Interview with Melissa Tereze

Melissa Tereze joins me to chat about At First Glance, her upcoming releases, Behind Her Eyes, The Stepmother and the final saga in Vanessa and Emma's story. We also delve into her love for Jourdyn Kelly's books, Adele and age gap romances, real and in book form and more!

Link to listen to Melissa singing Adele: Adele 25 album. Hello cover. Only short. - YouTube

Melissa's website where you can find links to buy her books and find her on social media links:
Home | Melissa Tereze (melissaterezeauthor.com)

Become a Patron to hear exclusive Would You Rather games with Melissa and more of your favorite authors at my Patreon page: Sapphic Book Review is creating Bonus fun with lesfic authors | Patreon

Transcript

Laura (00:15):

Welcome to the Sapphic book review podcast. I'm Laura Green. And today my special guest is one of my favorite writers of steamy age gap romances. She's also one of my best internet pals, Melissa Tereze, Welcome and thanks for joining me.

Melissa Tereze  (00:30):

Hi, thank you for having me

Laura (00:32):

At first glance was released in December and remains near the top of Amazon's top 100 lesbian romance books for anyone who's slacking. And hasn't read it, tell them about Faye and Talia.

Melissa Tereze  (00:44):

Faye and Talia are one of my favorite couples. They actually communicate, which is not something I always have in my books, which I think is why it was so popular. Faye is a writer. Talia is a pole dancer and they just don't look like they go together on paper, but they do like, they really, really do. I'm not sure how that happened. It just did. The chemistry was just there from the first time they meet in the first few paragraphs.

Laura (01:17):

Yeah. They really do match very well. I like them a lot. I think they might be my favorite couple of yours besides Mrs. Middleton and Emma.

Melissa Tereze  (01:26):

Well, a few people have said that, that they've overtaken Vanessa and Emma and they've overtaken Sam and Luciana So, so they must be doing something right.

Laura (01:35):

They are. So you're a writing machine. I know of at least three books you have coming up. Tell us what you have planned for release this year.

Melissa Tereze  (01:45):

So I've got Behind Her Eyes, out in literally weeks, Actually all the books that come out this year are age gap. So  maybe I just need more age gap in my life because don't have enough of it already. So that comes out in a few weeks. That is a celebrity rich poor. It's just got a bit of everything and it's actually my longest book that I will have published. And then in the summer I've got the stepmother.

Laura (02:17):

Oh

Melissa Tereze  (02:17):

Yeah. It's a lot that is, it's going to be even bigger. That's it's tipping a hundred thousand words. Now that is yeah. Um, some people have said that it's going to overtake Vanessa Middleton. So it'll be interesting to see what people think of it. It was originally supposed to be just Erotica. I thought I would try to write you just filth.

Laura (02:45):

I think you could do that well.

Melissa Tereze  (02:46):

Yeah. Well apparently I can't, it just turned into a full blown usual book of mine, really with angst and a lot of sex. There's a lot of sex. This one, I think I'm on 10 scenes up to now.

Laura (03:04):

Okay, good. You're talking my language.

Melissa Tereze  (03:05):

I've got one more to write for definite. I think you're going to like Diane. Diane is. Yeah. That's I can't even, explain it. When I send my beta readers something. they're like," well, have you not got more of the stepmother to send yet? I'm like, well, no Oh, well then I'll just read this then I suppose. I'm like, well, I'm really sorry, but I've got other stuff I'm writing." And then at the end of the year, I will be releasing final book for Emma and Vanessa.

Laura (03:46):

The final, come on. No,

Melissa Tereze  (03:50):

They're going to go through a lot in this book. To the point where I haven't actually set myself a publishing date and I'm just going to press publish when I think everyone else is ready to read it. When I'm ready to let it go because it's yeah, it's a lot. They go through some life changing things,

Laura (04:11):

But it'll be happy at the end, right?

Melissa Tereze  (04:13):

Oh yeah, don't worry. They don't split up. There's nothing like that. It's just life happens.

Laura (04:23):

All right, well, as long as no one dies off, I'm fine.

