But Daddy, I Love Him | An Interview with New York Times Bestselling Author, Sara Cate

This week on What the Smut Are You Talking About Podcast, we are joined by New York Times bestselling romance author, Sara Cate for an author interview full of romance books, writing chaos, messy men, kink clubs, and unhinged thoughts.

Sara is known for her kink-positive, queer-friendly romance books with emotional plots, toe-curling heat, and book boyfriends who are absolute walking chaos. We talk all about her writing process, what it’s like to plot a book only for the characters to go completely off the rails, and why the messiest fictional men are sometimes the most fun to write.

Whether you’re a longtime Sara Cate reader, obsessed with the Salacious Players Club, loving the Salacious Legacy series, or just looking for your next spicy romance book recommendation, this episode is for you.

Grab your beverage of choice, settle in, and come hang out and see What the Smut we are Talking About this week. 

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Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:31

What's up, Book Nerds? Welcome to What the Smut Are You Talking About podcast. We are a weekly romance book podcast where we talk about books and chaos. So yeah, pretty much anything goes.

SPEAKER_00 0:43

Join us as we talk about the books we are reading, what crazy shenanigans are happening in our lives, and who knows, we may have some fun guests drop by.

SPEAKER_02 0:52

So grab your favorite snacky snack and your beverage of choice and come hang out and see what the smut we are talking about this week.

SPEAKER_00 1:09

How is everyone doing this week? Hey Courtney, how's it hanging?

SPEAKER_02 1:14

Hey Mary. It's going. I'm currently rocking an ankle brace, so fun times over in my household. No, do we need to wrap you in bubble wrap? Probably at this point. You never know. Well, we have a fun guest joining us today. I'm super excited. She loves to travel the world, but you can also find her at her home in Arizona with her hubby, kiddos, and her dog. She is a New York Times best-selling author. She's kink positive and queer-friendly romance author whose stories have heart-wrenching plot and toe-curling heat.

SPEAKER_00 1:49

Let's give a wonderful welcome to Sarah Kate.

unknown 1:54

Hi.

SPEAKER_01 1:56

Thank you so much for having me. Thank you for joining us.

SPEAKER_00 1:59

We the I have to tell you, the scream, Courtney Scream. When we got the yes, was I I could hear it from here, and we live in different states. So that that means a lot.

SPEAKER_01 2:15

Thank you so much. I'm so happy to be here. That was a fantastic intro. I love that. That was that was so fun.

SPEAKER_02 2:23

Well, I have to know, on a scale from unbothered queen to full glitter-fueled rage, how mad were you growing up when you could never find your name showed on anything, Lisa Frank?

SPEAKER_01 2:36

You know what? It's a really popular name. And so it I was able to find it. Now the spelling is weird, obviously, but yeah. Wasn't it wasn't too bad.

SPEAKER_02 2:47

Yeah, my mine was there too, just just not the spelling. So I was like, well, I don't want it if it's not spelled right, but five-year-old Courtney didn't understand that there's multiple ways to spell Courtney.

unknown 2:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:59

Yep. We are going to dive in, all things Sarah, and our wonderful questions, and we're gonna kick it off with what are you currently drinking? And is it strong enough for this conversation?

SPEAKER_01 3:11

I'm literally drinking a Starbucks because my house is under renovations at the moment, so I couldn't get to my coffee maker. So coffee run this morning. Renovations require coffee. It requires so much coffee. So yeah, I got myself a little iced vanilla latte, which is my my go-to. And yeah, it def it's definitely strong enough. I'm good. Courtney, what number of Diet Coke are you on? I'm on like three.

SPEAKER_02 3:37

Don't judge me. It's been a rough day. I didn't get my coffee this morning, so fair.

SPEAKER_00 3:42

So we had to hit the caffeine elsewhere. I'm the weirdo. I'm on my water. I don't have any hot tea, but I'm on my water. How dare you hydrate? I mean I know. What a weirdo. I know. I know. Try to be good. I have my caffeine before noon, and then after that, I don't have any more.

SPEAKER_01 3:59

So that's me too. Yeah. I'm like officially at that old age of like, if I have caffeine after noon, I don't sleep at night. So yeah, I used to be fun.

SPEAKER_02 4:08

My boss asked me the other day, it was like 3 p.m. She's like, I'm going to Starbucks. Do you want anything? I'm like, no, I I want to sleep. Thank you for sleep. Definitely. Well, on a scale of plotter to feral gremlin, what is your writing process like?

SPEAKER_01 4:24

I am actually somewhere in the middle. I want to be a plotter so bad. I like to plot. I love to plot, actually. It's kind of my favorite part of the process, but it's a waste of time. And it's just one of those things that I do like for fun almost at this point, because I know that once I sit down and start writing, it's going off the rails. And so it feels a little bit like it's there, it's enjoyable. I do everything from like color-coded post-it notes to like a murder board looking thing. And I have a lot of fun with it. I love the plotting process because it really breaks down like the meat of a story and what makes a story good. And so that part is great. And I think for the most part, that ends up in the finished product. But yeah, usually it's kind of a waste. Yeah. Usually the first, you know, act is great. Oh, I'm really stuck to the plot. And then it's off the rails at that point. And it's usually the character's fault. The character does something I did not tell them to do, not not in the plan, or they're not who I thought they were, and it it's their fault, really.

