¶ Intro / Opening
She has the dream job , the one we all secretly or not so secretly wish we had working with books every day . Yes , please . Sure , I know she probably does more than just read for a living , but let me hold on to my little fantasy . On top of that , she's a fellow Swifty , which makes us love her even more . Please welcome to the podcast , kelly
¶ Welcome to the Dream Job
Hi .
Hi , oh , my gosh .
I actually interviewed you like months ago for this podcast , but this was back when the podcast was in the works and not out yet , and I thought this was going to come out so much sooner than when it did .
So I was .
I'm so grateful that you were like yes , we can record it again , because I think it , if that episode came out , it would have just dated us . I feel like that was in the prime of something happening and we talked about that in a lot of detail and I think I think it would just like scream like , oh , this was like a while ago .
So I'm like so happy that this is like sooner to when this episode will actually release .
Yeah , of course . Thanks for having me .
Of course , okay , so I do . Before we get into the questions , I do want to ask you what has been the highlight of your week so far .
Girl , I have been racking my brain for anything to say to this , my brain for anything to say to this , because this week has just been pure survival mode for me . Um , because I have just not been feeling my best . I've been having migraines all the time . Anyways , irrelevant , I'm sorry . Oh , it's fine .
Um , but we did go out to dinner for my father-in-law's birthday earlier this week and that was . That was nice . I got some delicious hibachi , so I guess so sad . Now I'm hungry .
No , that is not sad , because I love honestly I love a dinner , going out to dinner , someone making food and bringing it to me and getting something really yummy .
Though , depressingly , I couldn't get any Mai Tais , which is one of my favorite things in the entire world . I love a good margarita . Oh my God , I'm not even going to , we're not even going to get into this right now , because I'm going to get so sad For anybody listening . I'm currently pregnant , so I cannot drink alcohol or anything .
I didn't know if you wanted to say that , so I was not gonna bring it up , but I was like , oh , I love a margarita no , I don't , I don't care about bringing it up , I just wasn't sure you felt , um , you can cut that .
Yeah , oh my gosh , I we went out for mexican on sunday . Actually , maybe that's my highlight of the week . Um , it's always solid , nick . Nick got a delicious looking margarita and I was just staring at him in so much jealousy and I was like we're immediately coming here . The second , this baby is out of me , so I can have one of those .
Understandable . Understandable Because I feel like you deserve a margarita . You deserve one . Thank you , gosh darn it , I deserve multiple . Yes , that is true . That is very accurate . Okay so we'll just oh sorry , Do you have ?
more to say oh no , no , no . I was just going to say so that's no , no , no .
I was just going to say so that's my week . I like it . No , I think that's a good week . It is a good week . Okay , we're diving on in . Oh , I guess I never really said you were an acquisitions editor . Oh , that's what I knew . Oh , this is . I'm so sorry people , she's an acquisitions editor . In my head I knew that . I said you worked with books .
I never said like what you did . So she's an acquisitions ever editor , everybody . So the first set of questions is editor thing , what ? What inspired you to become an acquisitions editor ? Did you always want to work in publishing or did you fall into this job ?
The answer
¶ Breaking Into Publishing
to both of those questions , like both yes are . The answer to both of those questions is did I always want to work in publishing ? Yes , but did I fall into to work in publishing ? Yes , but did I fall into this job Also ?
yes , yes and yes , because in high school , like I always was reading , as many of us were , and I , like I never I'm a person that , like I never click passions and like actual things you use to like then having jobs that do those things you know .
So I never thought like , oh , I like to read books , I could work with books in the future , like that's a job I could do . Um , so I was gonna go to school , uh , to be a uh doctor , and then my friend was just like that seems a little off there like , maybe why don't you ? you love to read books , why don't you like try to go into publishing ?
And I was like , oh yeah , that's a thing that like people do .
I should .
I should do that to the dismay of my parents , I decided not to become a doctor and go to school for English literature .
I like it . I mean , now you can just read romances about doctors and hot doctors , always hot doctors , come on . Always , always . Yeah , okay , what advice do you have for people that want to work in publishing ?
Hmm , so it's a very good question .
I know right , I was proud of it .
It's a very good question .
It's such a good question .
Such a good question . How long can we stall , yeah , as I'm like gathering my thoughts how long ? How many times could I say such a good question ? Before answering um , I would say number one is you do not need degree in English or anything like that to get into publishing .
Honestly , I would recommend , if you want to go to college , because to get into publishing you generally will need a degree . I would recommend getting a degree in something you could . If you ever wanted to like leave publishing .