Melissa Tereze  (04:27):

And there's also plenty of sex on that one as well. Cause it's Emma and Vanessa, so you don't need to worry.

Laura (04:31):

Yeah. They’ve got to have that. As you just said, Vanessa, She's one of my major book crushes. Why do you think she's so appealing?

Melissa Tereze  (04:42):

I think Vanessa Middleton is appealing because it's the forbidden element. I'm not sure the same pull would be there if she wasn't the best friend's mother.

Laura (04:57):

Yeah. That's true.

Melissa Tereze  (04:59):

That's something they address in the final book is how it was forbidden and it was fantasy. And realistically, if you look back at the first book, on paper, you don't think they're going to last because it's just, there's a lot of longing and there's a lot of want and there's a lot of sex and they're sort of worlds apart. So once the forbidden element of it has gone, you could really argue that well, is it going to fall apart? And thankfully it doesn't.

Laura (05:34):

Because they have more in common than you initially think they're going to have.

Melissa Tereze  (05:38):

Yeah. And I think that the main thing is it's the forbidden element. For me. It is anyway. I mean, she Mrs. Middleton. It's just the name, the name alone , blond hair, blue eyes ,teacher. What more do you want?

Laura (05:55):

I know. Yeah. that one scene, when she's in her room, you know, by herself and

Melissa Tereze  (06:00):

Yeah. Chapter nine.

Laura (06:02):

Yeah. Chapter nine

Melissa Tereze  (06:04):

We don't discuss it any further than that, it's just chapter nine.

Laura (06:07):

Chapter nine. Oh, Lordy. Woo. So if you could jump into one of your books, if that were a thing that were possible, which book, would you jump into?

Melissa Tereze  (06:18):

Currently, It would be Mrs. Middleton because obviously she would leave Emma for me,

Laura (06:23):

Obviously, unless I jumped into the book with you boo.

Melissa Tereze  (06:26):

I'll have to write you into it though first. So I somehow managed to get away with that. And I think after The Stepmother comes out, it would probably shift to be in The Stepmother.

Laura (06:36):

Oh man. Can't wait for this book.

Melissa Tereze  (06:38):

Yeah. It's yeah. I, honestly can't say much about it because it's just, I wrote it in five weeks.

Laura (06:47):

Wow.

Melissa Tereze  (06:48):

The first full draft, but then it does have three rewrites. So yeah. I mean, it's just, it's the stepmother. I mean, make of that what you will. Well, I did pitch it to Jourdyn Kelly and the first thing she said was, hang on, nobody's having sex with their stepmother. Are they? And technically no, but depends on how you look at it.

Laura (07:18):

Just leave us wanting more. Don't you? Okay. You're going to take a road trip with two of your characters and two characters from other authors books. Who are you taking?

Melissa Tereze  (07:29):

I am taking Sam from the arrangement.

Laura (07:33):

I do love Sam.

Melissa Tereze  (07:35):

I am taking probably, Faye, from At First Glance.

Laura (07:42):

Ah, very nice.

Melissa Tereze  (07:44):

And I'm taking Rebecca from Jourdyn Kelly's Becoming and I'm taking Eve Sumptor

Laura (07:49):

I knew you were gonna pick those two.

Melissa Tereze  (07:50):

Obviously. Um, I mean, everyone knows that they're my wives, so, , Rebecca's in the front seat.

Laura (07:59):

She's in control. So she'd be like I'm sitting in the front, right?

Melissa Tereze  (08:02):

Well she would yeah. To be fair. I don't think it matters where you put her she will be in control. You know, it's up to her where she wants to be. And then naturally, Eve would just be sitting in my lap.

Laura (08:14):

Why wouldn't she? Okay. We have more in common than our love, lesbian books and age gap romances. We both have a healthy obsession with Adele. I'm entirely too jealous of how many times you've seen her in concert since besides the voice. What do you love about her?

Melissa Tereze  (08:34):

She's real. She's rarely in the public eye once she's done what she's doing she just sort of disappears. She doesn't put her child you know, Angelo you're lucky if you ever see him. There's no drama. She doesn't create drama. And you know, she's not in the paper because she said something she shouldn't have or done something.

