119: KASIE WEST: Writing with ADHD, expanding genres, and Stranger Things Have Happened

This week on LiteraryHype Podcast, Kasie West joins me to talk about her newest novels for romance lovers of all ages. Her latest release, Stranger Things Have Happened, is an adult romance, but she's known for her sweet YA reads. We're talking all about making that switch, body doubling, and mental health representation. Plus, she's sharing about her deep love of Taylor Swift's storytelling.

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Bookshop:
Stranger Things Have Happened
We Met Like This
Room To Breathe
Better Than Revenge

Amazon:
Stranger Things Have Happened
We Met Like This
Room To Breathe
Better Than Revenge

LibroFM:
Stranger Things Have Happened
We Met Like This
Room To Breathe
Better Than Revenge

Transcript

00:00:00:03 - 00:00:07:15
Unknown
Hi and welcome to Literary Hype. I am Stephanie, your literary hype woman, and I am back with another author conversation for Literary Hype Podcast.

00:00:07:19 - 00:00:14:29
Unknown
Today on the show, we have an author who has published 18 young adult books and now is publishing her second adult book.

00:00:14:29 - 00:00:32:19
Unknown
Casey West's newest book is Stranger Things Have Happened. This is such a unique premise that I absolutely adore, but we're also talking about we Met Like This Room to Breathe and Better Than Revenge and Taylor Swift. So, you know, all we've got, all the bases covered today.

00:00:32:22 - 00:00:42:24
Unknown
So that only further ado, here is my conversation with Casey West from Love Y'all Book Festival in Atlanta.

00:00:42:27 - 00:00:49:19
Unknown
welcome to literary hype. I'm so excited to talk to you. You've got so many books, which first off we got to talk about how how much you write.

00:00:49:21 - 00:01:12:22
Unknown
It's so much. It's obnoxious. How do you schedule your day to accomplish so many words? Well, you know, publishing slow. So it helps the publishing slow because I'm like, two years behind. You know, like, it's I've written these books years ago and they're publishing is catching up with me. But, my day goes I'm an empty nester right now, so that helps.

00:01:12:22 - 00:01:38:15
Unknown
I used to write, like, middle of the night. But now I write during the day. I have lots of time. I get my DP, I sit and with with my computer and I just write. I pound it out. It's kind of nice for me to have a deadline because it helps me focus and, you know, are you all need like, yeah, this is why I don't have a book finish is because I don't have a deadline that this is just me hanging out.

00:01:38:15 - 00:01:57:06
Unknown
No, no, I do deadlines, I hear you. I just recently learned the term called body doubling. Have you heard that? I'd never heard that before and realized I was actually doing it. I have a friend who we write to together, and I was like, oh, there's a term for that. It's what ADHD people use to keep track. It's so important.

00:01:57:09 - 00:02:12:07
Unknown
And yes, I do that. So that's another way I will get more words written. Yeah, it helps with reading as well. Like reading. Sprints are a big thing on the booktube side of things, where someone will go live and have a timer and we'll all just go read and then come back and chat for a few minutes and then go back to reading.

00:02:12:08 - 00:02:34:23
Unknown
It's so nice. And, you know, with social media, when I first started writing years ago, social media wasn't as distracting. Twitter was just coming out. There wasn't Instagram at all. There wasn't this stuff to get you distracted and to bring you into the void, you know? And now it is. And it's makes it harder. But it's also such a big part of the marketing for books.

00:02:34:23 - 00:02:44:16
Unknown
It's true. So you can't really ignore it. No you can't. It's like you can't be like, I'm going to delete it all because it's so distracting. No, because that's where a lot of people discover you and

00:02:44:18 - 00:02:56:19
Unknown
And here we are on right on social media. Exactly. And I love it. What area of social media content is most likely to distract you and throw you into doomscrolling?