SPEAKER_02 5:29

But that's how you get the best books.

SPEAKER_01 5:31

So it really is. I know it's sad but true. I think if I forced it into the plot or forced the characters into like what I had in mind, it would suffer. So I know it's better this way, but I have such a type A mind that I want it all to fit nicely and be such a seamless like process. And so when it gets messy, I get so frustrated.

SPEAKER_02 5:53

I feel that.

SPEAKER_00 5:54

I feel the type A. When did you make the jump from this writing is kind of fun to do to oh no, it's now my entire personality.

SPEAKER_01 6:06

Yeah, I've become I've I've become important at my job and it's ruining my life, like that one. Yes. Yeah, I think romance was always I did it because I've been writing for a long time, but it took me a while to get to break into romance. So way back in the day, I used to write, you know, more literary or you know, fiction that I was trying to get traditionally published. So I was in the query dungeon for a very long time and never really took off. And then I wanted to write romance, but just didn't really have the guts to do it. But I had some friends who were doing it, and so I was like, screw it, you know, I don't care if my family can't read it. I'm just gonna write it. And it was so fun because the community is so vibrant and I and D published. And so back then, this feels like a hundred years ago, back in 2019, there, you know, you would publish something and you'd get comments and reviews and people would share it, and it was just so active that it felt so fun. And it was fun, it was fun back then. It's still fun, but like now it's like a serious job.

SPEAKER_02 7:06

Well, is any part of your writing process still feel hard for you since you've got like over 25 books under your belt now?

SPEAKER_01 7:14

It's so funny. Like I say this all the time though, like every time now, 25 books in, if I'm starting a new book, I feel like I have to relearn how to write a book. Like I have to bust out the craft manuals and I have to pull out my plotting technique books, and I'm like, okay, how do I do this? What's the best way to do this? Like, I literally treat each book like I'm learning how to do it for the first time. The hardest part for me, I mean, aside from like anybody's gonna say the edits, edits are the worst. I struggle a lot with the end of books. The third act is always I just I I love writing the beginning. I suck at the end. Uh a lot of my books that are published now, like have some version that is on my computer and nowhere else where it's like a totally different ending. Like something, you know, like it's always a happy ending. I'm not like it's I'm not talking like everybody dies. Yeah, but it's like I none of those, but definitely like a very different string of events, I guess, is is so I I'm really not great at the ending. So who has been your easiest character to write? Oh man. Easiest character to write. That's a good question. I always get who's the hardest character to write, and I can answer that one. Yeah. I would say my easiest characters to write are always who the messiest boys. So it's like usually like uh Bo Grant from Mercy. He's the son in praise, so he's in both praise and mercy. Messi. He's a mess. So easy to write. I don't know what it is. And who else was I just thinking of who's a mess? If Julian uh Cade from The Rule of Three, I just wrote, he was a mess. So was Archer. Actually, Archer was easier. I take it back. Archer was way easier because Archer was free reign mess. Like he was I was here for it. Yeah. And his like underground fighting ring, but he's a billionaire. Like, what a mess. And I it was so fun to write. So I yeah, usually those guys. I think of like Drake from Give Me More, even though I wouldn't say he was a mess, he was messy, and it was he was very fun to write. Something about it. I don't know. I always say, like, I think it's because I kind of get to fix them, and you can't do that in real life. And so it's like cathartic almost. Like, let me tell you what's wrong with you. Like, I just get to write the process.

SPEAKER_02 10:16

And it's yeah, so it's always fun. Love that. I love that so much. In my head, I just hear like, but daddy, I love him playing on repeat. You're like, but I fix him.

SPEAKER_01 10:26

100%. Yep, that's exactly how it is.

SPEAKER_02 10:29

Oh my gosh. Well, kind of like on the flip side, have you had a character just completely hijack a story and turned into something like you weren't even planning on?

SPEAKER_01 10:41

Yes, absolutely. Um, the one that definitely comes to mind, there's two. The first one is Garrett Porter from Eyes on Me. And I talk about him a lot. Uh, I don't know, like four years later, uh however long that book came out. I'm still talking about him. Yes. So he you when he when he's in Craze, he's very fun, very funny, the lighthearted, like comedic relief. I had this vision of him being very like the mischief guy. And I thought his book is gonna be so fun. It's gonna be like a rom-com, like it's gonna be great. And then when I sat down to write his book, and I again had it all plotted out and ready, he was kind of like letting me know. First of all, he wasn't doing anything I told him to, but he was also kind of letting me know that there was more underneath that I didn't realize, like that I that even I, his creator, wasn't really aware of. And so I kind of I came to this like point in writing the book where, you know, granted, at this point praise had come out, it was very popular, did great. So I felt a lot of pressure of like, do I keep the same tone as praise, even though this character is telling me that he's dealing with something really dark and kind of serious and heavy? And am I just sabotaging myself if I let him tell the story the way he wants to tell it, you know, uh true to his character. And so in the end, obviously I chose, I think is the right decision was to write him true to himself. And I have absolutely no regrets. I think, you know, I get a lot of messages from people who relate to his depression, who like loved that and felt very seen in those moments. And so, you know, like I at the time it was a struggle. At the time I was like, why won't you just be who I thought you were? Why won't you just, you know, do what I told you to do? And uh it was such like a I don't know, such a cathartic experience of like getting to make him the funny guy. He was the funny guy, still was the funny guy. Like, and he is the horny guy, and he was the you know, kinky guy, but he was also depressed and like to get to see that like you can be both, like those things coexist. And so it was really fun. And I I you know, in the end, I have no regrets. I love him. I still talk about him to this day, obviously. So so is rough, but it's worth it.

