Romance Recs

Interview w/Author Laura Wood

• Jordan • Season 2 • Episode 25

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Jordan sits down with bestselling author of Under Your Spell Laura Wood. They discuss Laura's latest title- Let's Make a Scene, a mutual love for tension in romance, iconic moments from pop culture that found their way into her book, her 10 year journey as an author, and a couple Vampire Diaries tangents. 

Let's Make a Scene is out now! It's a rivals to lovers rom-com that follows two costars at the start of their career and again 13 years later when they reunite. They're forced to pretend to be dating to gain publicity for their movie, all while navigating conflicting feelings towards each other. You'll find it full of tension, hilarious banter, hot chemistry, and iconic moments! 

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Jordan:

Welcome to Romance Recs. We're romance obsessed besties, sharing book recommendations broken down by genres and tropes so you can be sure you are getting exactly what you want out of your next read. I'm Jordan and I am currently reading Role for Romance by Lenora Woods, and I'm listening to Dear Reader by Tate James. And I have someone do with me today. It's very exciting.

Laura:

Hi. Hi. Sorry. I didn't know if I was supposed to.

Jordan:

Yeah, go for it. Just jump right in. Yay. We're excited to have you. Thank you so much. Are you reading anything currently or are you just so busy with everything

Laura:

Uh, I'm, I'm reading.

Jordan:

that.

Laura:

No, I'm, I'm reading loads of stuff. I'm, I'm writing a lot at the moment, so I find that when I'm writing I can't stop reading, but I don't like to read like too close to what I'm writing. So at the moment I'm reading, loads of Nora Roberts like romantic suspense because gives me my romance fix, but it feels like far enough away from the romcom for me to be like to, for my brain to cope with that.

Jordan:

Yeah, that's fair enough. What Nora, Robert, are you reading right now? Do you

Laura:

Uh, at the moment I'm rereading Hidden Riches, which is my number one favorite Nora Roberts novel. I think it's pretty much the perfect book, so, yeah.

Jordan:

I love it.

Laura:

But I, but I actually only, started reading her last year and it's so funny because I, you know, she's written like hundreds of books. She's so prolific and I just like read them all. I think for about three months. I just read her solidly and read her whole huge, huge backlist and I just love her. I think she's incredible.

Jordan:

Yeah, I hadn't read any Nora Robert until this last year, and I got an arc for one, I think it was The Mirror, and it was like one of her more recent series, obviously, if I was reading the Arc. But it was so good. I was so intrigued. I'm like, okay, I get it. I'm here.

Laura:

Yeah. That's her. She has all these different threads and that, that is in like her kind of more supernatural.

Jordan:

Mm-hmm.

Laura:

She also has like, kind of quite straight like just romance novels. The ones that I really love and which I think you should definitely get into are the romantic suspense novels. She does them, so I don't, she has this style in her writing where she's so readable, like you just cannot, I dunno what it's, I do not know what she puts in her books, but you cannot put them down. She'll, she'll do these really lengthy, one of my favorite books of hers, there's so many that I'm, I'm not good with the titles, but one of my favorite books of hers is set in this like hotel in a sort of, in like in the mountains and it's so beautiful and the main character is a bartender and she spends like pages talking about like bartending and like making signature cocktails. And I do not understand why that's so compelling, but I was like, I'm so. I'm so invested in these, in these seasonal cocktails and I wanna know.

Jordan:

I understand. After reading a couple of hers, like for that series, I have spent hundreds of pages about this description of this house. Like, I am invested in this house, but I'm not bored. Like I, it's you're there and you just kinda get

Laura:

yeah, yeah, yeah. She sets you and she's an incredible writer. I dunno how she does that, but I wish I did, but it's great.

Jordan:

whatever she's doing, it's

Laura:

Exactly.

Jordan:

Perfect. All right, well, before we jump into all things, let's make a scene, which is your latest book that's coming out next week when this episode airs. It's out now. Um, so, but we usually start with quotes. I have a quote from the book. Let's make a scene by Laura Wood herself. Um, so this quote was one of my favorites. I just, there were so many fun scenes in this book. It was kind of hard to choose, but I went with this one'cause I think it really sums up so much about the two of them, Cynthia and Jack. And so this is from Jack's point of view. This is from their early years, and it says, Cynthia Hisses, I won't be satisfied until he is faced down in the dirt weeping for his mother. I don't even wanna think about why the weird feelings of arousal intensify at this. That's going to require the intervention of a qualified psychoanalyst. It was to be, it was perfect. Their history. I mean, I didn't even include what he says next, which is also hilarious, but

Laura:

there,

Jordan:

it's good.

Laura:

there like sparring and back and forth was the most fun to write. And also so funny. But that specific quote that you just mentioned is there, there are so many lines and scenes in this book that are sort of either overtly or secretly references to my favorite like books and film and television, and that line is heavily inspired by a line that Leslie Nope says in Parks and Recreation.

Jordan:

Thank you. That's what I was thinking the whole time because I'm a huge,

Laura:

Okay.

Jordan:

yeah.

Laura:

was my moment where I was like.

Jordan:

I love that you did that intentionally because that's exactly what I imagined in my brain. And then poor Ben Wyatt looked around like, why am I not more concerned about this? But also I'm a little concerned.

Laura:

But also like he's really, I love that dynamic between Ben and Leslie and that they have that moment where they, they understand each other so well and he's kind of, they, they're at that point when they're fighting, but they're also really into each other and you, and part of what's fun is their, like, shared intensity over the, that particular moment. So yeah, that was a reference for that. So I'm de so delighted that we get to talk about that.

Jordan:

Oh, I love it. Okay. I'll let you do your quote then before I really jump into more about your book and things I noticed because now I'm excited.

