The Nerds Awaken

We are Ali Hazelwood stans until we die, but when we say that her newest novel Bride is far and away the best thing she's ever written, it's a BIG DEAL.

We can not shut up about good this book was, with its weres and vampires and marriages of convenience. And yes, even with its knots, which aren't our favorite but were as tastefully incorporated as we could have hoped for. We dive deep into our favorite moments, what makes this book special, and the stories we're dying for Ali to write next!

This is a full-spoiler discussion, so we highly recommend reading the book before listening!

Find us on social media and buy Bride wherever books are sold!

We were so lucky to welcome Katrina Kwan, author of Knives, Seasoning, & a Dash of Love  and an all around gem of a human being, as our very last Writing Reylo author.

We had an awesome time chatting with Katrina about her fanfic origins, her career as a ghost writer, and all about her debut novel. We loved this sweet and spicy romance, which is set in the fast-paced, cut throat world of haute cuisine.

Find Katrina on Instagram, her website, and buy Knives, Seasoning, & a Dash of Love  or request at your local library!

www.katrinakwan.com

We were so thrilled to welcome Kirsten S. Blacketer as the first guest in our new Author Spotlight series. A self-published author with an impressive backlist, Kirsten was a wealth of information on self-publishing, genre tropes, and improving your writing craft.

We loved talking with her about the importance of romance novels with happily ever afters, learning how she gets inspiration for her books (and sexy male leads), and hearing how her first novel was written in an Italian villa (not as romantic as it sounds).

Connect with Kirsten on X/Twitter and start diving into her books today!

Website: https://kirstensblacketer.com/

Notes: this episode was recorded earlier this summer

If there's one thing our friendship is built on (that isn't Adam Driver), it's spending hours on the phone talking/gossiping/venting about pop culture and entertainment. So this time we thought, why not let people listen in? So congratulations! You all get to be flies on the wall while we discuss everything that's been on our radar lately-the books we're reading, the TV shows and K-dramas we're watching, the current state of Marvel, and how Julie is thriving on Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce's very public relationship. And yes...we also talk about all the recent Adam Driver sightings too. How could we not?

*We recorded this two days before the SAG strike ended and some of the conversations reflect that. 

We were so happy to welcome Katie Shepard back to talk about her new book Sweeten the Deal, out October 17th from Berkley!

We loved Katie's debut novel Bear with Me Now and went into Sweeten the Deal with high expectations that were absolutely met. With a gender-swapped sugar baby plot and vibrant, likeable characters, the story completely sucked us in with its themes and romantic tension.  We had a great conversation with Katie about how she crafted these characters and where the inspiration for the story came from.

Visit Katie's website and buy Sweeten the Deal today!

Somebody pinch us, we must be dreaming...because our literary hero Thea Guanzon is in The Nerds Awaken studio!

We were so privileged to talk with Thea about her gorgeous debut fantasy novel The Hurricane Wars, out October 3 from Harper Voyager. We heard about her writing and research process (mostly just vibes), her fanfic origins (plus the first time she was caught reading smut) and how her Filipino culture inspired much of the world-building and plot of her novel. We're obsessed with this book and can't wait to watch it take the literary world by storm (pun intended).

Visit Thea's website at theaguanzon.com and buy The Hurricane Wars today!

Website mentioned by Thea: www.writerbeware.blog

We were DELIGHTED, overjoyed, ecstatic, and all other possible synonyms for "extremely excited" to welcome one of our all-time favorite fanfic writers, Jenna Levine (aka Jeeno) to The Nerds Awaken to talk about her greatly anticipated debut novel My Roommate is a Vampire!

We learned all about Jenna's fanfic origins, the inspiration for her book, and why a 300 year old vampire and a 30-something starving artist make such a cute couple . We also asked the important questions like "do the vampires in your book sparkle" and "why is Only One Bed the superior trope"?  

Find Jenna Levine on Instagram and Twitter and buy My Roommate is a Vampire today!

We were so excited to sit down with Ashley Hawthorne, whose debut novel Deliver Me arrives July 18th from Creative James Media!

We chatted with Ashley about how The Rise of Skywalker inspired her to become a writer, learned the inspiration for her novel and the tough themes of trauma that the story explores (and found out which character was inspired by Rian Johnson!). Ashley also had great advice for other writers on how to improve their writing, as well as tips to navigate the often stressful world of publishing.

Find Ashley Hawthorne on social media and buy Deliver Me here!

We were thrilled to welcome back Julie Soto, whose debut novel Forget Me Not arrives July 11th from Forever Publishing!

Whether you know her as Julie or as her fanfic alter ego Lovesbitca8, anyone who has read her works knows her incredible talent for storytelling. We were so excited to chat with her about how Forget Me Not  was born,  hear about exciting TV adaptation news, and see what advice she had for other writers hoping to make the jump to traditional publishing.

Listen to our first interview with Julie Soto here, and find her on social media!