Where I Left Off

Yours, Unexpectedly with Author Rachel Lewis

• Kristen Bahls • Season 2 • Episode 36

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Thanks to author Rachel Lewis for talking about her debut Yours, Unexpectedly and her new holiday novella, out now - Merrily Yours.

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Books Mentioned in this episode:

  • Unsteady by Peyton Corinne
  • Unloved by Peyton Corinne
  • Not in Love by Ali Hazelwood
  • The Bodyguard by Katherine Center
  • The Rom-Commers by Katherine Center
  • The Ex-Vows by Jessica Joyce
  • Out on a Limb by Hannah Bonam-Young

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.

Speaker 1:

Welcome back. I'm Kristen Bowles and you're listening to when I Left Off a bookish podcast, and today I'm joined by romance author Rachel Lewis to talk about her debut novel, yours Unexpectedly, and her new holiday novella coming out soon Merrily, yours. Thanks for coming on, rachel. Thank you for having me. I'm so excited to be here. Oh my gosh, I loved your book so I can't wait to talk more about it. Well, both of them actually, because I've read the novella I know you kind of got to do it back to back. I know I really liked it that way. It was nice, because then you know you can't forget anything about the characters and you kind of pick up on a couple more things. So that's kind of the way to do it yeah.

Speaker 2:

Okay Well, you heard it here. You guys do it that way.

Speaker 1:

Do a reread if you've already read yours unexpectedly, and then you can come back into barely yours and it'll be perfect Perfect for the holiday season. So the first thing that I always ask everyone that comes on is what are you currently reading?

Speaker 2:

Okay. So I'm going to have a really lame answer to this, because I am not reading anything right now. Um, I am like I have not been. It's been a crazy week, it's been a crazy, crazy times, and so I have been like I got sucked into this stupid game on my phone and it's like Candy Crush-esque but not, and so I've what's it called, I don't even know Match sorting Good sorting, good sorting. It's like you move the little little like grocery objects onto the shelf to like match them. Oh, I don't. Okay. So this popped up as an ad on my kids color by number app. I was like that looks kind of fun, and so I downloaded it. So that's what I've been doing instead of reading.

Speaker 2:

I next am going to be reading, though I need to. I need to read it. It's been sitting on my Kindle but I was like no, I need to get in the headspace for it. But my friend, peyton Curran, wrote her second book, unloved. It's second in her Undone series, and so I have it and I need to read it. It'll be out in.

Speaker 1:

February. I think Unsteady is on my Kindle, so I'm haven't started yet, but I need to.

Speaker 2:

It's so good, it's so good, so highly recommend that and then and then, yeah, maybe you can, or maybe you can just do it like you did with mine and go back, so yeah, that sounds like a better way to do it, because then I definitely can't forget anything. Hers are really interesting too, because they're happening at the same time. Oh wow. So like it would be interesting to like I might have to do a reread of Unsteady and then like see kind of how the timelines interweave.

Speaker 1:

That would be awesome. Yeah, sometimes you just need a break from reading. But that's nice that you have a friend's book that you know is going to be a guaranteed probably five stars. So then that way you don't have to worry about, you know, picking up a book that's just not hitting it.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, I know I'm just such a mood reader and I have to be in the right mood, but she writes really angsty, so I know that I have to like be ready to be sad a little bit. So I've been. I've been too in my feels, but yeah, once, once I get a little bit out of my feels, then I can get into her feels.

Speaker 1:

Okay, Got it. I'll have some tissues ready Whenever I start.

Speaker 2:

I am an easy crier though, so like, okay, maybe not, but I cry at everything.

Speaker 1:

Well, your book's kind of perfect if you need a break, because it's not super angsty. So maybe that was the goal. Yeah, everyone should read Peyton's first, cry a little bit and then, whenever they need a palate cleanser, then jump over to yours and it'll be the perfect sequence. Yes, exactly that's the way to do it. So what can you tell us about your work in progress? I noticed on the side of the book it had a little one as if it was the first in the series, so I'm assuming that there are going to be more books.

Speaker 2:

There are going to be more books, so it is going to follow. Each Bardot sibling is going to get a book. So if you haven't read yours unexpectedly yet, it follows Bex Bardot. She is the youngest sister and she's got three older brothers, so they are each going to get a book, and I am working on book two now. So what can I tell you about it? I haven't announced who it is. You about it.