You could have those skills , like , if you want to do business , tech , whatever , because it doesn't matter , as long as you are reading all the time and you like have some common sense skills , everything . You can get a job in publishing . Um , internships are . I also feel so silly saying this because I didn't follow any of this .
I wish I had um , but you know you can still get in , no matter what um , no matter how hard you try . Rather , um , internships are really important if you can get like an internship with even just like your local newspaper or um . A lot of literary agencies are doing virtual ones .
Now I'm just trying to get in because publishing is such a small little circle it is really really hard to break in . So any contacts you can make will help .
I got my job because , obviously , obviously to my own heart , because I am good at what I do now , but they didn't know that and the reason I essentially got this job and heard about it is someone my mom worked with , used to work with my boss , and knew that I wanted to get into publishing and was like , hey , you should check this company out .
And I did and I was like , oh , never heard of them before . That's awesome . And I applied and after a couple interviews then she reached out to him and was like , hey , by the way , this is ellie . And I mean , you know , I didn't just get the job from someone else .
I did go through multiple interviews before he found out that I knew someone he knew no , I feel , but I feel like it .
This just also proves that it's like you need to know people like I think that always helps , no matter what .
I would never have .
The point of that is I never would have even known about this company if , like , my mom's friend hadn't worked with him previously and was like , oh , there's a publishing company that actually is in our state that like you could work at if you apply , like I'm sure that you know that would be a great fit for you , and I was like , oh yeah , that sounds good
, but I never would have heard of them prior to this and so I wouldn't have even known to apply .
I don't think I knew that part of the story of you and I actually applied for a different role . I knew that . I knew that , but I did not know and then my boss .
Boss , he sat in on the second interview and he emailed me afterwards separately and was like hey , I see that you applied to be an acquisitions editor a couple months ago and we'd already filled the role when you applied . But are you interested now , are you ?
still interested ? Yes , I am .
Yes , please , thank you , Because I was just applying to anything to get in the door . That's another tip . Don't fully focus on the role that you want to get into , because if you can just get into a company , it's going to be a lot easier to transfer over to a department , if that's where you want to go .
Agreed . Just getting your foot in the door is like the best first step , and it could be in something that you don't totally love yet and , who knows , maybe you'll grow to love it or you can always because they're more . I feel like companies are more likely to hire internally than externally do you already know all the systems ?
you already know , like the culture , everything . Um , it just makes it a lot easier . And when you apply for those less quote , unquote , less desirable roles because , let's be real , everybody goes into publishing essentially wanting to be an editor and work directly with the text Nobody is going in being like I want to work on typesetting this book , yeah .
No , it's true , it's true . So it's like , honestly , just get your foot in the door . Okay , what does a typical day in the office look like for you ?
Emails , so many emails . Yeah , you would probably be surprised at how much my job is just emailing people . I would say 75% emails . I would say 75% emails ,
¶ Daily Life as an Acquisitions Editor
5% looking for books on my own . And then what ?
20% looking at manuscripts and reading them , I feel like that's still a pretty decent amount . If you just take away the 75% of emails , so so many . My inbox right now is at 879 .
Oh my god , that would stress me the fuck out .
Yeah , yep , yep , yeah , yeah , yeah .
Oh , I'm so sorry I'm so stressed , but it's fine because I get to do what I love .
So I love it , but I mean it's so tough because I think a lot of people I do think you should go into a job that you love and you love doing . But it's still a job at the end of the day and there's things that , like , we don't all love .
So it's like if it was your dream to open a coffee shop , you're gonna have days where it's not fun because it's now your job and you're living off of it so it's like but you need to still .
I think you need to do something you love , because you'll find that it's easier to go into the office even if it's a bad day yeah , and you'll eventually find something like I have a little folder that's emails that make me happy .
Oh , that's amazing .
I love that . I didn't mean to cut you off , no , no , no , but like that's the thing is like . So it's like , even though there's bad days and it's like not always the best , and you're still like doing something you love , you still have that . You're reading books while working and I think that's really cool .
Yeah , and I think it's great because I get to work with books that I am really passionate about , so that helps a lot books . I still have so much love for them . That pushes me on to get through the hard times .
The good old hard times . What do you find to be the most challenging in your job and what is the most rewarding ?
Most challenging . I don't know if I should say this , but I'm still going to say it is uh , when I have to work with licensors or terminology , when I have to work with , like agents or authors or whatever that that our visions don't necessarily align , and I understand books are authors' babies sometimes .
Sometimes it's just a little too much passion there and it it turns into pointed anger at not the best you know gets blown back on me . So I have to mitigate all of that um . So that's probably the most challenging is , you know , navigating those , uh , those difficult seas .
