This week we are taking a re-read on the episode "The Fanatics Have a New Best Friend, Meet Kate Goldbeck!". We hope you enjoy a look back on one of our favorite episodes with one of our favorite people!
Hey Nerds, have you ever wondered what it's like to leap from the world of fanfic to the shelves of your local bookstore? The enchanting Kate Goldbeck joins us to recount her metamorphosis from fanfiction aficionado to the author of the bewitching novel "You Again." We wade through the complexities of reimagining beloved characters for a whole new audience, and the shift from the fanfic community's embrace to the terrain of traditional publishing. Kate's insights illuminate the dedication required to breathe new life into well-loved tropes and the delicate balance of staying true to the fanfic spirit while courting mainstream success.
If you're hankering for a tantalizing tale of love, laughter, and the occasional sprinkle of life's bittersweet symphonies, Kate's "You Again" is a rendezvous you won't want to miss. Join us for a podcast episode that's a love letter to storytelling, a toast to personal growth, and, above all, a tribute to the books that make us swoon.
***Produced by Jen Hardin***
This week we are taking a re-read on the episode "The Fanatics Have a New Best Friend, Meet Kate Goldbeck!". We hope you enjoy a look back on one of our favorite episodes with one of our favorite people!
Hey Nerds, have you ever wondered what it's like to leap from the world of fanfic to the shelves of your local bookstore? The enchanting Kate Goldbeck joins us to recount her metamorphosis from fanfiction aficionado to the author of the bewitching novel "You Again." We wade through the complexities of reimagining beloved characters for a whole new audience, and the shift from the fanfic community's embrace to the terrain of traditional publishing. Kate's insights illuminate the dedication required to breathe new life into well-loved tropes and the delicate balance of staying true to the fanfic spirit while courting mainstream success.
If you're hankering for a tantalizing tale of love, laughter, and the occasional sprinkle of life's bittersweet symphonies, Kate's "You Again" is a rendezvous you won't want to miss. Join us for a podcast episode that's a love letter to storytelling, a toast to personal growth, and, above all, a tribute to the books that make us swoon.
***Produced by Jen Hardin***
Hi, I'm Chanel. Hi, I'm Stacy hey nerds, this is Ashley and this is Fiction Fanatics. Oh well, I guess let me show you my. We can start my. Yes, I had to wear this Wow I love it.
Speaker 3:I should have worn mine. I have a whole wardrobe that. I acquired back in 2018 that I should have put on.
Speaker 1:Right, right, the thick of the fandom. Well, yeah, okay, so let's introduce you. We have a special guest. Kate Goldblac is with us for this episode. The author of our Book of the Month. You again, ooh, we're so happy.
Speaker 3:Yay, excited to be here.
Speaker 1:Yay, so thank you for joining us. Yeah, so we can dive right in just to get to know you. We all kind of compiled this amazing list of get to know you questions. So, yeah, when did you officially start writing? Going back to, I guess, fan fiction, but yeah, when would you was your first inspiration to start writing?
Speaker 3:So actually I started, it started when I started really reading fan fiction. So I had dabbled in fan fiction through like many different fandoms, like you know, throughout my like young adult life I guess. But when, when the sequel trilogy for Star Wars came out, I was just like instantly like there's something here Like my, my spidey senses were tingling and I actually got really into reading like metas on like Tumblr.
Speaker 3:So this was like when Tumblr was so really the fandom community and was just like super involved in like analyzing you know sort of like the interactions and the films, and I myself am a film. I was like a film major, I've worked in film museums, so like analyzing film is like catnip to me, so like with all, and I was always a Star Wars fan, so like this all combined to just make me like extremely obsessed with Star Wars again. So this would have been like 2017 and 2018,. The last Jedi came out and without even really like realizing it, I just like kind of threw myself into just being like a lurker reader in the Ralo fandom and I discovered like the like really great fan fiction that had already been going on in for the Force Awakens and really like exploded after the last Jedi and I started I like rebranded my humbler to kind of just be like recommending different Ralo fan fictions. This was like literally all I did. I would I would like obsessively read them and then write very long recommendations. I love it.
Speaker 2:It sounds like the kind of Tumblr page I would be following honestly and then throw in some fan art.
Speaker 3:Oh, this goes with I was reblogging the fan art and I was and that's how I started to meet people was because I was just like writing like long essays about these, like different, you know, like fanfics that I was really enjoying. And so I think at first in the fandom most people knew me as somebody who was just literally like the fanfic recommendation person, like one of the ones that kind of like was recognizable when the fandom was really like really taking off. And at some point, like a few months after doing that and just being like a voracious fanfic reader, I was like, huh, I wonder if I could, like I've read enough of these, like I wonder if I could just try to write something. And a friend of mine, like a fanfic writer, friend of mine who I had gushed about which is how I meet literally everyone I know who's a writer is just me sliding into DMs, being like I love you, and she had written a real one shot that had a one Harry Met Sally reference in it. It was like something about like that's I knew, like you know about a good melon, which is like a random line from one Harry Met Sally. She had it in her thick Like. So I messaged her and I was like I liked that reference and so we got to talking and it just sort of like got the wheels turning.
Speaker 3:I was like if, if I were to write a when Harry Met Sally a you there are a lot of relo, a us it's like probably more than there are a lot of people that take place in the Star Wars universe there are like a use. But if I were to write that I feel that it would have to be gender swapped. Because Sally is very fastidious and spends a lot of time on her hair. There's like multiple shots of her like blow drying, doing her makeup and I was like that would be the Kylo Ren, you like, because I feel like he is also probably very like fastidious about his hair and his whole look, yeah.
Speaker 3:And so I was like, okay, what if I gender swapped it and I just started writing it. So that was literally the first thing I've ever written. That was like fiction, like I really have never tried to write anything like that before. I'd never tried to write really like a fanfic before and like put it out there and I just started like hosting it and that's how I started writing and it took me about like a year to finish that one and in in that time I wrote a few other like fanfics, shorter ones mostly, and that's honestly just like my only real like creative writing experience. In a lot of ways was like I was like I feel inspired and I'm just going to do this so that's, that's how I started it.
Speaker 3:You know, it's like a full adult where I think most people are like teenagers and I mean this in the best way, yeah who are like getting so into this and like really developing their craft. And I was just like writing it at work on my phone. It was kind of my escape and I just like got so into it and got so into the community and always continued reading fix too. So it was just like to me it's one of the best ways to get into the writing community because it's it's not as like I'm kind of like competitive in the sense that like in publishing your whether you're traditionally published or self published you're always getting rejected or you're getting like there's a lot of yeah for a negative feedback loop, but in fanfic it's like primarily positive and encouraging, so it was just like direct
Speaker 3:feedback. Yeah, I mean the comments you get just keep you going and you're like I owe it to, like you know screen name, whatever, 69 to that next chapter out, and you know people are going to go and then they write these long apologetic notes like oh, like I was in the hospital of any nurse, like it's okay, this is. You know, you're doing this for free, don't worry about it. So it's just such an amazing community. I think that that's how I I fell into it and yeah, that's that's the, the origin story. It just all came back to this like weird fanfic idea.