Speaker 2:

I haven't announced who it is, though if you read the novella, you probably know or you have a good guess of who it is, because one of the things with the novella is it ends on a character that we haven't met before, but then there's one brother that doesn't have a clear match. So it's, it's going to be those two together. I don't want to give too much away, but that that will be book two. I am so excited about it. It is going to be a single parent, and so I really love like tender single parent. The new, you know, parent figure comes in. You know like that kind of thing, just kind of seeing their interaction and kids are so I've got two kids of my own and so they're just funny and they're just blunt and so they're great to kind of like move the plot along, because they'll just say whatever they want.

Speaker 1:

So's perfect, oh my gosh. Okay, yay. So the little, the little hints that are in the novella are true hints, for whose book is going to be next?

Speaker 2:

yes, yes, yes so if you read the novella, you will have an idea of what's coming next okay, good, they just.

Speaker 1:

He happens to be my favorite brother, so I am really excited for this.

Speaker 2:

Now, okay, Okay, so we can. We can talk about it because people will know this is going to be announced soon and people will. Once the novella is out in the world, people will know. But who do you think it's going to be? So I think it's going to be Jules. Yes.

Speaker 1:

Oh yes, okay, good, he's, he's my favorite, he's just the best. But I was going to say I'm, I was a little bit frustrated with you because I really okay, so tell me why I'm going to go into it. So, in the book, um, basically, you know, we know that there's probably going to be something with Gabe, right, right. Oh, my gosh, why am I forgetting my friend's name, lucy? Thank you, gabe and Lucy. So I was like, okay, I'm looking forward to that story. Well then, in Merrily, yours, whenever you give us all of the POVs I love Rivals to Lovers. So then you throw Ben in there and I'm like, well, now I'm excited for his story, oh yes. And then whenever you throw Jules in there and hint that he's coming next, then I was like, well, now I just want them all at the same time.

Speaker 2:

I know it is so and I like they all kind of like live in my head right now and I think it was really interesting to write from every character's point of view, because you don't typically do that when you are writing, just like a dual POV, right. And so when I was writing Ben's chapter, I had so much fun writing that that I was like, oh, I kind of want to skip and write this book, but I'm like, no, don't do that, because I cannot do like two. I could not do them both at the same time. But yeah, I a lot of people are like, wait, because you don't get a lot of Ben in years unexpectedly. So it was really something that I wanted to have a lot of fun with his character and just do I mean he could be anything right. Everybody else kind of had an established personality, you got to know them a little bit, but with him he was still kind of a big question mark and so, yeah, that chapter was a lot of fun.

Speaker 1:

They just got better and better, and I was like Rachel now you're just gonna have to release these super fast because you're killing me. Yes, so sorry.

Speaker 2:

I'm so sorry, I know. And then everybody, even especially after yours, unexpectedly, they'd read it and they'd be like, okay, so we get Gabe and Lucy next. And I'm like I'm so sorry, no, you do not.

Speaker 1:

Well, I mean, I can wait It'll, it'll be worth it. It'll be worth it, yup, it'll be worth it.

Speaker 2:

It'll be great. Yeah, yeah, it's gonna. That'll be. The Gabe and Lucy book will be uh, I'm not an angsty writer, but it'll be this one, jules, and then Gabe and Lucy's will be my angstier ones, and then Ben's book will just be a ton of fun.

Speaker 1:

I can see that, especially, um, with Gabe and Lucy, with that whole thing that goes down and you know, yours unexpectedly there has to be some angst with that time gap and then what happens in Merrily? Yours, yeah, all of that.

Speaker 2:

There's the time gap, yeah, and you'll kind of get some little insight into what is happening with them in the next book, but you will have to have to wait, dang it.

Speaker 1:

I know it just means that, um, I'll have to reread it all again. So then, that way, all of their books come out.

Speaker 2:

I know it's so hard as an author I'm like, yeah, read my book, read my book. But then as a reader I'm like is the series Like? I want to wait and read it when the series is done. So I totally get that. It's tricky, it's hard. I wish I could write faster.

Speaker 1:

No, I mean, you know it takes so much to write a book and you don't want to rush it, especially with these characters, since you know you want them to tell their true stories. But yeah, with these characters, since you know you want them to tell their true stories. But yeah, absolutely, I will definitely be rereading. I have a book spreadsheet.

Speaker 1:

That's literally how I keep track of everything I love that have to bullet point stuff, otherwise you'll forget all oh, yeah, yeah, that's genius talking a little bit about merrily yours, so this is your holiday novella that's coming out books two well, one and a Well, one and a half, two, one and a half yeah. Yeah, are there any topics or themes that you actually discussed on your podcast that ended up kind of making it into yours unexpectedly or merrily? Yours just because you focus on romance and you talk to so many different authors?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, that's a great question, I think.