I'll try to explain to authors and agents our side of things and what's going on and try to make sure that they don't get too upset . We understand their feelings . I don't know if that made sense , but I think it , it does it's .
It's tough . I think it can be really tough with maybe people wanting things to go a certain way , but like that's not life , life happens . Yeah , there's just certain circumstances that that are out of out of your control .
I understand why you feel passionately about that , why that's what you want , but sometimes it's just not feasible at all . It's just really hard to mitigate all that stuff , because if I were them I would be just as passionate about my own work . I get it .
So it makes sense , you're here for it , you get it . But so it's like it makes sense , like you're here for it , you get it .
But it's also like I have to do my job . Please , please please be nice to me . I'm doing the best I can here .
I'm just a girl . I'm just a girl , I'm just a baby , I'm just a 31 year old girl . But it's true . It's true , wait , okay . But then what's the most rewarding ? This will end on a .
Yeah , sorry . Most rewarding is I mean I kind of talked about it earlier is working on those books that like bring me so much joy and that I'm so excited and I get to . You know , tell all my friends like , oh my God , you need to go read this book .
It's coming out and it's like it's , it's so good , um , just , it makes me so happy to be part of those kinds of books , especially when the author is also like just as excited about our partnership and everything . Oh my God , it makes me so happy , um oh my god , it makes me so happy .
Um to just yeah , uh , to help bring that stuff to life , love it like I like that . I like that . Yeah , okay , also also a big sorry , a big perk is also being able to go to like conventions for work .
Yeah , that's so yeah I mean , we just , we just love books , man , we just love books like a reader convention that you would want to go to as a fan and you get paid to go to it .
Please and thank you yeah , yes , please , yes , please , send me , send me um . Okay , so what genres do you feel that you acquire the most of ? Do you find that you acquire those books the most because you like reading them ?
Yes . The answer to that second one is yes . I mean , I gravitate towards what I like and I'm going to be more passionate about what I like and I know the market for those more so I can advocate for them . Be like this is worth it , I promise . Sorry , that was aggressive .
No , I like that . We are here for it . We are here for it .
Yeah , I would say , most often I get , like you know , romance , obviously , romantasy , lots of romantasy ,
¶ Publishing Trends and Romantasy
romantasy and then just fantasy . Also , I love a good fantasy book . Um , rom-coms . Rom-coms are my favorite , my personal favorite , just like so fucking solid , they're so good and you know what , I don't care if they can be tropey , that's what I want .
Like that's the point I want , like a happy laugh out loud moment .
There's so much to be upset about in the world , I don't want to continue to read about distress most of the time . I mean , a lot of romance is about political turmoil . Yeah , yep , but that's different guys , okay . Different it guys , okay , different it is yeah , I like a light fluffy , fluffy . But you know , light , fun , spicy , rom-com , spice .
I just love spice . Okay , what trends are you noticing in the book world and what trends are you noticing in the book world , and what ?
trends are you noticing in romance ?
So , dare I say , romanticism is starting to like fill it , and I'm talking both like indie books , traditionally published books . But I don't know if it's they just push so much out there because it was doing well , yeah , and now . I'm like , but then ?
But do you think too that they just like they kind of these like mediocre books , and then the good ones get lost in the mediocre ones ?
I think that the good ones actually still are able to stand out . I think the issue is that publishers have seen the success of stuff like Fourth Wing and and sarah j mass , even though sarah j mass has been successful for over a decade way longer .
Okay , that's my I . I have to give you credit . I have to give you credit because , and clearly , if people couldn't tell , we're friends . But this is like my one , like we have had so many conversations about this we have . But this is like my one , like , oh , what is it called ? When you're like my , it's like my one .
I don't know what it is , but like , basically , everybody says that they read it when they like , basically , when COVID happened and quarantine happened , everybody read Sarah J Maas then . But but I love love when people are like , well , when did you read it ? And I'm like , well , I read it back in 2018 .
Actually , before Kingdom of Ash came out , my friend she told me to read A Court of Thorns and Roses and I fell in love with Sarah J Maas and then read it , read it read everything of hers . So actually I've been waiting , like before Crescent City .
So like when we got like teasers of Crescent City , we had to wait years for it , while everybody now those teasers shattered my soul .
And the thing is is like I don't think people understand , because if you pick up Crescent City and then what happens in chapter seven , you're like like , okay , but we for two , over two years , thought one way , so we were fucking devastated . So mean to us .
So mean because the thing is is like other people don't understand because they did not see those teasers for over two years of one of something that we were , I was , I was devastated . No , I literally can't . But you try to explain that to somebody . They're like , well , what do you mean ?