Speaker 1:That's so awesome.
Speaker 2:It's so it's so crazy. It's your first thing that you've written and it's just. I mean, I'm obsessed with it. I'm only halfway through the book right now, but their banter. I feel like I could just read it forever. It's amazing how incredible that's your like first writing experience. I'm blown away. Well, I was gonna say how you said you were like just slipping into people's DMs, like writers and stuff, and talking to them. I was like that's us just slipping to, like I remember when Chanel said that she was like. I remember when Chanel said that she was going to message you and she's like I think I'm going to message, message Kate about her book, the future wheel of podcasts, and I was like, yes, do it, it's going to be great fingers crossed, like I know I was.
Speaker 2:I was like this is never going to happen, but you go for it Now let's see if it works out.
Speaker 3:I'm like you're amazing the best like emails or messages to get to, because it's like usually it's like scams or like stuff that you absolutely don't want to do, or like something you're late on and then like sometimes it's really nice, it's like, oh, I think these are my people and, like I said, I am, I still to this day like a lot of the people like honestly. So one of my closest writing friends is Ali Hazelwood, the famous author, also obviously from the Railofandom. But the way that I kind of like met her was that I she was the only person I knew who had an agent and I had had an agent approach me after reading some of my fanfic and I had no idea about publishing and I was like I don't know who to talk to about this in the real world.
Speaker 3:so I'm just going to like DM ever so Railo, who was Ali, and she was like so like kind and you know like she just like told me like everything. She did not have a book deal yet. She was like really struggling but she's like, okay, here's what this means and do this and what and that's how, like we became friends and it's like that's kind of how I've met almost everyone. Is just me like going into their DMs and like yelling at them like I love you and even like Julie Zodo, so we have the same agent actually. And the way I met her, I think, was when she had a fic in the Railofandom called Food of Love, which if you looked at the cover reveal for the next book, it's cello, very steamy cello cover. That's Food of Love. She reworked it and that fic is like notorious and famous and and also I love your tweets about it.
Speaker 3:I just went back the other day when she was doing the cover, it's like I feel like I have like a few unhinged tweets before I even knew loves fic 8 and was like there is a scene in here that is absolutely insane and we all need to be reading this. And and now it's like we, we talk every day and she's like a very close confidant and it's like because I was just like screaming like cello when, when I saw the cover reveal for her new book, I was like, oh my god, I was so pumped.
Speaker 2:It was Nikita Jobson again who did it and like it looks so, but it looks I just like from the little thing she's posted, and like people have been commenting like how steamy this one is and stuff, like because we really loved her, forget me not. So I'm pumped to read.
Speaker 3:Yeah forget me not, was not. I think she had the idea as a potentially to be a real little fic, but it was not a fic, and a lot of big misconception about that. She's amazing. She wrote that book. She was like I think I'm going to try to like write another book and she just like finished it in like a few months and I remember being like I've been in the dev edits for like two years now and you just finished a book and then like sold it.
Speaker 2:It sounds like. It sounds like her.
Speaker 3:She's unbelievable, and but like I try to remember the actual title, not another love song, I just think of it as cello, it's, it's, it's really good. And then the time I go to like the symphony or some kind of classical music thing, it's like you will never look at cello and violin players the same way. So I cannot wait, I know, oh yeah, it's hilarious.
Speaker 1:Ok, so you kind of touched on it a little bit just with the agent stuff. But I guess, how is writing an actual book different than writing a fanfic? You kind of talked about writing your one Harry went sally fanfic, but how did you actualize it into an actual, you again book?
Speaker 3:Great question.
Speaker 3:Personally, I find writing fanfic way more enjoyable and fun, and I'd probably only do that if I had time to do that now.
Speaker 3:I would also say that I don't necessarily recommend you reworking a fanfic as the best path into publishing, just because it's almost like you have a whole first draft that you've already been around the block with once and then it can be very hard to take it and then have to then twist it and mold it into something different for a lot of reasons, and I think it's probably just a lot easier for people to just start fresh, knowing that, ok, I'm trying to write an original novel and, just based on where I am now, I'm like, yeah, it's actually easier to not have to take something that I struggled with for a year and had all these thoughts about and then have to throw a lot of that away and think about this new, different version of it. So in my case, because it was an AU and took place in the real current world and didn't really have any particular starwarsy components, it wasn't like I had to really do away with IP whereas, like you know, like Faya had to, like D, starwarsify an entire magic unit system.
Speaker 3:So not having to do that actually really helps, obviously, but there were some things that I definitely had to change and I think they're very common in fanfic. One is too many characters, like. I think when you write fanfic, you tend to try and have everyone make a cameo.
Speaker 3:And you're like, oh, how can I fit in like this person? And then you're just sort of like oh, it was a friend. Everyone has like seven different named friends and that's fine, because people who read it don't need to learn who everyone is. When you read an original novel, it's like people cannot keep track of more than like four or three.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:Like who, what? What's their characteristic? You know it's like, but obviously in fanfic you can just throw everyone in there and it's fine. So I had to, unfortunately, reconstruct a lot of the landscape of who was in it. I also in the original thick the Ben character was a lot more this is going to sound weird because a lot of people are like these are bad people about the book but he was worse. He was like a libertarian talking head kind of person Because I was always like I really want him to be like a villain. You know like, yeah, which you can do in fanfic and still have people be fine with it because of that fandom connection.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we love it.
Speaker 3:So when I turned in the first version of the manuscript to my agent and she had obviously read the thick she was sort of like you know, I don't think we're going to get away with this. He's going to come off as very unlikable and anything with politics. She's like no one wants to read that. In a rom-com, which I was like fair, especially around the time I was revising it, which was like 2020, and there was just like hey the situation had gotten so much worse than when I wrote the fanfic that I was like you're
Speaker 3:right. So he turned into a chef instead of a political commentator and the Ray character had originally been like a very left-wing kind of political consultant and I had to change her career and she turned into a comedian because one of the early pieces of feedback I got from an editor who rejected the book was that she was like too funny, which I was like what? Like she's just like. She just comes off as like too funny. I was like OK. Then I was like well, how could I get away with the character being too funny? Maybe they're a comedian?
Speaker 3:And then it kind of all like fit together and they're more like rom-com careers which are usually like not your typical office job, Like you have to have them doing something, like I run a bakery.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's like they always have to be doing something heightened, and so I was like, ok, those are two careers that I feel like I can get some drama out of that. Sound kind of interesting. So once I changed that it was like, ok, now I have to change the backstories, like what the relationships are. So ultimately there's probably like maybe 20% of what was in the thick ended up in the book in some form. Like some of the tentpole scenes I would say are like somewhat the same, but like everything else had to change and essentially be rewritten because it just wouldn't have hung together as a story. Once I had. It's like once you move one puzzle piece, it's like you've got to figure out everything else again, and I'm sure it would have taken me less time to just like write a fresh book Rescrash.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's what I was just thinking like. You're right, having to rework everything versus just coming up with something fresh. Yeah, I'm sure it was a lot more tedious. It's like double the work, I know.
