Where I Left Off

I Just Want To Be Yours with Author Heather Garvin

• Kristen Bahls • Season 2 • Episode 28

Share episode

Send us a text

Thanks to Heather Garvin for joining to me talk about the release of her New Adult Romance novel I Just Want to Be Yours.

Read Heather's Books:

Follow Heather:

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

For episode feedback, future reading and author recommendations, you can text the podcast by clicking the "Send us a message button" above.

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 Take What You Can series, Crossing the Line and Just Don't Call Me Yours Heather Garvin, and we are talking all about her second book in the duet. I Just Want to Be Yours. Thank you so much for joining me today.

Heather Garvin:

Heather, thank you for having me. I'm excited. Yeah, me too.

Kristen Bahls:

Oh my gosh, I loved your book. But before we get into actually talking about the book, I always ask everyone what are you currently reading?

Heather Garvin:

right now, so I'm currently listening to Business or Pleasure and I'm really really enjoying it.

Kristen Bahls:

I listen to it too, and it's so good over audio.

Heather Garvin:

The narrator does an amazing job. I feel like, when it comes to audiobooks, so much relies on the narrator and I'm really, really enjoying it. I really feel like, when it comes to audiobooks, so much relies on the narrator and I'm really, really enjoying it.

Kristen Bahls:

I really feel like she's what I would imagine Chandler to sound like, just in her voice and everything. Yeah, perfect person. Yeah, be prepared to cry. I cried at the end of it. You would think like on audiobook, you know you would have a lesser chance of crying, but I can't even remember what I was doing. Like I was doing something else, like scrubbing something while I was crying. So be prepared. It's super cute, though.

Heather Garvin:

Yeah, I, I still have like five hours left, so I still have a good chunk of the book to listen to. Did not think it was going to be sad, though, so now I'm a little concerned.

Kristen Bahls:

It's cut. There are parts, but it's really not like it's. It's very cute overall, but have you read any other Rachel and Solomon books, or is this your first?

Heather Garvin:

I don't think so. I think this is my first, but I'm really enjoying it, so I'll have to check out her other books. Do you have another one that you really like by her?

Kristen Bahls:

Um, well, I really love her YA books. Um, she has today, tonight, tomorrow. It's also a duet. It actually it kind of like a couple little bits of it, the enemies to lovers kind of reminded me of um, of your duet, but it's Today, Tonight, Tomorrow is the first one, and then Past, Present, Future is the second one.

Kristen Bahls:

So one's like when they're in high school, on the last day of high school, and then the second one is when they're in college and they're in a long-term relationship and they're trying to figure it out and, like, make it work.

Heather Garvin:

Yeah, that long distance will get you.

Kristen Bahls:

I said long-term, yeah, I meant long distance but both, I mean honestly both, but yeah, hers are really cute.

Kristen Bahls:

And then, um, I have the Ex talk on my shelf. It's on the TBR shelf up top that I need to read next and it sounds really cute. It's like a radio thing and they have to pretend to be exes for a radio show and then they start falling in love. So, yeah, that does sound good. That's really cute. What's the best book that you read this year? Have you done a lot of reading or has it been more like writing focused?

Heather Garvin:

Mostly writing focused or beta reading for other authors. I feel like a lot of the stuff that I end up reading ends up being stuff that isn't published yet, you know by friends and stuff like that. But I did really enjoy the Dead Romantics so I have to say that's probably so far one of my favorite books that I've read this year, because that one really surprised me. I just I loved it.

Kristen Bahls:

It's on my shelf. I need to read it. I really want to pick it up, Like it's. It's definitely high up there. Have you read Seven Year Slip? I haven't. It's one of my favorites.

Heather Garvin:

I know and I heard that one's even more popular, so I definitely need to add that one to the list.

Kristen Bahls:

Yeah. And then I have, of course, a novel love story that I haven't gotten to because you know everyone publishes so quickly you can't keep up with all of the books, yeah, and that one hasn't even been out that long, that one just came out. Yeah, that one just came out a couple months ago.

Heather Garvin:

Yeah, I think so. I remember seeing a bunch of stuff about it. But yeah, I'm still on. I only read the Dead Romantics, but I did really love it.

