The Meet Cute BookPod

Today, we have Becca’s chat with author Liana De la Rosa, whose next novel, Isabel and the Rogue, is a Victorian-set historical romp about a Mexican wallflower unofficially spying on the British aristocracy and an actual British spy unofficially spying on her. It’s out June 4th.

Liana talks about: Her personal history of romance reading; What is so compelling about historical romance; Writing complex family dynamics; How she approaches historical research so that rabbit holes don’t derail her writing; How she keeps the plot pacey while making sure readers are up to speed on the important background information; All the ideas she has up her sleeve, including a historical romance about mountain climbers in the Himalayas that she’s already written but that hasn’t yet been published; And, of course, she shares some books she’s loved recently.

Today, we have Becca’s chat with author Alexandra Vasti, whose debut novel, Ne’er Duke Well, is a delightfully steamy regency romp in which a rakish Duke with radical politics in need of a respectable wife hires a seemingly proper matchmaker who secretly runs an erotic circulating library. Hijinks ensue. It’s out July 23rd.

Alexandra talks about: Her long family history of romance reading and her long personal history as a writer; what is so delightful about historical romance; the genesis of her viral newsletter novella series, The Halifax Hellions; her 0-60 journey on social media; feeling like her voice didn’t fit in with what was expected of her at her creative writing MFA program; the fun of nerding out about historical English; what’s next from her; and, of course, she shares some books she’s loved recently.

Today, we have Becca's chat with author Kaliane Bradley, whose debut novel, The Ministry of Time, which she somewhat jokingly describes as “a time-travel romance about empire, bureaucracy, and cigarettes,” just came out May 7th.

Kaliane talks about the theatrical production that made her start writing again after university, the experience of being a debut author, how she thinks about this book in relation to genre, how her lockdown obsession with the TV show The Terror became a complicated novel centering on a footnote of a historical figure, the ways in which writing this book influenced her thinking about mixed race identity, a bit about her other job – being an editor with Penguin Classics UK – and how it’s influenced her writing, her writing process itself, the ways in which this book uses time travel a metaphor for migration, a sneak peek at what she’s working on now…and, of course, she shares some books she’s loved recently.

Today, we have the audio recording of our February 13th, 2024 virtual event celebrating Amy Lea’s latest book The Catch, a romcom about an influencer who heads to a rural fishing village in an attempt to rescue her floundering career and ends up in a fake engagement with a burly and bearded bed-and-breakfast owner slash fisherman. Amy is in conversation with the great Lynn Painter.

They chat about the origins of The Catch, Canadian culinary delicacies, which of Amy’s characters she relates to the most, the intensity of hockey (the game, the players, the moms), what Amy is working on now and what’s next from her, a little bit about Lynn’s latest book Happily Never After, the differences between writing YA and adult books, advice for querying authors, drafting versus editing, and, of course, they share some books they’ve loved recently.

A quick programming note: This Saturday is Independent Bookstore Day. If you’re local, you should definitely come out and participate in the San Diego Book Crawl which runs April 27-29. Check out @sdbookcrawl on Instagram for more information. If you’re not local, Saturday would be a great day to check out your nearest indie. We will be taking next Wednesday off from the podcast to recover from the excellent chaos of the weekend, but I’ll meet you back here on May 8th for a chat with the wonderful, brilliant, eminently charming Kaliane Bradley.

Today, we have the audio recording of our April 3rd, 2024 virtual event celebrating Alison Cochrun’s latest book Here We Go Again, a sapphic romcom about death in which two childhood friends to enemies to lovers take their beloved, terminally ill former teacher on a cross country roadtrip. Alison is in conversation with the great Mazey Eddings.

They chat about Alison’s writing process for this book and what was so challenging about it; The importance of great teachers and the difficulty of being one; The relative merits of Dunkin Donuts and Whataburger; Advice Alison would give her debut author self (and whether she’d listen to it); Who the dream roadtrip buddy, living or dead, would be; The vault tracks on 1989 (Taylor’s Version) and so much more. And, of course, they share some of their favorite romance novels, sapphic and otherwise.

You can find copies of Alison's and Mazey's books in out shop or on our website at www.meetcutebookshop.com!

Becca chats with Mazey Eddings, author of A Brush With Love, Lizzie Blake's Best Mistake, and the forthcoming sapphic rom-com Late Bloomer.

Mazey talks about her introduction to genre romance and what is so much fun about historicals; How she drafted her first book during dental school lectures; Why including neurodiversity in her books is important to her and how she approaches writing neurodiverse characters; Which of her characters she’s most like and which one she’d most like to be friends with; What makes the only one bed trope so much fun to play with; What she wants sex scenes in her books to accomplish; And, of course, she shares some books she’s loved recently.

Becca chats with author KT Hoffman whose debut, The Prospects, a queer baseball romcom, is out April 9th!

Today, we have Becca’s chat with audiobook narrator and indie author Natalie Naudus. You may know her voice from such hits as One Last Stop, Starling House, She Who Became the Sun, and Daughter of the Moon Goddess, among many more.

Natalie talks about how she got in to audiobook narration, and what the process for narrating an audiobook looks like; she has some advice for people looking to get in to the industry, and for indie authors working with narrators for the first time; she also talks about her debut novel coming out this summer and, of course, she shares some books she’s loved recently.

Today, in celebration of the Trans Rights Readathon which is returning for a second year (running from March 22-29th) we are re-sharing the recording of our panel on Writing and Publishing Trans Romance with Anita Kelly, EE Ottoman, and Emory Lee, moderated by TJ Alexander. 

You can find out more about the readathon and sign up to participate at https://transrightsreadathon.carrd.co/

Today, we’re talking about book bans. What are they? Where are they happening? And, most importantly, what can we do to fight them? Philomena Polefrone from the American Booksellers for Free Expression project is here to break it down.