Speaker 2:

For me, really, the whole point of and you kind of see Bex grapple with this a little bit in years unexpectedly of like loving what you love, right, and reading what you want to read, and she kind of talks about like romance as a genre where women are safe and get you know they're happily ever after.

Speaker 2:

And I feel like in a lot of other genres you just get like women are being murdered or they're like it's just not good, good, bad things are happening, and so you get to see just kind of like this, like coziness that comes with it, and we talk a lot about that on the podcast, and so that was definitely something that there's a lot of me in Bex's character and so that was something that I was like this is really important to me, so I'm gonna put it in there. So that's a big one that we've talked about. I think really, I decided to do the novella because we've talked on past episodes just about how we love like holiday season books and I was like, well, I can't do a whole, like I can't do a whole nother book before the end of the year, but I could do a novella. So that's how we ended up here.

Speaker 1:

Nice and it's hard for readers to read a million different full length Christmas books.

Speaker 2:

So I like the trend of novellas that we're seeing this year, it makes it so much easier, I agree, and then you can truly spend the last for me, like two months of the year just reading Christmas things.

Speaker 1:

Exactly, I'm trying to start reading Christmas things. Merrily, yours got me in the spirit, so now I just want to read a bunch of them. Perfect. What holiday themes can we expect to see in Marilee yours?

Speaker 2:

Okay.

Speaker 2:

So there's just like such a great the Bordeaux's are such a great family, and so you really just get like coming home for the holidays is a big theme in the book and even though most of the Bardos still live in Sassafras, their small town in Massachusetts, bex and Anders and their family are in New York, and then not every once you're an adult you know nobody stays at the house anymore, but then you kind of get like them coming together and spending time together all under one roof, which is fun.

Speaker 2:

That is definitely something that we have in our family. Like we do a lot of like really big family things around the holidays and so something that I wanted included, so that's a big theme. And then I think I don't know if this is necessarily a holiday theme but too. So then, like at the end, when you get Thea's chapter, she kind of talks about how she's wanting a home too and like isn't feeling at home in Boston where she is. So that's definitely ties into it. But I think there's a little bit of like grappling with what you think you should be doing versus what you want to be doing. I think you see that a lot with Jules and Ben in this book and Anthea just kind of figuring out what's next for them.

Speaker 1:

So yeah, and then of course you have the parallel of Thea not maybe having the spectacular Bardot family Christmas. So you kind of definitely have both sides, yeah.

Speaker 2:

Yes, her Christmas is much different, yes, much different than the Bardot Christmas.

Speaker 1:

So, yeah, the beginning, I'm pretty sure you said something that was like this is a book for all the people that wanted a big family holiday and you do really get to feel like you're with the whole family, which was awesome, Exactly.

Speaker 2:

It's dedicated. If you need a family, a big family, to accept you for the holidays, the Rardos are ready for you.

Speaker 1:

Yay, with that fun Christmas lawn decorating smash up. I think that was my favorite part.

Speaker 2:

Oh my gosh, that was like a fever dream. I was like, what am I going to do? Because with Hugo and Elaine's chapter, like with the younger ones, I was like, okay, you know, I can kind of set up stories with Hugo and Elaine's chapter the parents. I was like, okay, you know, I can kind of set up stories with Hugo and Elaine's chapter, the parents. I was like I'm not doing spice for them, Like I gotta like figure out what's going to go on. So, yes, a competition, holiday competition. Who doesn't love a little contest?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, nice, and speaking of kind of the whole family, you had so many different POVs. What were some of the challenges of trying to write that from your side?

Speaker 2:

I think it was. I really wanted to make sure that they all had their own voice and that they read cohesively, but also, you know, we're showing their own individual characteristics, and that was really tricky. And it's not, it's short, it's not a long book, and so it was like I had to pack a lot into each chapter. This was originally going to be a prequel, it was actually going to be Hugo and Elaine story, and then I was talked into turning that into a full length standalone, not having to do with the Bardos, and so I was like, okay, how can I do like? We've seen Bex and Anders. We've got a whole book of them. I don't really want to write a whole novella. I'm like, okay, so I think I want it to be like the days leading up to Christmas and you just get a little bit from everybody. So it was maybe not the best idea I've ever had in the world, but I think it turned out great. I think it, I think it worked. It was hard, yeah.