Kristen Bahls:

Oh, good good good, because I've heard mixed reviews, so I'm glad that you loved it.

Heather Garvin:

Yeah, I did too. Like once, I think, I went and looked at Goodreads. After reading it I was like surprised that some people I mean it's always surprising. I mean, when you have thousands of reviews, obviously you're going to have people that love it and don't love it. But it's always interesting to see how different people perceive the same book.

Kristen Bahls:

you know, I agree um on your current work in progress. So what's next like? What are you working on? Are you kind of taking a break or have you already started writing something else?

Heather Garvin:

so I'm deep into editing. I'm actually wrapping up edits on the Christmas book, which is called um when the fake snow falls, and that one I'm kind of. It's already pretty much been through betas and I'm just finalizing and cleaning it up as much as I can before I send it to my editor. But I did start writing like a new idea, but then I kind of had to put it on hold for this launch and then getting the Christmas book ready. It's just, it's a lot to cram into the end of the year. So I haven't found a lot of time to really work on a new project, but I'm looking forward to diving back into it. As soon as the Christmas book is like in my editor's hands and I can't do anything with it anymore, then I think I'll get back into writing.

Heather Garvin:

Is it a standalone? Into writing? Is it a standalone? The Christmas one? Yeah, yeah, that one will be a standalone and I really love it. I'm just I'm excited to share more about it because I'm really excited. These are older characters. They're probably they're like in their late twenties and I've always written very new adult. So it was fun to kind of be able to escalate certain things and kind of level up, you know, with just them being at a different stage in their life.

Kristen Bahls:

Are you going to continue to write older characters? Is this going to be a reoccurring theme, or are you kind of just going to bounce back and forth between them, depending on what ideas come to you?

Heather Garvin:

Yeah, I don't know, I'm always kind of all over the place with things. I really love the new adult romance because there's something so exciting about like that first really impacting love or that first relationship that's, you know, really important and kind of dry. It becomes like a driving force in your life a little bit. But I found that when I was writing the holiday rom-com and they are older, like that brought a whole different set of things that I really liked about, like writing that age group. So I don't know, we'll see, I'd like to stay a little older if I can Maybe not do like college again for a little bit. I think I like mid-20s, late-20s, kind of easing into something a little different.

Kristen Bahls:

I like both. So yeah, me too. Either one, either one are good. I was going to ask on the one that you're kind of starting to plan out Are you a pantser or are you a plotter? How do you kind of go about setting everything?

Heather Garvin:

up. I'm a total pantser. Honestly. I'm trying to be better, I'm trying to be a more intentional pantser. So I'm trying to like really kind of ground myself and like, okay, well, what do I want to happen?

Heather Garvin:

And honestly, I find tropes really helpful with my writing. Like if I can pick which tropes I want in the book, I can kind of shape a story that caters to that around it. So I find that helpful. But yeah, I'm definitely a pantser and it usually makes editing a lot of work on the back end, because then I have to go back and fix a bunch of things that I didn't think through, you know. But I find that when I plot too much in the beginning, the actual writing feels more like work, because I feel like all the fun part of like figuring out where the story was going to go is done. I already know where it's going to go. Now I have to put it on paper and that feels like such a task, whereas if I don't know where the story is going to go and I just kind of write and figure it out, I find that I write much faster and I have more fun with it. So I don't know, that's just what I do.

Kristen Bahls:

I'm always really impressed by Panthers. I couldn't do it. I'd have to pull it out.

Heather Garvin:

It can definitely be daunting when you know you send it to somebody that you respect and they're like, yeah, I don't think you need this chapter or I think you need something else here. And then you're like, oh man, if I would have known this in the beginning, that would have been helpful. But I mean, it is what it is True.

Kristen Bahls:

And hey, like you said, if it helps you write a little bit faster and kind of get the story down, then that's more important anyway, and you can always go back and you know, fix and adjust stuff.

Heather Garvin:

Yeah, there's always time for that. Yeah, it's just how much work you have to put into it, and what are your deadlines?

Kristen Bahls:

So, speaking a little bit more about I Just Want to Be Yours. How does this story kind of pick up where the first book left off, without spoiling the first?