And I'm like , no , no , like we knew about crescent city from when , when Kingdom of Ash published in 2018 . And we were waiting for March 22 , 2020 to come out . That and we thought , and if you've read it , you know what happens . We thought it's hard to explain because , like , we did not think chapter seven would happen .
It's hard to say without spoilers .
Exactly , but we did not . We never saw chapter seven coming .
Yeah At all At all . Also , this is now a Sarah J Maas podcast , exactly , but we did not . We never saw chapter seven coming . Yeah at all at all also .
This is now a sarah j maas podcast .
Sorry everybody , I hope you enjoy and thank you for into a ted talk , but it's literally the coolest thing to tell people and I am so grateful that you told me to read this series , but like to be able to tell people like I read it before you so you can all fuck off , thank you imagine the distress I was in having read throne of glass when it published
yeah , I am at least . I just had to wait like time I think I just had to wait like three months from when I finished tower of dawn to when Kingdom of Ash released , and I remember you were like bitch , please .
You were like , oh no , this is so hard to wait and I was like I'm gonna punch you in the face .
Actually , you think that's hard .
You think that's hard Honestly , though , but it was hard , but I'm not , yeah , yours was a lot harder your pain is not equal , but our pain is still our pain but it is not equal um all that , all that little oh tangent side , yeah sorry , I digress yeah , I , we , we both digress because you know , when it comes to Sarah , we just get very passionate .
We have so many thoughts , so many thoughts .
We could have a whole podcast about Sarah .
Honestly , genuinely , we could have a whole episode just about her and her books and honestly , we should probably do that . I think we should do that . Okay , I will happily do that . Are you kidding me ? Yes , there's so many things we could talk about . I mean , people have whole actual podcasts about like that stuff , so I mean one episode easily filled .
Yes , oh no . No , we are doing it . So people as you're listening , just know that there's a full Sarah J Maas universe . Maas destruction , oh my god . I love that Is that what people call it . Well , I've seen that on like stickers and shit .
I'm not like super clued into all of like the social media stuff .
I haven't seen that recently . To be completely honest , it was when I was reading it and I was looking up everything on Etsy because I needed to own everything and I was like , oh my god , I love these moss destructions .
I have a little . I have a little otter um from Crescent City on my Kindle . I think I showed it to you probably did , but I don't remember . I'm sorry okay , all right , I promise now we'll stop talking yeah we'll save it for the next episode .
The point I was making with that is , publishers saw the like massive spike in sales , I will say , of Sarah books which were never labeled as romantic until like a couple years ago , and I was like what is happening ? What were they labeled as before ?
Just like young adult fantasy oh , I did see that they'd shake , because I'm pretty sure we never mind we're , we're not gonna talk about it , we're not gonna talk
¶ Throne of Glass Obsession
about it , um , but that like fourth wing and everything .
And publishers were like , we want that , that's what we want , um , and so then they started trying to get their next sarah day mass , their next rebecca yaros and it . And then , like self-pub authors were like seeing the massive success of that stuff and so they hightailed it into that direction .
We're like , okay , we can capitalize on the success that's happens in any , any genre , um , in any sub-genre . Like people will write to what's popular . It's like dystopian books started . I'm sorry , can you hear , earl ? He's so loud . Oh , that was earl that was earl .
He's upstairs . Oh , that was so loud . I don't know if the audio , well , I'm sure if I heard it , then the audio picked it up . So you're upstairs . Oh , that was so loud . I don't know if the audio , well , I'm sure if I heard it , then the audio picked it up . So you're welcome , people , that was my girl my cat Earl Grady .
Um , what was I saying before I got distracted by him ?
oh , dystopian what ? Yeah you , because I think that's making a comeback . I literally got an email from a publisher like their like newsletter and it was like dystopian romances , we're back , baby . And I was like hey , oh yeah .
Dystopian has been on the up and up for the last probably six months or so I've been seeing a lot more of that um same . I've been seeing a lot of like um , more fantasy based stuff in the ya space coming through , um , but yeah , just a lot of , a lot of dystopian , a lot of romance is .
I think is gonna have a bit of a , a little bit of a downturn . Oh my gosh , jordan just showed me a photo of our cat yeah , I have a little baby Poe .
He's not little and he's he's laying right next to me . Okay , sorry , um , you see like uh , we keep getting so distracted . I'm so sorry everyone yeah , I know me , me too . Sorry , what were you saying ? I'm so sorry .
I was just reiterating . Like dystopian is on the up and up and romantic is going to probably take a little bit of a downturn , but honestly it probably won't , because everybody eats it up , including myself .
