Rianna Campbell

(upbeat music) - Hey, I'm Stevie. - What's up, I'm Monty J. - And you're listening to the Bookshelf Boyfriends podcast, where we take a deep dive as your favorite contemporary romance authors. - Asking them questions about everything from their writing process to their reading habits plus so much more. - Join us as we help you find your next Bookshelf Boyfriend. - What's up, Bookworms, it's your host, Stevie. - What's up, everyone? It's MJ, happy Wednesday. - We've been reading it for a while. - I know, I hope everybody's having a great time. I hope everybody had a great Thanksgiving. If you don't celebrate, I celebrate Thanksgiving because I'm thankful for my family, not because-- - I'm thankful for my food. - I'm thankful for the family and food, but not for anything else. Other than that, I'm thankful for your readers. - Well, I'm thankful for all of that shit. I celebrate Thanksgiving to be thankful, not for the original reason. I'm not all about the slaughtering of Native Americans. - Oh my God, we're not going down that road. - I'm not, I'm just saying. I was just letting everybody know where I stand. Anyways, so we're super excited to be here. We haven't been here in a minute. Stevie, do you have any book world stuff you want to share with anybody? - Not really. I don't think anybody is releasing. None of my clients are releasing, so I have no dates as well. - Literally thought of my life. - Actually, Alexis Winter is releasing the cover for only for forever on Monday. And the book releases the following Monday on December 13th. So make sure you get that. It's the fourth book in the Rocky Mountain series. It's a small town, enemy solvers, surprise baby. That is exciting. It's kind of a second chance too. I mean, it's got a little bit of everything in that book. I'm reading it right now. It's so good. And she's got an Alpha series coming out in January, which is fun. I'm an old one that cannot wait for other people to read this book. But other than that, I don't think anything really happened to me for any books or relicers. (laughs) - I don't either. - I think it's just gonna be a really slow month for book releases. - I'm just, I'm working. I'm writing, working hard. - I'm broken sage who are gonna fuck and don't snile at me. But I'm super excited about them. But I don't really have anything other than that. And I think if Stevie's ready to go, then I think that we're gonna head on over. And I'm gonna read the bio of the lovely lady that we are interviewing today. Is that cool again? - Yup. - Okay, pause. Give me a second. I gotta go to the her interview. All right. Is it Rihanna? - Rihanna, yeah. - Rihanna Campbell lives in upstate New York with her husband, daughter, and four furry friends. When she's not writing, she's drawing, painting, Croquet, crocheting, crocheting or reading a fan of sci-fi and fantasy Rihanna. Rihanna is a fan of things nerdy. Everything from Star Trek, Star Wars to Dungeons and Dragons, rule of warcraft. Her all favorite authors include Jane Austen, Sarah J. Mas, Mary Marie Hart, Grace Burrows, Julian Quinn, Douglas Adams, and Agatha Christie. Rihanna's favorite procrastination techniques include TikTok and video games. So without further ado, let's go chat with Miss Campbell. Okay. Thank you so much for joining us on the Bookshelf Boyfriend's podcast. Rihanna Campbell, welcome, welcome. - Thank you. I'm so excited to be here. - We are super stoked to have you. I like to like break the ice by being like, how's the weather where you're at? - Terrible. It's cold and it's dark and I hate it. - Oh my God, where are you at? I wanna be there. I like to do that. - Central New York. It's not a whole lot of fun here right now. And it won't be until like May again. - I love the snow. I love the cold though. I feel like New York is a little too busy for me. Not enough time for like, do you like live in like, like, century New York? Is that like New York City? - No, no. We're way, we're probably about five or six hours away from the city where I live. So it's not the boondocks exactly, but it's not a huge city either. So I like the cold and the dark though. I like that. Listen to me. - Then come on up. Come visit. Everybody's always like, everybody's like, oh my God, it's so, this, it getting dark at 5 p.m. is screwing on my life. I'm like, shut up. I love this. Leave me alone. Like, I don't like the sun. The sun doesn't like me. - Yeah, I can't say I'm a huge fan of 90 degree weather either, but somewhere in the middle is better for me than freezing cold. - Okay. - So I think I'm in the dark and in the cold. That's when I'm like. - I'm just glad to not be the only north person here because I'm always the only northerner. - Not even at 5 p.m. - Yeah, but she's a heck of a lot closer to me than you are. - Okay, I'm in Maryland, so I mean, here it's cold too. - I love Maryland. Maryland's great. It's a little bit