Heather Garvin:

one, yeah. So the first book is a lot of like Jackson and Margo's. It's an enemies to lovers. So for a good chunk of the book they don't exactly see eye to eye. But then they're kind of forced together through the fact that their best friends are dating, so they're constantly around each other and then it isn't really until the end of the book that they finally like agree to give it a shotettiness and, you know, whatever it may be into something that turned out to be a very like mature, solid relationship, even though it does, you know, of course, have ups and downs.

Kristen Bahls:

Yeah, I mean, they have to get used to that completely different relationship. Like you said, they're so at each other's throats for the first book and now they're a couple, and so that's just totally, totally two different things.

Heather Garvin:

Yeah, and it was. It was tricky with the long distance thing, but I knew I really wanted the second book to be long distance because I knew I wanted Jackson to have success in the band and to go on the road and everything. And Margo has every right to have her separate dreams and goals that she wants to pursue and so they don't always align with what they're doing. But I just I really liked showing that, but it was very difficult to write for me. I think having the two characters and the two main love interests being apart so much but then still trying to make it feel like they're connected, um was definitely challenging because I didn't want it to get boring when they weren't together. You know, like stuff had to keep happening.

Heather Garvin:

Life goes on you know, but I still wanted to very much keep their relationship as, like, the center focus of the book. So it was tricky, but I think it all worked out.

Kristen Bahls:

Yeah, and I mean that makes sense because of course if Jackson didn't go with the band then he would have never been happy staying in college and then that would have been a whole other thing. And then, like you said, with Margo, she's not just going to drop everything when their relationship's new. So you know, it makes sense that yeah. Right and it was so new.

Heather Garvin:

Yeah, it was so new in your relationship, like it's one thing if you've been together for a while and then it's like, yeah, okay, let me sacrifice this, this and this, but when it's so, so new to just walk away from your entire life, like I didn't really want Margo to do that, yeah, yeah, I agree, and I feel like it's probably indicative of a lot of relationships in college.

Kristen Bahls:

Most are probably long distance, so of some kind you know whether whatever they're doing or whatever schools they're going to like, that's just something that is a little bit more realistic too. Yeah, definitely so. I know that readers really love it, but what are some of the challenges of trying to write dual POV? And Jackson and Margo? They both have very distinct voices, but how did you keep their voices distinct as you were writing?

Heather Garvin:

That's a good question and I wish I had a clear cut answer for you. I love writing the male point of view. I think it's so much fun. In my book Crossing the Line, I had it be dual point of view and Aiden in that book is very grumpy sunshine. So it was so easy to differentiate them because he was so grumpy and she was so not you know. So it made it very easy. With Jackson and Margot, I feel like Jackson had a very strong personality from the start and Margot took a little more like fine tuning. Like when I first wrote her she was like way too mean, like I had to like soften her. And then, you know, over time and over, like beta feedback of you know, because I remember in the beginning a lot of my beta readers were like I don't like Margo, like I don't understand why Jackson likes her, because she's just mean to him all the time. You know.

Kristen Bahls:

And.

Heather Garvin:

I was like, okay, well, I need to change some things. So after kind of making all those changes, she eventually became very distinct in my head but, like Jackson definitely started out like right out of the gate. I knew who I wanted Jackson to be like 100%. And then Margo kind of took a little more time like shaping her into the character that she eventually became, but yeah, it ended up working out. Keeping them separate, I mean, I, I don't know, I think the male point of view, you just have to think of things that guys would and wouldn't say or you know whatever like he's not gonna have thoughts about, like mascara, obviously, you know, like stuff like that, like just making sure that everything stays true to them and yeah, their personalities just kind of shine through on their own nice and like you said, making completely different personalities does make it a little bit, a little bit easier than if they're kind of similar and then you're trying to adjust.

Kristen Bahls:

But I do think that nine times out of 10, I do kind of like reading, reading the male's point of view more the MMC, because yeah, I mean, I was just thinking back to most of the books I've read lately and I'm like, yeah, I really do like their chapters a little bit better. I tend to like gravitate towards those.

