Where I Left Off

Common Grounds with Author Allie Samberts

• Kristen Bahls • Season 2 • Episode 24

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Author Allie Samberts is back to talk about her latest standalone contemporary romance release Common Grounds. 

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For links to the books discussed in this episode, click the link here to take you to the Google Doc to view the list.

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For more, follow along on Instagram @whereileftoffpod.

Kristen Bahls:

welcome back. I'm Kristen Bahls and you're listening to Where I Left Off, A Bookish Podcast, and today I'm joined by the author of the lead park series, Allie Samberts, and we are talking about her latest standalone release, common grounds. Thank you so much for joining me again, Allie, thanks for having me. Yeah, so, like I always ask everyone that comes on, what are you currently reading right now?

Allie Samberts:

Okay, so I'm not reading anything right now Because I just last night I just finished Savor it by Tara DeWitt.

Kristen Bahls:

Oh, I want to read that. So bad.

Allie Samberts:

It's so good, it's so good, it's, it's really it's. It was like really emotional.

Kristen Bahls:

Oh good Um but like in a good way you know cause it's, you know romance. Kind of like a just for the summer kind of emotional.

Allie Samberts:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's kind of the premise. So but I I loved it, and so now this morning I was looking at my bookshelves like, okay, so what? I think I need a break because I have to let that one settle a little bit, but it was really good I definitely recommend it.

Kristen Bahls:

Okay good, I've seen rave reviews on it and I want to pick it up.

Allie Samberts:

So bad oh, and it's so pretty, the cover is so pretty. Get the paperback. Splurge on the paperback because the cover is so pretty.

Kristen Bahls:

Okay, I need to. I love the purple. I think that's a really cute color. I mean, you know that you have purple covers too. I love purple.

Allie Samberts:

I love purple.

Kristen Bahls:

I started, uh, one star romance instead, so I need to finish that and then, uh, the fake out flex before I move on to savor it okay, one star romance was on my list of.

Allie Samberts:

I posted posted on my Instagram, like help me decide what to read, and that was on the list. But Savor, it was like the clear winner. So like, okay, I'll get to One Star Romance, but I am excited for that one. I think that's so cute. Like, what a cute premise.

Kristen Bahls:

I know the blurb got me too. It's okay so far. I'm trying to give it a chance because I think it will get better for sure. I mean, you know, in the first like fourth of it you can't judge a book because it's just getting off the ground. So it maybe didn't start, as you know, like knock you off your feet, but I think it can definitely still pick up because the blurb just really got me to. It sounded so interesting.

Allie Samberts:

Yeah, yeah, I've heard good things, so I think you're right. Though, like the first quarter of a book, you have to just kind of like because you're learning the characters and yeah, you have to just kind of like get into it.

Kristen Bahls:

But yeah, exactly, and it's. It's hard because, like some books, like again the fake out flex, just get you from page one and you're like okay, I'm, I'm in it. I've never I haven't heard of that one. Oh, it's really good, it's um clean hockey romance and yeah. I didn't know that existed okay, yeah, did I say clean? I meant closed door it? Yeah, I would classify it maybe more closed door right now it's still clean, but anyway, yeah, it's okay. It's a whole sub-genre that I did not know existed at all. I am didn't.

Allie Samberts:

I thought the whole point of hockey romance was to not be closed door. I thought that was it too, but yeah it's super cute.

Kristen Bahls:

It kind of reminds me of Practice Makes Perfect, a little bit like just overall like feel of it for sure.

Allie Samberts:

Oh, okay, all right, I like that. Maybe I'll check it out.

Kristen Bahls:

Yeah, oh, I can always add another book to your TBR, yeah, thanks. So what can you tell us about your current work in progress? Anything I can tell you.

Allie Samberts:

Yeah, well, so I've got two going right now. So well, the first one is a Christmas novella and that's it's written, so like I don't know how in progress that is, but it's still being like edited and you know. So I'm still working on it, but it's not, um, I'm not like actively working on it right now, so, um, but that one will be coming in November. Oh wow, um, it's real short, it's just the short. What did somebody call it the other day is like a short little burst of happy oh, that's adorable, yes.

Allie Samberts:

I know and I love it. I think it's great it is. It is not closed door. I tell you that right now, note it. But I don't mean, I don't think it's any spicier than my other books, but it's shorter. So it probably feels like it is because there's, you know, just as many scenes, just with like fewer overall scenes. The ratio is off a little bit. So I'm that one's kind of in progress but I'm not actively working on it. But the I'm also writing a um, childhood friends to lovers book and it's set mostly in Los Angeles, which is totally different for me. So I'm, I'm, I'm leaving the Midwest for a little bit and I just I'm really I love it so much so far. They're I just I love a good. I wouldn't call this one second chance because they never dated before. True, I love it when they kind of figure out later that they were meant to be together.

Kristen Bahls:

So it's really fun to watch them go from friends to more Friends to lovers is my favorite trope, so I'm really excited for that.

Allie Samberts:

Yeah, it is oh cool and enemies are the definite top two.

Kristen Bahls:

So is this going to be a standalone or is it ultimately going to be part of a series? Or is it part of a series that we already know about and they just moved to la or something?

Allie Samberts:

no, okay, no, totally standalone. Theoretically this one will be a standalone, but Common Grounds is also a standalone, but people really want more of that world too. So we'll see. Never say never. But yeah, right now this one's pretty contained.

Kristen Bahls:

I was going to say on Common Grounds, I've heard a lot of team mics out there. So many team mics there, so so many team things.