farther south, but a little bit nice. - Is bipolar with the weather. Tomorrow, it's supposed to be like eight degrees. And then the next day, it'll be like 25 and snowing. - Mm-hmm. - Ridiculous. Anyway, so we're going to hop right in with questions about your books. So we're going to dive into your, and I'm going to, yeah, you just told me, McLaughlin. McLaughlin? - Got it. - Security group series. So for our listeners who haven't read this or you for that matter, can you tell us a little bit about the series and what your inspiration behind it was? - So the McLaughlin Security Group series is named that because the very first book is Connor's story, Connor McLaughlin. He owns the company. He is ex-military, ex-Army Ranger. And he started the company with the view of hiring ex-military personnel to provide security details and security systems and things like that. So the series is him and his guys and their each individual unique love story and all the kind of issues and problems that come up along the way for each of them. My inspiration was pretty personal. I mean, a lot of people I think have, a lot of people want to fall in love and have that relationship and that storybook romance. But I think almost everybody comes with some kind of baggage or issue, you know, from from their past or their childhood or whatever. So my inspiration was basically just to try and write stories that start very flawed, very damaged people and show that it was still possible for them to fall in love and have that kind of romantic relationship and make it work. Basically, I love those kind of stories as the best. I do too. I'm always drawn to those as a reader too. Marie Hart in particular was a big inspiration for me because she has a lot of ex-military characters and her stories and a lot of people who are, you know, have issues that they're working through at the same time individually, as well as with their partners and the stories. So that's. I'm here for that my favorite types. I love a good. I love a good military romance. I don't read them often, but like I'll get in like these moods and very much a mood reader. But I get these moods where I'm like, I just need me like a Navy seal. And I'm. Exactly. I literally read this book by accident. I'm not even joking in this one book. It's called, and it fucked me up. Okay. I never, I am never going to trust this author ever again. And I can remember her name is what it's called fighting absolution. And I feel like if people have read, I don't apparently it's not like a bigger thing. It's by like Kathy. Something I have no idea. I'm going to Google it, but it is one of the great McCarthy hate McCarthy. And it's called fighting absolution and that shit fucked me up. I was looking for a little steamy, a little bit of angst, you know, like a little military vibe. That shit screwed me up. It's like, I was, I mean, it's a happy ever actor, but I was like sobbing, like nodding. I was like, oh my god. Oh, yeah. More of these though. One another. Yeah. Those are the kind where you're like, oh, I hate you. Why are you making me cry so hard? But at the same time, you're like, where's the next book? What's the next book? Yeah. Is there another one? Is this a series? Because I love you. So yeah, I totally, I love that. I love that whole vibe. And I think that flawed characters are just. I don't know. I guess not more interesting, but I think, yeah, I'm going to go with more interesting. I think that flawed characters make books more interesting. And they're easier to relate to, because like I said, nobody's perfect. Everybody has some kind of an issue they're dealing with. So when you can identify with a character in a book. who's not perfect or who's, you know, dealing with stuff, it makes you feel a little bit better. Exactly, you make me feel less like a lunatic. Exactly. And we can all, we can all use to feel less like a lunatic sometimes. Yeah, I suppose you meant that. All right, see you next. I also would like to say that I really wish more people would write security firm books. I love them. I get, when I get into them, I first started reading them at Harper Sloan released corp security like almost 10 years ago at this point. That series has been out for a while, but I am still obsessed with books and I wish more people would write in this trope. It's a trope. It's a solid trope. I like it a lot of lines. Right. Yeah, it's a lot of bragging. But it's like, yes, give me all of the ex-military men that could possibly kill me, but want to protect me, please. Exactly. Like, it's like, I know you could kill me, but you won't. And that's what is, that's the good thing. Okay, so now her protector is book one, and this is Alexandria and Connor's story. So what was your favorite part of writing their story? Because these are really strong characters. Yeah, and because they're both such strong characters, my favorite part of writing this