Speaker 3:It's going to say that's art.
Speaker 2:It's like writing two books, yeah.
Speaker 3:And I truly think they are two separate works at this point Like I think the people who really enjoyed the fanfic and have read the book have been like, yeah, I could totally see like why you made the changes and like I think this is, you know, it's like different and it works well. And I still love the fanfic for like what it is, even though, like it probably has a lot of stuff I wouldn't do today and it has like so much more sex in it.
Speaker 1:Which I'm always here for. That's the main thing I had to go about.
Speaker 3:My imprint was sort of like we need to trim some of that. I kept trying to like sneak it in. So yeah, obviously that's another downside. Like fanfic, you can just go wild and it's like there's no boundaries and as long as you tag it, it is fine. And in like traditional publishing, they just have a different set of expectations and standards, even though I have to say I think it's actually changed a lot since I signed my contract, like I think the things I can get away with now with my editor and like subsequent books probably more sex scenes than she was probably comfortable with on this one, Like even the books that she has edited from other authors in the past year.
Speaker 3:I'm like you let them do that and like you made me cut this little scene. So I think that has actually changed a little bit and I think it might have something to do with like the merging of like indie romance, trad pub and fan fiction writers, all like converging or something.
Speaker 2:No, I think you're completely right. Like I think like the smut is way more like in the last year. So like okay, and more published books now, especially with like independent authors and stuff, it's cool, yeah, how much more welcoming it is. I'm here for it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Okay, I think I know this because again I've stalked you, but the inspiration for Ari and Josh besides I guess, yeah, I mean obviously like the sort of I don't want to say opposite to track.
Speaker 3:But that dynamic, I think, of people who are very different but that makes it work, is obviously a touchstone of the yin-yang thing of the real fandom. But if you read a lot of real fanfic you'll find that it is all over the map. There are so many fics where the Ben character is a cinnamon roll. It almost doesn't even mean what I think originally people were into it for. So it's like in my own mind it's almost like such a secondary thing for me now because I had to figure out how to create characters that wouldn't rely on that pre-existing fandom conception of who the characters were. So, honestly, they're both sides of me in a sense. I'm kind of like a sally, like a Josh kind of person, in a lot of ways kind of like type A, and can be very rigid and judgmental sometimes. And there's also a side of me that's more like Ari, that can be very impulsive and also very avoidant and kind of like bad communicator and hides behind sarcastic jokes a lot, doesn't want to spend the night with you, wants to leave right away. That is me. So I just was basically kind of writing characters out of both sides of my personality and a lot of it, a lot of the banter, honestly, is kind of inspired by, unfortunately, like my ex, who I went through a divorce this last year which I've been trying to be pretty open about. But a little awkward because, like a lot of the book is like reflections of our relationship to an extent. So it's sort of like weird to be like, oh my God, it's like I'm reliving this thing that I ended.
Speaker 3:But I think you know when you are have a dynamic with someone, it kind of flows into you know your, your writing and how you have characters interact, and so we were like big banter people and a lot of that made its way into the book too. So, like he's definitely in there, he's actually more the Ari. I was identified more as the Josh when I was like writing it, so that that's kind of funny. It's kind of funny to me when people say they don't like Ari and they're like, oh, she's such an unlikable character and part of me is a little offended but part of me is like, yeah, you're like yes, it's funny you say that because I was actually talking to Chanel.
Speaker 2:When I first started this book, I didn't dislike Ari, but I didn't know how I felt about her at first and now that I'm halfway through the book I just understand her better. But honestly, I love that it's such a different female, male or female main character than what you're typically seeing. It's such a refresh on that and so, like I'm so into it now, like and I got into it pretty quickly, just like getting to know her, but yeah, it's just so different.
Speaker 1:I told her I was like mm.
Speaker 2:Hmm.
Speaker 1:It takes a minute for you to like Ari. Like you don't like her at first, it just takes you like you have to warm up to her versus. Even though Josh is like quote unquote prickly at the beginning, you love him instantly because obviously you're like in his mind or whatever. But but yeah, and that's exactly what happened, because you know you texted me and she's like I love Ari Because you're halfway through the book now, Because you're like rooting for her.
Speaker 2:You want her to like figure it out. You're like figure it out and get it together.
Speaker 1:And obviously, like Josh is a part of her figuring out her life like she helps, and I mean not that he doesn't have his own problems too, but yeah, and I did have to like soften him a bit.
Speaker 3:Like that's the feedback that I got kind of repeatedly when we took the manuscript for the book on submission to publishers. Is that a lot of people? Actually it wasn't Ari that was their issue, it was the Josh character and I had to do a lot of work in the rewriting to make him more I don't even want to say likable, but maybe like more relatable or like to kind of like not make him so like instantly, like oh, and so that that was kind of interesting.
Speaker 3:Also interesting from the fanfic connection, because people in the relo fandom also tend to always have a very, very like forgiving attitude towards the Ben characters. Like yeah, which always kind of like annoyed me because you're always very hard on the Ray character.
Speaker 3:If like she would do something wrong and you'd see it in real time in the comments. So it's something that I'm like kind of sensitive to. But I also think it has a lot to do with just like fandoms with actors versus like actresses and stuff like that. They're like I had already been through some kind of like complaints about that with the thick, and so I was. I'm always like very like defensive about Ari and like she's trying OK, like doing her best. It is hard to be a woman.
Speaker 2:Yes, I love so much that you're saying that, because that was the same conversation we had. And it's like, yeah, why are we being so hard on this female character, but we're never that hard on the male character, like we had a whole conversation about this and it's so valid, which I think is what made me just love Ari even more. It's like it is unfair, and I was even doing it and I didn't realize that so was.
Speaker 1:I so was I.
Speaker 2:I told you that when we talked about this last week, me and Ashley were like, oh you know, at first when we read it we were like very hard on her Character, kind of in the beginning. And then we're like you know why? Because the society like why are we being that hard on Josh, Like he's not being that nice right now either. But it's like it's fine.
Speaker 3:It's fine, yeah, yeah, it's also because I think, like I am, my favorite genre to read is like unhinged woman.
Speaker 2:That's.
Speaker 3:Ashley's favorite to gone girl changed my life, so yeah, I mean, I love any book that has a very complicated like woman at the center of it and I think like and I have read so many romance, like I am a romance reader and obviously a fanfic reader, so like I am used to reading sort of those characters too but like I just I always just want to bring in some of that like unhinged woman energy into like anything I write, which which I think sometimes like people just honestly don't necessarily like that.