SPEAKER_02 12:57

Is he a secondborn? He's giving me secondborn energy. No, he was a he was the firstborn. You have so many you have so many characters, I'm like trying to remember like yeah, who goes where.

SPEAKER_01 13:10

Yeah, he's the firstborn.

SPEAKER_00 13:12

Flipping over from the easiest, we are now going to what story has been the hardest for you to write. Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_01 13:22

Right off the bat, I'm thinking the good girl effect. That was the that was the first book in the second gen series. It came out just this past September. The story was hard, but also just the writing process was hard. And I think that had a lot to do with the fact that like this was the start of a new series that was a spinoff of this massively successful series of mine. I did great. And now I'm like, follow it up, like do it again, no pressure, you know. Like so that was that was really tough. And I rewrote and rewrote and rewrote that book. It took it's the longest book I've like, not the longest book, but it's the longest it took me to write. Like, I took way too long rewriting and trying to fix it and make it perfect, and and I'm very proud of how it turned out. I think for me, trying to balance like it's single dad nanny, which is kind of a cute, sweet plot, like uh trope, you know. But there's also trauma, and there's also like he's dealing with grief and he's dealing with all these like really heavy, serious stuff. Like, but also make it kinky. And stuff it was I think maybe I to I bit off a little bit much for like that first book, but I'm I think it turned out great and I'm proud of it.

SPEAKER_02 14:32

Yeah. I recently reread that one right before The Rule of Three came out just to like give me a refresher, and oh, I forgot how much I love that book.

SPEAKER_01 14:41

And I love Jack, but him and I we had beef in that process. We had we we beefed. I bet there's such a dark, heavy cloud in that book.

SPEAKER_02 14:51

So that I kind of balance those two things a lot. Yeah. What's a tiny detail that a reader will never notice, but you just completely obsess over?

SPEAKER_01 15:00

I don't know if I'd say completely obsessed, but I do write in a lot of little Easter eggs that I'm like, no one's ever gonna notice this. And I'm trying to remember, man, I know there was one that like somebody finally caught it, and I was like, yeah, like finally, but I do write in a lot of like little, sometimes character crossovers that like people don't often pick up on. I know that they're there and it makes me happy. So, like, you know, for example, I think in Salacious, they had somebody they come in and paint a mural somewhere in the club. I think it was Salacious, it could have been Legacy, I'm not sure now, but and in my head, that was a character from Beautiful Monster, one of my like first books. And so, like things like that, where I just have these little nuggets of like crossover that like 99% of readers don't catch it, but like one will, and I'll be like, Yes, you got it. You caught the crossover. Or now you're making me want to go back and reread everything. I know it's like bust out the highlighter. I think at the end of the day, it was like me trying to be like Taylor Swift of like, I'm gonna use numbers, put things in that people, you know, or like uh sometimes if I'm ever having to make like a room number for something or like a house number, using any sort of like numbers, I'll be like, I'm gonna use the day price came out, or I'm gonna use, you know, something the year that this happened, whatever. So like those are all very intentional. I never just grab random numbers. I'm always trying to like make them, you know, intentional for something. That's cool. Very cool.

SPEAKER_02 16:32

What is the craziest thing you had to Google, you know, for research? Man, a lot of are you on any FBI lists?

SPEAKER_01 16:44

I mean, uh, it's very possible. It is very possible. You know what's funny is everybody asks us that question, like, you know, us authors in general, I'd be like, you guys would be shocked and we would be humiliated for you to know that like the thing, like yesterday is like I had to Google like what's another word to describe brown eyes. Like that's the mundane, stupid shit we have to Google, and it's like very rarely the fun stuff. Although I guess like dark authors probably get to to Google like blood and death and murder, and like how long does it take a body to whatever decompose? I'm not sure, but I do often have to research some pretty like racy stuff. Like I go in incognito mode on my computer and have to go, love it, you know. I'm always like interested if there's new toys out there that I can use. Like, what are we putting our remote control on now? Like, what can I what can I use in my stories that's like new and different? New furniture, like if there's new play furniture, and there are somehow on that side of Instagram. Let me tell you, I'm like I'm honestly amazed with the creativity out there of like who's coming up with this.

SPEAKER_02 17:53

One that turns into an ottoman at like the end of your bed. I don't know if y'all have seen that. Yes, but I'm like, that's interesting.