Heather Garvin:

Yeah, and my editor was helpful with that too. I don't remember what the exact phrase was, but I remember in her feedback at one point she said it was some type of phrase I used in a Margot chapter and she said you've had Jackson use this phrase in book one and she was like, but Margo never really uses this phrase. She was like Jackson does. So she the fact that, like she's an incredible editor too, definitely helps, because she did catch that, you know, and she caught a few other things. But yeah, they usually they're just so different that they kind of just take on a life of their own. You know, that makes sense.

Kristen Bahls:

Can you tell me about some of the new characters that are introduced in I Just Want to Be Yours that are not a part of the first book, and kind of what role they play in the story?

Heather Garvin:

Yeah. So Maya and Braden are probably the biggest ones Maya I adore. I knew I just wanted this bubbly, fun energy to really liven up Jackson's life on tour and I knew I wanted her to be kind of like bro to him. You know, like I wanted her to be like one of the guys like that he can just like, let loose with and just have it, be friends. You know, just totally friends.

Heather Garvin:

I kind of liked the idea of like the misdirect, like here's this like hot girl with like tattoos and pink hair and, um, you think she's going to be an issue, but and Margo thinks she's going to be an issue at first, right, and Margo thinks she's going to be an issue, but she, right, and Margo thinks she's going to be an issue, but she's just so cool Like you can't help but just love her, you know.

Heather Garvin:

And then with Brayden, I took him. I didn't originally plan on bringing him back, but he was in the car in the first book when they left the party. And Margo has this moment in the first book where she's sitting between Braden and Jackson in the back of the car and she's wondering why there's this perfectly nice guy who's, you know, hot and put together and sweet and seems well-mannered and like she just doesn't feel anything for him. And then there's Jackson on the other side, who's like rough and abrasive and gives her a hard time and gets under her skin but like every time their like knees would brush, brush, like she would feel something you know. So I really liked the idea of bringing him back and I wanted him to be very much like Matt and you know, just kind of put together and clean, cut and like you can see why they're friends, why they work. But then you know it's just undeniable what she feels with Jackson and I can't compete yeah, he was a fun one to bring back.

Kristen Bahls:

I, it took me a second and then whenever I think you make mention to it and um, and I just want to be yours that he was in the van, and I went, oh, he's the one from the van and I totally forgot about that until it brought it up.

Heather Garvin:

Yeah, yeah, I think Jackson even like he like calls her out for staring at him for so long. Yeah, she was literally staring at him, trying to figure out why she was not attracted to him.

Heather Garvin:

And of course he doesn't see it that way. So yeah it just it felt very like full circle moment just to kind of bring Brayden back, and it was funny because I had a friend, you know, and she was like too many b names, you need to change someone's name and I was like I agree, but I did not realize that Brayden was gonna be a character well, he, he at least is pretty um distinctive in his personality, so I felt like that made it a little bit easier for me to distinguish him from the other b names, for sure yeah, I feel like the only b name that's really close to his name is like Brady, but Brady's in the band and Brayden's not, so they're never really together in a scene or anything like that, which that helps that helps.

Kristen Bahls:

Yeah, they were together in a scene that I'm like wait a minute, who's who? But yeah, no, right Easy to tell. So do you actually have a musical background that inspired the story, or do you just like really appreciate music in general?

Heather Garvin:

I have no musical background whatsoever. My brother can play guitar and he's super talented. He, like taught himself off of YouTube.

Heather Garvin:

I don't know, oh, wow I don't know, I don't know how people do these things. But no, actually what inspired the book was. I listened to Dave Grohl's autobiography and I pulled a lot from that, because Dave talks all about like the early stages of being in the band and how they were so broke and like just the struggles of living in a van and everything like that. And as I was listening to it I was just like, oh, this would be so good as like a romance, you know. So that's really where I pulled a lot of the inspiration from was that autobiography, and then I just kind of shaped it into this fictional story of Jackson and Margo, that makes sense.

Kristen Bahls:

Yeah, they just had so many like musical debates, you know, and so I thought maybe Heather's like really musical herself and that's how she decided this.

Kristen Bahls:

I mean, I love music, yeah, listen to music, but I have no musical talent well, I couldn't tell, and I like how they have um, of course it's more in the first than the second, but a little bit in the second. I like how, uh, margo and Jackson's taste are so completely different. It's kind of funny to see them fight about it versus them, just automatically liking the same bands yeah, yeah, absolutely one of the many things that they don't agree on. They've got some common ground eventually. Oh my gosh, that playlist that Margot made.