00:02:56:21 - 00:03:19:01
Unknown
TikTok. Unfortunately, it's my black hole. But lately, with changes that might change for me. So we'll see what changes to the algorithm and things. Changes of ownership. We'll see how long I last on TikTok. Dating apps were a big part of your first adult, but we met like this. So what was it like combining the technology with your storytelling?

00:03:19:08 - 00:03:40:28
Unknown
Yeah, it was so fun because again, I mean, I wasn't dating when dating apps were around. I was I pre dating app era of dating. So it was but I've had friends that have been on the dating apps and I have kids. My children are grown. So I've seen the dating apps through other people's eyes and I've heard the horror stories of the dating apps.

00:03:40:28 - 00:04:02:25
Unknown
So it was kind of, but it was fun to get into without me having that actual like, trauma experience of the dating app. So I could, you know, I could focus and not be troubled by retelling. But yes, I it was so fun to do that. I, I think the dating apps is a very valid place for people to meet in this day and age.

00:04:02:26 - 00:04:10:19
Unknown
We spend so much time online, why not meet people there? I mean exactly, that's how we have book festivals because we all met online. Really? Let's meet in person. No, seriously,

00:04:10:19 - 00:04:20:07
Unknown
half my book. Friends and my writer friends I met online first. So I didn't have dating apps, but that's how I connected with a lot of people in the writing world.

00:04:20:11 - 00:04:21:13
Unknown
so your next book

00:04:21:15 - 00:04:29:11
Unknown
it's called Stranger Things Have Happened. So for anybody who hasn't already seen people talking about it on social media, those of us who have early copies, what is this book about?

00:04:29:11 - 00:04:32:20
Unknown
So, okay, I have I had to pitch this one yet. This will literally be my first pitch

00:04:32:20 - 00:04:36:05
Unknown
So this will be this will be fun. I'm notoriously bad at pitching my own books.

00:04:36:05 - 00:04:45:10
Unknown
This is about a girl who, girl. So right way. I'm used to having to say a girl, a woman. This is about a woman who.

00:04:45:12 - 00:05:07:06
Unknown
Who, gets broken up with in the first chapter. That is not a, a spoiler. It's literally paragraph one she gets broken up with and goes into a bar to maybe drink away her sorrows and overhears a conversation about between two men saying that, people who go to couples therapy are basically like couples therapists are basically,

00:05:07:09 - 00:05:09:22
Unknown
what's the word I'm looking for?

00:05:09:25 - 00:05:32:03
Unknown
So that's the word I was going to use. But I'm like, do people know that word still? Those of us of you who date. Yes, exactly. So she overhears of talking and kind of chimes in with her. No, they're not. And so she gets involved in this bet about going to couples therapy with a stranger and the couple's therapist wouldn't be able to tell they're strangers.

00:05:32:05 - 00:05:35:29
Unknown
And that's kind of the premise of of how it goes.

00:05:36:03 - 00:06:02:29
Unknown
It's such a fun promise. You. It's such a great twist on a beloved, like, fake fading trope, Well, fake Fiance is fake marriage of convenience, I guess. So where did you get the idea to start with this bet? Okay, so my agent has given me the idea for my for my only two adult books, and she's got, she's seen, like, viral tweets or things that go around.

00:06:02:29 - 00:06:25:01
Unknown
That said, the first we met like this, it was, I don't even know where the tweet originated back in the day, but it was someone who's I'm trying to remember the exact wording of that one. It was like the most stable relationship I've had is someone I keep re matching with on the apps. And so that was just that one little sentence sparked that whole book.

00:06:25:04 - 00:06:41:06
Unknown
She sent it to me and said, you should write a book about this. And I was like, done. And then for this one, it was somebody I don't even know who because it you know, how things work on the internet, someone will say something and then a million people will say that same thing. So you never know how it originated.

00:06:41:08 - 00:07:00:19
Unknown
But it was someone saying, I bet if two strangers went to, a couples therapist, the therapist wouldn't be able to tell they were strangers. And so that was kind of, again, my agent's like, you should write a book about that. And I'm like, done. So that was how that was sparked. It's so fun. I even telling my husband about it.