SPEAKER_01 18:00

Yes, and there's so much out there. I'm like, you guys are so innovative. This is amazing. So yeah, I'm definitely always like researching that stuff because it does get, you know, when you write a lot of these like spicy scenes, it's like, what can I what can I use? What how can we mix this up? Like so researching like toys and and things and furniture and and stuff for the club too. Like, you know, with every book in the legacy series. Yes, yes, I'm trying to like that exactly where my head went. That was definitely a fun research because I didn't even know that free use existed. I didn't know what that was. Came across it on an Instagram post one day because that's that's on my Instagram. And I was like, what is this? And and got to do a lot of research on that, which was which was fun. So yeah, I'm always looking up new stuff for the club. Like how, you know, what new room or space can we use for this book, you know? And so yeah, very fun. Do you have a snack of choice while you write? Do I have a snack of choice? I don't snack while I write because then I'll just be sitting here eating. Like this happening. Uh, I've been coined, somebody called me this, I didn't even know this is a thing, a beverage goblin. So I have to have like three beverages on my desk at all times. And it's always some sort of like coffee, a water, and a diet coat. Are you friends with candice? I need beverages and I drink a lot, which means then I have to take a lot of potty breaks, which which is annoying, but yeah, I'm more of like the bevy, the bevy girl than than the snacky girl. Hey, I can understand that.

SPEAKER_00 19:33

I normally have in the morning, I have like three different beverages sitting on my desk.

SPEAKER_02 19:37

I could never I'm the type of person like it has to be ice cold or really hot, depending on like what type of drink I'm drinking. And so I will down a drink in like two seconds flat. My friends always like if I do if I do go get like an iced vanilla latte, like it's gone within the first five minutes of me having it. And my friends are like nursing mine.

SPEAKER_00 20:01

Same, I'll nurse mine for hours. Like hours. I will nurse a drink.

SPEAKER_02 20:05

No, mine is gone. It's probably why I drink so much too. Yeah. So there's that. Well, super excited about the Salacious Legacy. I'm loving this second gen series. Uh-huh. We touched briefly on the good girl effect, which you know, it's darker, heavier themes, but so good. I want to talk about the rule of three though, because that's you know, that's your most recent release. And you you've had fun times since you released that. You went on vacation, you were like out of the country, and then went straight to like a book tour. I'm insane.

SPEAKER_01 20:41

Yes. I'm insane. And I have the most supportive spouse in the world. Like that deserves an award. I'm exhausted for you guys. Uh just looking at your schedule. Seriously, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:54

I was super sad I didn't get up to Knoxville to see you. You went to the good girls bookstore, and uh I loved them.

SPEAKER_01 21:01

It was great.

SPEAKER_02 21:02

I got to meet them last year.

SPEAKER_01 21:03

Yeah. They so the event was somewhere on campus, and they brought their mini truck like in the building, like on the third or four. Like we walk in like off the elevator, and there's a tiny pink truck full of books, and I'm like, how like how did this here? It was so impressive, and it was so cute. And I love that they just sold my books off of it and like mine and Emily's, and it was it was amazing. The whole tour was great. The trip to Paris was great. I mean, come on. But yeah, that was a very fun trip. And I took my team as sort of like thank you for all that they do for me, and for especially for the good girl fact hitting New York Times, they worked so hard, and so I took them to Paris and we took lots of content and did a lot of research, and of course it was amazing.

SPEAKER_00 21:57

Awesome. That that is awesome. That's so fun. I am I am actually right now in the middle of reading. I had to pause because I had to switch back to Alpha Beta R, but I am in the middle of reading Gravity. So one of the authors I yeah, one of the authors I PA for, she was like, read this one. I was like, okay.

SPEAKER_01 22:16

Well, that's a good thing. That's a good crossover to the rule of three because our.

SPEAKER_00 22:21

Well, and I've read the rule I read the rule of three already.

SPEAKER_01 22:24

So So yeah, that's that's that's perfect. Now you get to read about his parents, his twisted, fucked up parents.

SPEAKER_02 22:32

I can only imagine. I haven't read Gravity or Free Fall yet.

SPEAKER_01 22:36

And so that's so much more about our Archer after you read it.

SPEAKER_00 22:42

I will tell you I got the box set because it had the point shoes on the cover.

SPEAKER_01 22:47

So Yeah. I love that one. So pretty.

SPEAKER_00 22:50

That was that was that was the I bought it and I actually have had it for a while because I was like, oh point shoes. That's funny.

SPEAKER_02 22:58

I think one of like my favorite parts of the rule of three, I love that we got to see all the characters' insecurities. Cause you know, it's MFM and Usually with like any type of why choose or poly relationship, most authors don't even touch on like real life scenarios like that. So I just love how this one felt more realistic.

SPEAKER_01 23:22

I do try to do that. It's more work for me. Let me tell you, it's tough. I am a bit of like a character author. So all of my books will have some sort of character growth or character journey. And then when you're writing three characters, it's a lot. And so there's usually one who's kind of like, she's got her stuff together. Like she needs a little bit of change, but she's doing okay. And that's obviously Freya in the rule of three. So my queen, like she doesn't need that much work. She went to Paris alone for culinary school and like is opening her own restaurant. Like she's fine. She's got she has to open up to her family more. She's got a little bit of that, but the boys are really they're a mess. So we're a mess. They were yeah, they were a mess. And definitely Julian a bit more than Archer.