Heather Garvin:

Yes, plenty of plenty of landslide on there. Just forget it. He loved it?

Kristen Bahls:

Are the American Thieves inspired by an existing band or did you come up with them on your own?

Heather Garvin:

They're really not. I mean, I think if I had to pick a band that I'd want them to be similar to, then maybe Arctic Monkeys, because I did pull a lot of Jackson's vibe from Arctic Monkeys but I don't really have like an actual real life band that I was modeling it after, anything like that. But I wanted him to have kind of that musical sound because I believe that it's something. A band like the Arctic Monkeys is a band that someone with Margo's taste in music could actually like. You know. So like I wanted it to be believable that she would like Jackson's music, even though she usually doesn't like Jackson's type of music, you know, even though she usually doesn't like Jackson's type of music. So modeling it loosely off of them felt like an easy way to kind of make that more believable, I guess.

Kristen Bahls:

So that's smart, Focusing a little bit more on the romance side of things. In your opinion, between both books, what is the most romantic gesture or scene between margo and jackson?

Heather Garvin:

it's a hard one to pick. It is because I really love the ending scene of the first book, when you know they're at the stage and everything like that to me feels very grand gesture like it was like a scene that I could imagine seeing in a movie, you know, and so when I think of like a romantic gesture, I think of that scene, but then the sequel obviously has a lot more romance in it.

Heather Garvin:

It's just much more intimate romance. It's not something that's big and on display for everybody to see. It's much more intimate romance. It's not something that's big and on display for everybody to see. It's much more just like the two of them having these quiet moments. So I'd say, either from the first book, the ending scene at the concert, or the second book, probably the pool scene is.

Kristen Bahls:

Is that the one that's in um in the pre-order incentives? Isn't that the character art that's included? Yeah, yes, yeah, I love that art. If you pre-order, if you pre-order the book and fill out the pre-order form, then you too can get art from the post-pd.

Heather Garvin:

Yes, yeah, I always try to do like something art that's a little bit steamy and then art from like a sweeter moment too. But yeah, I loved, uh, how both art pieces turned out for the pre-order incentives.

Kristen Bahls:

I already pre-ordered my copy so I'm ready, thank you. So how did your approach, kind of overall in writing this second book really differ from writing the first one? There are so many things that have evolved by this point.

Heather Garvin:

Yeah, so writing the first one, I was able to be much more of a pantser. I didn't really need a plan. I could see where the story was going. There was nothing boxing me in so like anything could happen.

Heather Garvin:

When I was writing the sequel, I knew certain things needed to happen. So I had to be much more intentional and I feel like the sequel is probably the most plotting I've ever done. I even had like a loose like outline where I plotted all these different things that needed to happen from, you know, the beginning of the book to the end of the book, and Having that made it feel like a much slower process to write it, because I was having to be very intentional with each chapter and everything like that. So it slowed me down a lot and it took me much longer to write it. Plus, it's a much longer book it's like 20,000 words longer than the first one. So I had to write more and I had to really follow through and I had already set up certain things that I couldn't change. So it felt almost a little bit limiting, even though it really wasn't, because I knew what needed to happen and all of those things could happen, you know.

Kristen Bahls:

But um, and all of those things could happen, you know. But I did get stuck. I got stuck and I took a break. I wrote a Christmas book I wasn't planning on writing and then I came back to it, rest and I'm sure especially like that it instead of having to continue their story, getting to go on a completely different tangent where you didn't have to focus so much on what they had done or what they had said was probably a really nice break for a second right?

Heather Garvin:

yeah, it really was. I wrote that Christmas book so fast. I just I sped right through it and it was the perfect break I needed. To go back to Jackson I think it was just too much time with Jackson and Margot, like I was too close to it, I couldn't like see it clearly, and I'm not used to writing series. I didn't even really intend for this to be a series, so I'm very much more comfortable writing standalones. I like being able to like close the book and be done with those characters and then I can move on and do something all new. You know. So the fact that this carried on with the same characters and the same storyline, it was just a very long stretch of time to be like writing them. So I think I just needed like a palate cleanser and I took a break and I did that and then I came back and I I felt much better so what you're saying is that Brayden's story is not coming soon, right?