Laura (08:56):

Like getting drunk or passed out somewhere at a bar.

Melissa Tereze  (08:58):

You don't see her like dressed up or things like that. And she's just a real person. And I think when I first went to see her 19 tour, she just came onto the stage with a cup of tea and a guitar and asked what the latest football score were. That was how the show started. And I just thought, yeah, there's no dramatics. It was just her with a room full of people. And it was for me to this day, it was the best concert I've ever been to.

Laura (09:35):

Yeah. She just comes across, even in the words that she writes, she's just genuine. She's just herself. She's not putting on. She's not trying to be someone else, she's not trying to reinvent herself. She's just being who she is.

Melissa Tereze  (09:47):

Yeah. And I think you don't really see much of that anymore.

Laura (09:51):

No, everyone's manufactured.

Melissa Tereze  (09:53):

Yeah, and as I say, for someone who can just come out with an album, do a tour and then disappear for five years and people still can't wait for her to come back.

Laura (10:03):

I know as soon as her tickets go on sale, I'm right there. And every time I've just been shot down, just devastation.

Melissa Tereze  (10:09):

There's a nack to it. I usually have the Mac on ,the MacBook., Lee's MacBook , two iPads and two phones on the go until one of them flags up saying, buy tickets.

Laura (10:21):

Yeah. Clearly I need you to secure me tickets in the future.

Melissa Tereze  (10:25):

Yeah, I've been known to sit there three hours before they go on sale as well, just in case.

Laura (10:30):

Okay. You're way more committed than I am. I can't sit still for three hours for anything.

Melissa Tereze  (10:33):

Oh, I don't move from my office chair. So I've mastered sitting.

Laura (10:38):

Okay. Next time tickets go on sale. And she's coming to the states. We're going to sit on a zoom call together for three hours. You can talk to me and try to secure me tickets.

Melissa Tereze  (10:47):

That that's fine by me. That works for me.

Laura (10:49):

Excellent. Okay. Both of our loves are older than we are. What's the appeal of an older woman for you?

Melissa Tereze  (10:58):

What kind of question is that?

Laura (11:01):

Hey, just a question, boo.

Melissa Tereze  (11:03):

Cause they're older women. I mean, they're better with age and they're not as dramatic. There's not as much drama.

Laura (11:11):

That's true.

Melissa Tereze  (11:13):

Because they've been there and it's just a lot easier. I've found it easier. I was 19 when I met Lee.

Laura (11:24):

Oh wow.

Melissa Tereze  (11:25):

For me, I just fell in love with Lee. I didn't think about her age. And obviously there were people who had things to say about it. To this day there are people who have things to say about it. And what I do is my business and you know, I'll kind of always stand by that. Now, and again, it'll flare up, what's an acceptable age gap. What's this, what's that. And I' m of the belief that if you work together, then it doesn't really matter. I mean there's 24 years between me and Lee. That that is quite a big gap.

Laura (12:00):

Yeah. We have 15 between us.

Melissa Tereze  (12:02):

I can be as mature as she can be immature and sometimes she can be immature. So it's just always gelled that, it's to the point where we don't even think about the age gap anymore. Well, there's always someone who will have an opinion about something that somebody's doing. Like I sometimes I get like really not angry about it. If someone says something, but you know, I'll have more of an opinion and Lee's just like, "well, that's up to them to think that," and then she'll move on to whatever she was doing. I'll be like, seething in the corner. I think that's what it is with old women is that they just they've been there. Yeah. They've done it. And I mean, come on. They're much hotter.

Laura (12:50):

They are, they are hot. Yeah, absolutely. I have a lot of pet peeves. so many, I find people pretty generally annoying. What are some of your biggest pet peeves?

Melissa Tereze  (13:04):

I don't really have many.

Laura (13:06):

Really?

Melissa Tereze  (13:07):

Yeah. Because, well, I don't really leave the house. Because , as I always say, it's two peopley if you go outside,

Laura (13:15):

It totally is.