SPEAKER_02 24:05

Like he has the way I could put hands on Julian from the good girl effect. Like I hated him. Hated him.

SPEAKER_01 24:16

You were girls too.

SPEAKER_02 24:18

But then he had me fallen in love with him on the rule of three.

SPEAKER_01 24:21

I'm like, how can she do this? That's the most fun. I love a redemption art. I didn't plan on Julian's book being next. I actually kind of wanted to wait longer on his and put it towards the end. And I finished the good girl effect and I started, you know, to work on the next one or what I thought was going to be the next one, and he would not shut up. He was just in my head. And I thought, you know what? I think out of the girl the good girl effect, he was the one that I thought readers probably connected the most. No, maybe not connected, but you would remember him. Like you, you knew who he was. He was in that book enough for you to connect with him. And so I was like, all right, fine, let's let's just jump to his story next. And his was very interesting because it wasn't until the edits when I sent it to my editor over at Sourcebooks, and she sent it back and said, I think Julian has anxiety. And I was like, Really? And I went back and reread it and like looked at all of the signs. I was like, I you're right. I think he does. And so that was a very kind of like I think a cool, different experience getting to sort of discover that he didn't even know. You know what I mean? Like, you know what I mean? Like we didn't know he we kind of all learned it all together. So yeah. It was that was a kind of a fun, different way to to write a character, I guess.

SPEAKER_02 25:31

Yeah. For sure. Yeah. Yeah. She's the one that pretty much brought it to his attention, right? Am I Craig? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:39

Yeah. Well, he I mean, he knew he had his he had his medication. So he has a very like uh you know tense relationship with with medication and and being medicated. And and as I think we all do, you know, and that's it, that's not always the easiest thing to accept and to work into your daily life. Like we all, I think, struggle with that in some way. And so, you know, he he didn't want to take some medication, so obviously his symptoms are getting worse and it's a vicious cycle, and we really wanted to like dive into how that like you know can affect your relationships, can affect your quality of life. So yeah, she was definitely the one who like shined the mirror in his face and was like, you have to take care of you if you want to be in this. And so that was yeah, was his big learning, learning process.

SPEAKER_02 26:19

Well, I am so excited to see what you do with this series because like I want all of them. Thank you. I'm excited about it.

SPEAKER_00 26:30

Yeah, it's definitely gonna be fun.

SPEAKER_02 26:31

Yeah, for sure. I love Salacious Players Club. Like I had a friend tell me about it because I at that point I haven't read like any type of like sex club like books, and I'm like, oh, this is a thing. And so then I started and I was like, oh, I need more. And she's like, Well, there's a whole series out, so and then now like you have this like whole world out there. So I'm it I'm excited to to see what you do with this second gen series. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 26:59

It'll be fun, excited about it. It's it's been very fun. It's been very fun. We just announced the third book, which is The Daddy's Girl, which I'm very excited about. Comes out September 2nd. And so we just released the tropes of that. And it feels very much like me coming back to my roots because it's age gap, it's taboo, it's godfather, goddaughter.

SPEAKER_00 27:21

So I feel waiting for that one. The very seriously dropped dropped in in the rule of three. I was like, okay, I'm really looking forward to that one.

SPEAKER_01 27:32

And he's French and he's a lover boy. He's so romantic. It's so fun. So yes, he's so swoony, like so swoon-worthy. I love him.

SPEAKER_02 27:43

Well, September can't get here fast enough.

SPEAKER_01 27:45

I know. It'll be here before we know it.

SPEAKER_02 27:47

It'll be here before we know it. Time is wild.

SPEAKER_00 27:50

It's already June. I know. Don't even get me started.

SPEAKER_02 27:53

Mary, what are you currently reading these days?

SPEAKER_00 27:56

So I mentioned it a little earlier. I completely caught up on all my alpha battery. I had a lot going out there. I said I was done Kristen Granada's sideline rivals, but she threw it back at me. So now I'm reading what she changed. And in between, I'm reading Gravity. Which is on hand. They were like, oh, here, this is this is up, this is ready. And I'm like, crap, I have four. And so now I'm done with it.

SPEAKER_01 28:31

I have so much respect for people who work with authors because we are a mess. Like, we are sorry, I need more time. And like, I finished it, but you have three days to read it. Like it's yeah, I'm I need notes at 12 hours. I need notes now.

SPEAKER_00 28:46

So, Courtney, what are you listening to? Because I know you're my audio girly.

SPEAKER_02 28:53

Yes, I just had an ALC drop for Wes of Forever by Corinne Michaels. And I don't do much of Corinne, and now I'm like wanting to like devour her whole backlist um because this one is just um hello, cowboy rival family. Yes, please.

SPEAKER_00 29:11

Sign me up, sign me up.

SPEAKER_02 29:12

Yes, yeah. So I'm enjoying that one. But what about you, Sarah? Are you reading anything currently with your chaotic schedule?

SPEAKER_01 29:20

I am. So I'm currently reading an arc called Hot Heads by Kent Holland. It's an MM like firefighters romance.