couple was the back and forth, the dialogue and the sort of, I mean, it's not quite enemy syllabus, but that sort of like snarky sarcastic like Catherine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy type, back and forth at Reparte, was super fun to write. It was so much fun. I don't know about the people who read my book so far, but I was laughing writing it. If I had to pick another one, this would be a close second. Connor has a lot of different moods. He can be really kind of silly and goofy, but he can also be really serious. But I think the favorite parts to write were when he's like kind of sulky and childish. So that was really fun too. But for the most part, it was, it was the dialogue between the two of them because they're both such like not going to give in, if as good as they get type people, and it was super fun to write. I love banter. Bansers, what gets me through books sometimes, like I can, like for example, like I can, I don't really ever DNF a book. I hate not finishing shit. It was the shadow of me. So I can, I can, you know, troop through a book if the banter and the dialogue is there, right? Like if the story's not that great and the characters are not, you know, clicking, it's like, oh, I'm not going to really like this one. But the banter's good. It helps me get through. I love banter. Absolutely. And it does, it does a lot for character development too, because in my personal life, if I meet somebody and I can banter back and forth and joke back and forth with them, I know that like, okay, you and I are going to be friends. Exactly. Definitely. That is such a weird thing because that's like one of, it's the weirdest thing ever to admit out loud. But that is such a turn on for me as a person. Like if, okay, so like I have that humor, like that kind of dry humor where like you, you're like, oh, you're insulting me. And it's like, no, I'm joking with you. But like people who pick up on the dry humor and like, hit me back with something insulting, I'm like, oh my god. So is this your proposing? It's weird when both, yes. Exactly. That's such, that's such a good like thing. I like spot that. I'm like, yes, somebody give me, you know, like this great banter. That's what I want my life. And it's absolutely. I'm here for it. All right. So book two is her defender. And this is Janie and Jackson. Also, I love Jay, I love one names are the same. Like I know that some, like some authors like, oh, no, names of the hero and heroine, I refuse to let them be the same. I fucking like it. Okay. I thank you. So Janie had a really troubled childhood and she strongly believes that only the only person she can really rely on is herself, which I feel like a lot of people have can relate to because when you go through things like that, that is kind of the mentality that you develop. And so until Jackson comes along and he's like this super persistent, like my boy and given up. So like, was there anything about Janie's character that was harder to write over Jackson's character or vice versa? I think Janie's character was definitely harder to write for a couple of reasons. I think one of which was, you know, she struggles with bulimia in the book and she has to kind of rebuild her self image and her self-esteem, starting at a pretty young age to try and, you know, combat this disease that she's dealing with and the cause behind it. And that personally for me, I've never suffered with the anorexia bulimia, but that whole idea of having to work on your self-esteem and learning to love yourself and your body the way that it is was very personal for me and as it is, I think, for a lot of women and men. So that was definitely more hit me more in the feels while I was writing it. I also think Janie's issues are a little bit more serious when it comes to, you know, her actual physical health and her day-to-day life and how she builds relationships. You know, Jackson has a lot of issues of his own that he's dealing with, but they're a little bit easier for him to deal with in the day-to-day and they might actually make him better at, you know, his job and his relationships because his main issue is this sense of overwhelming sense of responsibility that he puts on himself for the people that he cares about and their well-being and their welfare and their happiness. It's an issue, but it's not, I think Janie had a little bit rougher of a time of it and so that made her a little bit more difficult to write. Yeah, honestly, I mean, the amount of books I've read over in my lifespan has been ridiculous, but I've read a lot of books where characters have characters have mental health issues and bulimia and anorexia isn't one that I like read very often and I guess like, well, I guess it's just like, you know, like when you're growing up, it's kind of like that, you know, you're naive in the way that you're like, oh, the people around me don't suffer with