Allie Samberts:

Yeah understandable, completely understandable. He's pretty cool. Like I can't, I can't argue.

Kristen Bahls:

Jumping around to your Christmas novella. Is it more difficult to write a novella because you only have that short, you know little section to make everything happen and to include spice which normally you would like build up throughout the novel and now you just have to like throw it in there?

Allie Samberts:

So that's a good question, because I would say like yes and no. So there was a point where I had to remind myself that I was writing a novella because I was like, oh, let's get into like their history and their backstory. I was like, no girl, you do not have space for that, you gotta go. Um, yeah, cause I was sitting there. I mean it's, it's about 30,000 words. So to give people, um, kind of a frame of reference, my other books are in like the 90,000 word range, so it's like a third of a book. You know, this one it's really short. Novellas could be a little bit longer than that, but this one's pretty short, you know.

Allie Samberts:

So I was sitting there at about 15,000 words, going like they really this needs to move. We got to go. That's hard, yeah. So it was. At first I was. You have to just get in the right mindset to do it. I think Like I don't have to explain any of this. They're just gonna get snowed in, they're gonna fall in love and it's gonna be over. It's just like nice, quick, little Hallmark type movie books, sort of book form, you know. So yeah. So once I figured out that I didn't have room for a lot of the stuff that I otherwise would be doing. It was awesome.

Allie Samberts:

Do you think you'll do future novellas now that you've kind of oh yeah, oh good, good, definitely, I really liked writing it and I think it was a nice. It was a nice break, like the. The books that I write they're not heavy like subject-wise, but they're. You weave, I weave, I try to weave a lot of stuff into them, right, like a lot of past and grief. I deal with grief a lot in my books and then sort of coming like bringing all of that together from both sides, from both characters, is it's a lot of work and I love it, but it was really nice to just be like this is just fun, you know. Just it was like playing around, it was like going to the playground for a little bit, which was really cool.

Kristen Bahls:

Oh, that's awesome. Do you plan to release paperback versions of the novella, or only on KU?

Allie Samberts:

Yeah, I will. I'll have paperback versions for people who want them. They'll be real, real tiny Awesome.

Kristen Bahls:

Yay, we've talked a little bit about it over DM. We're both very much in one camp or the other and we just happen to have opposing viewpoints on this. But I need you to tell me on the podcast a little bit more about your feelings for third act breakups and why you think that they are vital to romance now.

Allie Samberts:

Yes, yes, like Allie, I need you to explain this. Like, break it down for me, right? Yeah, I can do that. No, I got you. I got you, yeah, okay. So that was the funniest framing of a question I've ever had. I love it. Oh, I, okay, I love, I love a good third act breakup and that's the key, right? I love a good third act breakup.

Allie Samberts:

And I understand why people don't love them, because I think a lot of times romance writers either study like they've read a lot of romance and a lot of romance has this third act breakup and so they feel like they have to include one, and so it feels forced. Or they've read some like craft books, like um, I don't have it handy, I can't remember who wrote it, but and there's like, there's the beat, the romance beats in there very clearly include um, she calls it dark night of the soul. So it's not necessarily a third act breakup, but it's a third act conflict. And I think, too, you'll find in a lot of books that say that there's no third act breakup. Sure, they don't break up, but they are separated somehow or they both have to face something together and get to the other side of it. So there has to be some kind of conflict there to resolve. And so the reason that I love them when they're done well, because I totally understand if they're, if they feel really forced or if they feel really rushed, um, right, when you get into, like the last 15 pages and you're like, wait a minute, they're, they're still apart, what's going to happen? Right, and then you're like you have to resolve this like somehow, um, and so I get I do get a little nervous for those and that it can be done that again, that can be done really well. But, um, I think that's hard when you're you don't, when you're I don't want to say when you're rushing it, but when you're like at the end of the book and you're like wait, wait a minute, we have to finish this up. So I get it.

Allie Samberts:

But what I think, the reason that they're so satisfying for me, is because I want to leave the book. Like I know it's really popular for authors to write series and to bring back those characters and you get to see a glimpse of them in the future. And I've done it right, I've written, I've written that, um, and I love that. But I also think that, um, I want each book to be its own book, and I want to get to the end of a book and I want to know, without a doubt, that these characters can work through whatever's coming right.

Allie Samberts:

And so that's why I like the third act breakup, because I think you kind of need to have that in real life. And I say this having experienced my own third act breakup right, like, oh, wow, I mean I can tell that story if you want. But I mean, if you're looking at like the course of a relationship, where the relationship ends in, or the story ends in, like we're going to spend our lives together and we've sort of decided that, then yes, I had that in my to know for sure that you're going to be able to make it, because relationships real relationships, right, real life relationships they you're going to have struggles, like you're going to have problems, you're going to fight and you have to figure out how to fight with somebody and then how to make up with them. And so I like to see that in a romance novel, because I like knowing that, yeah, they're gonna have arguments, they're gonna have fights, they're gonna have conflicts later on, but they're gonna be okay. So that's why I like them.

Kristen Bahls:

I notoriously have not liked them. But, like you said, it is all about being well done and I will give props to Faking Christmas by Cindy Steele, so in that one they don't fully. I don't want to ruin this, but I guess I'm kind of giving a spoiler, so spoiler for Faking Christmas, I guess. But they kind of like they have a conflict and they don't actually break up. But he gives her space and says like when you're ready, yeah, come back to me, we're good, and they talk it out before he gives her space. And then they give each other space and she comes back to him and it's really well done and they didn't fully break up.