Heather Garvin:

I don't know maybe maybe one day I won't say, I won't say definitely, because I have thought about it um, I'm just not sure when it would happen, but it it would be fun to write a Brayden story.

Kristen Bahls:

I, I didn't want to say which character he was with because I felt like I would spoil it, but but, yeah, yeah no I get that. You just need a break for a second from it before ever even thinking about um coming back to it, but you know. If you ever wanted to, I think everyone would be really open to it.

Heather Garvin:

Yeah, I have thought about it. It's definitely something that is possible. You know, when people ask me like oh are you going to write a sequel to like Make your Move or Crossing the Line? Like I can 100% say, no, I'm not, but when it comes to Brayden, maybe.

Kristen Bahls:

Good to know before I read Crossing the Line and Make your Move. So that way, once I get there, then I'll know okay, enjoy this one as a standalone. There's not another one coming Right. Okay, enjoy this one as a standalone. There's not another one coming Right.

Heather Garvin:

For this book. Were there any unexpected reactions from readers after the release of actually the first one that influenced, kind of how you started writing the second and the duet? That's a good question, I think, margot being somewhat indecisive or insecure.

Heather Garvin:

I feel like Margot had very valid reasons to be that way in the first book. Oh yeah, but I could tell that it was something that readers wanted to see her grow out of and I think once I saw that I felt it too Like I wanted her to be empowered by their relationship and I wanted her to be bolder. I wanted her to be more outspoken. So I really worked on Margot developing and growing, based on some of the feedback from the first book, because I wanted her to be a much stronger female character than she initially was.

Kristen Bahls:

Like I wanted to show that growth for her, which is hard, especially with him and his fame kind of growing, and that's a totally different element that they probably really didn't think that they were gonna have to deal with until it's there, right yeah, yeah, I mean I don't, I don't think I could be in Margo's shoes.

Heather Garvin:

I don't know, I don't know.

Kristen Bahls:

I don't know that would be, that would be so different. That would be really weird. I don't know.

Heather Garvin:

Yeah, it would be especially weird, I don't know. Yeah, it would be, especially when you're not there.

Kristen Bahls:

Because anything could happen.

Heather Garvin:

Yeah, yeah, and the only thing I could compare it to, because obviously I've never dated a rock star, but I did around the time of my 20, I was dating a guy who was already 21 and he worked as like a barback, like in a downtown bar, so he was very much in that environment, whereas, like I couldn't be, so I did like I could relate to Margo a little bit in that aspect of like. When you haven't been there and you haven't seen it, it's easy to make it bigger than what it is in your head. You know, because I remember being so young and being 19 and just assuming he was like living it up every night. When it's like no, he was just like stalking boobs and sweating.

Kristen Bahls:

True, I can see how that happens. On the feedback from the first book, did you really just like take into account kind of the beta readers feedback or do you actually like read your Goodreads reviews and all that kind of stuff?

Heather Garvin:

Yeah, I'm not against reading Goodreads reviews. I definitely read them more in the beginning, after a release, Once the book has been out for a while, I just don't care as much, Like I think, when in the beginning, when you want to see how a book is received, I definitely care about how readers are reacting to a story and want to see what their initial feedback and if they're enjoying it. And I have no problem reading reviews. I have no problem really reading negative reviews. Like it just doesn't really affect me. I mean sometimes you might get like a scathing one. I mean it doesn't feel great, you might get like a scathing one.

Heather Garvin:

I mean it doesn't feel great but yeah, but like usually you know, I can just, you know, remind myself that well, when I look at my favorite books, there are one-star reviews on those books too. Like it's just a part of the game, you know. So I do like to look at reviews, especially in the beginning, and then it kind of tapers off and I just stop checking it. But then when I publish a new book I'll go back and, like, check again.