this thing so it must be like a rare thing to go through, right? When you get older and you really, and that TikTok has really helped me like open up that, you know, like the amount of people that really struggle with eating disorders is like, it blows, it's insane. I was like, oh my god, I had no idea there were so many people out here that suffer so much like with their self-image that this is, you know, like what they're doing to themselves. Not to mention, there are some people who like, like food, certain food groups are like triggers and I follow this one girl and this is what this is what I needed to get to. I follow this one girl and TikTok and she's going through the process of eating like her bad foods, like the foods that like made her, like she doesn't like, she doesn't eat, like eating them physically makes her sick because she's gaining weight as she eats them. So she's going through this little thing where she picks a little out of the jar and it's like a new little thing and one of them is pickles. I was like, oh my god, honey, I was like the fact that you have never really truly enjoyed a pickle makes me so sad. Yeah, it's definitely not something that you see very often in, you know, especially novels. Yeah, and that's one of the reasons I wanted to write about it and, you know, I had to do a lot of research because like you said, it's not something that I experienced firsthand or knew anybody who experienced it. So I did had to do a lot of research and make sure that I, because I wanted to get it right. Yeah, I didn't want to, you know, I didn't want to accidentally come through it as something that it wasn't or, yeah, or make it seem, you know, unrealistic, but yeah, it's yeah, it's really the the amount of people who struggle with this is really surprising. I remember the exact figures, but I was shocked. Oh yeah, shocked. I appreciate you putting it in here and I'm sure that people who actually suffer from this appreciated also because like I said it, I don't feel like it's something that people really talk about often. Right. And I think a lot of that comes, oh my God, I cannot get into this run out, but I'm gonna say, I feel like a lot of that comes from the fact that like, so like people, women, women, I want to say women, especially, but definitely men have me eating, eating disorders too, but I feel like for women, right, it's like nobody recognizes an eating disorder if you fall within a societal view, like how your body supposed to look, right? And a lot of women have anorexia or bulimia, right? Obviously, you're very like thin, very, you know, for skinny. And it's like, oh, your body looks how society tells you it's supposed to look, you don't have an eating disorder. And that's like care, that's like making the eating disorder even worse. Right. Yeah. Or the, you know, nobody even recognizes it as as a problem until somebody gets to the point where they're basically just getting bones or they have to be hospitalized. You know, like if you're not, yeah, you know, if you're not at the point where you're dying because you're starving to death. Yeah. Nobody really notices and nobody really considers it to be a huge issue because they're like well you look great. Yeah it's like oh you look skinny you're fine it's like right that's like skinny doesn't always eat quite healthy like I don't like what and I feel like that is another like issue involved with like people and I'm sure that people who read it that suffer from this was like thank you I feel very validated so I hope so I certainly hope so all right see you go before I find another like issued her her um brain shortage on topics we go make five million left earth oh my connections like we'll be talking and I look oh my god I gotta I gotta connect it back it's it's just you should see the way I write my books I do that too my editor hates me yeah so bad all right go all right so books the third book in the series which is her keeper and this is Amanda and Parker's story now these two come from very different backgrounds so what surprised you most about them um there's probably a couple of things um the first thing is um you know Amanda is the one who comes from the more affluent more well to do higher class sort of background and Parker is the one who comes from you know very lower class uh grow very poor um and Amanda does not care at all about any of it yeah and Parker cares a lot he puts a lot of stock in um for a lot of different reasons but he puts a lot of stock and in fact that he doesn't feel like he's good enough for her yeah and that's a major issue for him um and Amanda just could not care less she's like what doesn't it doesn't matter it doesn't make any difference to me um and her parents who Parker is adamant would not approve if they really knew who he was and where he came from uh really couldn't care less either you know it's um so that was kind of I wasn't