Kristen Bahls:

Like you said, it can be just kind of a conflict, because there's another book that I'm thinking of that's pretty popular, that I don't want to out it.

Kristen Bahls:

But they, um, they have this big argument and then they break up and it's just like they could have had a conversation right there, but instead they just cut each other off.

Kristen Bahls:

They break up and then of course, they get their feelings all hurt and then they start, you know, miscommunicating hardcore and being the other one says is gonna work, and then you know they ultimately get back together at the end, but it just felt pointless when they could have had a conversation. So, like you said, it really is kind of all about like, yeah, how it's done and why it's done and also how long it takes for them to get back together. And of course you don't want it to be like five seconds and you're like, okay, that was it, that was your conflict and you didn't really resolve anything. So, yeah, I think I've kind of just had, for the most part, like not the best experience with third act breakups and of course I think it takes one bad third act breakup to make everyone go no, I don't want it at all, just don't put it in there, and then you know everyone's just really far on that camp of, uh, no miscommunication and no third act breakups.

Allie Samberts:

Well, and that's the miscommunication thing. It can be annoying, because I can be annoying and I, but I also like, I look at these. I look at romance and, yeah, we don't want romance to be like real life. Real life right, because we read it for an escape, and I think that's where a lot of people are coming from with this. But I look at characters as like real. I mean you want them to function like real human beings and I, that's life man, like you can't, that's just words. You don't always have the right words to express what you want to express. And you also like, if you are, if you really care about someone, there's going to be a point where you just you don't want to wreck them, right, you don't want to hurt their feelings, and so you're going to hold some stuff back. And I mean we all do it. Yeah, we all do it, so I get it, do it, so I get it. I get why people don't like those things.

Allie Samberts:

I think I will admit that I do think it works a lot better when someone has to like go back like they're visiting, like a small, like the small town romance we all love, right, they're visiting and they have to go back and they have to kind of figure out that like, actually they really liked the small town and they want to stay.

Allie Samberts:

I think that's not. I don't know if I would call that a breakup, like you said, it's sort of space or but. But I think too and I try to. I try to do this and I don't know if I do it well all the time, but when there's some character growth, right, like yeah, you want the characters to grow together, but sometimes you have to take some time and really look inside yourself before you can really open yourself up fully to being with somebody, and so I love those. I love it when, when a character is kind of in the darkest night of their soul and they're just like looking at themselves going like man, I need to change, and I think that's I really like that, because I like when people do that in real life too, you know, it's like really satisfying.

Kristen Bahls:

Exactly, and they may not be in the same place at the same time, and so they kind of have to get on the same page. There was one I was reading the other day and it was football, and what did he do? So he moved to another state and she stayed where she was and he, like was trying to get her to move there with him, but didn't tell her until he had already accepted like a deal with that team and so anyway, so yeah, so that's where the miscommunication came in. He's like I was doing it to surprise you and she was like yeah, no, um, and so then it actually was like a year later, nobody I know. It's like come on, dude get it.

Kristen Bahls:

So then it was yeah, right a whole year later because she was like I have to find myself, I can't just go with you to this other state, I have to find myself. It's a year later, she finds herself and then they get back together at the end. So it I mean like it was not super satisfying with that year break, but she was able to find herself and you know, you knew that when they were together it was going to last.

Allie Samberts:

Yeah, so it worked, but yeah it was different, a lot of different ways to do it and there was ways to not do it you know, but I do think they have to.

Allie Samberts:

The couple has to go through something Agreed, whether they're doing it together or they're apart. Yeah, either way. That is true, because otherwise, I mean otherwise, I guess, what are you reading? For? You know, like if you've written your characters well enough, yeah, they have backstories, they have inner conflict that they have to work out, as well as that external conflict. And so if you've if you've done that, then you have to resolve that inner conflict somehow, um, and I guess the only other way to do it is to have all of the conflict be kind of external, but then I think you're treading into like romantic suspense, which is different.

Kristen Bahls:

I agree, completely different.

Allie Samberts:

That's just a different world. I don't know if I could ever write one of those. They're awesome to read but it's hard.

Kristen Bahls:

I know there's so many genres that are just like hard to write. I mean, everything's hard to write. Yeah, you're writing a book, so I think everything's hard to write. Different challenges, with each thing for sure. Talking a little bit more about Common Grounds itself. What so this is actually getting on to Common common grounds. What made you decide to write the reverse grumpy, sunshine trope for this book? Did it come to you at first with the characters or kind of as you plotted it?

Allie Samberts:

So I like two reasons right. I love a good grumpy woman. I love a grumpy woman. The woman that I'm writing right now in this Childhood Friends to Lovers is not grumpy and I have to fight myself not to make her like, like grumpy.

Kristen Bahls:

I like.

Allie Samberts:

I just love, I love I'm grumpy. I'm so grumpy, just like jaded yeah, grumpy, and I feel like a lot of women relate to that. At least that's what I've heard from readers is that they're like, oh, it's so nice that she's not just like sunshine and rainbows all the time, because we're not I mean, we've been look at, look at the world. You know, this is the world that we're in and we're women in this world and so, like, being a little jaded is kind of I think it's just natural. So I do. I love a good grumpy woman and I also really love a good sunshine man. That kind of like like shows her that, like you know, things are okay, things are going to be okay. You know, that's that's kind of like my caretaking trope. It's not like caretaking like physical caretaking, it's like mental caretaking, like I'm going to take care of your, your sadness, and make you happy. I love that.