Speaker 3:And yeah, sometimes when people especially read a rom-com or they just look at the cover, I think they're maybe expecting something that is a little bit like the characters are a little bit like softer or nicer to each other or, you know, like they may not expecting it quite so much. So it can be sometimes like an expectations game with romance because they get they're all over the map Right. It's like some of them are, have the cartoon covers but are so angsty You're just like devastated and like what the now? Sometimes they're Omegaverse and their cartoon cover, which I think is cool as well. I love writing Omegaverse, but no one would ever let me do that. So it's like romance has become this thing where it's like you're rolling the dice.
Speaker 2:Yeah, every time.
Speaker 3:Truly, it's like what is this going to be? Like you know, is this a closed door, sweet, whatever. Or is this going to be some like Omegaverse, like crazy thing with shifters, Like I don't know?
Speaker 1:That's so true. It's so true. Ok, so for the, for New York City as your like location in the backdrop. What was the like significance of that Like? Why did you end up choosing New York as the location for this novel?
Speaker 3:I mean, obviously part of it was the one Harry Met Sally is a pretty famous New York story, so kind of you know I had to pay homage to that. But I lived in New York, you know, for most of my like adult life. I now mostly live in Atlanta. I'm kind of a digital nomad, but that was kind of just like where I had all my adult experiences and like dating and all that kind of stuff. So honestly, it's almost like my inability to just make up interesting things kind of played to my favorite.
Speaker 3:I remember this market, literally like every location is based on, either like a place that used to be there that I used to go to you know, it's like it all has some kind of connection to like me or like bad dates. I went on like almost all of the like little, like date anecdotes that happened in the book are just like dates I was on. So it's just all kind of like my memories and even like one of my best friends, actually, who I lived with for a while in New York, when she read the book she was like she was like, oh my God, like what are all these locations Like? You're all of them like this is crazy to read. Like this is like our 20s, you know, like on the page, and I was like I know, so, yeah, it's just all from my, my own experiences and you know, kind of mashing up all of that together.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's cool in the back. I because I read an arc, so I didn't get to see it the first time I read it. But then I bought the book, obviously, and I just loved how you you literally wrote down like this place isn't here anymore, but I love the pastrami's there or they have great locations that. Yeah, that was like publishers idea.
Speaker 3:Actually we were originally going to do some kind of map, but it kind of with the print format, like they were like the map would be too small. So like what, if we just kind of like did it like a guide or whatever? Yeah, I was happy to do that, but actually in. So I now have this like winter themed dust jacket, which I don't have those are gorgeous On the back side of it is the map and, oh yeah, one of my, one of my best friends.
Speaker 3:Sorry, I am no no she so she, we were like fandom wives in the real of fandom. Her name is Selena and she did a lot of art for my thick we co wrote fixed together and she does a lot of commissions and just like any time I need art, I'm like I'm going to commission you to do this. And so she did the dust jacket. And then she it was her idea she was like what if we put the map on the other side? So we finally got to like put the little map together. So that was kind of a fun little like full circle moment.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's really cool, really cool. Yeah, they're gorgeous. Yeah, it's cool that you like we're sending them out. I saw you sending them out.
Speaker 3:I feel like literally like trimming them, scoring them, like I'm trying to do as many as I can, but it I'm like making them myself, basically. So it's like it's only as much time as I have to do it that I can actually like get them to people. So it's like little like assembly line operation yourself I literally just looked it up.
Speaker 2:It is so like as I'm talking about. I know I told you I've seen it's beautiful, it's so pretty.
Speaker 1:Okay, again, I already know the answer to this question, but, stacy, this was a great question you wrote. Do you listen to music when you write and then like how are certain songs like influenced or like obviously like significant to you again, which you do talk about throughout the book?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I absolutely have to have some musical inspiration when I'm writing something If I don't.
Speaker 3:Actually this just happened to me. I was working on a subsequent book and I didn't have any musical inspiration, like I didn't have a playlist, and I was trying to like force it. I was like, what about this, what about that? And like I had to stop writing it because I was like this isn't going to work if I don't have, if I don't have like the right vibes. Yeah, if I don't feel like just like blasting something and going for like a run and like really thinking about like an emotional scene, like it's just never going to work. So I always do. And I had a playlist during the thick and it's pretty common for like long fanfics to kind of like put out song, you know, like Spotify plays and stuff. So I had done that. So that was already kind of baked into it a bit.
Speaker 3:And there are a lot of songs that are like mentioned in the book, which is kind of something that you're probably not supposed to do that too much because it can like date books sometimes, but most of them are older songs. So I thought it was okay. But yeah, I have and I've made a couple like ticktocks and like reels about some of the songs that are featured in the book. Unfortunately, while I was doing that, I realized that most of them were associated with my ex, who is he was like in the music industry. So like he that to me, like I always associate that with him, which, by the way, it's like it's fine, we're not like acrimonious or anything, but it's like it's a little bittersweet because, like, one of the songs that is mentioned is Don't Dream it's Over, which is a crowded house song, which is where they're dancing to it, the kind of pivotal scene anyway, and a lot of people like you know, telling me, oh, like, every time I hear that song, I think about them or whatever.
Speaker 3:And unfortunately it's like I picked that song because crowded house was one of his favorite, my ex's favorite, like groups, and so every time I hear it I think about him and I'm like, oh, it's fine, but you know, it's like it's kind of funny how much, like all that stuff, kind of like you're like, oh, like, yes, like this, all kind of drifted together. But yeah, I have to have those key songs that like, just like, make me, make me feel like the angst and the emotions for sure, and like a new project that I started pretty recently. I knew it felt right because I was like I know exactly which song is going to make me cry while I'm writing that. You know like, once you have that and you can like trigger those emotions with music, I feel like it just like flows so much easier.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, that makes sense.
Speaker 2:I, yeah, I love reading fan fanfics or even books where, like, they mentioned songs or playlists they listened to, because I like the idea of like, even after you're done reading it, you're like thinking about a book and like listening to it. I love that whole vibe. Also, I'm sad you went through that breakup. I don't write things so I can't imagine, but as a writer, I imagine that that happens a lot with people, that they write certain like friendships and relationships, like inspiration and books, and it's probably hard to look back. But at the same time it's probably you can see this like I don't know like season in your life, I guess reflected in your work so well, and it's a beautiful book. So, yeah, it's beautiful. Yeah, like I said, it's fine.
Speaker 3:I wouldn't talk about it if it, if it were still like very like fresh or whatever. And I do have. I have a boyfriend now and it's I'm doing fine. But it is kind of funny how, like even in the because publishing takes so long, it's like yeah, acknowledgement like the last one, which is like the longest one, is about him and I actually was like, is this weird?