SPEAKER_00 29:29

Oh, wait a minute. What's wait, say the author again? Sorry, I have to grab a pen.

SPEAKER_01 29:35

Kent Holland. Okay. And it's uh it's called Hot Heads. I don't know when it comes out. I need to I just I don't care. I'll I'll look it up. But yeah, he's great. It's it's very like kinky, and there's a kink club in it, and he's also just a great human, and so very good.

SPEAKER_00 29:53

Excuse me while I go pre-order that. What are you watching?

SPEAKER_02 29:57

Well, Summer House Reunion is finally on. I just watched part two, I think last night. So next week part three drops, and Sierra, girl, she is my spirit animal. I can't wait to see like what kind of opportunities just like come to her over all this like Kyle Amanda West drama. I am trash reality queen, by the way, Sarah. And Courtney fills me in on all her trash reality TV. Girl, the way I need to send you clips from the reunion because I know you don't know like any of these people, Mary, but the way she just comes out in this like seashell looking dress and she just slays. And the way that she just puts Amanda in her place, like I am here for it. And then in the city, it's kind of like a spinoff from from Summer House. So I don't know how I feel about this one yet. I'm only a couple episodes in, but so I'm I'm giving it giving it a shot. But I love how we get like the backstory with Kyle and Amanda, like as we're watching everything fall out in real time. So that part's kind of cool. But also Love Island just dropped, so that's gonna be like my whole summer personality. Sorry, not sorry.

SPEAKER_01 31:11

I think there's a lot. I I see it a lot on my social when I'm scrolling. I see a lot of Love Island and Summer House. I was like, I don't even know who these people are. Yeah, I don't either.

SPEAKER_02 31:22

Oh my gosh. Gosh, I've been watching Summer House for like probably the last eight to ten years, and it's I've never heard of it. I feel like I know these people. I thought it was like a new show. I had no idea. No, no. I think I think this is like 11 seasons now, something like that. Is it British? No, nope. It's these New York like it's this like New York social lights that go in summer in the Hamptons. They they like all pitched in and like got a sharehouse and full American trash real TV.

SPEAKER_00 31:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:57

It's a little less trashy if it's British. But if it's American, it's like full trash, full, full scene.

SPEAKER_02 32:04

Yes. That's what I was thinking. If you want good dialogue material, go watch it. Good to know. Good to know. They're messy. They are so messy, but I love it. Oh man.

SPEAKER_00 32:17

My watching is way less unhinged. So I I finally watched Downton Abbey grand finale, the one that released in the movie theater. I'm kind of bummed because it left me hanging with more questions than maybe that's maybe that's a sign for it being. I don't know. They say it's the last one.

SPEAKER_01 32:35

So but maybe there's like a spin-off. I don't know. I'm like, I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 32:38

I don't know. I would I would devour a spin-off because that one obviously is British. So I am here for here for Down Abbey. The other thing that I watched on Netflix was the crash.

SPEAKER_01 32:50

And I heard all about this.

SPEAKER_00 32:52

Oh my gosh. Like, what in the world? It was it was unhinged of the highest order. She is psycho. And somehow I got on the Instagram reel. I don't even know how I found this person, but apparently somebody was incarcerated with her. Oh, the girl. Yeah, I saw that same thing. And got out. And so she has like this eight-part Instagram reel on how psycho the the girl is and how manipulative she is and all of this stuff. Like it is nuts. It is absolutely nuts. So that was my that was my unhinged watch for for the time. Are you watching anything, Sarah?

SPEAKER_01 33:35

Anything on so yeah, here's where I sound so old and boring. My I'm definitely more your speed, Mary. I watch British television. So I just I just got Brit Box. I love Down to Nabby. I was I was a huge down to Nabby fan. Um, all I think Brit Box to watch the other Bennett sister, which kept popping up on my TikTok, and I was like, I gotta see this. The yearning, it looks like so much yearning. And it was phenomenal. I binged it in a day, it was only like eight to nine episodes. But then I owned Brit Box for a year, and so now I am watching like cozy small town British murder mysteries solved by a nun. And you know what? It's fucking delightful. And not at all unhinged, but I'm enjoying every second. No, but it's great. Sounds unhinged.

SPEAKER_02 34:25

Yeah, nun.

SPEAKER_01 34:26

It's like a little so cozy it's unhinged.

SPEAKER_02 34:28

I don't know. Yeah, yeah. I love it. So my like guilty pleasure is going on YouTube and watching like Turkish like TV dramas. Turkish dramas are the best. They really are. They really are. So I was like walking down the hall at work one day, and my friend was telling me about some show she watched. It was on Netflix, and she's like, but there's this guy on there, he's Turkish. And I was like, is his name Cam? Because I know him. I know she's like, I know what you're talking about. She's like, How nobody knows who he is? And I'm like, girl, listen, when I 2020, it was COVID. My son was a baby. I didn't want to get out of bed. I was like deep in postpartum. And like Turkish TV dramas is what pulled me out of my postpartum depression.