Laura:

Okay. Me too. Um, well, my create is, is different. I, I actually, so like I said, at the moment, I'm. I'm writing a lot, and one of the things that I'm writing is a book about one of my favorite authors, a British author, Eva Sson. She's not so well known in the States, which is, you know, a really a shame because she was a fantastic writer. And, um, she wrote these really, really, really beautiful historical romance novels. If you like historical romance, you should for sure check her out. Um, but I was, so I'm working on this book about her, and this morning I was working on it and, and I was thinking, you know, that you had said maybe choose a quote and, and I, um, was writing and, and one of her books is called The Morning Gift. It's. Fantastic. It's about a young woman who has to leave Austria during the second World War because she's Jewish and she enters to, to kind of get her out of Austria. She enters into this marriage of convenience with a, a British man, and it's so romantic, and then it's like very emotional and very funny, and she is deeply, deeply passionate about music. And there, so the quote that I, I highlighted this morning was, um, I want to live like music sounds, and I think it's so beautiful and romantic and dreamy and such a good indication of the kind of books that Eva writes. So that was my quote that I picked.

Jordan:

yeah. I like that. It's very thought provoking. I'm ha I'm sitting here like, it kind of just keeps resonating as you think about it. I like

Laura:

Yeah, and I think it's partly about like being so passionate about something and wanting to live a life that's big and beautiful and that means something. And I think that's a really neat and clever way of kind of distilling that big idea into quite a small sentence. And she's so talented at doing that as a writer.

Jordan:

Thank you so much for sharing that with us. That sounds really good. I'm gonna have to look that up now so let's jump in you new latest title. Let's make a scene. Cynthia and Jack, will you give us a synopsis for those that haven't already looked it up or are familiar

Laura:

Sure. Yes, of course. So let's make a scene is about two actors, Jack and Cynthia, and it tells the story of when they first meet, and their young actors making their, both making their first film together, which is a period romance. And, um, they do not get on at all. They hate each other. Things go very badly. But the chemistry between them is so good on screen that the studio says, suggests that when they're promoting the film, it would be great if they could pretend to be in a relationship. Together. 13 years later, the, they, the, you know, things ended badly between them. They vowed they'd never see each other again. And 13 years later, they get asked to make the sequel to this film. And at the same time, the studio would like them to revive their fake relationship. But obviously 13 years is a long time. Things have changed. The way we access celebrities has changed a lot. Um, and so the two of them have to come back together, both expecting to meet the person that they knew 13 years ago. And I think they're both quite surprised by what they actually find. And so we move between 13 years ago and the present day, and we see them kind of making both of these films and what that.

Jordan:

Yeah. And it's so fun. so fun. I, it comes across when you read it, it really does. Every chapter. I'm just like, this would've, this is so fun. And kind of what you mentioned earlier about that scene, how it was inspired by the Leslie No, which parks AndRecs fan. Personally, it's my favorite, but like you can see different threads of big moments from. Pop culture and other shows and movies throughout without it feeling like you've read this story before. I, that's what is so fun.

Laura:

Yeah. Well, I really felt like it was kind of, I think maybe the fact that it was about the making a film just felt like it really unlocked that. Potential for me where I could be quite self-referential. And it could be really, you know, like it could be really obvious that there are big moments that get referenced. Like the lift in dirty dancing, there's like that scene. And there are loads of like, there are specific references to like loads of Nora Ephron films. And then there's scenes that I was like, this is like my version of the press conference scene in Notting Hill and like all these wrong calls that I was like, oh, it would be so fun to do a kind of little nod to that and to be able to put that in. So it was really fun for me because as I was writing, I was just referencing, it's sort of like a compilation of all my favorite things. And so I feel like you get the joy out of that. And I feel like for a lot of people who love reading romance and reading rom-coms, it's this, it, we share the love of the same kind of cultural touchstones, you know? So

Jordan:

Yes.

Laura:

it's fun to see those pop up.

Jordan:

Yeah, it was, and that's, like I said, it was so fun and it still felt genuine and natural when reading it. It didn't feel like, oh, you tried to put this instance in there. Like, I know the big thing that I read that you posted was that it kind of all centered around that kiss from like the notebook and their scene. Yeah. So is that what kind of sparked everything was you just, that was so memorable and monumental in.

Laura:

Yeah, so, so the way this book actually came about was that, I had written my adult debut, um, under Your Spell, which came out last year. And we were taking that out to publishers and we were kind of selling it as part of a two book deal. And so my agent Louise, who's really good friend of mine, said to me, do you like, do you have any thoughts about what you might like a, a second book to look like? And I literally said to her. Well,, I'm thinking quite a lot about the 2005 MTV movie awards for best kids. I mean, like Outta nowhere. And then the really fun thing was, was like she was just immediately like, oh my God, me too. All the shy. And, and so we started having this conversation where we were just bouncing backwards and forwards off each other. Like so giddy. This kind of like, and then when he's wearing the D four T-shirt and then when she like adjusts her top and then when he's chewing the chewing Girl and then when, and you know, like play by play without it in front of us. And then when it comes to Lindsay Lohan and she looks so happy. And so we, so we were both just so kind of thrilled by this and I felt like, yeah, I think this is such a nice moment and such a nice place to, to think about starting a book. And, and so what I also loved about that, for people who don't know, is. In 2005, Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling won the MTV movie awards for like a prize for Best Kiss, and they a notebook and they reenacted the, the kiss that they do in the notebook on stage. And it's incredible. And if you haven't watched it, or even if you have, you should go and watch it right

Jordan:

Yeah. Relive that.