Speaker 3:And then I was honestly it's, it's like a time capsule and that's fine. It's like, yeah, it's like he was a big part of my life for like 13 years, which is like forever, and yeah, he should still be like honored or whatever in in this book. So it's actually been interesting too, because, like Ari is going through a divorce and I totally had that same experience that I wrote about, except I lived it like a few months ago. You know, it's like this yeah, I am sitting alone in an empty apartment and I don't have any dishes. Like this is kind of weird. So it's funny how like I it's almost like I predicted it for myself.
Speaker 1:Oh, that is. Yeah, that is weird. Okay, not about your book. What was your favorite book from last year that you read?
Speaker 3:From last year, I would have to say, and I just kind of like rediscovered it when I was like looking through some old Instagram posts. Not a romance, it's an unhinged woman book, but it's so funny. It's a book called Exalted by Anna Dorn and it's I feel like it maybe was like a controversial but like people either love it or hate it, but it the audio book is one of the weirdest audio books I've ever listened to. The narrator has such a flat deadpan like affected. She voices two different characters but kind of with the similar, it's just like I.
Speaker 3:I was so like fascinated by this book. It's basically a woman who is like a tick tock like astrologer and kind of becomes obsessed with a man who she thinks has like an amazing like chart and then it kind of like takes all these twists and turns and it's not like a like a thriller or anything. It's kind of like a lit thick thing but it's really funny, if you like sort of dark humor and I just like remembered it the other day and I'm always like tagging the author to probably like weird. I'm always like I love this book. Everyone like you know like check it out. She's probably like what, but yeah, that was definitely one of my favorites of of last year and another, I'll say a romance to.
Speaker 3:There's a book that actually came out the same day my book came out. So I met the author like virtually just by you know, because we're like, oh, we have books coming out the same day. I'm like wait more, like. I watch it like very regularly, even though I'm sort of like sometimes like annoyed by certain things in it. But anyway, Well, okay.
Speaker 1:So then where do you because me and Ashley watched you've got when Harry Met Sally for New Year's and we were ranking out of the three of them. What do you rank them at? Obviously you've got males. Last Do you? Is Harry Met Sally first.
Speaker 3:I guess it would be. I feel like it's very hard to compare sleepiness in Seattle to when.
Speaker 3:Harry Met Sally because they're just very different. Yeah, they're very different types of movies and I almost have seen one Harry Met Sally to like. I've literally read the script many times. I watched it all the time in order to kind of like try to get it so. And I have not seen sleepiness in Seattle quite as much so. But I do think that there's something special about when Harry Met Sally. Just because of the, the team behind it, it like it launched a lot of career. It actually launched like Meg Ryan into the romcom, like go to person.
Speaker 1:That was the first one, yeah.
Speaker 3:So I feel like that really helped establish Nora Efron. Even like Billy Chris, like what the?
Speaker 2:hell, was that Exactly In a?
Speaker 3:romcom.
Speaker 1:That is true. What was that?
Speaker 3:Whereas Tom Hanks I feel like yeah, of course Of course he should be in that so it's just so hard to compare them.
Speaker 1:That's. I'll take that. Okay. How about the Drew Adam movies? Which is better, the wedding singer or 51st dates? And there is a clear winner for this one.
Speaker 3:It's the wedding singer hands down for me.
Speaker 1:Oh, I was going to say 51st dates, but nothing compares to the wedding singer.
Speaker 2:I do the wedding singer Okay.
Speaker 1:All of it, my, my reasoning is because, okay, maybe because I'm getting older, but, like you, just want someone to love you so unconditionally that if you had an accident like that, that they would be there for you no matter what. They would push that tape in every single day and they would be by your side when you can't even remember your own name, while she remembers her name. But you know what I mean. That's why it's like that. I get that.
Speaker 3:I don't mind 51st dates, I just think the wedding singer is it's. It's really good, it's so good I haven't seen it in a long time, but like it is, I think it's actually like. I think it did a lot also to like make Adam Sandler more believable in in non like his early movies.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:I kind of helped push him out of that. But didn't they also make like a third one with with like all their a bunch of? They had all a bunch of kids, it's like family or something.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that was blended.
Speaker 3:I didn't know if that made the cut. I thought you were gonna say that when I was like oh, I did not catch that one. I don't think I've seen that one either.
Speaker 2:I don't see it I didn't see it.
Speaker 1:That didn't make the cut. Okay, okay, how about have you seen Kumail Nanjiani, lovebirds or the big sick?
Speaker 3:Which I love, the big sick.
Speaker 2:The big sick is so good and I was also a big fan.
Speaker 3:He and he and his wife real life wife Emily used to have a podcast where I don't remember what the I don't know I was. I was really into this whole podcast world like a few years ago and so I knew of that story from hearing them tell it. You know, on these various like podcasts and comedy podcasts, and then when I found out they were like writing this, I was like, oh, that's, that's kind of interesting. And then like the movie itself, I I really like. I think it's like one of the most interesting and the best like modern you know like 2010s and up, or whatever year came out.
Speaker 3:Romcom's yeah, it's great.
Speaker 1:It is, it's really good.
Speaker 2:I haven't seen it. I need to walk, I guess. Yeah, it's really good.
Speaker 1:Lovebirds is also really good. It's like different take is it's like kind of murder mystery but also a romcom kind of but. But you're right, the big sick is so good. Okay, what was the better multicast movie? He's just not that into you. Or love actually, it's like hard to compare. There's so many.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I have to say I've only seen he's. He's just not that into you, I think, maybe like once Me too, Like I just I, I don't have the history with it. Yeah, Love, actually I go back and forth on. I feel like the hate for it is overdone. It's like, okay, we know, it's like there's bad things about this movie and there's like weird, really weird stuff, but then there's also like charming stuff.
Speaker 1:So I guess, okay, so is the hate for it, cause I've only, I've only seen each of them once. Is the hate for it like the love actually once?
Speaker 2:That's crazy, chanel. I've seen it so many times. Is it every Christmas?
Speaker 1:The whole like cheating thing and like I don't even know, like what. What's the whole stuff? Cause there's only one black guy in it. What do we hate about it?
Speaker 2:It's like multiple things that people like the age gap. Age gap yeah, that was some people hate the best friend. That's like hitting on the bride, the wife of his like best friend.
Speaker 1:Yeah. That people think it's really cringy.
Speaker 3:Okay, gotcha, gotcha, all I've heard is sexual harassment and the human story line. There's the woman. Is it Emma Thompson who gets on Thompson? Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Then there's like the little kid with the song. It's like every storyline has some like thing that I think a lot of people are like hey, wait a minute about. So it's sort of like. And then it's just ubiquitous, you know, it's just like oh, like my favorite Christmas. And then people were like no, that can't be your favorite Christmas movie.
Speaker 1:It's like, well, yeah, but that's the other thing. I'm like I thought it was synonymous with Christmas, you know. So I was like, oh, okay, I thought we loved this.