SPEAKER_01 35:14

It's so true. I think everybody wants like yearning now. And I'm like, listen, you guys want yearning, you've got to try other country like dramas, Korean dramas, like uh Turkish dramas, even like British TV, like that all these guys are massive yearners, and it's so good. Like you've got it, you gotta go elsewhere for it, and it's all out there.

SPEAKER_02 35:35

I it got so bad that at one point I'm like, if somebody was to start talking Turkish to me, I could probably pick up some of what they're talking. I think I might speak Turkish now. Like it was so bad. But like my husband would come in, like, what the fuck are you watching? And I'm like, go away. It's so good. I love my Turkish TV. I need to, yeah, I need to do some more YouTube binging. Yeah. Sadly, that's about you know, and there's nowhere else to really watch them.

SPEAKER_01 36:05

I know. Sad day.

SPEAKER_00 36:06

Listeners, be sure to drop in our DMs and let us know what y'all are watching this week or what you're reading. Who knows? We may give a shout out to it on the podcast, or we may join you in reading or watching the episodes.

SPEAKER_02 36:23

Yes, please blow up my TBR pile. Thank you. Well, it's time for our Unhinged Thoughts of the Week, where we take our thoughts, no context, no logic, just vibes, and unpack it like it's completely normal. All right, Mary, what do you have for us this week? What is your unhinged thought?

SPEAKER_00 36:41

Well, the first one I think we all of us know. I'm just going to say the audacity of some people utilizing uh trademarks. And yeah, like we went through this before a few years back. Cocky gay. It's some people were not around for cocky gay. No, they weren't. Like these people missed the memo on that one, and it didn't work out then. So I don't know what's going to make them think it's going to work out now. I was off. We're talking about it yesterday, and I was offline yesterday. And so I caught up on it, and I'm like, just the audacity that people have to think that like it's like them trying to trademark a blind date with a book. And like major retailers are doing that. Like so you're you're never gonna be able to trademark, it's never gonna fly. I will be like that gif of Michael Jackson eating popcorn in the audience. That will that will be me.

SPEAKER_02 37:35

Also, but I just love seeing the book community come together and like agreeing on things like this, and also shout out to Katie's Shelf of Smut because like I'm living for like all these like hot girl memes now. And she did one where it says hot girls with tummy problems read, and like she made like a mug for it. And I'm like, Yes, please, I need 10. So yeah, Mary, I'll have to send you the link to what she did. It is hilarious.

SPEAKER_00 38:05

Definitely.

SPEAKER_01 38:06

The thread was very funny for a couple of days.

SPEAKER_00 38:09

My other unhinged thought is it's more just a venting of things. So my day yesterday ended with the vehicle that I was transporting four kids in for playing golf for the last day of school. We get to we dropped off one kid, we get to the second kid's house, and I borrowed my parents' older vehicle and it wouldn't go into park. It was stuck in reverse.

SPEAKER_03 38:34

No.

SPEAKER_00 38:35

So I had to pull the parking brake, turn the car off. The kid who we dropped off, his dad was able to like reconnect the linking chain to make it work. But once I got it in drive, he's like, just he's like, don't stop and don't don't back up. And so I was like, okay, so we drive to my parents' house instead of taking the third kid home. Like, so what was probably supposed to be me done and home by nine o'clock ended up being me done and home at like 10. Oh my gosh. It was just like, I'm like, oh, so my unhinged thought is like just car troubles suck, but at least it happened when I was close to home and somebody could help me out and I wasn't stuck down at the golf course. Amen. So Courtney hit me with them all.

SPEAKER_02 39:23

Mine is more of a rant because falling as an adult just like hurts so bad. Like you get hurt as a kid, and you know you're like better two seconds later. But I had a pretty bad fall this week at coming out of the door to our in-home sitter's house. And yeah, she thought I was like, because I slammed her door, which her door like helped save me because like I was falling and I could feel myself falling. So I like caught myself with the door and I like ended up slamming her door. I'm surprised I didn't break it. But um, yeah, so I'm sitting there and both of my kids are just like watching me, and I'm like, mommy's okay. Mommy's okay, but I'm still like my body hurts, and it's been like three days later, and everywhere.

SPEAKER_01 40:10

Yeah, no.

SPEAKER_02 40:11

So now I'm rocking foot brace again. I fell last year, and it's the same dang foot. But last time I was it was raining, and I was trying to get inside with both of the kids, and I was holding Kaylee, and Sawyer ran around me, and when he did, he tripped me, and both me and Kaylee fell. And I like I grabbed her and like tucked her and rolled to where like it hit me, but man, I did some damage. But and it's of course the same dang foot, so never fails, yeah. But also, I saw something really funny, and it's became pretty much my entire personality these days. But um, relationship mess posted on a reel on Instagram with 50 Cent eating popcorn, and it said, not gullible enough to join a cult, but nosy enough to stay for the whole presentation. And I just feel this deep in my soul. Like I'm nosy as fuck.

SPEAKER_01 41:01

And I love a good cult. Listen, I would I would join a cult just to be like to get the tea. Like I know. What do you guys like believe?

SPEAKER_00 41:10

Like, what am what's that guy's deal? Like, I don't know. I would still do it. Do you have any random unhinged thoughts, Sarah, of your week?