Yeah , I was going to say to like , don't get me wrong , like I'm still even though I think I agree with you and I think it's oversaturated , I'm still freaking reading it like I just finished .
the assistant to the villains , like series which obsess love , another one that you told me to read them .
well , I was just gonna say I read it because you told me to read it , but like um , but that and that's the thing , but I do really like I like that one . I think that's a the thing , but I do really like I like that one .
I think that's a solid one , though , but I think there's other ones like there's definitely ones that I've like picked up and I'm like Ooh , no , and I put down .
I feel like assistant to the villain is very loosely romantic . Yes , yes . But I think it just feels like an adult take on Ella enchanted to me basically , obviously without like the weird spell that Ella is under . Shit it is .
I love it . Wait , I hope you know I'm going to use that in a TikTok later . So sorry , I'll give you credit , don't worry .
I mean you don't have to , because I don't have one I'll shout out .
Everybody here will know . Yeah , if you listen to this episode and then you remember a TikTok I did a couple weeks ago , then you're welcome . You're in the know . You're in the know . If you know , you know .
Yeah , that one's like . I mean it's marketed as romantic but like does not feel like romantic to me at all I like , I like okay I just saw poe's butt .
Oh don't mind , poe , I love it um , okay , so what gaps do you currently see in the market that you would like to fill ? Are there any ?
I don't know . Well , I guess it technically would be considered a gap in the market because I haven't been seeing too much of it . But I love magical realism . Same same , same , same , same , same , same Elevate for magical realism . I , same , same , same , same , same , same , same Elevate for magical realism , and it's so rare to find it .
Have you read Ashley Poston before ? Yes , oh my gosh . So I read her novel Love Story and I'm obsessed . I still need to read the Dead Romantics , the Seven Year Slip , and I think she has a new one . But I'm like I really I still need to read the dead romance , romantics , the seven year slip , and I think she has a new one .
But I'm like , I am here for it , I love it and I can that go on the rise ?
Please and thank you , I will eat it all up . I love it so much . One of my you don't , you never you didn't gel with it , but one of my favorite magical realism authors , aggie Stivator oh , yeah , she does . Yeah , you never gelled with her , which that's how we I can't , it's fine .
I guess we can still be friends Loosely . I tried so hard . I tried so hard with the Raven Boys . I tried so hard . I still stand hard with the Raven boys .
I tried so hard . I still stand by . You should try her other book . She has an adult book that just came out that I really am excited to read . Oh okay , you know you could try , cause I understand Raven boys might not be everyone , and that's also , it's YA , it came out like so long ago , it's fine . It's ya , it came out like so long ago , it's fine .
I get it . It's not fine , but you know I get it um , but I , like would love just more books like those , these . If anybody here is a writer and like wants to write a magical realism book , tell jordan about it . Jordan will tell me about it , because I need them .
I know , I agree I need to read . I really want to read more Ashley Poston because I loved a novel love story . I loved it so much but just , like , I don't know , like I just but I love like magical realism in the way that it's not paranormal , they're not witches , they're not . It's like like a contemporary romance with like magic .
Yeah , just , it's just normal , it's just part of the world .
But nobody like it's not like a big deal , it just like yes is oh , it is like I want some magical realism in my life , like , why can't I have one of her arcs from when I worked at sorry , I'm saying this so far away .
I have one of her arcs from when I worked at sorry , I'm saying this so far away . I have one of her arcs from when I worked at my bookstore , but I don't know where it is . I'm trying to look for it Ashley Poston .
I actually don't know what her last name is .
I always I always pronounced it posten posten .
Okay , well then , I will keep saying posten , because usually I'm the one that has the horrible names or horrible at names , but I'm so jealous that you have it's like one of our first books and it's ya or maybe not one of them .
I'm not so jealous yeah , no , I knew you didn't really care about it . I don't know where it is . It must be somewhere , somewhere .
I hope I didn't put it in a donation box . Oh , I hope you didn't either oops , um , okay , so that was the last question in editing , editoring okay , so the next one is reading . What is your favorite book and or series , a book you would recommend to anyone and everyone ?
the stress remember remember earlier that I said um we were done talking about sarah , um I lied , I lied um . I mean , the basic answer for me is Throne of Glass , not ACOTAR oh , 100% that Throne of Glass .
The series is my all-time favorite series of all time yes , yes , yes , yes .
And I stand by that if that series was written by a man , it wouldn't get a bunch of the like . Not hate , but like the teasing , oh , it's like not good .
Like people are criticizing her writing in it and I was like , have you actually read it all the way through ? Like , do you not see what she started at 16 ? And she's like now in her mid-30s , like , can you not ? Like don't get me wrong Like I think Court of Thrones and Roses it is an easier read to get into because it's not as crazy as Death .