00:07:00:19 - 00:07:14:07
Unknown
He's like, that's a that's unique, that's fresh, in which a lot of romance. We do get a lot of the same tropes and same vibes. Yeah, out of comfort. We love that. But to get something unique is always a little treat. Yeah.

00:07:14:07 - 00:07:18:29
Unknown
Well thank you. I mean, it's obviously you can get like, you could see something.

00:07:18:29 - 00:07:39:06
Unknown
You could see someone say one sentence and it sparks a whole idea. And that's that's what happened. We saw one sentence on the internet, and from lots of different people. It. Yeah, it it sparked a whole book, which, you know, finally, the internet did something good. All right. But when we find Sutton, you said she's going through a breakup.

00:07:39:06 - 00:07:56:20
Unknown
She's in a very dark place. There's a lot more going on in her life than just a breakup, for sure. So talk a little bit about crafting this story around someone who is in a really rough place and trying to do something for someone else that she doesn't really want to do right, but she can't pull away from.

00:07:56:22 - 00:08:29:13
Unknown
Yeah, she, she's dealing with, let's say, relationship with her mom. That's not exactly healthy and a little fraught. Yes. And then maybe her mom's a bit of a narcissist, and so she's. But she's been dealing with this her whole life, and sometimes it's, young adult, we feel a lot of guilt, you know, towards our relationship with our parents and and guilt that we've maybe carried over from, from our childhood and, and that she's trying to deal with.

00:08:29:13 - 00:08:49:16
Unknown
So I think this outlet for her, even though she does it like she's reluctantly doing this therapy thing, I think it was a survival for her. Like, it's a it was an outlet to get her out of out of the home with her sick mother and out of, you know, her own head and out of the other things that are going on in her life.

00:08:49:16 - 00:08:58:04
Unknown
And so, yeah, it was definitely it ended up being a coping mechanism for her. And then, you know, she finds some, some love.

00:08:58:07 - 00:09:10:17
Unknown
both of our main characters are dealing with some struggles with their parents. So what was it like crafting those relationships that weren't as pleasant while you're trying to still, highlight the love?

00:09:10:20 - 00:09:30:16
Unknown
You know, I think it's important to have both. I think they're having a lot of opposites in the book. Help each side feel more deep. Like I always say, humor is so important in a book because it makes the sadder moments more sad. And and sad moments are important because it makes the humor that much more, you know, humorous.

00:09:30:16 - 00:09:54:20
Unknown
And same with this love finding like real, genuine love in the midst of maybe dealing with some toxic love, it is important you get to see that contrast and you get to and it makes you feel on the one side, even more deeply about it or on both sides. It makes you feel so happy. She's finding this healthy, lovely love.

00:09:54:20 - 00:10:09:15
Unknown
You know, when she's dealing with kind of some toxicity in some other love relationships, you know? Do you have any tips or tricks that you've developed over your writing career to help you get into the mindspace of someone in a negative place,

00:10:09:18 - 00:10:24:18
Unknown
you have so many experiences in your life, and even though I've never experienced this, I, I do pull on a lot of the feelings I feel during some of my negative times and in life, you know, and try to put myself in.

00:10:24:20 - 00:10:48:17
Unknown
And I've lived a long life. I'm, I'm getting I'm getting older now. So I have a lot of experiences to draw on. And I never really write my own like, experience and experiences into a book. A lot of people ask that question are in is it has any of this actually happen to you? Well, no, but I definitely draw on real feelings.

00:10:48:17 - 00:11:21:06
Unknown
You know, I had that. That helps a lot to draw on real feelings when you felt this way in your life, when you felt unheard or unseen or, reciprocated. Reset. And you say that word and reciprocated. There it is. And so, yes, I try to draw on those feelings

00:11:21:09 - 00:11:31:03
Unknown
So I have a friend who's a therapist. So she helped me with a lot of, you know, the technical stuff, and if it really felt realistic. But, you know, I took some liberties as well.