Kristen Bahls:

I like that and Trevor's definitely that guy.

Allie Samberts:

Trevor is definitely that guy. He is optimist to a fault. But also I was inspired to write this book by the cover.

Allie Samberts:

I bought the cover before I started writing the book um yeah, it was a pre-made cover that my designer had and I loved it. And so on the cover, you know, he's got this like yellow hat on and he's like got this kind of lighter coloring like lighter colored hair. Um, she's got this kind of lighter coloring like lighter colored hair. She's got this very dark hair and they're kissing and she's kind of like leaning. You know, it's like the swoony kiss where she's like leaning backwards and so, but you know that's, it's kind of she's obviously into the kiss but she's leaning away from him. And so I was like, well, she's grumpy and he's sunshine, obviously Obviously just based on the cover. So so, yeah, that's why I ended up with this trope, but I've done it before, I've done the the reverse grumpy, sunshine before, and I do really like it because I think that's it reflects real life to me, because I think it's easy not easy, I don't want to say easy, but it's. I think it's. I mean, we live in a.

Kristen Bahls:

I'm just gonna go for it we live, we live in a patriarchy, a patriarchal society, right.

Allie Samberts:

And so when you're a cisgendered white man walking through the world, like I think you have less weighing on you sometimes, that's privilege right. Like you've got less weighing on you sometimes than women do, and so you just sort of end up kind of this is how we end up. This is, I mean, this is probably why I'm grumpy and why my husband is sunshine, right, like, even though we're both, we're both both of those things, you know, cause we're human and we're multifaceted individuals. But like, by and large, I'm the one complaining about things and he's the one going this is going to be great.

Allie Samberts:

It's going to be fine, so yeah, that's true.

Kristen Bahls:

I never thought about it from that angle. I had to go there, I guess. Very accurate, yep man, I brought the teacher side of you out. That's exactly what it's like being in my classroom too.

Allie Samberts:

My kids are like miss, did you just feminist us? Yes, I did, yes, I did.

Kristen Bahls:

Sorry I'm sorry, I am who I am. You have to. That's amazing. And then what inspired kind of Trevor and Emery to be a little bit older than other romance novels. I mean, of course there's a trend having like a slightly older female main character, male main character, but what kind of brought you there?

Allie Samberts:

I don't know, I don't really know. I just turned 40. Here we are, I am 40. I, when I started writing this, I was. I started writing it about a year ago actually, um, and I was just writing scenes, just random scenes, um, because I was using it as kind of a break, like a mental break, from writing the Right Choice, which I loved writing the Right Choice, but it was complicated. It was the third book in a series, so I had all of these things I had to like, remember to do and like do you keep like a chart or something, or.

Allie Samberts:

No, you know, it's like that. You know the meme with the guy with this. He's got like the like all, everything like mapped out and like the strings connecting things. That's me. That was me with these three books and it's part of the reason why I had to walk away from that series, because I was like I can't, I gotta do something, I gotta. I need a fresh whiteboard, I need a fresh slate. Part of the reason why I made this a standalone, because I was like I didn't want to keep track of this and so everyone was team Mike, and so they're trying to push you.

Allie Samberts:

Never say never, but it's not in the cards right now. But yeah, so I was writing these scenes and so I basically was throwing stuff around just for fun. I was like we're going to give Emery a sister. Like, forget the best friend, we're going to give her a sister. Sister's going to be pregnant. Because that's hilarious, she was hilarious, Pregnancy's hilarious.

Kristen Bahls:

When it's not you.

Allie Samberts:

Yeah, she was absolutely hilarious. And then I was like you know what? No, we're going to give Emery a best friend too. She's going to be married to the sister. Let's just do it right, let's do it up, and so, like putting the three of them together was super funny. You know, some of the scenes with and this is why everybody loves Mike is because Mike is just ridiculous, because I was just like I was just writing stuff down just to be funny.

Allie Samberts:

Not all of it made it into the book. I will say this is heavily edited. I did not at all make it in. But as I was kind of tossing stuff around, I was like why not, why not make them older? Like Emery needed something to kind of anchor her a little bit into her grumpiness, and that ended up being a divorce.

Allie Samberts:

So to me that sort of meant that she had to be a little bit older. Right, I mean I'm, you can get divorced in your 20s and people have. But, um, I, I don't know. I just kind of felt like maybe 37 might be a good age to feel a little stuck. Maybe that might be a little bit of me coming through there too, that, like in your, in your late thirties, you start thinking like, oh, is this? It Is this what I'm doing? Um, it's a midlife crisis, right? Uh?

Allie Samberts:

And for Trevor, I guess I just sort of matched him to her age because I didn't want to do an age gap that felt like too many things going on. Yeah, although I think he could have easily been younger, true, but you know, with the death of his grandfather and his father, that to me is a signal that he probably was a little bit older. Not that your grandparents and parents can't pass away when you're younger, but he, just he. He felt like a little more mature than that to me. Right, he felt like he had a little bit more life experience than that. So it was really just a vibe. It was just a vibe that makes sense.

Kristen Bahls:

I was going to say and Emery might have had like, if there was an age gap between her and Trevor, I feel like she would have had an even harder time. Oh, she wouldn't have done it. Finally saying yes to him. Yeah, because especially whenever she was already worried about all the women that were coming into the coffee shop, I'm like, yeah, I don't.