It's a great one to start with , exactly Perfect , but Throne of Glass is intense .
Yes , I always , whenever I like , pitch it to people I just talk about . I say that it's basically like a a um less graphic and more young adult . Quote-unquote , because it's not young adult version of Game of Thrones .
I can't read Game of Thrones . I've tried but like I've tried to and it's just , it's very dense to me , it's so dense , and there's just so many big words , but like big words as in places , and I'm like fucking .
I am people and I'm like I can't keep up yeah , and there is a lot of like senseless traffic stuff , like I I don't mind when there's , I obviously , obviously I don't mind when there's like and there is a lot of like senseless traffic stuff , like I don't mind when there's , I obviously obviously I don't mind when there's like smut and stuff , like if there's ,
you know , sexual stuff , that is for the plot yeah , if it's for the plot , then it's great . If it's , you know , just kind of showing horrible acts happening to people , yeah . Not really into that .
No , I feel that .
I do love Game of Thrones as a show , yeah it's a great show .
It's a solid show . It's a solid show .
Yeah , so I would say Throne of Glass . And then , if you made me pick a non-basic answer , um , as Jordan knows , I also am a sucker for YA romance books . Um , and I one of my all-time favorite books is , um , stephanie Perkins .
Um , trying to see if I can find the Anna and the French Kiss , jordan got me a special version of it a while ago and I think it's upstairs somewhere . I was going to pull it . But Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins , the cutest .
I was wondering if you were going to say that one , because that one , I know , is like One you love .
Yeah , I don't recommend it to everybody because not everybody is going to like YA stuff , um , but
¶ Underrated Authors and Future Goals
it's like like older YA , um Okay , and it's just so cute and so sweet and amazing . And I love Stephanie Perkins and that was actually the um , because it's a three book series and that was my first introduction to like authors who do um , a series where each book is a different couple in the same universe . Oh , I didn't know that .
I didn't know , that was like your first one yeah , I mean , it was in high school . I read them but no , but I yeah , no , I get that , no , this was recently . I mean I yeah , no , I get that , no , this was recently . So I mean I don't think there were .
Honestly , I don't think that trend was super popular until I don't know . I could be wrong .
I feel like I no , you're right though , because I feel like it's more of like a indie , self-published scene .
Yeah , not so much like a traditionally published author it's such a sweet story and it's it's about a girl who like oh darn , has to get get sent to paris for boarding school for her senior year . She's like so upset about it and it's just everybody's like get a fucking grip , get a going to paris , get a grip Going to .
Paris , and oh , this actually might fit . I know that you like eating stuff , sometimes the whole book . Basically he has a girlfriend . They don't do anything until later , but like he has a girlfriend the whole time , say what Jordan's like . Maybe I actually will read this now .
Right , okay , good to know , good to know it's just so good .
I highly recommend , even if it's not like , doesn't sound like your bread and butter . I just recommend trying it because it fills me with so much joy , so much happiness . His name is etienne cyclare . Come on but my .
Thing is he's a british , frenchman oh shit , we got all the stuff . No , but like , my thing is is like , is it bring it ? Does it bring you so much joy ? Because it brings you back to when you read it for the first time in high school . Like I don't know if it will bring me that joy because I know I think it's already if you like , yearning .
I do like yearning it's got , like it's so much yearning . Oh my god , like I reread it and it still makes me happy , and it's not just because it makes me think of the first time I read it , it's because , like , I just love the story . Okay , also .
I'm also gonna throw in there to All the Boys I Loved Before by Jenny Han , because , oh , that I'm also going to throw in there to All the Boys I Loved Before by Jenny Han , because that book is also amazing .
I did read that one and that was pretty solid .
I would say it's like the same type of vibes , same type of feeling you'll get .
I don't think I loved the book that much , but I am loving the summer .
I turned pretty show no show is so much better than the books , but my opinion agreed even though I didn't read the books .
Um , oh , okay . So what is the spiciest book you have ever read ? Drop the smut read .
Drop the smut . Oh , I should have said spill the smut . Spill the smut . Come on , girl . I know dumb , that's a good question because I've had to read . I've had to read for work a lot of um , oh , shucks , spicy . I'm trying to think like a book that I've read , like for me .
Let me pull my Kindle up , you can count for work .
Just don't say it's for work yeah .
No , but like I just you know , I want to be Authentically you yeah .
Oh , no , that doesn't count . Oh , what's the book that you ? I have it on here somewhere . I think it's a book that you recommended to me when we first met , and it was like two people who worked together , is it ?
christina lauren book oh , it might be her like beautiful disaster that one's yeah , bastard , yeah , oh beautiful bastard . That's what I said .