00:11:31:04 - 00:11:49:21
Unknown
And the homework assignment was one of those liberties, where I made it up. But one of the things I wanted to do was think of them as individual characters, like their personalities as characters. And what would be the hardest thing for them to do? Have to do you know what? Like, let's really push her as a character.

00:11:49:21 - 00:12:06:21
Unknown
What would she hate the most to do? And that was how I would come up with these homework assignments. What would make her feel the most vulnerable and the most raw, you know? And so I was kind of throwing those things out at me. You know, made it fun and funny and endearing. I hope

00:12:06:23 - 00:12:08:14
Unknown
I devoured this one.

00:12:08:15 - 00:12:25:24
Unknown
Okay, but mental health in romance is such a huge conversation right now. And we're seeing more and more representation of that. Why was it important for you to highlight mental health and taking care of your mental health in a rom com? Yeah, I think mental health, it should be on like it should be at the top of everyone's list.

00:12:25:24 - 00:12:48:17
Unknown
I think at the beginning of this, one of them jokingly says, well, if everyone's supposed to do it, that it's then why does it help anybody? You know, if it's for everyone, then, then it's really for no one. And that's I just don't believe that's true. But I really do believe it's for everyone. I think therapy I think different kinds of therapy can help everyone.

00:12:48:22 - 00:13:11:26
Unknown
So I just think it's so important to talk about and maybe it's the state of the world, right now and just just how, you know, maybe everyone's just kind of in crisis right now. You know, maybe everyone feels a little bit in crisis or a lot in crisis. And I think that it's so important to take care of our mental health when we're in crisis as a world or in crisis as an individual.

00:13:12:01 - 00:13:23:10
Unknown
our main man runs a boxing gym, which is apparently great for mental health, you know. So what was your research process like for getting into boxing, or are you into boxing or did you have to go like look into that? So

00:13:23:10 - 00:13:31:02
Unknown
I have a son who did some boxing when he was a teen, that I went to his like sessions a lot.

00:13:31:03 - 00:13:54:22
Unknown
So that was fun. It it helped me. It helped to be with that part. And I just thought there was something about when we think about therapy, there's the talk therapy, but there's also like something to be said about physical therapy. And so it felt very like even though they were kind of mocking therapy and they're like talk therapy in their own way, they kind of had their own coping mechanisms for some things.

00:13:54:22 - 00:14:14:10
Unknown
You know, that they were using this boxing therapy in a way. And, so I just thought it fit well with the idea of, health and mental health and yeah, I did some research and I did for my own experiences, but did some more research as well.

00:14:14:17 - 00:14:20:18
Unknown
So we met like this and Stranger Things Have Happened are both adult books, but you send traditionally in the white space?

00:14:20:18 - 00:14:50:04
Unknown
Yes. So what made you say now is the time to start looking at writing for adults? You know, I have written 18 young adult books and I love them. I love writing for teens. I love writing, and I love writing romance. But when you've written 18 contemporary Y.A. books, it's I was just ready for some new challenges. I was ready for some new conflicts.

00:14:50:07 - 00:15:18:07
Unknown
I was ready for some were some just like different stage of life conflict. And I read so much adult adult romance. Like that's the genre I read the most of right now. So I was like, I want to try to write some because it's my favorite. So yeah, I was I was ready to and I will continue to write way because I want I still have contracts, but two, I enjoy that that genre a lot.

00:15:18:07 - 00:15:39:17
Unknown
Your approach change from going from a lawyer to adult and how you developed your characters or their voices. I mean, I a voice is my voice, so I didn't change much. Although people I have had the response that it didn't feel like a my adult doesn't feel like teen, which is a good compliment. And I, I appreciate that.

00:15:39:19 - 00:16:08:08
Unknown
I think when you, when you add the conflict of adulthood and the things that go with being an adult and the themes of that, it just changes. You know it. They're grown up now and, they're facing different new. I mean, I'm not writing about any of my old characters, but just they're me. Is viewing a different stage of life.