Allie Samberts:

I don't think that that would have worked out for them. Oh, you're right, you're right. Yeah, I guess I didn't really think that through that part of it through.

Kristen Bahls:

But no, I, I just thought, just thought as we were talking, I just also thought of something else. Hear me out Team Mike novella. That way you don't have to write a full book, just make it a novella, and not right now, but like the next time you need a break and need a novella, then there you go. You're placating the Team Mike fans, but then also making it shorter, so you don't have to have an insane board. So just food for thought.

Allie Samberts:

It's a good pitch. It's a good pitch. I think if I did a Mike book, I would set it somewhere else, like I. It would be more of a spinoff than a series, if that makes sense, right? So it would be like this is Mike, he's an established character. Trevor and Emery would show up for like a cameo, but they wouldn't be like a large part of it, um, and I might have set the stage for that in the bonus.

Kristen Bahls:

I need to read that. It's on your newsletter, right? I think I have it sitting in my inbox. Yes, I need to read that.

Allie Samberts:

If you can't find it, let me know, I'll send it to you. But yeah, I did. I set the stage for that a little bit. He's got a little bit of history that I didn't include in the book, wasn't about him, true and so. But he's I mean he's in my mind, he's a really fleshed out character. He's got a bunch of sisters and he's from Texas and so, like I probably would put it, put it in Texas, like put it somewhere else, you know. So so it would become a little. He would have his own main character energy and not have to like compete with, like the love that people have for emory and trevor that makes total sense.

Kristen Bahls:

And hey, I'm in texas, so you know, if you, if you need any inspiration, I can tell you. Oh okay, I'll let you out for sure. Yeah, um, very random, but I I caught that cameo that you put in there of mac and daniel whenever they walked into the coffee shop because you never technically said their name.

Allie Samberts:

You just kind of threw that little easter egg in there. Yeah, do others say their names when they do cameos I don't.

Kristen Bahls:

Uh, sometimes I think it depends. I've heard a lot lately that they just like throw their name in before, but it's when it always happens when I haven't read the full series. I'm like who are these people?

Allie Samberts:

I think I'm supposed to know them yeah, I tried to write it in a way that you wouldn't feel left out if you didn't know who they were.

Kristen Bahls:

Yeah, but yeah, definitely would not have with this.

Allie Samberts:

It was just a fun little, yeah, but if you know who they are you can't miss it right yeah, she comes in in her like running shorts and her green, green and yellow running gear and you're like, oh, I know her. And he's talking about his book signing.

Kristen Bahls:

Yeah, yeah, we've talked about this a little bit, but with the characters, ages and life experience, do you think that it ultimately influenced Emery and Trevor's relationship as a whole and especially some of their interactions, kind of as Emery was warming up to Trevor throughout?

Allie Samberts:

I didn't consciously think about it this way, but I had a reviewer say this and I really liked it, so I'm going to steal it, but and I'm going to pretend I was doing this the whole time, um, which I probably was, but, but like I wasn't thinking about it but that the older characters are nice to read because you have to also.

Allie Samberts:

You have to not only watch them like fit their personalities together, but you watch them fit their lives together, right, like Emery's not going to like pick up and leave Well, she doesn't have to, because they're both in Indiana or whatever but she's not going to make any like major life changes at this point because of Trevor and Trevor either. Like he's not going to be like, oh, you know what, I want to be with you and I want to spend more time with you, so I'm going to give up the shop. No, he's not going to do that. Like it's his shop, it's his family legacy, it's something he feels really passionately about.

Allie Samberts:

And so I think that kind of informed is informed by their ages, right, whether consciously or unconsciously, that they both have passions and friends and a life that they're happy with. Like they're not well, not happy, happy, but like they're happy enough that they're gonna keep doing this, whether they meet each other or not, and they have to kind of fit those lives together and fit those like pieces of themselves together too. And I think that is kind of that's probably the most, the thing that their ages informs the most, because they're not. I wouldn't call them really mature late 30s. I mean they're all single. What are?

Kristen Bahls:

they all doing? Why are they all?

Allie Samberts:

single. I don't know. I mean, they're all single.

Kristen Bahls:

What are they all?

Allie Samberts:

doing? Why are they all single? I don't know. And someone asked me that and I was like I don't know. Sometimes people just are like I have. A one of my really good friends is, you know, 42 and single, great guy, wonderful. I have no idea why he's single, I have no idea. He just is and he's happy, he's fine. You know so, but I wouldn't you know. I just turned 40 and I'll tell you what. Like we talked to each other, me and my friends. Like we talked to each other like we're in our twenties, like you know, you don't just like grow up suddenly.

Allie Samberts:

Yeah, um, I think the thing that makes us more mature is that we have these lives and careers and things that we're kind of entrenched in in our lives, but our, our outlook on life is not different than it was, know, 10, 20 years ago. That's true. So we're just. We just get tired earlier.

Kristen Bahls:

You know, yay, thanks to 14.

Allie Samberts:

We're sore, you know I'll stand up and I'll crack like a glow stick when I stand up from this interview. But um, but you know. I mean they're, they're still? No, no, they're 40 but trevor does.