sure how I was going to handle that when I went into the book and it just kind of turned out that way and it fit and it felt right knowing what I knew about the characters that she wouldn't care about this her parents wouldn't care about this like so he was kind of the only one who was hung up on it um the other thing that really surprised me is how absolutely stupid Parker could be at times I love he was one he was one of those characters where like I wanted to reach into the page and slap the crap out of him because I'm like what are you doing yeah you're really being you're being stupid right now please stop and I remember very vividly when I was trying to um resolve an issue towards the end of the book and I'm talking to my husband and I'm you know bouncing off ideas and I'm like this is what happens this is the situation he's in and this is what I think he's going to do and my husband goes is he an idiot it's like yes I thought you didn't he goes I thought you didn't like writing characters that were stupid and I'm like yeah but it really kind of fits with where his head is at the moment and I feel like this is really something that he would do and not even though I hate to write this because he it's it freerates me that he decides to you know take all this blame on himself to a ridiculous degree uh I was like I think this is how it has to go yeah yeah he would make and I have to just deal with it I honestly love how so I feel like it's a talent to be able to separate yourself from the characters you write because you want to make them diverse and different that you get so we get so into it that we're like I would never do this yet you're the one writing it and you're like but you would apparently it's like no no no I wouldn't do it they would do it yeah yeah explaining that to people is like so you suffer with schizophrenia is what you're telling me it's like no yeah and that's it's been it's kind of hard at times when I when I'm talking to people about the book and they're like well why did you make them do them like I don't listen I don't make them do anything I can't make them do anything they will do is be pleased they are their own people their own characters they're fully formed you know by the time I get to a certain point in the book and I get that it is what it is yeah I just along for the ride I'm pretty good at all pretty much I'm literally just like a fly on the wall just like yeah and then they did this it's like Jesus Lord help me yeah anyways um so like what is next for you any more plans to add to this series or are you starting another doing something different what what what is what is going to come for me well I have book four is in the works and should be out um early next year title sorry um but that is going to be um that is going to be Ian's story um he was introduced in the first book uh he's popped up quite a bit along the way um and his love interest is I think maybe going to surprise people but yeah that's that he's going to be an eyes because of who she is or because of who they are because of who she is okay right I mean when they open it they tell you should I drop the I mean it's pretty obvious from the first chapter so it's not really a huge surprise but um drop the bomb all that from her defender from Janie's book um Janie has a younger sister so we're gonna see McKenna again in book four so when authors say that my mind okay listen this is really bad but I don't really care so like when authors say like oh the love interest is going to surprise people it's like is it because it's going to be like of the same gender as I were telling me like am I going to get a male male Robert that's not that's not book four but it might be coming it might be coming tea give it to me I'm not sure if it's going to be a full novel or novella or if I'm going to work it into book five which I have planned um but that's going to be coming you're going to see you're going to see Sam's story too because we can't be about Sam I love I love it as the LGBTQ representative on the podcast I love it so yeah 100% I but yeah anytime authors say that I'm like it's it it's going to be a girl isn't it like if it's like oh like her real love interest is going to shock you it's a girl isn't it I'm here for it's not going to shock me because I'm ready for it like so I am sure that's super awesome and congratulations and we're super excited to see what you what comes out and I'm excited for those male male thing sign me up any of those all of them maybe I'll turn it to maybe I'll make it a novel just for you maybe I'll make a full novel just for you but I love those listen 10 out of 10 okay I don't know if you read male male if it's like a thank like okay so I say that I just like LGBTQ romances in general like I'm not I don't want anybody to think that I'm like just targeting male male everything else in my romances I love them I'd read any type of