00:16:08:08 - 00:16:32:29
Unknown
And so my approach is very similar, but just obviously the different stage of life brought a different story, you know? Yeah. Plus, plus I, you know, plus it has sex with it. So that also changes in that. But that's such an important distinction. Like some people think adult books are just way books plus space. Oh, it's like they're still young ish adults, right?

00:16:33:01 - 00:16:54:24
Unknown
There's so much more to distinguishing of course. Yes, I do like to make that clear though, because like because like I said, I have 18 books that are very sweet and very teen. And so I do want people reading my books or who have read my books in the past to know that my adult is definitely a spicier.

00:16:55:00 - 00:17:15:04
Unknown
So I mean, we met like this, right? Yes. Page one. No qualms. I am writing adult now. I that was part of the strategy there. That makes sense. Yeah. I was just like, oh, okay. We go. We're going in on this. Okay. Yeah. It was it was one. Okay. You've read the book, so, you know, it takes them a little anyway.

00:17:15:09 - 00:17:34:03
Unknown
Yeah. You know, it takes them a little while to meet in person. So we did one a little in-person meeting at the beginning. But to my editor was like, why don't we start with letting your reader know what to expect? I don't want them to be surprised on page 150 or whatever, that, and be so surprised and upset with the other.

00:17:34:03 - 00:17:53:00
Unknown
Show the books that what I wanted, so they get to find out on the page. What if they are, you know, if that is not okay with them, it's very, very smart. But on the side of the books, one of the ones that I recently read, well, I was doing an overnight at the bookstore. It says listening to Better Than Revenge, which is so much fun.

00:17:53:02 - 00:18:15:17
Unknown
Thank you. So talk a little bit about selecting, like, adult books. You have careers. But in that one specifically, like, this girl's already very career minded. Yes. And like for teens to see that kind of perspective of, like, trying to figure out their lives. Yeah. And the importance of that. Yeah. You know, a lot of my book centered around not knowing what you want to do, because that was very much me as a teen.

00:18:15:19 - 00:18:37:26
Unknown
I didn't necessarily know what I wanted to do. And so I want teens know that that's okay, that you don't have to know your whole future at 16 and 17 or 18 or 19. You can grow into that. And figure it out and you have time. It's not a race, but some teens are very focused and know exactly what they want to do.

00:18:37:26 - 00:19:03:28
Unknown
And that's a side that's okay too, obviously. So in that book, Finley is not my main character in that book. Finley, knows she wants to do pod podcasting. She knows she wants to do that. So when that's you know, what happens, she anyway, something happens to where it's that maybe a question. Yes. So she seeks revenge?

00:19:03:28 - 00:19:30:15
Unknown
Yes. That, and I love, I love, I love a good revenge tale. I love her revenge tale specifically like, oh, this happens. So I'm going to go after what you love. Exactly. It's entered into the, the what she's going into. I'm just like, yes, brilliant. You know, it was funny because so many books revenge is because a man, cheated like he cheated.

00:19:30:15 - 00:19:51:19
Unknown
I'm going to get back at him. And that's valid. Good reason for revenge. Totally support those books. But I wanted it to be something different, especially for a teen book. So I wanted it to be almost deeper, like almost worse. In a way. He's like, she felt like he was stealing her future. And so she's. Yes, you're taking something I love.

00:19:51:19 - 00:20:16:02
Unknown
I'm going to take something you love. Watch me, I love it, I love them. Petty queen. I love it too. Have you done any petty revenge plots in your life? No, I like to. I'm a very much. You tell me your drama, but not necessarily involved in a lot of drama. But I love to hear about drama. So no, unfortunately, I have not done enough revenge in my life.