Kristen Bahls:

I mean they do seem young at heart, like you said, like in their, in their minds. It's not as if you're you know, you don't notice until you know like they will refer to it sometime their age, but it's not as if you like instinctually notice right away oh, they're older, they're just more mature, and it's not. It's definitely not like a college romance where you're like okay, come on, you're, you're not serious, you don't actually think that way. Like oh, you sweet child, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Allie Samberts:

Well, and I think too and that's sort of where I think a lot of the side characters came in was that the side characters are not significantly younger than them, than the main couple. I mean, mike is 40 like Trevor they're the same age, but he acts like a child. But I think we all know somebody like Mike, right? Oh yeah, he's like the Joey of the friends, you know, that's a good right, like we all know about it but like Cass and Vi.

Allie Samberts:

Well, vi is Emery's age, but Cass is younger and Ethan is like they're her work friends. Ethan is slightly younger and then Josie, who also works with them, she's like 28, I think I said in there, so you know what I mean. So like they're surrounded by people who are younger than them and I think that kind of kind of informs, like their interactions that they have with the people in the book, right, um, and then some, you know, like Donna from the diner. She's way older but she's kind of like a parent figure and I think when you have those like mom figures in your life, you tend to act like the kid when you're talking to them, you know so. So, yeah, I wouldn't say that they like are super, super mature all the time, but I think that's, I think that's kind of normal, you know.

Kristen Bahls:

And that they're surrounded, like you said, by people of different ages. Because that's I mean, you work with people that are both older and younger than you and same with, even at the diner, like you said, with Donna, and then at the coffee shop in general, and all that like you never know who you're going to run into or who you're going to work with. That's not always going to be like right at your perfect age range, it's not like school.

Allie Samberts:

Right, right, or, if you're me, you're teaching teenagers all day, and so you're like you talk like a teenager and people are like you're 40. Yeah, sorry it's just, it just rubs off on you. Yeah, when you hear it all day.

Kristen Bahls:

You can like decode their language too, sometimes well, not always, I ask them. I would always like find, um, I had like a practicum of, like you know, smaller, a smaller number of like seniors, and so they already knew me, and so I would ask them, like I keep hearing this word, can you explain to me what?

Allie Samberts:

it means, and then they would explain it.

Kristen Bahls:

So then, that way, whenever I talked to the freshmen they were like you know what that means. I'm like, yeah, I know what that means, obviously.

Allie Samberts:

I'm cool. You can always count on the seniors too, because they kind of want to help you out. The freshmen just want to make fun of you, but the seniors are like, no, we'll tell.

Kristen Bahls:

Exactly so. You just find your favorites and then explain everything and you know that they're not going to lead you on it totally like tell you something that it's not.

Allie Samberts:

That's the one thing about kids, right? They're so honest. They're so honest, they're not going to, they're not going to like mess with you, they'll just tell you straight up what it means and they're not going to even think to be like. You know what we could, really, we could totally make a fool of her, they would never, you know yeah, it helps.

Kristen Bahls:

Oh man, we could go on, we could totally get a whole podcast about like sign me up teaching high schoolers. Oh my gosh, they're fun they are.

Allie Samberts:

What grade do you teach? I have mostly juniors and seniors. Okay, so nice, you get the older, I have the older kids.

Kristen Bahls:

I like the older yeah, yeah, oh man, freshmen after lunch are just a whole the whole new thing, not not?

Allie Samberts:

I think freshmen are cool they have a energy. I think every grade level has its benefits and drawbacks right. But I teach AP to the seniors, so I really like having seniors for that, because it really feels like a kind of intro to college, you know, like I'm getting them ready for the next step, which I really like. It's cool.

Kristen Bahls:

Oh, that's fun. Getting back to the actual story, you've gotten on so many tangents today, but you know common grounds. You talked a little bit about how you are reverse, grumpy sunshine with your um, with you and your husband, but do you have any additional personal connections or experience that kind of influenced the characters or even the overall story?

Allie Samberts:

I mean being 40, that was a part of it, but we've already talked about that. Um so well, I love coffee, so there's that. I dabbled in journalism for a while before I started writing fiction. So you know, like this is these, these are my first fiction books, but I have been writing forever. I had, I had a blog.

Kristen Bahls:

Yeah, is it still up?

Allie Samberts:

I'm not telling it's very, very old and it's I don't know. It's like finding your live journal from the early aughts.

Allie Samberts:

You know like no, we're not going to go there, but I also wrote some like op-eds for some larger publications and stuff, and so I did always have I love, I, just I love, I love journalism, like I, like I, if I hadn't been a teacher I probably would have been a journalist. That was kind of fun to explore that profession a little bit more. And I think I think we all probably, you know again, like being 40, having been in my job for 18 years I've been teacher for 18 years sort of at the middle of the career, point, right, you sort of start looking at it, going like I said, like, is this what I'm going to? Is this it Like, is this what I'm doing forever? And I think Emery is at that point right when she kind of took a career move that she didn't choose. She was laid off. This is not the way she saw her life going. She sort of thought that there was going to be bigger and better things on the horizon for her. And while I don't feel that way necessarily about my job, because I love my job as a teacher, I think you know there's a reason I started writing books because I was like, well, I want to do something else too, right. And so, yeah, I think I relate to that a little bit, and I think Trevor is feeling that way about the shop a little bit.

Allie Samberts:

Yep, yeah, right, just the pressure for sure. The pressure, right, the pressure to succeed. Oh my God, the pressure to succeed. That is me in a nutshell. I am an Enneagram type three. I'm a one wing too. There you go, the threes and the ones no-transcript going to do it. He's going to do it or die trying, and so I relate to that a lot. I relate to the feeling that Emery is in where you know she's, she's not feeling successful and so she kind of shuts down. Because I think that's kind of what I do in real life. If I feel like I'm not, like something hasn't succeeded, I'm like, well, I guess I'm done with this, then I guess I quit and I don't really. But you know, if there's a minute there, there's like a little mini breakdown moment and that's where we come to Emery in the book, and then also with Trevor where it's like, well, if I've decided I'm going to do it, then I'm going to do it. They're both a little bit of me, I guess.