It's not what I said and like actively slash , inactively reading gothicana because I keep expiring my library hold . I love that book and it's perfect for right now .
It's perfect for right . I love that book with my whole heart , yeah , um .
So I'd say probably like those ones so good , okay , this one might .
This one might be a little tough . What's easy scene and it can be attention scene too lives in your head .
Rent free I saw that and I was like racking my brain .
This might be a stupid answer no , there are no stupid answers , kelly the first book that like .
The first thing that came to mind was I don't remember which book it is in , but in Jennifer Arman Chow books is it Blood and Ash , Whatever the scene , when they're in the cavern in the water .
No , I'm not thinking that scene .
I didn't finish the series so I don't know . It's like when they're traveling with the two of them . Yeah , oh , I , I know what you're . I think I know what you're talking about with uh , with .
I don't even fucking remember his name , but like his yeah , yeah , I didn't finish the series either , but I'm pretty sure we left off around the same spot yeah , I thought , but um , oh , I forgot about that .
I don't know something about that scene when they're in , like in the , the springs in the cave , oh , in the cave in the cave .
I know what you're talking about . Yes , yes , yes . You know what scene lives rent-free in my mind and it probably doesn't really count . It's at the end of the first book . She stabs him yes , spoiler and then like he runs and chases her and then they do it on the forest floor . I think that might be like a scene that lives rent-free in my head .
I don't know if I would say it's the spiciest scene , but that never lives in my head rent-free .
I agree , I agree , like it's not . Like that cave scene isn't the spiciest thing I would say , but it's like , it's it like I , just I really like it .
It's a really good scene . It's a really good scene , it's solid . Okay , so what is a favorite quote of yours ? It could be in a book . You read a poem , a quote . Someone once said oh my gosh .
I wish , oh my gosh , I don't know . I saw that question like 10 minutes before I hopped on here and I was like fuck .
Oops .
Oopsie , poopsie , I don't know . I don't really like save quotes . What I could , what I .
What I'm gonna do , instead of answering that as a favorite quote , is I'm gonna pull one of my old books that I used to sticky and I'm just gonna flip to a random page that had a sticky part and I'm just going to redo what I apparently thought was important to sticky .
Oh my gosh , Wait . No , I'm here for this , please .
Okay , the only ones that I can I know for sure have been stickied are my City of Bones series books Stop it .
This is amazing . No , yes , please , please , please , please . I feel like City of Bones is such a solid series like I loved those books when I read them . I think I read them like back in college , but they're so good okay , you gotta see them right now oh my god , yes , can you ?
we want to do OG City of Bones , or I just picked a random one .
Oh , what do you think ? I feel like the OG City of Bones and the random one . Let's do both . Let's do both , okay , yeah .
It's not even like okay , this is just like a two-sentence thing that I highlighted probably because I thought it was funny . Chase's smile was as bland as buttered toast . Go on , go after him , Pat his head and tell him he's still your super special little boy .
So stupid Wait , but I love it . I'm here for it .
And then Nope , not that one Stupid that's long Nope , not that one , not that one . Half of these I'm like what . So if I have it angled , it means that I it's like a whole paragraph , and there's so many of those that are angled . I don't know who she is . There's no name of she in this entire page . I'm gonna assume it's Clary .
I thought you were reading the quote , girl . I was like this is odd this is so odd .
It says I'm not gonna attack you . She said impatiently I can take the sight of your naked chest without swooning . This is stuff that , like 17 year old kelly thought was so funny . I'm so stupid , it's funny .
I wish I pulled out one where it was like talking about how he hated ducks , because that would have been more worth it I don't remember that did you ever read the clockwork prince series ?
yeah , okay , no comment , just no comment . Okay , the next question ?
Yeah sorry guys , that was probably so disappointing .
No , I loved it . I loved it . Okay . So the last question in reading , what is one underrated romance author , someone you don't see on social media or like whatever , and you think everyone should read Libby Hart .
What was that ? Libby Hart L-I-B-Y-H-A-R-T . What ? Why are you smiling ? Is it because I say that every time ?
Because I think that I think when I first interviewed you I was like thinking about it and I was like I'm pretty sure that's who you said last time .
Yes , my answer is consistent .
I like it . I I like it . Do you have a specific book ?
um , I would say , um , oh , my gosh , what's the name of it ? Hold on , it's a good one , let me grab the name of it I can only think of , like one of the more recent ones that I read , and that's not I mean that one's good too . It's called planes , trains and all the feels .