Speaker 1:

I had to walk away a lot. I liked it. Yeah, I know, whenever I was going to say, whenever I was reading every person's POV, I was like, oh wow, there's even's POV. I was like, oh wow, there's even both parents and there's every like there's everyone. That must have been so hard, but yeah, they definitely came across as completely different uh, characters.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, and I know it can be hard like when you're switching POVs, like when you're reading it's hard to like keep track of who you're reading. So it was really important to me that, like there was something you know happening in the chapter that was very much tied to the character, and so it really kept you in, whoever that person's head was right, yeah, and I really hoped that they were all hanging out together almost the entire time.

Speaker 1:

So that way it wasn't like one person's POV and then, oh no, the person in a totally different situation that yeah, a lot of togetherness if you could only invite one of the characters to spend Christmas with your family, who would it be, and why?

Speaker 2:

okay. So I did see this question and I was like that was rude, honestly. But I think I'm going to my personal favorite character. This is kind of a cop out answer, but my personal favorite character is Elaine the mom, because she is, first of all, she is like the kind of mother that I aspire to be, that I aspire to be Second of all, she's just like a great combination of all of the like motherly figures in my life and she's a little bit crazy and I love that for her and definitely makes things fun. So I feel like she would really like spice up the Christmas dinner table. Yeah, give us some like sex ed probably. And yeah, it'd be great, whether you want it or not.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, unsolicited, but and if, merrily, yours were a Christmas cookie, what kind of Christmas cookie?

Speaker 2:

would it be? That is another hard one. I think it would be. It's probably those like slice and bake character cookies, you know, like sugar cookies, because it's really sweet, it doesn't last very long but you have to eat a lot of them. I don't know, that metaphor kind of got lost a little bit, but yeah.

Speaker 1:

I like it, it works, it works. I was going to say probably a sugar cookie with like a bunch of different kinds of like sprinkles and frosting and like very decorated and very Christmassy.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, there you go. Yes, yeah, or we make. We make like a peppermint bark every year and I kind of let the kids put stuff on it and so like sprinkles, and everything ends up being just like a pile of green sprinkles in one corner of it so yeah, it'd be something like that that's perfect.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, that's definitely what happens when you bake with kids. Yeah, you could just say that elodie got into everything and she decorated the sugar cookie, and that's how it turns out Just a little bit of chaos. Yeah, focusing a little bit more on yours. Unexpectedly, your first full-length debut novel is Sassafras, inspired by a real place.

Speaker 2:

No, it is not. I knew that I wanted them to be close to New York because that is a very prominent part of the book. So you know, I was thinking and yours, unexpectedly, is set in college. And so you know one of the like Northeastern college towns kind of thing, but it was kind of just a melding pot of several different ones. So, no, it is not inspired by a real place. Where did you go to college? I went to TCU in Fort Worth, yeah, so I, and now I live, you know, an hour away. I'm still very close. Yeah, I always said that I was going to go really far for college, like New York or California or something, and I ended up an hour away from my house. So, and then I ended up back in my hometown. Sassafras is inspired by some small town moments that I have encountered in my life, but not the actual town.

Speaker 1:

Nice, that makes sense. Did you get to take like a trip up north to kind of see what those campuses look like and stuff whenever you're doing research? Or did you just like Google a bunch of stuff?

Speaker 2:

Oh yeah, no, just a lot of Googling. And I've been up to my husband and I like to go to New York a lot, so we're up there frequently. But yes, google was my best friend and I'm like okay, I got to like those like YouTube tours and stuff and like Google images.

Speaker 1:

I mean, you can find almost everything you need just right there.

Speaker 2:

I got exactly, which is so nice because you know, and I tried to like when at the end of Merrily Yours, you get Thea, who's living in Boston, and I did ask a couple of people like, okay, here's the character, what part of Boston would she be in? And so, like I was like I need so I will reach out to people right, and be like, okay, what would what would this be like? Or I had a beta reader one time who was reading and she was like she wouldn't be going to the bar with a coat on, like she just wouldn't wear a jacket. And I was like it's January and she was like, no, you don't wear jackets if you're going out up north.

Speaker 2:

I was like, okay, this is really good to know because I would like I wear a jacket everywhere in Texas as soon as it gets cold. And so she was like I wear a jacket everywhere in Texas as soon as it gets cold. And so she was like no, she wouldn't wear a jacket. I was like, okay, I'll fix it. So I get lots of, lots of input to make sure that everything is accurate.