Kristen Bahls:

I was like that, yeah it sounds sweet, except it's kind of it sounds so sweet. It's a lot of pressure. Random side question, because apparently I just, you know, want to throw us on another tangent. But let's do it, yes so if you let's pretend that you were a journalist for a second, what beat would you be on those? Probably the most questions to answer in like five seconds.

Allie Samberts:

Well, I wouldn't want to do anything too dangerous, because I'm also a scaredy cat and very cautious. I don't know, I don't know if I know enough about journalism to even answer this question. Is there like a? Is there like a like a? Um, like a local investigative like I would work for WB, well, my, my local NPR station, with like the, with like the local reporting, where I am centered somewhere. I don't have to go travel. I'm not going to be in a war zone, I'm just going to be home, yes, but I'm going to be like finding things, like the research. I love research, you know, I love like in the interviewing and like talking to people and reading people and like that would be. Yeah, that'd probably be what I would do.

Kristen Bahls:

Yes, I think, yeah, that would be a beat. And also, um, with that skillset, because so many people don't like to research, I think they would kind of carve you out that beat if it wasn't.

Allie Samberts:

Yes, well, I feel like that's where the T. There's a teacher crossover there too, right when I love to research. I love to talk to people. I can read people pretty well, cause I have to, you know. So, yeah, that's what I would do, but I also like that was. That was what drew me to teaching over journalism. Ultimately, when I was, you know, in my twenties, was I just wanted to be somewhere. I didn't want to travel too much around. I want to travel, but for fun. Same reasoning.

Kristen Bahls:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Not because you have to. Same reasoning for me. I did not end up doing the news anchor life with a broadcast journalism degree because I didn't want to move to every market every couple of years. Yeah, it's like you can never find friends or you know, settle down or anything, because you're just always moving around to try to get in the next market. That's so much pressure, Too much pressure.

Allie Samberts:

But you're putting your journalism skills to use. Look at you, true, true.

Kristen Bahls:

Right, and I mean same. You're putting your English skills to use as a teacher same. You're putting your English skills to use as a teacher, which are very journalism adjacent, obviously. So you know it all. It all works out. Is there one specific scene that you really just look forward to readers getting to on their kindle or whenever they open up the book?

Allie Samberts:

like so many. I love so many of the scenes in this book, but I can I say the third act breakup yes, you can.

Kristen Bahls:

I know whenever I can't even remember what detail I was like I know she's going I had to tell me how I wrote, or write this book without that breakup.

Allie Samberts:

True, it had to be okay.

Kristen Bahls:

it had to be in there because Emery had to do some there, it had to be in there.

Allie Samberts:

Because Emery had to do some soul searching, she had to figure her stuff out, and I think maybe you know what. That's the scene. It's not the breakup, it's the one where the friends kind of pull her out of the breakup, right when they meet her and without giving too much away, I have to like do this my way and they're, but they're there for her and I think that's the. It sort of encapsulates like the theme of the whole book is that people are gonna be crappy to you, they're gonna leave you, but the people who matter stay right.

Allie Samberts:

And that's that's what I love about this book is because that's the message and, and I don't know, I think at any age but I was, I was, I was going to say being 40, like I've experienced this, but I think any age right you sort of realize that the people who you think are going to be with you forever sometimes aren't, and that's. It hurts like hell when that happens and there's no way around it, right. But when you start to let yourself think that, oh, these people left me and so I must be worthless, or this is, this is just how people see me, or whatever, you start to sort of forget that there are people who have been with you forever, or even new people who you know are going to be with you for the long haul that you've met recently, and so, yeah, I think that's probably my favorite scene in the book when they they kind of they, they literally ambush her in the diner and they show her that right, they tell her that and it's just like a nice.

Allie Samberts:

It's not that she didn't know it, she knew it, but it's a nice reminder that the people who matter stick around.

Kristen Bahls:

Cause it's that that scene to me is really satisfying, because she's, she's kind of figured it, figured it out there yeah, and we can all hope to find like a found family kind of like that, where you know they'll tell you what they actually think, instead of just kind of letting you bumble on. And for common grounds again, we already kind of talked about this a little bit, but the process for writing the standalone versus a book in this series, in addition to not having to remember all of the characters and everything that you've talked about in the previous book, was the writing process just completely different? Or was it pretty similar to what you've done in the past, because this is technically your first you know standalone and break from the lead park series?

Allie Samberts:

yeah, I mean, unless you include the right place, that was supposed to be a standalone, but I knew before I published that one that it was supposed to be a standalone, true, true, but I knew before I published that one that it was going to be, I was going to continue on, but, yeah, the process for this one was like, I know it's like a non-answer, but it was like similar and different, right, like similar in that you have to sit down and write it, it's not going to write itself, unfortunately, the audacity, true, that you have to sit down and write it, it's not gonna write itself, unfortunately, the audacity, you have to sit down and write the thing.