LGBTQ anything transgender pansexual doesn't matter I'll read it and I'll love it but there's a series by Ella Frank and Brooke wine I think it's yeah Ella Frank and Brooke Blaine and it is like the fallen series and it's about a rock star and this new drummer that is in the band and oh my god it's magical okay I'm gonna have to find that that might be my birthday but they read so fast that you don't even think you're reading three books so I'm gonna I'm gonna show my true nerd colors right now okay but there is a a Japanese manga okay what is it yeah what is given no read it yeah okay it's about it's about two boys who meet in high school and they join well one of them is already in a band okay with two older guys who are in college and the he meets uh um he meets a boy who's just sitting along with a guitar with a broken string and he can't stand it so he goes and he fixes the boy string and the guy and and and he freaks out and he's like will you please teach me how to play guitar and so they all end up all four of them in a band together and it's fantastic and you would love it and you should say I'm ordering the first one on Amazon right now there's an anime show too it's on crunchy roll you should check it out it's an on foundation I have foundation is it on foundation too it might be I'll have to check it out because the crunch your roll is free it has ads but it's free so you should check out I might do it listen I'm so don't even say like total nerd because I'm total we'll talk about this after we'll talk about this after okay okay okay and moving forward sorry go ahead all right you're in order to be turned into a movie or TV show who would you cast as the lead role oh um so I'm not really sure for for um the female leads but I can definitely give you some names for the male leads um Connor has to be Connor has to be Nick Bayman has to be Nick Bayman the whole time I was writing the series Nick Bayman's face was like flashing in my head the entire time he's so hot so yeah and you know what again super nerd moment but he did like a short film about one of the X-Men characters, Gambit. And I've been a lover, never since. - The fact, okay, never won. That's another thing I've been able to get into. - Gambit was gonna have a movie and they canceled it and he was gonna-- - No! - And he was gonna like, "Why Tyler Keish?" And I was like, "Ahh, why?" Why is it not happening? - I, 'cause I love Tyler, 'cause he played, I can't remember what X-Men it is, but he does play like a cameo, where he is Gambit, and the X-Men, and they were gonna do a movie for him and I was like, "When is it coming?" And they canceled it. - Mm-hmm, and then there was supposed to be like a Channing Tatum movie with Gambit movie and I didn't want. Gambit's never gonna give us on movie, why? - Why? - Why, I like him and his cards. - My favorite, and I never gonna get a movie and it's depressing, but yeah, it's a nickname. For Jackson, it would definitely be Jason Momoa. - I was like, "Oh, I can't see." - Aquaman, yes, it has to be. In fact, in the first book, the first time Alexandra meets him when he's on her details, she's like, "Who is this in front of me?" Like, he's absolutely gorgeous, and I think she actually like refers to him as looking like Jason Momoa, and that's exactly who I picture. Parker would be more like Chris Hemsworth type, like blonde, scruffy, kind of longer hair, gorgeous. Of course, they're all gorgeous, they have to be. Hemsworths are all stunning. - Okay, that's the genetic lettering. - For real. - And Ian, who is in book four, is I'm thinking Henry Cavill would do a good job. - Oh, which one? - Which one, because I'm the one. - No, no, no, no. - Superman here in Cavill, or the witcher, Henry Cavill. - Definitely more witcher, because Ian is very kind of like, he's very large and tall, and intimidating, and he's kind of got like those chibble features, and that like chili glare that makes him seem like completely unapproachable. And that's, yeah, I think Henry Cavill could pull that off. - I love Henry Cavill. - Like, I don't hate him in Superman, but I don't like him in Superman that much, but he's like a baby. - I don't know what it is, it's weird for me. I just don't like him in Superman, but I think it's just an error of the witcher, like even when he's not playing the witcher, like when he's out of character, and like how he looks day to day, it's just like a whole different breed of Henry Cavill. (laughs) - Yeah, he's aged like a fine wine, like the older he gets, better, he's the better he looks. - He had a photo, he had a photo, he had a photo shoot with like Hollywood reporter, something like that. Oh my God, he's in like a brown leather jacket. He's got like his hair, it's like curling the front. Oh my God, I would have your baby tomorrow. Tomorrow, and I'm also counting down because season, shout out, season two of the witcher comes out December 