Speaker 1:

That's helpful because I know that if any book takes place in Texas I'm also kind of picky. I'm going to notice those things too.

Speaker 2:

Very true, very true. Yeah, like I haven't read a bunch of books set in Texas, but that'll be. One day I will write a like Heart of Dixie inspired series um set in Texas, and so that'll be fun. I'll be able to go and, like, visit on-site things that's amazing.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, not in Love by Ali Hazelwood is in Austin. Yeah, and it has those ties in.

Speaker 2:

Oh my gosh. Yes, I loved that book.

Speaker 1:

Yes, and then all of Catherine Sinter's books. She puts them in Houston. Well, she lives in Houston and so she puts them somewhere kind of in the area. But those are.

Speaker 2:

I read, read the bodyguard.

Speaker 1:

I really liked that one oh my gosh, that's my favorite. You have to read the rom commerce.

Speaker 2:

It's so good okay okay, yes, I did love the bodyguard.

Speaker 1:

I thought that one was really good yeah, the rom commerce is her most recent and it is really funny and really good. Um, you're gonna cry a little bit, but but it's okay, all right, you're gonna mainly laugh and then you're gonna cry at the end, so maybe not right now, when I'm ready, okay. Yeah, exactly, I don't think I've ever like not cried at a Catherine.

Speaker 2:

Oh my gosh, I cry at every book. I'm like so good they love each other so much.

Speaker 1:

Okay, it's so cute so cute yeah, yeah, especially. Don't even get me started on um andrew's like grand gesture towards the end. It's hard not to tear up a little bit that was one of my favorite scenes.

Speaker 2:

I loved. I loved that writing that there was a lot of um, a lot of shakespeare googling in that one. I was like and my husband, a scene where somebody is professing their love. And so he was immediately like, oh, it's this scene. So like go and Google and I was like, oh my gosh, this is perfect.

Speaker 1:

That's perfect. I was gonna say he's like the best alpha beta reader ever, oh yeah.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I was like I need, I need you to help me with this.

Speaker 1:

So in the story, how do your characters' kind of individual journeys, end up, reflecting some moments where love just comes at unexpected times, I think with them.

Speaker 2:

So Anders specifically, you see a really big character arc for him, kind of off page. You kind of just get the background, I guess of it. But in the prologue you meet him when he's still in college and he's a little bit of a player and stumbling drunk out of a party and he and Gabe, you know, are living together and thick as thieves and just being ridiculous. I in my notes, in my notes on Gabe I love Gabe so much In my notes on Gabe for Marilee, yours, I just put he's still an idiot, so like that's just his vibe, but with Anders. So then we skip ahead four years. Now Bex is a senior in college and you see Anders now who is now sober, so he no longer is drinking and he went to New York to try and make it in the theater scene, broadway stuff there Fails miserably, comes back to Sassafras, to Haw on their university and is is getting his mfa, um, but you kind of see, the like anders was always a good person, right, like bex really saw that from the beginning. That's why she had a massive crush on him and because he was, you know, so cute. But but he was always a good person. But you, you also, like, you hear about his family. He comes from you know a lot of money and it's a pretty terrible family situation, and so you really get to see him, get get a chance to prove to Bex that he's ready, right, because it's always kind of been that thing where it's like Anders was there and she liked him but he was not ready, and she knew that Well and I think she just didn't think she would ever have a chance with him. But so you see kind of that journey and him saying, no, this is something I want and I'm going to work for it, which is a lot of fun.

Speaker 2:

I love A man who Pines it is like elite. I love A man who Pines it is like elite. So I'm like, any time that I can get that and work it into a book, I will. And then, with Bex, you get to see her kind of grow in her confidence right, and you see, like when she's when she first proposes Friends With Benefits, she's like I don't trust that you're ready, right, and I don't know that I want to like put myself through this heartbreak and this means a lot to me and I don't know if you know how much this actually means to me and so she gets to kind of trust him or learn to trust him.

Speaker 2:

I guess I think the most unexpected moment is just I love, I have this vision in my head. I would love to see this play out on screen one day. I have this vision in my head of Bex walking into class the first day and just seeing Anders on stage teaching and just like, totally like fight, fight or freeze, and girlfriend just freezes, she just freezes, and so it's fun. It was fun to play on those little unexpected moments throughout the story.

Speaker 1:

I agree, and then it was. I think that my favorite part was also kind of hearing just how long Anders had been timing because it's a little bit more than you initially think.