Laura:

Yeah, really that moment, the, the like, the adrenaline rush is incredible. Um, but, but I think at the time, one of the things that was really nice about it was. Um, that they were a couple in real life, and that was how everyone found out that they were a couple in real life. And, um, it was 2005, so we didn't have like the same in level of access to celebrities that we have now. So it was, we were so giddy over it. Um, but also what I enjoyed about the whole thing was the fact that the backstory to that moment was that the two of them apparently did not get on when they were film making the film. Um, they really fought and then later they had this relationship. And I was thinking about this, like, this is such a good romance novel, right?

Jordan:

Yeah.

Laura:

trope, you know, when people are talking about, you know, whether tropes are realistic. It's like, look at this, this story is made or romance. Um, and so that was where it started was this idea. I was thinking it would be so fun to have like young actors who hated each other and had to make this film and they had this incredible chemistry and then what would happen, you know, if they came back together older and wiser and different. And so yeah. So that was where the novel started. And it even has in, let's make a scene. One of my absolute favorite parts of it is I put the MTV Movie Awards Best Kiss in it. They win

Jordan:

so good.

Laura:

It's so good. It like, I was. Absolutely flying. When I wrote it, I just

Jordan:

I'm sorry. I'm sorry I'm laughing because I'm thinking of the scene, so

Laura:

yeah, yeah,

Jordan:

me over here.

Laura:

that's a really good Steve Carrell coming in.

Jordan:

Not now.

Laura:

Steve, if I had, if I had chosen a quote from my own book at the beginning of the episode, that's what I would've chosen, not now, Steve Carre, possibly the most unhinged line I've ever written, but one of my all time favorite, so I'm so glad.

Jordan:

I just picture him like trying to find the exit. Like

Laura:

Yeah.

Jordan:

if you dunno what we're talking about, please go read the book because it is iconic.

Laura:

Read the, and then you'll understand why. That's my favorite line.

Jordan:

I'm sorry. Take a moment for that scene.

Laura:

Yeah.

Jordan:

It was so good. Oh, thank you for that. That was amazing. And the inspiration I think was perfect because the inspiration already has all this tension, right? And, and I can FI can feel the tension. I can feel the reluctant hostility. The reluctant attraction throughout the entire book. And I love jumping timelines and their personal journey and seeing it change from chapters to chapters, right. As you read through the book.'cause in one chapter you'll read them and they're young and immature and they're blindly confident in themselves. And in the next, you see them 13 years later when they're established adults and either where they've grown to or where they are stuck. And it was so fun to read.'cause at the core, they did feel like the same characters. Right. But you could see and feel the difference and the growth that they had done

Laura:

That's so nice. That's so nice because that, that's really what I wanted. And I think 13 years is a long time, but specifically that 13 years between, at the beginning of the book, so in the 13 years earlier timeline, Cynthia is 20 and Jack is 24, I think 25 and so and so, and then 13 years later, obviously they're in their thirties. And um, it felt to me like that was so interesting because one of the traits that I, as a huge romance reader have, um, don't always love is miscommunication. And I felt like in this book, it was so fun to be able to explore that in as much as, because the book is dual timeline and because the book is dual perspective, you really, really, really get to know the characters very well, which is something that I hadn't really thought about when I started writing it. But, but when I was writing it, I became hyper aware of that. I felt like by the end of it, I was like, I know these two characters better than any character I've ever written because I've been with them for 13 years and from their early twenties to their late thirties, like, it, it felt like, felt such a huge journey to go on with them. And so you see that in the earlier timeline. This isn't really a spoiler or anything, but in the earlier timeline. You as a reader can see both sides of what's happening, like what he sees and what she sees. And you can see why, like you said, because they're, they're this weird mix of like super confident and incredibly, incredibly not confident and scared and insecure as, as so many of us are at that age. And so there is kind of miscommunication between them in that they don't have the kind of tools to like open up to each other and they misunderstand each other. And then what I really liked about that was being able to deal with that 13 years later. So you are dealing with the fallout from that, but you are also dealing with then characters who've. Matured and done the work and learned things about themselves. And so they, I think there are moments where they explicitly have conversations where they'll, they'll say, I don't want there to be misunderstanding and miscommunication between us. Like, I want you to understand how I'm feeling in this moment. And it felt every time that happened, it felt huge to me because as a reader, you, you can see that growth on the page. Like, you know, that's not how they would've handled it in the past. And it's so rewarding to see them handle it differently in the present. So I really loved being able to spend that much time with them.

Jordan:

Yeah. It showed it was.

Laura:

It's nice.

Jordan:

you do have a really big range in your book genre. So I was going back and looking at everything you've written'cause you have things like age-wise all across. Can you tell me a little bit about like your journey as an author? Not just this book, but just over your career?

Laura:

Yes, I do. Um, so I, I actually started off writing middle grade. Um, I wrote middle grade fiction first and fairly quickly after I was writing middle grade. I, so, so this is in the uk I've been working, my first book came out actually 10 years ago this year. So That's exciting. Yeah, it's really nice. I mean, I can't really believe it, but it's true. So I started writing middle grade, um, and my publisher Scholastic was so incredible and they, um, and I kind of went to them fairly early on and said, you know, I have this idea for a young adult novel. Um, and I was really like, I mean, I don't know if you even wanna hear about, I don't, I don't know. Um, it was so sweet and supportive, and especially with hindsight, like I,'cause I didn't know anything about how publishing worked or. You know, like, I mean I had my agent with me, luckily, who obviously knew how everything worked, but for me, I went into it quite naive. And the books, the young adult books that I pitched to them are historical romance, which is actually quite unusual, I think, in the YA space in terms of um, like straight historical, by which I don't mean heterosexual, but like non-fan, so they're just in the real world historical romance. And so it was so nice that they, you know, like they picked that up and so I started publishing ya as well. Ya romance is kind of up at the top end of ya. So the characters in it are usually like 18, 19. Um, and I have from that a really lovely. Kind of crossover audience. So what if I do events for my YA books? They'll usually be like a handful of teenagers. And then actually most of the audience will be, you know, my age or older. And what's really lovely about those books is that often like multiple generations read them together. So like, yeah, I, and I, and it, it happens so regularly now at signings that I, I feel like, you know, I know that it happens a lot, which is so nice that there'll be a mother and a daughter or a grandmother and daughter or, and they'll say, we read your books together and it's so sweet. It's so lovely to be that point of connection with people. So I was writing young adult fiction and I ha kind of had an adult audience and my agent Louise had been saying to me for ages, I think you have a. Adult romcom in you. And I was like, yeah, I, I agree. But you know, I'm busy. I've got a lot of writing. Writing. And so when I wrote Under Your Spell, which is my adult debut, it was just the most fun, weird journey because what happened was I had the idea for it, I wrote the first page of it in my notes app in the middle of the night on my phone because I was like, oh my God, this would be such a fun book. And I know, and I have it. And it's so funny because it's word for word, the first page of the finished novel. And

Jordan:

impressive. That doesn't happen often.

Laura:

yeah, my sleepy brain was doing good. Um, yeah. And more sleeping obviously. And so I wrote, I wrote, I literally sat down and just for fun, I wrote the first chapter of it and I sent it to Libby, ease my agent. And I said, look, I know you've been saying this for ages, but I just wrote this chapter, what do you think? And she emailed reckon, she said, I love it so much, write more. And so every day I was like writing a chapter and then emailing it to her, like a game, like just for this audience of one person to make her laugh. And she would then send me all these notes back saying, yeah, I love it so much. And, and after like a couple of weeks, we were both like, I think this might be a book. I think this is a book. I think I'm making a book.

Jordan:

I think you should commit to this.

Laura:

Yeah. So funny because then, so then I just wrote the first draft. It came out. Like incredibly smoothly. And you know, I've been in publishing at this point for a long time. I know how slowly everything moves, but with under your spell, everything happened insanely first. Like I finished her first draft. She took it out on submission to publishers in the uk and like a week later it was in like an auction. It was in an auction in the States. It was like there just a lot of stuff happening really fast. So it was really fun and it, I think it was really nice that at that point I had all these small, I had all these books behind me and I think it's nice to feel like that can happen for an author that you can, you can kind of build. Quietly and slowly as a writer rather than having one shot, a big splashy debut, you know, which I think I was so fortunate that I had the journey that I had.'cause I think that happens a lot where, you know, the, the writers who get these big debuts and then if the book doesn't do as well as people hope, then it's like game over. And I felt like it was so nice to go into this whole thing with, with a much broader perspective of how publishing worked and a lot more solid work behind me and a sense of kind of confidence I suppose that wouldn't have been there otherwise in my writing and my work as a writer. So, yeah, so, and it just meant I was so able to appreciate, like, I knew it was special, do you know what I mean? It wasn't.

Jordan:

Yes, definitely.

Laura:

I been like, oh, so this is how it works. But I knew it was special.

Jordan:

yeah, and that's kinda why I was like, I gotta look this up. I'm like, there's no way. This is only her second book. I was like, I knew I had heard of Under Your Spell, and I was like, okay. After I read this, like since I loved it, I was like, I could go back and read that one. I haven't had a chance yet, but. I was like, there's gotta be more. I was like, there's gotta be. I'm sure I will. I like this. This is too, polished, well done. Like just overall. It doesn't feel like a second book from an author, so I was like, I gotta figure this out. I gotta go. I gotta do more research. I gotta talk to her. So,

Laura:

so nice. But I would say actually that's, that's a, that, that's really kind of you and it, and I feel like this whole conversation is so good for my ego. But, but also, do you know, when I started writing books, I think there was a huge part of me that felt like when you are a writer, you have a sort of finite amount of talent and like you have, that's what you are bringing. And it didn't, this sounds so foolish now, but it didn't occur to me that I would get better. Um, because I've spent, I've spent 10 years being edited by incredible editors and working with my publishers. And so I've learned how to put a book together. Better. And

Jordan:

Yeah.

Laura:

I learn and when I write now, my drafts come out so much cleaner. Like I will do one less draft than I used to do full. I don't usually have to do touch wood. I don't usually have to do like a big structural edit, because when I'm writing my first draft, I feel like I have my agent's voice in my head and my editor's voice in my head, and I know that they'll say, you know, Hmm. You haven't really explained enough there or Hmm. That like, we need to pause in this moment a bit longer, or, Hmm. You need to go back and check the age of that person because you said that this year, this earlier on. And so I'm kind of at a point now where I've written so many books and I've, and I've been lucky to work with so many amazing people that I'm kind of self-editing as I'm going. So it's not, I don't know what I think anymore about how much talent someone has, but like the tech side of it, of putting a book together. Of course you can improve and get better at that. Of course you can.

Jordan:

Well, and we've talked about that before on our podcast, because we follow, we try to follow a lot of indie authors and so we have some that, you know, some of us have been following since like their first or second book. And we talk about it like it's not that those, those books aren't bad, their first ones. We love them. We fell in love with the author. We fell in love with the stories, right. But there is just, I don't know if it's a maturity in writing and kind of like you said, more polished and you kind of know where you're gonna edit before you have to go through and edit. So you're just doing it the first time through, which means edits make it flow even better. And so it's just so fun to watch careers like that too, from authors. And so that's why when I read it, I was like, uh, no. Gotta go see, like what got you to this point and where, so this such a fun journey. To hear

Laura:

Yeah, and I think that's really, I think that's really insightful observation, particularly about indie writers, like you say, because in some ways, because they're outside this model of. Traditional publishing where it's like you are like one and done kind of thing. They have the space to like similar to me in a way. Like they have the space over years to, to figure out the best way for them.'cause that's the other thing is there's no single way to write a book. So you have to also figure out, it took me several books to work out for me. What was the best and easiest way for me to put a book together.

