  SPEAKER_01: And next week, I'm interviewing Christina Forrest.
• 35:45
  SPEAKER_01: It is such a strong month for main chapter.
• 35:48
  SPEAKER_01: We are talking about her new summer release, The Summer Girlfriend, another small town romance but in a beach town.
• 35:55
  SPEAKER_01: It's literally a love letter to summer.
• 35:57
  SPEAKER_01: There is fake dating.
• 35:59
  SPEAKER_01: You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll love it.
• 36:01
  SPEAKER_01: I ate this book up in like 24 hours.
• 36:04
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm so excited to share my conversation with her.
• 36:07
  SPEAKER_01: I hope you come back for it.
• 36:09
  SPEAKER_01: Have a great week, my book Butterflies.
• 36:11
  SPEAKER_01: I'll see you next time.