00:20:16:04 - 00:20:27:05
Unknown
Do you? Revenge is a movie, is it? I just thought of that. Is it? I think there's a movie called Do Revenge. Oh. This. These are heard of it. ADHD. Who say,

00:20:27:07 - 00:20:49:20
Unknown
That book is dedicated to Taylor Swift. Yes. So talk a little bit about how Taylor Swift has impacted you as a storyteller. I am a swiftie, I love her, I was I've been thinking, applied all morning. But yes, I, I not only love her music and her storytelling, but I just love her savvy. Like I love her business mind.

00:20:49:20 - 00:21:11:06
Unknown
And I love that she goes after what she wants. And she is. She treats her music like a business, and she's not apologizing for that. And she's allowed to, you know, add. So I just love her and I love her music. And I listen to her music a lot and I and it it does it does inspire stories.

00:21:11:06 - 00:21:12:19
Unknown
She's a great storyteller.

00:21:12:25 - 00:21:36:13
Unknown
have you learned anything about storytelling from her lyrics? I mean, sure, I try to think of something specific, but, I mean, she just tells a great story. She she hooks you, and then she breaks your heart, and then she brings you back again. So. Yeah. So, like. Yes. Exactly. So she does it.

00:21:36:13 - 00:21:37:25
Unknown
All right.

00:21:37:28 - 00:21:58:19
Unknown
At the end of that audiobook, there's a Q&A with you and where you said that you were a tortured Poet's Department fan. Oh, yeah. That was that era. Well, that show girl taken over. Show. Yes, I well, I mean, I'm singing oh, polite all morning. At the time of that book, torture Department, torture tortured poets department had just come out.

00:21:58:21 - 00:22:17:23
Unknown
So it was taken over my life. So I wouldn't necessarily say that's my favorite era. My favorite era, has been for a while, evermore. And then I always, when a new one comes out, I'll go to that new one for a while that I've always going back to evermore. I just love cowboy like me. It's one of my favorite songs.

00:22:17:23 - 00:22:25:24
Unknown
I love to sit down, sees it. I just love all her very storyteller type songs.

00:22:25:26 - 00:22:43:05
Unknown
So, I mean, I saw something so that you wrote 4 or 5 books before you got an agent. What's the thought process like of, like, maybe bringing them back or if they're permanently never going to see the light of day? Well, so in their original form of how I wrote them, you know, 20 years ago, they will never see the light of day.

00:22:43:07 - 00:23:02:07
Unknown
I was a very new author or a very new writer, I should say. But I like I do like the idea. And I have considered bringing the idea back around now that I could maybe do it some justice. So we'll see, I don't know. I keep myself pretty busy, so we'll see if I can pull that back around.

00:23:02:07 - 00:23:12:07
Unknown
Like if you could go back in time and tell yourself a lesson that you've learned over your writing career. What would you tell your first book self? Yeah, I would tell myself.

00:23:12:09 - 00:23:19:01
Unknown
I was about to say, don't be so desperate, but that's me. That's a guide. I would tell myself to have some patience too.

00:23:19:03 - 00:23:41:03
Unknown
It's a marathon, not a sprint. You're okay. You know you don't need. You can take your time and enjoy each step. You don't always need to be looking toward the next step. Like enjoy the one you're in right now. And because I that time, I just was. So, you know, I need to get there. I need to get there.

00:23:41:05 - 00:24:02:19
Unknown
E-books are taking over the world, and I'm never going to see my book on a shelf. I mean, now that seems ridiculous, but at the time, that felt so real to me, and I was in such a hurry and I was making the best friends back then in the writing community, and I just, I just wish I wasn't so in my head about it, you know, like just enjoying the journey.

00:24:02:20 - 00:24:06:19
Unknown
I know that sounds so cheesy, but enjoy the journey. Really.

00:24:06:21 - 00:24:14:19
Unknown
Your most recent way release is Room to Breathe. So what is that book about? Tell us all the time. Yes, that book is

00:24:14:22 - 00:24:28:01
Unknown
I. So again, I've written 18 books. So I was like, okay, what is my going to write next? And I, I, I'm like revisiting tropes and revisiting, you know, because I've written so many.