Jordan:

And what is that? Is it, do you, you said you would do it chapter by chapter, so does that mean you just follow it chronologically, like plotter pants? It sounds like you kind of like plot as you, do you plot as you go, or do you already have it

Laura:

no. So in most areas of my life I'm very messy and disorganized. But when I'm writing a book, I have a very rigid structure and plan and that is that I do a, a very. Detailed outline before I sit down to write anything. So that can be somewhere between five and 10,000 words. And then I will break that outline down chapter by chapter. And then, I will, so when I, for me, everything that I do is about avoiding having a blank page in front of me. So when I sit down to write a chapter, I will have next to the document, like, I will have, this is what's happening in this chapter. This is what you need to write. So I always have it really planned out. Like within that plan, obviously there's loads of stuff that happens in the moment and a lot of dialogue, almost all of the dialogue happens in the moment as I'm writing. Like it'll be like, oh, I need, I know they need to have a conversation here, and the outcome of the conversation needs to be this. And so then it's just like putting them in a room together and writing the dialogue. Um, so that's the way that works for me. And then with, let's make a scene. It was obviously like technically a huge challenge for me because I write very, like I write chronologically, I write from the first line to the end line. If I know there's a scene that I'm excited about, I don't get to write it until I'm up to that point in the book. Um, yeah, well, and I'm so rigid about that. And then with this book, it was so complicated because obviously there's the two timelines and it moves around. And then, um, so I went into it thinking I'm gonna write it chronologically, like I'm gonna write all of the past and then all of the present, and then I'm gonna mix it up. And what ended up happening was not that. I, I end, I did it in bigger chunks than the final book ended up, but I did move around a bit. Like I would do a big chunk of the past, and then I would think this is very obviously a place where it's gonna break. And so I would start writing some of the present, and then I would go back. And then when we were editing, it was really fun because we didn't change any of the structure. We just like, like literally picked up chapters of me.

Jordan:

oh, that's so neat.

Laura:

Yeah. So it was really, and then, and then it was just about making sure that everything, like read smoothly with it like that, so, so that was, yeah. So technically it was really challenging and partly because I would say with all of my books, they're very character driven books. Um, it's not like action, action, action. They're really driven by character development. And I'm really interested in what's happening in their lives and in their brains. And so that was complicated in this because usually I would have a clear arc for a character. Like, this is where they start, this is where they end up. And for these characters,'cause they're moving backwards and forwards. And there's like a 13 year gap in the middle. It was like the arcs were all over. It wasn't an arc, it was like a sound wave. And, and so like for Jack, actually quite a lot of his big emotional arc happens off page. Like you meet him 13 years earlier and he's the one that, when you meet him 13 years later, he's like, really done the work. He's been to therapy. He's like, a lot of stuff that's happened with his family.

Jordan:

He's found blood lost. Mm-hmm.

Laura:

he's like, he's like, which is one of my other favorite things, but he, so yeah. So he's starring in this, he comes from this line of. Really, really famous and like, well-regarded, serious British actors. And the pressure on him in the earlier timeline is partly, is so intense that you understand like why he occasionally behaves terribly. Um, and then when we meet him again 13 years later, he's like, he's made peace with that. He's starring in this, um, teenage vampire Netflix show that I invented called Blood Lust.

Jordan:

As a Vampire Diaries, fa like

Laura:

I know.

Jordan:

When I was young, watching'em live, come out every week, this is amazing.

Laura:

Yes. So for me as well, like I absolutely, yes, I absolutely love a vampire show. I'm actually really like, obsessed with the idea of blood lust. I'm like, it would be really nice if people adapted to their books into films or whatever, but can someone.

Jordan:

Yes. It's kind of it from the description, it kind of sounded like a mesh of like Vampire Diaries, supernatural and Buffy. It almost felt like

Laura:

I'm like a bit of charmed, like I

Jordan:

Yes. Charmed. Yes. That's what I was forgetting. I'm like, I know there's an older one that I'm thinking of that's loved it all.

Laura:

sure. And so he's, so, he's like in this TV show that his parents really disapprove of, but he's like having the time of his life and he's so happy and well adjusted and so, so a lot of what's brought him to that place has happened, you know, off the page in the gap where we are not with these characters. And so that was really fun as well because it felt like, what does that look like and what does it look like through Cynthia's eyes that he's changed and that he's done this work? And it sort of helps her to reflect on the changes that have happened in her life and whether she's kind of looked some things in the eye in the way that he has and. So it felt like a really nice, compelling way of having these two characters really challenge each other in both timelines. Um, so yeah,

Jordan:

it was a nice mirror between timelines, um, and I think the way you organized it went really well.'cause there are smaller time jumps, like on either end, so in the beginning and the end, like right, like through shooting, through, waiting until the premiere and all, all this stuff. So there were. Many time jumps within those too, so I can imagine that would get complicated. And it went really well. I thought it read very smoothly, so

Laura:

That's nice. I know, I know. A, I know a dual timeline can be a really divisive thing for readers, and I totally get that. Like sometimes it's for me and so Yeah, I do too. I think it's hard because inevitably, like you'll prefer one timeline to the other. Um, I actually felt like that about this book as well. Like I, I, I preferred the writing the present to the past, but I feel in some ways that, and I think maybe that will be the reading experience as well, but, the reason that the present is so satisfying is because the past chapters are there. Like, that's what makes it work because the, the conflict and all the exposition is. In the past timeline, so everyone's just like, for the most part, everyone's just having a nice time in the present, and

Jordan:

I know at first I was like, oh, get back to the present. But then by like one third of the way through, I was like, no, I wanna hear what's happening in the past. How far did they take this? I need to know.