Speaker 2:

Yes, yeah, and that was. That was a really fun kind of little surprise, because you lot with the flashbacks at the beginning of each chapter and to show that right, to show that like he went through that journey to have it, knowing that he's kind of from a messed up family and but knowing to that like he sees these small things in Bex and and is already, you know, know, starting to fall in love with those things before they're even really dating exactly and with his whole family situation, it kind of makes sense why he grew up a little bit quicker than Gabe.

Speaker 1:

So Gabe is just taking some time to mature and he'll get there, gabe, when he's ready.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, oh, he's, he's, I think he's. Uh, I picture him as glenn powell in my head and just like kind of oh yeah, goofy, and like I don't know, he's just a mess, he's a mess okay, so glenn powell has a little bit of time to get ready to be able to play he does he does oh man yeah that is amazing.

Speaker 1:

Um, if you could borrow one trait from one of your characters, what would it be? There's a lot of them, right they're all so different and there are a lot of them, so you have a lot of options.

Speaker 2:

I think I go back to Elaine right. Like I just want to be, like I have two daughters, I have two little girls and I love, I just love being a ridiculous parent, like okay, maybe I have a little bit of Gabe in me too, I don't know and and so I think it's gonna be so fun, like as they get older, like obviously not to like intentionally embarrass them, but like just, I am very much the um, the Elaine type parent.

Speaker 1:

So you're not going to go like full cabbage, but maybe something in there, you know.

Speaker 2:

I call them my chickens. Um, so Elaine has her cabbages, I have my chickens, and that is kind of where that came from. I was like, okay, I want them to have a weird nickname. I don't know. I honestly we cannot remember why I call the girls that my chickens. It came along several years ago and just never went away. So, yeah, they're not my cabbages but they are my chickens. Yeah, and I will be yelling that out the window at them when I pick them up from junior high. I'm sure they will absolutely love that.

Speaker 1:

They will love it. Yes, yes, At least pick up and drop offline. Get a little bit better in junior high most of the time.

Speaker 2:

We walk to school right now, so that's smart.

Speaker 1:

Was there a specific trait in each character that kind of made Bex and Anders perfect for each other, despite some of their obstacles over the course of the novel?

Speaker 2:

That's a good question. I think I'm just giving you all the hard questions. I know I'm like, I think, with Bex she really appreciated Anders' steadiness. She really appreciated.

Speaker 2:

Anders steadiness, so like once he made the decision that he was going to pursue this, like he kind of took it as a sign, right when she came back into his life, that it was time he doesn't waver from that, like he really is in it from moment one and so, which is definitely what she needs, for sure she does, yeah, she's just she doesn't trust herself, right, and so she doesn't trust.

Speaker 2:

If she doesn't trust herself, she's not going to trust him, and so she really needs him to to keep showing up. Then for Anders, I think Bex, I think she surprises him, I think he's had this idea of this you know quieter little sister in his head and he kind of gets to see like little pieces of her. You know sassiness and sarcasm, but she doesn't really ever spend enough time around her to know them for sure. And so I think he gets to see that and I think for him he needs the excitement of like, never really knowing you know like. So she, she brings the excitement to him and he brings the steadiness. She brings the excitement because you don't ever really know what's going to come out of Bex's mouth. She's like her mother in that sense.

Speaker 1:

And it's really fun how they play off of each other and how she can always count on Anders to zing her back a little bit.

Speaker 2:

Oh my gosh, yes, their banter that's another thing is like I love A man who Pines and I love banter. So those will always be, always, always, always be in my books. Because you just like you just want somebody who I wouldn't consider this book, a friends to lovers book necessarily, kind of, but you want to be able to see that like they do have a friendship and like they would be friends. I feel like that kind of gives you a good foundation for a relationship. And so you see, like yeah, they are, they are good friends with each other.

Speaker 1:

Like they do kind of like poke each other and just have a lot of fun together yeah, and they haven't really had a chance to explore their friendship because, you know it, it's always kind of been yeah, it's Gabe Ruin in the mood, yeah, or, you know, just randomly, like picking them up in the car, yeah, not really like actually talking to each other, just kind of like little moments here and there. So it's nice that they get to explore that. If you were casting yours unexpectedly as a movie, who would play the leads? I'm pretty sure you have an Instagram post where you cast everyone, if I remember correctly.