Speaker 3:I always thought the storyline with the stand in horn actors is pretty funny. But like now it's like, I guess like Martin Freeman is problematic and so people are like cancel that one too. I don't know, I guess you shouldn't enjoy this movie, but it's like I think I've come around on it again where I'm like I can just enjoy this on its own. You know, like I could just throw it on and be like fine, Maybe I should watch. He's just not that into you again.
Speaker 2:It's good to.
Speaker 3:I mean I like it.
Speaker 2:I've seen it a couple of times.
Speaker 3:There are so many actors in that there's like famous people in that.
Speaker 1:There is crazy amount, yes, but I mean I guess that could be problematic too, because it's just like you're always, like there's like no expectations, like you should never expect to be like the chosen one you should be.
Speaker 3:You're all that whole book, that whole movement, yeah, written by a man.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 3:I think is just suspect.
Speaker 1:Maybe the question is is which one is least problematic?
Speaker 3:That's a good question, I mean. But you know, at the same time it's part of me, maybe it's because, like when I was a kid I would watch Sex in the City and I internalized like that's where that came from and it's. But there is something to the fact that, like you shouldn't get jerked around by people who aren't you know, like upfront and honest about what they want from you. And I think that's kind of the seed of he's just not that into you.
Speaker 3:So maybe that is a good thing to you know, like a good message, but I don't know if the movie really like even do that. There is like a cheating storyline again and that one it's like I always get really like I get like a stomach ache when I see like Jennifer Goodwin and she's just like.
Speaker 1:She's just. She just got like jerked around that whole movie yeah.
Speaker 3:It feels so like bad and uncomfortable to me to like watch like beautiful actresses have to like play these parts where, like I don't know, I just yeah, okay.
Speaker 1:We can. We can move on for those. We just like analyze both. So so okay, which Leo and Kate movie is better, the Titanic or Revolutionary Road, which I feel like is actually?
Speaker 3:not all of Revolutionary Road. I I love Titanic. I think it holds up a hundred percent. Actually just watched it. So my boyfriend has a eight year old daughter and we watched it with her like yes, she did not want to watch it, but of course she got totally sucked in.
Speaker 2:Obsessed, I bet.
Speaker 3:And I was asking like she's very perceptive, and she was like is Jack gonna die? I'm gonna die, and she was like no, just tell me, because I'm good she's like she was getting agitated and he was telling you the waters rushing in. Yeah, and she was so worried the whole time and then at the end of the movie she was like that was the saddest that has ever been made and she was like so upset that we like subjected her to like and we wouldn't tell her.
Speaker 3:And afterward we were like, yeah, maybe we should have. We should have like not done it that way. But it was really funny watching it through the eyes of like a child who had never seen this before. I unabashedly love it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm still heartbroken over it.
Speaker 2:Ashley can attest to this. I don't remember how I remember when I got all the Titanic stuff for Christmas when we were little, like the poster, the CD she got like a box collector set of like both VHS.
Speaker 3:The VHS. Are you serious? Yes, because it had two tapes.
Speaker 2:And like a blue box with like. It came with a book with like inlays in it. What'd you do with that, stacey? I still have it and remember at the book fair they had the heart of the fake heart of the necklace and I got so upset. When mom went, let me buy it, she was like absolutely not, we're not spending $30 on that. I'm so sad.
Speaker 3:It wasn't a real jewel. I'm wearing my own version of the heart of the ocean. I love it Gorgeous.
Speaker 2:Gorgeous. I'm telling mom you're still upset about it. I still, yeah, but my grudge is that when I was 10 years old, she wouldn't buy me the heart of the ocean. That was from this plastic book fair.
Speaker 1:Oh, my God.
Speaker 2:Okay, titanic, obviously is the winner. Revolutionary wrote is terribly sad. It is like it's hard breaking. I haven't seen it. I haven't seen it, I mean it's a good movie, but it is not a rom-com. You can't watch it more than once, I swear it's like a one and done, wow, okay.
Speaker 1:I just was thinking of pairs, acting pairs, because it was like Meg and Tom and Drew and Adam, and then Leo and Kate.
Speaker 3:But I do love Leo and Kate, but yeah, In real life they're still, like you know, friends, and I think that's kind of cute, yeah, good acting pair.
Speaker 1:Okay, we got a couple more. What's the best Matthew McConaughey movie? The wedding planner or how to lose a guy in 10 days.
Speaker 3:Okay, I'm the right person to ask about this because I've pitched multiple Matthew McConaughey rom-com era, sort of like retellings or whatever from my subsequent books, and then I kind of realized that it's like there's not a whole lot of character there, Matthew, I do think that how to lose a guy in 10 days, I think is almost a perfect rom-com setup, Like the fact that they both have opposite goals. You know, it's like for whatever they did to come up with that. It's like I feel like that is like chef's kiss, super duper rom-com setup.
Speaker 2:Yeah, perfect.
Speaker 3:And I can respect the movie for that. I've seen it many, many times in the past year because I've been trying to kind of like crack this, like retelling of it. But I do think that it's there's some real problematic stuff about it. But that's fine, it is what it is and I think they're very charming together. The wedding planner I've always been stuck on the fact that this man was engaged. Ok, Give it, you know it's like yes sometimes what is he doing?
Speaker 3:What is he doing? Or he's engaged. Why is he, even if he's not truly in love? Why is he engaged? Yeah, so I've never. And there's a lot of movies that have that same set up and, yeah, I just never rings true for me that like Something blue, no, what. There's a movie also with Jennifer.
Speaker 2:Oh, something borrowed, and it's only borrowed.
Speaker 3:Yes, yes, Also engaged, I think right, so that's a book series.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the other engage, and then she sleeps, and then yeah, yeah, like I watched that movie, I'm like I don't there's so many problems like one, what kind of friendship is this? First off, that's happening. And then two yeah, I was just like it was two. That's awesome.
Speaker 1:Kate Hudson. Right, yeah, she's the porting character.
Speaker 3:She's like the friend and she's the one engaged.
Speaker 1:I think yes, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so I have a. I have a problem with movies where the rom-com setup is that somebody's already engaged but then by the end of the movie we're supposed to believe that they just do this like switcheroo and we're all supposed to be fine with it. Yeah, like I would actually love to write and I feel like me oh, I think this is Emily Henry's next book maybe where it's like the jilted, I think story is like the jilted woman has to kind of like move in with the jilted man or something which I was like yeah, I'd like to see that because I would read that yeah.
Speaker 3:What happened to all these women who were engaged to Matthew McConaughey's and then who left them for a wedding planner for their wedding?
Speaker 2:Like you never recover from that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, what happens after the credits? It might be a lot of people for a wedding planner.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean, yeah, that's, that's awful. So how to? To me it's how to lose a guy in in 10 days, but but yeah, he really had a ton of rom-coms. I'm actually working right now on a kind of failure to launch Failure to launch, if you remember that one.
Speaker 2:I love that.