Um , but talk flirty to me by libya heart I like the name it's about two exes that have to record an audiobook together who doesn't love that ? A spicy audiobook together .
I'm here for it . It's so good . It is so good , Okay . Well , now I will read this one .
Possibly , maybe , sometime in the future , because I've I mean , I've recommended it how many times now .
No comment . Okay , so we are in the last portion of the interview question , so it's the last three questions . What is a fun fact about you that the listeners might be surprised to learn ?
Hmm , I know it's a good one . I think this is what I say every time , because it is a weird thing that , like most people are like huh , I used to be a camp counselor at a circus camp . I think that's cool , it's a pretty cool one , and they did like stilting and what else did we do ?
We did unicycling I forget what it's called , but like that big sphere ball that you would like balance on . We taught the kids how to do that and like at the end of the year or throughout the whole well , not year throughout the whole summer , the kids would work on an act that they would do .
We would work on an act that they would do , and at the end of camp , we would put on a huge circus show for the city and people would come . That's so fun . Yeah , it was so fun . It was a really , really , really awesome experience .
I did it for two summers before I graduated college and then I never , went back to Florida fair then got a big girl job . I moved to Florida for like six months and then I came back home . No , but I think that's cool . Yeah , it's totally cool . Yeah , unicycle who can say you taught a kid how to unicycle , but you ? Don't know how to unicycle yourself .
That's got to be hard .
Yes , okay , miss Kelly , just do it . You show us how to do it . I'd be like no .
I can't do that , you just you can't do that . Okay , so if you could give your life , a romance book title .
What would it be ? That is also a wonderful question . Such a good question , such a good question . I feel like mine would have to be something like like a new adult romance book would be called because , like nick and I met in college . Well , at the end of college you can barely call it college , but oh , is that the title ?
Wait , I'm so confused .
No , no , no , no . I'm just like . I don't know what it like . I'm so bad at naming things . My job isn't to give books titles . Imagine if it was . I feel like that would be fun . It'd be so stressful for me . I'm not good at coming up with stuff like that . I don't know . It would be like .
Oh my gosh . It's such a good question , but it's a hard one .
It's such a good question , but it's a hard one . It's such a solid one , but , no , but a hard one . A lot of this is gonna have to get cut out .
This is just silence but I think that's gonna actually make it better .
Never mind leave it all . Just hear me suffering . Oh my gosh .
I don't know what would yours be I don't know , I haven't thought about it . I haven't thought . I think , like when uh , wow , I did a post a while ago of like the relationship of like nick and I and one of them was it's like book theme , so like give it a title . So I think it was like whispered words and secrets said or something like that .
It it was like alliteration in there and Nick came up with it .
Maybe mine should have some sparks in it , like a spark , because Nick's an electrician . Oh , sparks fly , but I'm going to combine it all .
Sorry , nick , you're my love , but my first love is taylor swift like they need to know their place and I think he does yes um , yeah , maybe like sparks burn or something like that oh , I like your face , I like it , we'll , we'll , we'll give it that , okay .
So the last question
¶ Wrapping Up the Conversation
drumroll , please , okay , anyways . Um , what's one future goal that you would like to achieve ? Either long term , short term , it could be personal , it could be work related , it could be anything else .
I , I want to so cliche . I would like to write a book , oh I like that idea that I came up with is it on paper ? It's a little bit on paper like the like , the like I have . I have an idea of the world okay . I don't have an idea of the story Like I'm still working on that .
I got it , I got you , I got you . I think that would be really cool .
Yeah , so it would be nice to like get that down , but I don't have time , so that's going to be a very lofty goal for quite some time .
It's always there . You can work on it when you want to work on it . It's like you got it .
Yeah , but I mean , that's a pretty cliche .
No , no , it's not this field . Yeah , Okay .
Fair .
Okay .
Well , thank you so much for coming on the podcast . Thank you for me , my imposter syndrome's like why am I here ?
um , because you deserve to be here , kelly . So thank you . I had so much fun chatting with you and I think this is gonna be so like . I think people are really gonna like this episode because there's not many like there's a lot of podcasts out there with like authors and like agents and things like that .
I don't think there's a lot of podcasts out there with like authors and like agents and things like that . I don't think there's a lot of people like publishing , like the traditional publishing , and I think a lot of people are going to enjoy this episode and I and if you don't lie , it'll hurt my feelings .
I have very sensitive feelings be , nice didn't your parents ever teach ? You that if I didn't answer anything that people wanted to know , then ask the comment somewhere and then Jordan and I can chat about it in our dedicated Sarah J Maas episode it will be happening , guys , so stay tuned anyways , thank you , thank you .