00:24:28:01 - 00:24:49:13
Unknown
So I'm like, I really like the trapped together trope. And I have written the trap together trope before in By Your Side, they get trapped in a library. So and so. I'm like, let's take them into a smaller place. And, not the same characters, obviously, but that would be funny. The same characters talk to get trapped again.

00:24:49:16 - 00:24:54:15
Unknown
There's a sequel sequel trapped in even smaller place. No.

00:24:54:22 - 00:25:07:19
Unknown
at first I was thinking an elevator, I really was. I was like, maybe they get trapped in an elevator, or maybe they live in the same building. And this is really my brain trying to think of an idea. And then I was like, no. And I'm getting older.

00:25:07:19 - 00:25:29:22
Unknown
And I thought, where would they go? To the bathroom? And that's like one of the, one of the big things on my mind as I get older. Where is the nearest bathroom? And like, you know. So I was like, no, okay. They need a place with a bathroom. Why not a bathroom? So they had room to breathe. They get trapped in a teacher's lounge bathroom.

00:25:29:25 - 00:25:51:28
Unknown
She gets trapped in there with her ex best friend. And so the book kind of follows. We get to learn through the book why they're ex-best friends and what what's going on in her life, that made them that way. And so it starts off very like enemies. They're very angry with each other. And then we get to follow their path to when they're not.

00:25:52:01 - 00:26:14:20
Unknown
Do you have anything planned ahead of Stranger Things Have Happens release like beyond that that we should be on the lookout for? Yeah, sure, yes I do. I have, in October I have a Christmas book coming out, with Scholastic and that one's called Light Up my life. I just released the cover of that. It's so cute.

00:26:14:22 - 00:26:34:20
Unknown
And then in January, I have another wire coming out called. I haven't released the title of that one. Yeah, but all I can tell you, it's called The View from here. Unless it changes. But I think that's the title. That's the danger of being so far. Right? So that begins that next idea. And then I have another adult book coming out, next April.

00:26:34:26 - 00:26:51:24
Unknown
So I have a lot on the docket here. I have a lot coming out, and I'm excited. I hope that everyone's ready for all my books. Oh, I'm ready. Set me up. I'm excited to me now. But since this is literary hype, what books are you hyped about right now?

00:26:51:26 - 00:26:56:20
Unknown
I am. Okay. Well, books right now.

00:26:56:20 - 00:27:03:10
Unknown
I mean, like my heated rivalry online where everyone is, but. Oh well,

00:27:03:14 - 00:27:23:12
Unknown
So I recently read one for a blurb called If You Were Here by Abigail Johnson. I think it's out now. Loved it. So good. Yeah. So sweet. And then one I haven't read yet, but I really can't wait to read. Is, in time with you? Is what it's called in time with you by Kristen Dwyer.

00:27:23:13 - 00:27:42:07
Unknown
It looks so good. I love the cover. I'm excited to dig into that, but I know I asked her, I was like, is this going to break my heart? She said, no, I think she was lying to me. So she lied. But that's I have so excited about it. Well, thanks so much for taking time to talk all about all your books on literary hype.

00:27:42:09 - 00:27:46:25
Unknown
Thank you so much for having me.

00:27:46:28 - 00:27:54:12
Unknown
Thanks again to Casey for hanging out with me at Love Y'all Book Festival in Atlanta to talk all about many of her books. We talked about several of them.

00:27:54:18 - 00:28:04:09
Unknown
If you'd like to get Ahold of any of Casey's books, including Stranger Things Have Happened, we met like This Room to Breathe or Better Than Revenge. Links to do so are down in the show notes for you.

00:28:04:16 - 00:28:13:15
Unknown
If you enjoyed this conversation, don't forget to like this video. First of all, subscribe to the Literary Hype YouTube channel and share this with a friend. Thanks so much for watching. I'll see you next time.