Allie Samberts:

Um, but I felt a lot more freedom with this one because I wasn't necessarily tied to characters that had already been sort of developed. So, like, when you're writing those interconnected standalones, even if you don't, um, let's say, if I wrote a, if, if big, if I wrote a Mike book, um, mike's already established, right, like he already is kind of a goofball, he says funny things, and so that's a lot, that's a lot to live up to, I think, writing a book like that, because you're like, well, he has to continue to be a goofball. He has to continue, but he also has to have some depth now, Right, whereas in this book he doesn't have. You don't know anything about his backstory, you don't know anything about his, his family, or like has he dated? Does he date? Like is he? Does he sleep around? Like what?

Allie Samberts:

um, I mean, we get a little you figure he probably sleeps around in the way he talks about women. But like um, but those already established characters, you're sort of I feel like there's some pressure to make them live up, especially when they're fan favorites. So, like when I wrote jenny's book, she was a fan favorite from the right place because she's so funny and so sensitive and so wonderful, and I think her book went really well, right, like I think that I was able to capture that. But that was hard, it was so hard to do.

Allie Samberts:

I could see um and people would ask me like, oh, I love Jenny, I am I, you know, like, like, are you excited for her book? And I'd be like, yes, but also like, love her a little bit less before you start reading it. Like you know, like she's got a backstory now she's complicated, you know, I think that's part of what we love about side characters like this is that they're they're kind of uncomplicated and then once you give them a story, it's they've got more going on and it's hard. It's hard to do that as like a fan, as a reader, as a writer. So I like, knowing I was not doing this with this one, I kind of just went for it with all the characters I was like well, you could be whatever I want you to be, and it doesn't matter, and it's not going to matter down the line and like maybe it will later, I don't know, but it was.

Allie Samberts:

It was really freeing and I think it opened me up to be able to try new things with this book.

Allie Samberts:

Um, and not play it safe with this book, I mean, like obviously it follows, like the romance and the you know the plot line that you would expect from a romance but I'm not like busting down barriers on that here, but um, um, but I think even moving it out of lead park, moving it out of Illinois, totally new setting, totally new characters yeah, it was. I mean, that's why I started writing it while I was writing the right choice, because I just needed some freedom. You know, I felt a little trapped writing that one, not in a bad way, just in a yeah, in a like my brain had a bunch of tabs open while I was writing that and I didn't really know which one to click on all the time um because I had to keep track of it, yeah there's just so much to keep track of and this one I just was like well, I just have to keep track of what's in the book.

Allie Samberts:

You know his eyes can't change color, but like other than that, we're, we're good um and so, yeah, it felt good, it felt really good to write it.

Kristen Bahls:

It was fun okay and I didn't even think about it from that perspective of, like you know, whenever you're writing one book like the right place you want to balance, or common grounds, you want to balance out all the characters and so of course you're not going to make their personalities the same. But then it's like, okay, well, now I have to take that personality and actually make an entire book from that, but then also still balance that out. And yeah, that that would be really really difficult the more you get into it, especially having three different books in the lead part series and kind of having to do that twice. So I see why you wanted to get out for a second.

Allie Samberts:

So I see why you wanted to get out for a second? Yeah, and it's not that I again, I didn't not like doing it.

Kristen Bahls:

I love doing it, but I just needed a break.

Allie Samberts:

I needed a break.

Kristen Bahls:

What aspect of this novel are you most proud of from coming out?

Allie Samberts:

I can't say all of it, you can't even count Most. I think I'm most proud of how much fun I had with it and I I think that sort of it, just it makes all of it so much better when you're having fun, because this is supposed to be fun, right, writing is supposed to be fun and reading is supposed to be fun and even if it's kind of a job, it's still supposed to be fun. Um, and I just had a lot of fun with it and I hope that comes across on the page because I tried to make it fun and funny and light hearted and you know, but I think also I'm really God. Well, can I give you like three answers to this question?

Kristen Bahls:

There's no time limit here.

Allie Samberts:

I'm I'm really proud of the, the research that I did on it too to make it realistic, like it was fun but it was grounded in in a lot of realism. And Trevor is, he has this Croatian background. Um, I did a lot of research into that. My middle school best friend is Croatian and so she helped me out a lot with that. Um, and she helped me out a lot with the coffee culture from Croatia. Um, and she helped me out a lot with the coffee culture from Croatia.

Allie Samberts:

Um, and you know, kind of walked me through making Turkish coffee at home, um, and like the different steps, and so then like all of that research kind of came together, I think, to create. You know, this book is centered around coffee and history and culture, but I think it also creates, it ends up sort of creating this kind of multi-sensory experience when you're reading it in a way where it like people tell me all the time it feels like you're drinking coffee, like it feels like a warm cup of coffee, like comforting, like cozy, like kind of bitter but also kind of sweet, you know, um, and so I am, I am really proud of how that came out. Yeah, it's a vibe, it is and you know, you.

Kristen Bahls:

It's just so different from your other books so you, kind of like any reader that wants to dive into your books, can just get something different depending on whatever mood they're in and whatever order they want to read your series. So they have even more options now than they did with the lead park series.

Allie Samberts:

Yeah, it is different. I think it's similar in a lot of ways because it's still heartfelt, it still tackles some you know bigger subjects, but yeah, I really I feel like I really took a leap forward with this one.

Kristen Bahls:

And so I'm just, I'm just, I am really proud of it. Well, thank you for joining me on the podcast, allie, and that's it for today. Thanks for listening to when I Left Off a bookish podcast. Visit Allie's site, sign up for her newsletter and follow her on social media and, of course, purchase her novels through the link in the show notes, and you can always find them on Kindle Unlimited.