Kristen Bahls:

Well, cause, when you think about it, like for readers, of course we're seeing reviews nonstop, or, you know, looking at Goodreads, or we DM each other on Instagram and talk about like hey, what did you really think of this book, or whatever you know. So we're constantly like giving each other feedback about books, but from an author perspective, like you know, you don't want to go digging too much into that, so it's probably kind of hard to get feedback if you don't, if you didn't want to read a good reads reviews. Besides, you know, like beta readers or talking to other authors.

Heather Garvin:

Yeah, yeah, I think it's important. I mean, there are some, you know, of course, there are some reviews that are just toxic, yeah they're not going to like anything, Right exactly Like.

Heather Garvin:

And that's another thing too, because sometimes you look and you'll be like oh wow, someone rated the book, you know, two stars or something. And then you'll go and like, click on their profile and it's like they have an average rating of like 2.5. And it's like all right. Well then, I guess they liked my book just as much as they like most of the other books that they've read. So it's really so subjective so, but I do think when you get reviewers who are able to eloquently explain certain things or like what may have rubbed them the wrong way, it is helpful, helpful for sure. Like I wrote Aiden in Crossing the Line, who is super grumpy, and I wanted him to be that way, like I knew from the start that he was not going to be a character that everyone was going to love, you know.

Kristen Bahls:

Yeah.

Heather Garvin:

And then with Jackson he's more of like yes, he's snarky, yes, he has his moments where he's kind of a jerk, but like he's essentially a good person. Like he's not. You know, he's not really. I don't know what it may be, he just had a little more cadence than Aiden did yeah and.

Heather Garvin:

but even you know, jackson, I think in the beginning can come off a little too grumpy and a little too whatever to some readers. And and that's okay, I mean, when I read books and the guys are super, super sweet right off the bat, I get overly suspicious of them and I don't trust them at all. So, like everybody's different, like I like seeing that raw, real beginning. Whereas some readers don't want that, they want just like the Prince Char charming that comes in and you know it just immediately falls hard for the girl and will do you know, anything for her type of thing.

Kristen Bahls:

and that's, that's not jackson no, and if jackson, if he had come in as a prince charming type, then there wouldn't have really been an enemies to lovers, because it would have been like, well, what's Margo's problem Seriously, what's her problem Versus? You know, they both kind of antagonize each other on purpose, but not not in a way that they can't come back from Right, basically like, like you said, it's kind of more snark over, like true animosity.

Kristen Bahls:

I mean they do they get pretty, pretty heated, but again it's more like snarky heated, not. You know I hate you and I'm never gonna love you yeah it turns into.

Heather Garvin:

I think they go from like really disliking each other to kind of like the love to hate you type of thing, like it's almost like. This is just how we are now, like even though they really don't mind being around each other, they're still going to take jabs at each other, you know. And then eventually it just turns into something more.

Kristen Bahls:

Which I'll have to read the first book to find out how. Are there any final thoughts or anything that you would like to share with the readers about this book or kind of the duet as a whole?

Heather Garvin:

Yeah, I mean the duet is. I'm so proud of how this story turned out. When I originally wrote the first book Just Don't Call Me Yours I wanted it to be a standalone. And it wasn't until I wrote that last chapter and then realized where I wanted them to be in the epilogue that I felt like I was jumping way too far ahead, because I knew I wanted the epilogue to be a certain way and it just it was way. It was just too much. Too much would have had to happen between the end of the first book and getting to that epilogue. So I kind of just decided that, all right, I guess I have to write another book for them.

Heather Garvin:

And I was really glad that so many people enjoyed the first book so much, because I had already kind of committed to writing a sequel. So at least it made it feel so worth it. You know that I actually had people waiting for the second half of their story, but I think if I would have just left it as a standalone it would have always felt a little incomplete to me. So I think if you like, you know music references and Taylor Swift and banter and angst and heartache and romantic, swoon-worthy moments, like they're all in there Like it's. They're such a fun couple and they really go the bounds of showing all different aspects of their relationship, which is pretty cool to follow along with.

Kristen Bahls:

I agree. I mean, you know how fast I read both books. I completely agree, um, so that's it for today. Thank you for for listening to when I Left Off a bookish podcast. You can sign up for Heather's newsletter. You can purchase her novels through the link in the show notes or find them on Kindle Unlimited. And don't forget, you can also preorder the book and get all the preorder incentives. Thank you.