Melissa Tereze  (13:16):

So I just avoid doing that by not going out. But for me, like the biggest issue I have is people making noise and, and you know, I can't sit on a train with someone who's eaten a bag of crisps or chips as you call them or an apple. I have to get off, off the train , and I've got Misophonia so that doesn't help. But it's been known that the dog has to eat her treats outside because I can't be in the same room. And I think that's the one thing is that I feel like everyone makes noise except for me.

Laura (13:58):

Yeah. I used to work in an office with a woman and who clipped her fingernails at work.

Melissa Tereze  (14:03):

Oh no.

Laura (14:04):

And that noise was just like, ah, are you serious? Who does that?

Melissa Tereze  (14:07):

I actually worked with someone that used to do that. But the difference was was that we worked in a kitchen.

Laura (14:12):

Oh no.

Melissa Tereze  (14:14):

So I left because nobody, nobody cared. So I just, I left instead. And then that's obviously when I started away working from, from home and now I don't have to deal with anything like that anymore.

Laura (14:26):

That's good.

Melissa Tereze  (14:27):

I can just close the door

Laura (14:29):

And listen to your Adele records.

Melissa Tereze  (14:31):

Yeah. That's generally how it goes. On vinyl too.

Laura (14:37):

Oh. I bought a record player recently, but I, I haven't gotten hers yet. I did buy some older ones. I have Janis Joplin, Streisand

Melissa Tereze  (14:44):

Yeah. We've got a big vinyl collection. Obviously, they're not mine. They're Lee's.

Laura (14:48):

I had a ton, but my dad threw them out when I was a kid. I mean, I had all the Madonna's. Come on!

Melissa Tereze  (14:53):

Yeah. See. And they they're all coming back out now as well. And they're not cheap either, you know?

Laura (14:57):

Right. My dad just threw away. Tons of money. Yeah. Still kind of mad about that. I know you don't like to go outside, but now that we're opening things up again and you can travel, where would you like to travel to?

Melissa Tereze  (15:11):

Well, since she's probably going to listen to this to Jourdyn Kelly's house, definitely. Or just the states.

Laura (15:18):

Hey, come to Missouri, we've got an arch here.

Melissa Tereze  (15:21):

I would like to travel. I've never been to the U.S.. So I would like to travel there, but it's so big. I wouldn't know where to go. And I'd probably get lost.

Laura (15:29):

Just come to Missouri. I've got a pool then we'll travel down to Houston, to Jourdyn Kelly's house.

Melissa Tereze  (15:35):

Okay. I could do that. Yeah.

Laura (15:36):

Okay. Yeah. That would be fun. There's a pool. I mean, I don't have people around like, you know, just me and my partner and the kids they're upstairs. You don't even have to see them.

Melissa Tereze  (15:43):

Is it really hot there though?

Laura (15:45):

It gets kinda hot. It's not super crazy. Hot. Not as hot as Texas.

Melissa Tereze  (15:48):

Yeah. See, I don't do like hot, hot I can manage. I mean, I live in Britain when it's in the summer, you know, sometimes you go out and it's sunny, so you've got your shorts and t-shirt on. And then within an hour, you've driven to maybe Yorkshire and it's raining and windy and a storm. And it's like flooded and that's all one day. So, and I don't, I can do heat if I'm lying by a pool in Spain.

Laura (16:19):

We have a pool. You can just lay by my pool, there you go.

Melissa Tereze  (16:23):

I'll just be by the pool all day.

Laura (16:24):

What are your top three all time Lesfic books?

Melissa Tereze  (16:28):

Okay. So this is not going to be a surprise. Jourdyn Kelly's Becoming , Jordan Kelly's Something About Eve and the truth about Eve.

Laura (16:39):

Wow, all Jourdyn

Melissa Tereze  (16:40):

Yeah. I'm even going to throw Flawed Perfection in there because I know people don't like it.

Laura (16:45):

Oh, is that the one that I didn't read? The one with all the, the regular straight people stuff.

Melissa Tereze  (16:51):

Well, yeah

Laura (16:52):

Yeah, I didn't read that one. I skipped it.