Speaker 2:

So they're not like real people that I cast. I just found some pictures, yeah, some images, some stock photos. I have the hardest time with this question for two reasons. First reason is I don't know I'm not good with like movie stars or like celebrities, um, and so I'm like I don't even know who is young enough to like play people in college. I have no idea. That's the hardest part, so that's obviously. I've got Glenn Powell for Gabe. He's my only one that I've really like have an image of in my head. The second reason that I have a hard time with this is that there are very few cute redheaded men in Hollywood and they're all British, like most of them are British, so I'm like I don't know he, I don't know who would play them.

Speaker 2:

It's hard. There's nobody that really like sticks out in my mind of like, oh, it's those, those two.

Speaker 1:

I was having a hard time too. I was trying to find someone and I was like you know. I just I can't find a guy that, like you said, has red hair, is in the age range and isn't British. And I mean, even if you dyed the hair like he has to have, that I don't know like that personality. And I wasn't like no one was quite right. And then even same with Bex trying to find like the super curly hair and big personality, that that was kind of hard to know.

Speaker 2:

I know it would be tricky. We would have to make some adjustments.

Speaker 1:

I don't know, or find some like awesome unknowns who could just kick it out of the park and then Exactly, yes, yeah, they would be perfect, exactly. Yep, I feel like all that stuff, though, can be difficult, and then, of course, if you pick characters, then you're like set on those, so then you know it's hard to deviate from that, I'm sure. Yes, yeah, and I just don't.

Speaker 2:

You know, there's some things where you get. It depends on what you get inspired by, right, like there's some things where, again, I keep going, because this is the only one that's like a person. But Gabe's character is very much inspired by, like Glenn Powell in Anyone but you, where he's just like, so, like that for me. I saw that movie and I was like, oh, I need a character like that, like that's, he's funny, he's cute, it. It works really well for this story. That was such a good movie, by the way. Oh, my gosh, such a good movie for this story. It's inspired, inspired by my husband and I.

Speaker 2:

So I'm like, okay, well, we're not going to be in the movie. So I'm like it's hard for me to picture, yeah, and not that I picture us, that's kind of weird. But it's hard for me to picture somebody else. And then for Jules, I have a very clear image in my head, but he's not like like you. Everybody knows that guy, right, but but I can't think of a celebrity that looks like him. And then Jules and Ben are twins. So, whatever, you know, jules looks like, ben looks like.

Speaker 1:

I always forget that they're twins and I always want to make Gabe and Ben twins and they're like no, they're not.

Speaker 2:

They're not Because their personalities are so much more similar, which is very much inspired by. So my husband's the oldest of four, so he's got three. He's got two younger brothers and a younger sister, and so it was very much inspired by their family dynamic, where I feel like Brian and and one of his brothers are much more similar in personality and then his other brother and his sister are much more similar in personality, and so I'm like I feel like that kind of happens where you get like two that are you know the black cat kind of, and then two that are like the golden retrievers, yeah, and they still, of course, you know, have that whole twin telepathy going on.

Speaker 2:

So that's when.

Speaker 1:

I always remember. Oh yeah, they're the set of twins.

Speaker 2:

Yes, I think of them as like two sides of the same coin. Right Like they're just, they're almost like mirror images. Well, they are, because they're twins but like just like opposites, you know.

Speaker 1:

So like Jules is dark and moody, ben's sunny and happy you know, and so like the yin to each other's, yang a little bit, yeah, exactly, yeah, yeah makes sense. And last question what tropes have you not written yet that you would like to explore in?

Speaker 2:

future books. Okay, well, I told you already that I'm dying to write a Heart of Dixie inspired, which is not really a trope, but I really want it to be like Big City Doctor goes to small town Texas, mainly because I know a lot about small town Texas and so I'm like, okay, I can write this. So I really want to write that I think within this series you're going to get the Rivals to Lovers. I'm really excited to write. It's also going to be a marriage pact, so that one's going to be really fun. I'm very excited about that, yeah. And then I love, love, love, and this is a controversial opinion, but I love an accidental pregnancy book. So I know, I know controversial.

Speaker 1:

You can, you can change my mind. I'll. I'll be open to it.

Speaker 2:

Listen, listen. I love an accidental pregnancy, so you will be getting an accidental pregnancy interesting.

Speaker 1:

I'm like trying to mentally figure out who I think it'll be. I don't have anything yet, but I'll just have to wait and see.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, that's the theme yes, yes, wait and see. Yeah, guaranteed good times all around, oh yeah.

Speaker 1:

I was gonna say you can. You can definitely change my mind. I'm always open to any of the tropes. It's kind of like I didn't love second chance romance and then I read the x-files and I said okay fine, okay fine. Yes, yes, we changed my mind a little bit.