Laura:

Yeah, that's what I wanted and that's how I felt writing it as well. And like I said, I had that sensation of when I got to the end of writing it, where I just felt like, wow. I. I just, there's something really epic about this love story that's lasted 13 years and that has it, that allows for 13 years of like pining and you know, like it really felt like oh, this is, so, this gives it a depth for me that I really enjoy. And I just felt like how, what a treat it was to get to know them so well.

Jordan:

Yeah. And it came across, it was so fun. Okay, so we'll break this up a little bit and we'll take a break from all the big questions and we're just gonna play a little game of this or that. So it's just rapid fire. I'll ask you this or that, and you just gimme your gut instinct, without thinking about it too much.

Laura:

I'm with you. Not thinking I'm good at that.

Jordan:

Only slight judgment on the answers. Nothing serious, but,

Laura:

Okay, now I'm thinking

Jordan:

all right. Physical book or ebook?

Laura:

ebook these days.

Jordan:

Mm-hmm. Sweet. Or salty snacks while reading.

Laura:

Salty

Jordan:

Mm-hmm. Good job. Books that make you cry or books that make you laugh.

Laura:

Laugh, definitely

Jordan:

Okay. This is a trope question. One horse or one bed.

Laura:

one bed.

Jordan:

Mm-hmm. Small town or billionaire romance.

Laura:

town. Small town all the way. Or preferably a billionaire in a small town.

Jordan:

Yeah, that would be, just give it all to me, please. Love it. Standalone or series.

Laura:

well standalone, but I do love. Like, so what, the same thing that I've done with, let's make a scene where they're, you can read it as a standalone, but they're connected where you get the cameos of the previous

Jordan:

Yeah.

Laura:

Yeah, that's my absolute favorite.

Jordan:

Okay. Uh, fake dating or marriage of convenience.

Laura:

Oh, that's two of my favorites. Um, I'm gonna say marriage of convenience, just'cause then you get the, my wife, which

Jordan:

It's always ni never gets old.

Laura:

never, never, never gets old. Just like

Jordan:

Okay. Character driven or plot driven.

Laura:

character driven.

Jordan:

Mm-hmm. And who are your top three book boyfriends or swoon worthy characters. It can be your own if you're obsessed with your own. There's no judgment on that one.

Laura:

I'm obsessed with my own. Okay. Well, so I'm gonna go like very basic and say Mr. Darcy, because I think like he's just the model for a good book boyfriend. Like he does the work, he does the work on himself, he's respectful. He comes back and he, uh, when he, when he's like earned her, he comes back. He's been pining it's ideal. Really, I think. Absolutely wild that Jane Austen was out there modeling healthy relationships for us. I'm gonna say definitely, um, I'm going to say of mine, I'm gonna say Theo, from under your spell, who you have to look forward to, he does make a cameo in, let's make a scene, and he.

Jordan:

Okay. Okay. Yeah. I gotta know

Laura:

so, so you'll enjoy that and it's very fun to read about the two of them together. And then, I dunno who my third one would be. I just read, um, problematic Summer Romance by Ali Hazelwood, who is one of my favorite romance writers. And the only problem is, I can't remember his, I think his, I'm pretty sure his name is Connor. And he was a

Jordan:

together after a while,

Laura:

I just,

Jordan:

they made me feel, but their name not so much.

Laura:

exactly. Exactly. And I think like when you are a romance reader and. Generally a lot of romance readers, like, uh, like me, where we are, we are consuming just an enormous amount of, of, um, storytelling all the time. But I love Ali Hazelwood. I, and like I could not wait, I, I was trying to make myself re wait to read that book. Um, and I, I about 12 hours with it on my Kindle and I like, no, I've gotta read it. I've gotta read it. I, it, it was so good.

Jordan:

I love

Laura:

Who are,

Jordan:

Thank you. Oh my gosh. No one's ever asked me. I've always asked me. It's okay. Okay. The microphone is turned. Okay. I would have to say

Laura:

yeah, so fun now.

Jordan:

Dar Darius Acru from Zodiac Academy by Caroline Peckham and Suzanne Valenti.

Laura:

Oh my God. You took it like quite dark, straight away.

Jordan:

Oh, I do love Dark Romance. I'm gonna be, I am. I am.

Laura:

Okay. Now I know where we coming from. That's good.

Jordan:

I do cont when I read Contemporary, it's more of like a palette cleanser. Like, oh, I'm gonna read this fun one for a minute before I go back to the dark side.

Laura:

Okay. Okay. I understand

Jordan:

yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Uh oh. Oh my God. Who else? I know I have so many, but then it's like,

Laura:

this is what happens.

Jordan:

I know I love Samkiel from, Amber v Nicole's, of God's a Monsters series.

Laura:

Oh, I haven't read that yet.

Jordan:

It's really good. It's not a finished series. She has three out now. Um, but it's, the Book of Israel is the first one

Laura:

Yeah, that's why I haven't, um, because I have a real, I mean, I, I have a real problem with waiting. Like I'm so impatient that I would rather wait years until they're all out and then I can binge more. So I, like, I haven't read Fourth Wing yet. Fourth Wing, I mean, because, because I was like, I can't read it when there's gonna be like a year plus between books. It's too stressful.

Jordan:

That's fair. That's fair. I mean it ki I feel like it always changes, but right now I just read the Arc for Accomplice to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Mayer,

Laura:

Yes.