Melissa Tereze  (16:53):

I just bypass it because for me, that book is, I've had this conversation before, even with Jourdyn that book for me is a big part of who Eve is. So it's still part of the story, I guess. And obviously it needed to be told at some point. So like, I think sometimes Jourdyn that if she could take that book away and just have Something About Eve and truth, but I don't feel like it. I feel like it needs to be in there.

Laura (17:25):

Okay. Maybe I'll have to give it a go.

Melissa Tereze  (17:27):

I can't believe you've not read it. And it's quite short. And obviously, you sort of get an idea of when a particular scene's coming along with a particular set of people and you flick it over.

Laura (17:37):

Yeah, that's true. I could just skip around.

Melissa Tereze  (17:39):

But I think Becoming is the ultimate book for me.

Laura (17:44):

I do love Becoming.

Melissa Tereze  (17:45):

To the point. Well, you can see I've got my Becoming tshirt on today.

Laura (17:49):

I see that that's excellent.

Melissa Tereze  (17:50):

I've actually booked into have a sleeve tattoo on in June and the first piece going on will be Becoming.

Laura (17:56):

Oh, wow.

Melissa Tereze  (17:57):

Yeah. So that's exciting.

Laura (17:59):

I don't have any tattoos.

Melissa Tereze  (18:00):

Oh, I've got too many now.

Laura (18:01):

You have a lot. I was thinking of getting one, like maybe not somewhere where everyone will see it. Like maybe the shoulder with like something to commemorate my brother and my mom's, passing.

Melissa Tereze  (18:12):

Yes. I mean, all my tattoos can be covered up every one of them, if I need to.

Laura (18:17):

Yeah. You don't have anything on your face or anything?

Melissa Tereze  (18:19):

No. That is becoming a thing at the minute I've noticed.

New Speaker (18:22):

Yeah. I don't get that.?

Melissa Tereze  (18:25):

No. I feel like it would be quite painful. There was a girl who had a big script, I don't know what it said, but it was scripted writing over her eyebrow. And I just thought that's really brave.

Laura (18:40):

That would really hurt. I think

Melissa Tereze  (18:41):

You can't get rid of it. Even when you laser it, it's still, going to be there to an extent.

Laura (18:46):

And what if they would've spelled a word wrong? That would've been,

Melissa Tereze  (18:49):

Oh, well, there's actually Facebook pages for tattoos that have been spelled wrong. So yeah.

Laura (18:56):

That's a fear. I don't know. Maybe just no words. I just have something like a butterfly or something.

Melissa Tereze  (19:02):

Flowers, flowers are always a good option.

Laura (19:04):

Okay. I'll look into it. So you're quite a singer. I know you're not feeling good, but drop a few lines of your favorite Adele song for me.

New Speaker (19:12):

Oh, I don't think so. You knew I was not going to do that.

Laura (19:16):

Well, I thought maybe you would have a change of heart and you'd be like, oh, let me sing for my pal Laura.

Melissa Tereze  (19:22):

No, we have potential COVID in this house. So I wouldn't want to strain me voice at all.

Laura (19:29):

Okay. Well, since you have potential, COVID, I'll ask you again when maybe that's cleared up.

Melissa Tereze  (19:34):

What you could do is you can put the YouTube link that I've got. There's a clip on there, which not many people have listened to. I'm okay with that because I've done that. That's gone. It's on the internet.

Laura (19:45):

I have to look that up.

New Speaker (19:48):

Have I never sent you that?.

Laura (19:50):

No, you haven't love.

Melissa Tereze  (19:51):

Oh, there you go.

Laura (19:54):

All right. I will look forward to hearing that.

Laura (19:59):

Melissa, I thank you so much for taking time to chat with me today. It's been a pleasure and I can't wait to read all of your books. You have coming out this year.

Melissa Tereze  (20:08):

Thank you very much. And thank you for having me. It's been fun.

Laura (20:11):

Thanks for listening and thanks again to Melissa for joining me today. Be sure to check out melissaterezeauthor.com for links to Melissa’s social media and to purchase her books. Check out my Patreon page for Would You Rather games with Melissa and your favorite lesfic authors at Sapphic Book Review is creating Bonus fun with lesfic authors | Patreon