Speaker 2:

So, yeah it, anything can be turned around in romance okay, have you read out and out on a limb by no but I need to.

Speaker 1:

I know I need to. Okay, I've heard amazing things. Yes, an excellent, excellent accidental pregnancy book I literally have it in my hoopla queue, so it is ready to go.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so good, so good. So, if you're, though, that'll get you into it, and then you'll be like, okay, okay, I can read Rachel's accidental pregnancy, I can do it.

Speaker 1:

Well, and of course they're also different and the circumstances are always different. So I think that you know it's like if you read a couple bad examples of that trope that don't connect with you, then it's easy to say I hate that trope. But then if you get the right, you know ingredients. With said trope, then I think it just changes everything.

Speaker 2:

And one thing that's really important to me in every trope that I write or every book, is handling harder topics with levity, and so just like finding the humor like there's not always humor in trauma, right, but like I cope with my trauma by laughing, by like being fun and funny and silly, and then like I want that in a book. So even if even in my angstier books right, like they're still gonna be fun and hopefully funny, hopefully they make you laugh they're still gonna kind of lean heavily into like the rom-com aspect of things. So you'll get some heavier topics that will be handled well, right, like I'm not gonna breeze over them, um, you see that in like Anders sobriety and his ADHD and all that but, and even in like the third act conflict with Bex, which I won't give away, but I also want you to laugh too. So you'll get you'll get a little bit of both.

Speaker 1:

Nice. That's what makes it fun, yeah, and of course it's nice to have some depth in there too, you know cause you want a rom-com. But you want, you want like a you know some depth in there, or at least I do. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2:

I think we are really like, just as human beings, complex people, right, we're not always moody and we're not always funny and we're not always, you know, sunny, and so it's, it's, and we all have stuff that makes us who we are as people, and so I think it's really fun to explore that in characters as well.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and we don't always say the right thing at the right time. No, yeah, even though we wish we could Exactly, exactly so. So when you're kind of planning everything out, do you come up with the plot first and then the tropes, kind of like, stack themselves in, or do you look at tropes sometimes and say okay, I know that I want this book to be this particular trope.

Speaker 2:

I do it both ways With Yours, unexpectedly. I only I knew it was going to be her brother's best friend, because I knew that I wanted. I knew that I was like starting this world right. So I knew that this was going to be like a series that was coming and I needed a way to to tie them all together, and so I knew it was going to be that. And then I knew that he was going to be her TA. Like I knew those were the things that I knew were were going to happen within the book. Um, and so then I really did like not plot. I pantsed the whole thing and like oh, wow, yeah, I will not be doing that again.

Speaker 1:

It took me a long time, but I was learning.

Speaker 2:

It was the first full length book I've ever written.

Speaker 2:

And so I was like I just kind of want to see what's going to come from it. So I would go back every day and I would read what I wrote the day before to come from it. So I would go back every day and I would read what I wrote the day before and then I would, I would start writing and kind of I would kind of plot out beats a little bit in my head so knowing like, okay, this is going to be like I'm getting us to here and then once I get there, I need to figure out where we're going to go after that, and then I'm going to get us to here. So those are the two that I knew as far as tropes for Years.

Speaker 2:

Unexpectedly, with book two and three so Jules, the twins books, jules and Ben I did have tropes that I wanted to write that I was like, okay, will this fit with these characters? Right, and does this make sense? And then kind of plotted around that. And then with Gabe and Lucy's book, it's gonna be, I mean, it's gonna be second chance. And so that was kind of like built in. I knew that you get that. You get a little bit of them in book one, and so I knew that that was just going to kind of like drag out for a long time. But I love that. I, I love getting to see somebody in the first book in a series and like knowing who they're going to end up with and you kind of. It kind of just makes it that much sweeter when you get there at the end of a series, Right, and and you're like this is who we've been waiting for.

Speaker 1:

So and it gives Gabe time to get it together and mature a little bit more.

Speaker 2:

He does. Yeah, I don't know what he's doing.

Speaker 1:

Well, I guess we'll find out later on.

Speaker 2:

We will find out, yeah.

Speaker 1:

Thank you so much for joining me, rachel. That's it for today. Thanks for listening to when I Left Off a bookish podcast. You can sign up for Rachel's newsletter and purchase all of her novels through the links in the show notes.

Speaker 2:

Thank you so much for having me. I really, really appreciate it, of course.