Jordan:

I'm obsessed with the villain, with Tristan. I vere. I just love him so much.

Laura:

Yeah, I

Jordan:

we actually got a chance to talk to her this last week and do an interview with her about it. And I don't know if you've read.

Laura:

Yeah. So I've read the first two.

Jordan:

Yeah. This third one is actually my favorite so far,

Laura:

Yay. Okay.

Jordan:

I can't wait for you to read it because I fall. I really fell in love with Tristan. Like I loved the story, but I fell in love with the villain in book three, and so I think he is now made my top list, so.

Laura:

That's good. Yeah, no, that makes me really happy. She's one of the like rare exceptions to my, I won't read them till they're all out

Jordan:

Okay. I was, that's why I was like, maybe we probably haven't read it since it's not

Laura:

no, no. Because I read the first one as an arc and I was like, because I was like, oh my God, I can't wait. And I think probably, I didn't realize it was going to be a series, and then I was like, oh no, while I'm in now, I guess so much. Um, but yeah, I love that character. I love the villain. So, and it's like so clever the way that she writes him. And I like also that he doesn't like totally lose his like edge. Like he keeps the villainous side of things go alive. Like I don't want the villain to just turn into like completely the good guy. That's not for me. This is my dark side coming out.

Jordan:

no. I, but, and the humor is so good. So you talk about like the, your rom-com that you just wrote and it's so funny but you don't see very often, humor in fantasy. I feel like you don't get that, and I think that's what made that one so fresh. So yeah, that's what makes him, he's like unapologetic. He's polite, but unapologetically dark at the same time. But you don't feel like you're reading anything dark.

Laura:

Yeah. I also really enjoy that kind of trope of someone who, and as I know now you are a dark romance girl. I know this is gonna resonate with you. When it's like they're like good to the people that they love, but they would also, for the people that they love, they would like burn the whole world down. That's ideal for.

Jordan:

Yep, yep. Uh, so speaking of, uh, of God's a monster series, the Book of Riel, the first book, Samkiel that's kind of how he is.'cause he's technically the good guy, but he will burn like the universe for her. Like it's, So, yep. I love it.

Laura:

Because I'm like such a villain lover. That's the trouble. Like sometimes I'll be like, I can't invest in this story if you want me to believe that she's gonna choose the hero over the villain. It goes like back to my Vampire Diaries days where I was like, why would anyone choose Stefan over Damien? It doesn't make sense to me. Like I can't understand how this is even a conversation that we're having

Jordan:

Yes. Yes. If I can, in the end root for Klaus, though he is the most horrible person ever,

Laura:

Hundred percent

Jordan:

like he was just hurt by his mother and his family. Can someone just help him? Please?

Laura:

I know we're, we're such red flags, but yeah. There we go.

Jordan:

I admittedly, I do read a lot of Bully Romance, so when Jack and Cynthia were like, you know, just.

Laura:

Hated.

Jordan:

Hated. I was like, yeah, yeah. Hate each other.

Laura:

Yeah, because it's, it's hot as well. Like I felt it was really fun. So I was writing the book. Ago ago. And I was writing, it was so funny because there is a sex scene in like the, the first timeline, right? And in, I wrote that scene on like the hottest day of the year and I was like, yes, this is how it feels like. It felt so fun. I always think those books are so much fun where, where you are just like building the tension to, to such an extent that it's like really you are just like, ah, like you're as a reader, you together so badly. And they're like, the heat between them is so intense. So yeah.

Jordan:

Yeah, it was great. 10 outta 10. Loved it.

Laura:

I.

Jordan:

Yeah. Perfect. Um, so obviously you read a lot of romance, but what genre do you like of books do you usually read? Like when you're reading what's the majority?

Laura:

I do almost exclusively read romance novels, like in one form or another. Like, I love, and I love, like, I love Dark Romance, I love romantic. I love, like I said, I love like, um, romantic suspense novels like action romance, contemporary romance rom-coms. So, um, yeah, anything, and like I, I, I feel like not just with books, but like with TV shows or films, if there's not, it doesn't have to be a romance, but if there's not a romance for me to root for within that story, I find it so hard to connect with anything. Um, like it can be, it can be anything I watched. And there's a really great, um. BBC program called The Tourist, which has Jamie, I dunno, I can't, what's his surname? Jamie Dornan, who was in the 50 Shades of Gray films. Um, and, and it's not, I cannot stress this enough, it is not a romantic program. It's quite like gritty and like, like dark and bits of depressing. And I was watching it with my husband and I was like, my favorite thing about this is it's like an opposites attract. Like what? Talking about, I was like, it's,

Jordan:

Yes.

Laura:

I love this because, because there's a really small like romance storyline in it. And I was like, that's the whole thing for me. That's everything that this is about.

Jordan:

Yeah. Well. I'll be watching something with my husband. We don't watch a lot of TV anymore just because having a young kid just detracts from that. Like, you just don't have the time. But we'll be watching something. And two people are like, I mean, enemies will be fighting like, oh, what if they just kissed right now?

Laura:

Yes.

Jordan:

fighting. I was like, Ooh. Peyton, the tension right now is so high. What if they just kissed? He's like, these men are mortal enemies. I'm like, I don't care. They should be kissing right now.

Laura:

That's me also. Do you feel like you can see, I feel like I can see half a second of chemistry between two characters and I'll be like, where's their storyline? When are they getting together? Like, when's that happening? That's all I care about now.

Jordan:

Yes. Well, like for Vampire Diaries, because they're such a big Caroline and Klaus

Laura:

Yeah.

Jordan:

that are so angry that I just listened to an interview that Candace did who played Caroline and. She's like, I don't understand everybody so obsessed with Klaus. She goes, that was a throwaway scene that was not meant to be anything bigger. And then the moment that first scene ended, she goes, it was supposed to show that he has, that Klaus has some humanity. It was not supposed to be geared towards Caroline, but everyone took it as that.