Speaker 3:Failure to launch Like gender swapped kind of thing as well. So I've, but I haven't actually watched that whole movie. I don't think I need to, but he did so many rom-coms.
Speaker 1:He had that little era right there where he was before the McConaissance, that's like all he did.
Speaker 2:All he did was rom-coms Ghost of girlfriends.
Speaker 1:Pat, it's like you can't go to the ground, remember the past. I didn't even see that one. Ok, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:Did you guys hear the interview real fast? The interview that he did because he wanted to get out of rom-coms and that's all anybody would pitch him was rom-coms and he didn't want to do them anymore. So he didn't act for almost two years because he refused to do any kind of wrong. And then I remember, like this interview that I read with him like he got offered some obscene amount of money to do this movie and he still said no because he wanted to do something else. And I think he said it took two years before they let him do anything else. But he finally like broke out of that.
Speaker 1:What was it like then? He got Dallas Buyer's Club.
Speaker 2:I think so Like an Oscar, won an Oscar. It's not been an issue. But he was like I didn't know if I was going to really work again. I just he's like. I almost gave in to whatever.
Speaker 1:I don't remember.
Speaker 2:I don't remember what the movie was to that they were offering, because somebody else did the rom-com and it was really popular. But yeah, I wish I remember what it was now too. I think he sent me that to listen to.
Speaker 1:It's really honestly that makes me respect him a little more, because he's not my favorite actor by any means, but I respect him. You got to like change your lane up sometimes.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he didn't work for like two years, I think because of that yeah.
Speaker 1:Wow.
Speaker 3:And now, look, this is an inner stellar, inner stellar I know, dude, amazing.
Speaker 1:Ok, ok, Ashton and Mila, obviously, who are married. They star in different movies but that have essentially the same plot. Kate, can you name those movies that each of them did?
Speaker 2:Shoot I don't even know, I was like can?
Speaker 1:you can call in for backup. Oh no, you can't. They don't know it.
Speaker 2:I think, I know, I think, I know them?
Speaker 3:Is it the Friends with Benefits? That's one. Ok, that was her.
Speaker 1:That was yes.
Speaker 3:Was what was. The album was with Natalie Portman.
Speaker 1:Oh, yes, yeah, yeah, I was going to say bonus points.
Speaker 2:You know the people no strings attached.
Speaker 1:Yeah, am I right? Yeah Right, no strings attached.
Speaker 3:I think one of them used to be called fuck buddies or something. They had to change it and I could have remembered the actual title.
Speaker 1:Wow, what was? What was because you had Natalie Portman, and then who was the guy that she was with?
Speaker 3:Justin Timberlake yeah good job. All the way you get all the points. I was just acting.
Speaker 1:OK, how Stella got her groove back, or under the Tuscan sun.
Speaker 2:I've seen neither of these movies.
Speaker 3:I've, I've. I saw how Stella got her groove back when I was a child in the movie. I think my mom wanted to see it. And I went and I was like so, I was like a kid, I was like what is this? But I think I liked it under the Tuscan sun. I feel like it's kind of riding on this cliché of like lady goes to Europe and you know it's like in the starting it.
Speaker 1:So it's not fair to say yeah, like that kind of Christina Barcelona kind of thing.
Speaker 3:Like, but I feel like I would be more interested now in watching how Stella got her groove back, just because, like it's like Angela Bassett, right, and she's my fave, she's amazing. I would I'll kind of probably watch her in anything, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, all right, last one how many times has J Lo played a bride in rom-com movies? I guess it's not necessarily rom-com, but majority of them are rom-coms.
Speaker 3:Listen, I have a bias towards J Lo right now and I cannot say why. I will defend her, so we're not going to talk any smack about her.
Speaker 1:We're not talking.
Speaker 2:I think she's the she's the queen we found out Maybe everyone.
Speaker 3:Cross your fingers that someday I can explain why we are all supporting.
Speaker 2:I want to know.
Speaker 3:I do, I don't know, I'll tell you off, I'll go for it Okay. Yeah, I was like I just watched a tic-tac like literally yesterday about why she is because she's a bride in her new music video.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:So it's like they were like what is she doing? Why is she always trying to be a bride?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think that's what came up and I was like this fact is interesting.
Speaker 3:It's like wedding planner shotgun wedding Marry me Monster and Law Monster and Law Monster and Law is so good. James did it that movie.
Speaker 2:I love that movie. I built that movie.
Speaker 1:You got to go way back as well.
Speaker 3:Like, so she been.
Speaker 1:Oh, she was. It's sometimes she didn't go through with the wedding, just to say that you know so I'm like just throw it that way.
Speaker 3:I'm trying to think of what her other rom-com Made in Manhattan. She's not a bride, she's a maid. She does dress up at one point.
Speaker 2:This isn't a rom-com, but I love her enough that's like one of my favorite. Oh yeah, she, she, she does it, she dresses up.
Speaker 1:She plays a bride in that too.
Speaker 2:So she just get married in that.
Speaker 3:She gets married, right Okay.
Speaker 2:That a whole Uh-huh.
Speaker 3:I don't know she's been a bride in. Yeah, I can't think.
Speaker 2:Like seven.
Speaker 3:Oh wait, to the plan B or something. Is she a bride? She's pregnant, she's been pregnant.
Speaker 1:It's not called plan B, but it's back up plan.
Speaker 3:Yeah, oh that's what it is that's plan B?
Speaker 1:Uh-oh they're. What else is there? Okay, selena, they're.
Speaker 3:Selena, they do get married in that Uh-huh.
Speaker 2:Selena.
Speaker 1:So the answer is nine times Wow, selena, wedding planner, enough. El Contante, backup plan Marry me, my family, shotgun wedding and the cell.
Speaker 3:She's a bride in the cell.
Speaker 1:As it says.
Speaker 2:I can't remember. I mean, the cell is really good. I haven't watched her, but I don't remember her being a bride.
Speaker 1:Yeah, she's worn a white dress with the intention of marrying she. She's might not have it's a followed through with it, but like she's, you know, worn a dress and like you know, interesting, I didn't hear you say monster in law.
Speaker 2:Was that on there?
Speaker 3:That wasn't even Maybe she wasn't a bride in that maybe.
Speaker 1:Yeah, maybe she, maybe she was, I can't remember.
Speaker 2:They got married cause she wore white to their wedding. The mom.
Speaker 3:Oh, wait a minute, yeah, cause remember to the J.
Speaker 2:James.
Speaker 1:Fonda wears white to the wedding.
Speaker 2:Cause she likes Bill Marinair's. The last one, james, something right, I forget, maybe it's 10, but it's 10.
Speaker 1:This one, it says nine.
Speaker 3:I haven't even caught them all.
Speaker 1:Yeah, now it's 10.