SPEAKER_01 41:17

I don't think I do. No, like I mean, not like podcast worthy. Not not ones we're saying on air. Yeah, ones we're saying on the internet. No, I mean, I will say, like, it's funny being an author on threads right now. And listen, everybody I know advised me not to get on threads. And I did it anyway. And you know what? It's fun. I I you know, when I did it back when, like, oh, you know, I really got into it back when heated rivalry would had just come out because that's when threads was the best place on earth. Like it was the most fun. And a lot of people connected, and we, you know, a lot of people we built a community, it was very fun. And now it's sort of like I'll post, I'll like write something and I'll screenshot it to like my, you know, one of my assistants to be like, absolutely not. I'm like, okay, I know you're right. Like, delete it. But I do, I mean, it's it is it was fun. I mean, you get the you get what's going on almost immediately. It's like it's crazy the way that platform like picks up news because the trademark thing, I never happened. It is. I didn't even know what happened. I just I remember like opening my app after Pilates one day, and I was like, oh, everybody's making these funny trademark jokes. Like, I'm gonna make one. So I made one and it blew up, it was great. And then I'm like, what are we doing? Like, why are we doing this? And then I found out.

SPEAKER_00 42:37

Well, and I told Court, I said, There's apparently, there's apparently somebody who has pending a trademark for book boyfriend.

unknown 42:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 42:45

And you know what? I'm in the middle of a trademark process for my own name, not anything crazy, just so nobody else can like. Everybody, every author should do it. It's very important. But uh it is a very long and expensive, very, very expensive process. And it's very hard, you know, to get things approved. So it's not just something like, you know, people can put you fill out a form online and you send some money and it's done. Like you need a lawyer, you need so she went through lots of money. Yeah, lots and lots of money to get that, and like it just kind of blew up in her face. And so it's it's my gosh. But I don't think it should have been approved. I mean, I I know how hard it is to get a trademark, and I look and I'm like, I can't believe they approved that because there's a lot of people that use that phrase on merch already, and it's not even like a And it's not even and it's not even just like indie who use it, there's a lot of major businesses and stuff that are starting to pick that up. Yeah. So you really have to prove that like that's yours, you created it. It's you know. Yeah. But then, but then once you get the trademark, everything from then on is on you. So like if you want to make somebody stop, you have to hire a lawyer to it's just it's like, I don't know, I think it's a funny, it's it's kind of funny. I think the way like the reaction to it is reminding me very much of Cocky Gate. Listen, I have like 12 to 15 titles on my Kindle that I bought back in whatever year that was, 2019, 2020, with the title cocky, because that's just the energy it was like, oh, I'm gonna go buy all these other books with cocky. I have so many on my Kindle. So many free books, like just so everybody marketing and promo was the best.

SPEAKER_00 44:26

It was such a funny time, like yeah, and that's what this is certain.

SPEAKER_01 44:30

The marketing that's coming out of this, like it's all those funny like memes and things people are making, like it's so funny.

SPEAKER_00 44:37

I love it. Well, listeners, feel free to submit your unhinged thoughts to us. Who knows? We might read it on air. You can leave it as a comment or check us out on Instagram and drop us a DM.

SPEAKER_02 44:52

Well, Sarah, what is up next for you? I know earlier you mentioned your next book is coming out in September. Do you have any other events happening this year?

SPEAKER_01 45:04

Yeah, so I don't know yet what that release is gonna look like as far as if there's gonna be a tour or event or anything like that. I am in the process of planning a little European tour because obviously, like you said, I love to travel. So I'm gonna try to hit up some countries in Europe at the end of this year. But I'm really cutting pretty far back on my travel because my family has had it. So I'm gonna keep my feet on the ground for a little bit.

SPEAKER_00 45:27

That's amazing. And where can our listeners find you on socials?

SPEAKER_01 45:33

Yeah, so as I've said, I'm on threads, but I wouldn't suggest following me there. Find me on Instagram. I'm at Sarah KateBooks. That's where I'm the most active. I also have a Facebook group called Sarah's Salacious Readers. We have some fun in there. And so, yeah. Yep, I'm in that one.

SPEAKER_02 45:52

In there. Well, thank you, thank you, thank you for taking the time out of your day to come yap with us. This has been so much fun. This has been very fun.

SPEAKER_01 46:02

We really appreciate you joining us. Of course. Thanks for inviting me. And thanks for welcome anytime.

SPEAKER_00 46:07

And as always, you can catch us causing chaos over on Instagram at What the Smut Podcast and me personally at onpoint digital services.

SPEAKER_02 46:17

And I'm over at Instagram at Courtney Leanne. If you want to join us for a chat, there's a form linked in our show notes. So be sure to fill that out because we would love to hear from you.

SPEAKER_00 46:29

If you enjoyed today's episode, please consider leaving us a review. Reviews help other smut readers find us. And honestly, they make our chaotic hearts very happy.

SPEAKER_02 46:40

And if you really love this podcast and want to show support, we've got a listener support link in our show notes. Supporters get shout outs, special giveaways, and maybe even exclusive chaos that you can't find anywhere else. We also have sponsorship opportunities as well. Thanks for tuning in, and we'll catch you guys next time.