Contemporary Fiction Episodes

In this interview, Jane and I discuss On Fire Island, her connection to Fire Island and the strong sense of place in the book, infusing humor and heart into the story, grief in fiction, her cover, blurbing and Elin Hilderbrand's big quote for this book, weaving the publishing industry into the novel, and much more.

In this interview, Paige and I discuss Only Love Can Hurt Like This, how she came up with the idea for this one, publishing her first book in the United States, her connection to Indianapolis, conducting research on farming, mental health, sibling relationships, and much more.

In this interview, Christina, Lauren, and I discuss The True Love Experiment, how they decided to tell Fizzy's story, deciding how much steam to include and who drafts those portions of each book, how they balance each other, the benefits of writing together, important romance genre rules, and much more.

In this interview, Megan and I discuss Super Bloom, her publishing journey with Zibby Books, leaning into the romance genre, portraying grief including the grief experienced for what might have been, writing a book within a book and how that developed for her, and much more.

In this interview, Laura and I discuss The Daydreams, her inspiration for the book, the fun research she conducted, deciding to have Kat tell the story, the stunning cover, how often young stars flame out and the role media plays in this, and much more.

In this interview, Brenda and I discuss The Audrey Hepburn Estate, the concept of home, writing about starlets and an heirloom item of theirs, indulging a list of Easter eggs at the back of her books, creating the estate as a character in her novel, and much more.

In this interview, Lauren and I discuss I'll Stop the World, being selected by Mindy Kaling's new imprint, time travel and how she incorporated it into her story, the 1980s, selecting character names, source of the title and how song lyrics can be used in book titles, and much more.

In this interview, Jane and I discuss The Society of Shame, how she decided to write this story, weaving in the themes of scandal, cancel culture, media influence, online shaming and politics, crafting a mother/daughter tale, why the story takes place over 28 days, and much more.

In this interview, Colleen and I discuss The Mostly True Story of Tanner and Louise, how her grandmother and "Thelma and Louise" inspired this story, the value of connecting with older generations, what it means to be a woman in today's world, Parkinson's, and much more.

In this interview, Sally and I discuss The Keeper of Stories, how she collected the stories for the book, why she started writing fiction, the importance of intergenerational relationships, how truth is stranger than fiction, and much more.

In this interview, Alison and I discuss The Burning Season, her inspiration for this book, her fascination with cults as well as the wider world's fascination with them, infertility, writing from a first person point of view, and much more.

In this interview, Audrey and I discuss The Minuscule Mansion of Myra Malone, how she came up with the idea for the story, the fascination with miniatures, how her fabulous cover came about, choosing the book's locales, the Thorne Miniature Rooms at The Art Institute of Chicago, her inspiration for connecting the miniature house with the full size house in the story, and much more.

In this interview, Louise and I discuss Trespasses, living through The Troubles in the 1970s and setting her book during that time period, how a high level of violence impacts a population, tit-for-tat killings, why she does not use quotation marks, the stunning cover, and much more.

In this interview, Toya and I discuss Last Summer on State Street, having her book selected by Steph Curry's Literati book club, how she ended up crafting Fifi as an adult reflecting back on the events happening in the book, the way the title and cover came about, what surprised her most when writing this book, preserving Chicago history, and much more.

In this interview, Nora and I discuss Competitive Grieving, her own experience with competitive grieving, how writing the book was cathartic, the format for the book, how the beauty of writing a novel is being able to create an entirely fictional world, the universal experience of what happens in the aftermath of death, and much more.