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Listen,  I'm not going to be everyone's cup of tea. I mean, I'm fabulous, but not everyone is going to appreciate my fabulous.  One of the things that a bunch of us tend to do is to go on retreats every year. And one of the big things that we go to is RWA. There was this one speaker, Jennifer Lynn Barnes, who was amazing! She's a psychologist and she talks about the psychology of fiction and what what really writing to your Id means. Like everyone has their thing, their thing that like you look at it, you will watch it, you will read it, you will consume it. It doesn't matter how bad it is. You are still like, I'm gonna scratch this itch. 

For me, it's ANYTHING Robin Hood. I don't care how bad it is that new Robin Hood movie is, I sat there. I will, if it is on TV right now, I will watch it. No matter what I'm doing, I will watch, I will stop working.  Because the thing is... I'm a rule follower. I love a rule, but I also need justice. And Robin Hood delivers that.  

 Yes! So, in my previous Royals series, one of the princes didn't grow up a prince - he grew up a thief. And so when Ben and his friends need someone to help them pull off a heist, they make a call to this, you know, former con-man, thief guy. And the best part is for readers who are like paying close attention, you will realize you met Ben in my Royals series. He's the cousin to the King's best friend. BUT you don't have to read the Royals series at all to read this book! It's just a fun little, like, fan service. 

I launched Boobies & Noobies in July 2018. Later that fall, a college friend of mine, the very talented co-founder of So She Slays, Heather Young, reached out to ask if she could feature me as a "Bae Who Slays" on her blog. Of course, I was absolutely honored, and I'm pleased to say that the interview led to several more collabs with Heather and So She Slays, including one of my very favorite 12 Days of Boobsmas episode! 

Here is an excerpt of our interview:

Boobies & Noobies is, more than anything, a passion project! I launched the podcast this summer in Los Angeles, though I've taken the show on the road to Chicago and San Francisco, too, and I'm happy to say that we've recorded 17 episodes since June. I wish I could say there was a specific moment, something memorable that sparked the idea for a podcast, but truthfully, it just came to be. I've been a romance reader for years and, for years, I've endured great judgment, sarcasm, and side eye from my friends, all because of my taste in literature. I became a fan of podcasts more recently while living in Chicago and enduring the daily commute via public transportation. I figured why not put together two of my favorite things...with a slight twist. On every episode of Boobies & Noobies, I ask a novice romance reader (or two) to read and review a romance novel with me. Think of it as payback for all those years of judgment. 

 The book selection process definitely varies! I always asks my guests if there's something in particular they're interested in reading. This may shock a lot of people, but romance has so many sub-genres: paranormal, historical, contemporary, etc. Then there are sub-sub-genres: pirates, shifter/werewolves, motorcycle club, etc. Plus the graphic nature of romance varies as well; I'm not looking to make anyone (too) uncomfortable. That being said, if they're up for anything, then all bets are off! There's a HUGE novelist/reader/book blogging community on Twitter and Instagram, so I grab a lot of great ideas from there. Also, while I try to select books that I haven't read beforehand, I do fall back on authors I've read and enjoyed in the past. That way, I know that what we're going to read will most likely be good (though, not always). 

That's a great question, but it's also one that punches my buttons. It amazes me that in 2018, we've had shows like Girls and Sex and the City and Orange is the New Black, all of which feature sex and female sexuality so prominently, yet we still feel the need to shield a book cover, just because it features a woman's heaving bosoms. The book covers may have changed since the days of Fabio, but for some reason, our attitude towards them has not. If you listen to the podcast, you'll hear several of my guests describe romance as "written porn", but it's so much more than that. Romance novels have strong characters, engaging plot lines, and story arcs, like any other novel. Sure, some of them are better than others, but the same can be said about any genre. That's definitely one of my goals with this podcast: to demystify the genre and reclaim the genre in a positive light. 

Read the full interview on So She Slays.