Laura:

Mm-hmm.

Jordan:

And she goes, and so the writers thought it was funny, all the reactions immediately on Twitter. So they wrote in a couple more scenes just to be funny. And I'm like, that's not funny. And

Laura:

Yeah, we saw it. We saw it.

Jordan:

supposed to be sexy, why sexy? Why?

Laura:

Why? Why are you leaning into this so hard and giving us all the like, this is what I don't understand. Stop having them make such good eye contact if you don't want us to believe that they're totally.

Jordan:

the eye contact and just like so far away, but like leaning towards each other like

Laura:

Exactly.

Jordan:

it. I don't care.

Laura:

Yeah, I'm with you. Hundred percent.

Jordan:

Do you have any recs for us? What are your, like go-to, what are your top like Yes, read this when people are asking or if they did ask.

Laura:

So I would say like the last contemporary romance that I read was problematic Summer Romance by Ali Haywood. And I don't think she needs me recommending her to anyone, but I love her. If you haven't read her, like just dive in. I, on this subject of Vampire Diaries, I absolutely loved Bride, her Vampire Werewolf romance. Um, and I'm super excited for the second one of those. Um, I read the most amazing book that published here in the UK this year called The Last Days of Summer by Sarah Manning. And it's being published and it's been bought by a publisher in the States, so I know it will be coming out. I don't know when. Um, and I would love to put that on. Oh, I would love to put this on everyone's radar because it's so good and it's, so, it's about, like this is so far up your alley. It's about a couple who hate each other. Like they have years and years and years ago they have like a very explosive, hot hookup that ends badly and they hate each other, but their best friends are best friends. So they've been like in each other's orbit for years and years and years hating each other and not wanting to be there. And at the beginning of the book, there's this kind of like devastating news from their friends, their two friends. Um, and they have this big like summer party planned that's kind of as a result of this news. And the two of them have to like, plan this party together and they have to like, make it perfect for their friend who's in this orchestration. And so the tension, the pining, the heat, it's. Unbelievable. Like it's so, so good. I really think you would love it and I think a lot of romance readers are gonna really love it and it's, it's really funny and escapist. And then it also like rips your heart out

Jordan:

Oh, I love that. That sounds amazing.

Laura:

Last days of summer. Sarah Manning. Get it on your TBR right now.

Jordan:

Perfect. Thanks. Now I have more to add. I'm almost done with all my arcs for the season, so, which are so fun. I asked for all of them, they're great, but then like more things come up and I'm like, Ooh, I can't get distracted.

Laura:

it's, it's wild. It's a very fun and wild time to be a romance fan at the moment. I think it's so, it's so exciting. Like it's so exciting writing in this moment. And it's even more exciting being a reader and like a true fan within this moment because the, the, it is so nice to see romance writers getting the kind of recognition and stuff that they deserve. And I feel like this is the first time I've been a romance reader all my life. And now is the first time that I can like walk into a bookshop and there'll be a big romance table and you know, it feels like

Jordan:

Not half a shelf.

Laura:

Yeah, exactly. And so it's such a joy, but it is also. You know, it is also quite overwhelming. Like my TBR is absolutely wild. And then also like publishing. When you are a book that's coming out in July and you are looking at like the list of books that's coming out in July, it's, you know, it's pretty daunting. So, yeah, it's like a lot of things.

Jordan:

We like to say that the TBR is in hell at this point because it's, it's never ending. So that's perfect. And I think you mentioned earlier that you've been writing, are you working on your next project

Laura:

I am working on multiple things at the moment and, and, and I can't talk about any of them.

Jordan:

well, okay, well, fine.

Laura:

I'll be able to talk, I'll say that one of the things that I'm working on is a. Contemporary romcom and it is in the same universe as let's make and under your spell. And if you, when you read, let's make a scene. My sort of hope is that you'll be like, yeah, I would like to read a book about those characters. And then you might, this is the most un subtle hymn ever.

Jordan:

Hmm.

Laura:

And so then you might know what I'm working on.

Jordan:

Ideas. Love it. Okay, well I'm excited to keep an eye out for that and also, but this one, let's make a scene comes out now. So

Laura:

Which is crazy and scared me. Please. I'm begging you.

Jordan:

Yeah, do it. You won't be sorry. It's so good. and if people wanna find you,

Laura:

um, yes, I would love that. I've managed to wean myself off almost all of them, so if you, it's really only Instagram now, which I love, and I love talking with people on my Instagram account. So that is at Laura c.

Jordan:

Perfect. Thank you so much for, this has been so fun. I feel like we could stay another hour and just chat books and. Dive into

Laura:

this is my, this is literally my happy place. Like just getting to talk. I, it's so nice talking about my book. Like, it's really nice because you've been, you know, you work on it. It's just you and your laptop for such a long time and the joy of like talking to other people who've read it is intense. But I love it when I get to come on something like this. Like, I love what you're doing. And to get to just talk about romance books and why they're so brilliant and special and to talk about them like in a fun way, in a serious way, like, you know, I just think that's so rewarding. So, yeah, absolutely. My pleasure.

Jordan:

Thank you. And thank you for listening to us ramble about.

Laura:

Mm.

Jordan:

Laura Wood and her books and her latest. Let's make a scene. If you're looking for more romance Recs, be sure to follow us on Instagram and TikTok and threads at Romance Recs Pod. You can find our favorite book Recs from our episodes, as well as behind the scenes content, again at Romance Recs Pod. So give us a follow and we'll be back soon with another episode. Thank you so much.

Laura:

Thank you.