Speaker 3:No, I have to say I, if you've seen the Netflix documentary like it's called the halftime, I think, oh, yeah, yeah, I, when I watched that, like I don't know last year or two years ago, I felt deeply moved, Um, and I might have even cried. I feel like she has. She has been through a lot and she does not get like respect from you know, like her peers, Um, and but like she's, you know, she's like a force. So if she's amazing, a bride 10 times, she can do that and I'm fine with that. By the way, Mary Meade was like based on a web comic or something. Um, yeah, it's like it has a really interesting origin story and, um, yeah, I mean she produces and like all of like.
Speaker 1:I'm obviously like her later movies and stuff. So I'm like, yeah, like you said, good for her. Not only is she starring in these. You know what was that one, that one movie she was in where she it was really good.
Speaker 2:It was based on a true story about the strippers.
Speaker 3:Hustlers, oh my God. Hustlers yeah, she was amazing in that and she produced that too.
Speaker 2:Hustlers is great Hustlers was good yeah. So, um, like you said, she deserves all that, all that kind of credit.
Speaker 1:So, um, okay, let's do. Um, we'll do a little bit of a. Let's do, um we do like a little kudos corner, which is basically us giving thanks and shouting out things that we're thankful for, happy about this week, and yeah, so let's start it off. We'll we'll do go around the circle and then we'll end with you Kate.
Speaker 2:Yay, no pressure. If you don't want to do it, just we do it. No pressure, we do it over time.
Speaker 1:If you don't have anything to be thankful for. That's why.
Speaker 3:Oh no.
Speaker 1:Um go ahead. Ashley can start it off.
Speaker 2:Oh that, that means they get to copy me when I get to go first.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So obviously my kudos is for you. I just can. I still can't believe that you're on our podcast right now.
Speaker 1:And.
Speaker 2:I swear it was like fate, because I was at Barnes and Noble and we had talked about doing your book. Um, so I went ahead and bought it when I was there and then, not even 20 minutes after I purchased the book, Chanel like group text with me and Stacy was like oh my God, she agreed to be on our podcast. And I was in Barnes and Noble with our friend Ashley and I was just like freaking out in the middle of this store. I was like you see, this book, this, oh, there's going to be on our podcast. Ashley's like I know her.
Speaker 1:She hadn't even hadn't even met her, yet she's like, she's my friend hey that is true, though.
Speaker 3:I call everyone my friend, who I have never spoken to, but I just am like you're my friend.
Speaker 2:So that's right. So I just feel like it's fate and just thank you for taking the time to be here. You're absolutely amazing. I'm obsessed with this book. I can't stop reading it. I will be finished with it, I'm sure today or tomorrow at this point, and, yeah, I'm just so excited for for that and anything else that you have coming out. It's just, it's going to be amazing. I know it. Yeah, that's all my cuteness.
Speaker 2:I guess I like you guys too, but it's just funny because Ashley's barn's a noble story. But, like before we had ever discussed this, the copy I have for your book is actually from my Book of the Month app that I do or whatever, and so I was telling Ashley and Chanel when she decided to do it I go, this is like the universe is telling us to have these like really strong female writers and like talk about their books and stuff, because I ordered it and then I had it and then she was like we're going to do it and then you're on and I'm just like it's, everything's just like lining up. It was just really cool. So definitely thank you for taking the time. It's just been a great experience. I've been excited about this all week and kudos to, obviously, chanel for being like I'm just going to do it, I'm going to message and see what happens.
Speaker 1:Yeah, thank you Seriously. I mean again just to piggyback off of what they're saying. I mean thank you so much. I mean we have no idea the life of an author, but I'm sure you have, you know, people sliding into your DMs and emails and so just to say yes to us. You know we're this is a little podcast we're very appreciative and, yeah, again, I'm just stalking you after I read this book last year and so it's, I'm geeking out, it's just being such a fan. So, thank you so much. Kudos to you, because this book is truly just it's amazing, it's you can tell, and just reading it, all the hard work that you, that you put into it, because these characters are great, the supporting cast is great and it was definitely a top read for me last year. So so, yeah, thank you so much. I have one more kudos my best friend, bob.
Speaker 3:He, he retired this week.
Speaker 1:And so we had a little retirement party this weekend. So I just want to say happy retirement Bob. Oh yeah, so he's my second kudos.
Speaker 3:Bob. So yeah, well, let me give you all kudos. This was really fun. It also worked out perfectly because I have the day off for the holiday today, so this was just like so nice.
Speaker 3:Not only do I not have to be doing my job, I can be like talking to you all, so that's, that's really fun. So it was, it was my privilege, and thank you for first sliding into my messages or emails. I really appreciate it. And I would like to say give a kudos to a book that I am currently reading, that I'm I'm probably the last person to read this book. You've probably already all read it, but I could not wait to read it. Actually suspense I'm not even going to say what it is yet, but it was an add on for Book of the Month this month. So when I was getting my books because I am also a member they were impressed by. When I went to Book of the Month, I was like I'm a member.
Speaker 2:What.
Speaker 3:Yes, I have the app and I ordered it and it was so popular that they're like your box isn't going to ship for like until mid January. So I was like, oh, it came through on Libby like two days ago. Oh, I was like, yes, I accept it, I'll take it. So I've been reading it on my phone, but it is Butcher and Blackbird.
Speaker 2:I knew you were going to say that I'm waiting for that too. That's so funny. I'm waiting for it for Book of the Month too, right now.
Speaker 3:What happened? I just didn't print enough. I know I should have just bought it in a normal store, but I was like oh, I'm waiting on Libby right now. I actually heard, actually Tara DeWitt, I think, the another famous author of Buddy Feelings, who I also slid into her DMs. She's the one who she was like. The audio book is also really good.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's what I heard.
Speaker 3:So I wish I had the audio, but that's OK, I'll be reading the book because I've already like tried to pitch like something similar. I was like used it as a comp, like you know, if you like Butcher and Blackbird, like what about this book idea I have, because I just like knew I was really going to be into it. So I'm very excited that it's so, that like took off and it's so popular, because I think it's so cool to do this kind of like genre mashup and that people like love it so much. So, yeah, I'm just I'm really enjoying reading that.
Speaker 3:Nice who does to Bryn Weaver.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I love it. I can't wait to read it, like I've heard such great things.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Stacey, it seems like your kind of book Definitely. Yeah, I can see it. I can see it. Yeah, you gave us some good recs.
Speaker 2:Yes, check them out. Yeah, definitely check them out. I've been like putting them on my Libby app, as you guys are talking about.
Speaker 1:Save and save. Yes, and to all of our listeners, of course. Obviously, read you again by Kate Goldbeck, since we are going to be talking about it next episode.
Speaker 2:So yeah, amazing.
Speaker 1:We love it. That's the best rec. That's the best rec for the episode. Well, thank you again.
Speaker 2:Thank you everyone for listening and yeah, stacey you gotta read what you like, close it out, stace. Okay, betcha on. Now I gotta figure out how to end the recording.