17th. I'm waiting patiently to binge it. So, that's my jam. All right, so we're gonna shift gears and move to writing questions, which is my section. So are you a plotter or a pancer or somewhere in between the word we like to call a plancer? I'm definitely more towards the pancer side. If I ever do, if I ever do any planning, it is very, very big and probably incomprehensible to anybody who isn't me. So it's as little sometimes as some thoughts scribbled on a notepad or something like that. At most, it's a very, very loose outline. So I'm more of a pancer, I just kind of sit down and let the characters do whatever they're gonna do and write it down as it happens in my head. - I wish. - My control issues could never, never. Oh my God, I very much so let my characters do their thing with like dialogue and in the chapters and their mannerisms and how they move and that kind of thing. But when it comes to like freaking like plot, that shit, my control issues, I gotta have a direction. I gotta have to go somewhere. If I'm just winning it, oh my God, I'll never finish it. - I mean, I have like, I have a loose idea in my head before I start writing the book. Like what the main issue is gonna be and you know, that sort of thing. And but yeah, no, I'm mostly just kind of sit down and write it and of course that means that editing is an absolute nightmare for me. - Honestly, I don't remember anything from the previous books and I have to go back and look through the previous books and go okay, what was that guy's middle name and what I colored did he have and did they go there in December or was it January? Like my editor is the MVP because she knows how forgetful I am. And she, when I started this, when I start like new series at the beginning, she has a doc like a master list of little like things that I've listed like okay, they stay in this room. This is where their dorm is. This is what color eyes everybody has. Like she lets me know everything and keeps it and just adds to the series so I don't have to like go back fucking hunting for it 'cause I'm like shit, did I like, what does his middle name mean? Like just like you, like what does his middle name mean? - Yeah. - I don't remember any of that. - I finally learned when I started the fourth book, I went back and I looked at, I looked up every single reference to Ian and I made notes about every single thing that I wrote about him thus far so that I wouldn't forget anything and I could do it while I was writing instead of referencing it and trying, you know, trying to look it up while I was editing but yeah, it took me to book four to figure out to do that in advance. - I feel you. - So do you have any interesting writing quirks like when you sit down to write, do you have to like be eating twizzlers or like wearing a certain pair of socks, or something of that nature? - Music, I have to have music playing when I'm writing. I can't write in a quiet room or with background noise or anything like, I have to have music and it actually, it's funny because I almost end up with like a theme song for each book that I usually end up listening to on a repeat like through certain scenes that I'm like, all right, I really have to stay in the zone, I have to stay in the, you know, this particular feeling or this particular mindset and it really helps with that. - Yeah, that's when I Spotify playlist, like my Spotify wrap up is so ridiculous. It's like, you listen to this one track, 181 times. It's like, oh my God. - I think you feel like you're writing a twin. - For real though. - I think you're gonna be best friends by the end of this, what I think. - Look, IPA for her, and I already know how she is when it comes to eating and her songs. - It's okay. - For her defender, that song that came out, she first posted like the version on TikTok and then like a week later it was on Spotify. Oh, God, what was her name? - Is it Nessa but Barrett? - No, the song, maybe I'm not pretty. - Let me look it up. - Ooh, it's like right on the tip of my tongue. - I Jesse? - Yes. - Maybe I'm just at one. - Okay. - Yes, I'm gonna have to leave. - That became, that became the theme song for her defender, or Janey, and I listened to that song thousands of times, I'm sure, probably, while I'm sorry. - I'll have to listen to it. 'Cause I love my music. - It's a fantastic song. The message is great, it's fun, it's fantastic. So, you're for it. - All right, so what do you like to do when you're not writing? - This is a tough one. (laughs) It's a loading question for me. - We think. - So, well, I have ADD. So, I have about a bazillion hobbies, and they rotate on no specific schedule at all. So, I like to read, obviously. I also draw a paint. I'm currently trying to teach myself how to play guitar. It's around here somewhere. I'm trying to refresh my Japanese in. - I wanna learn another language, but. (laughs) - I've always loved languages. I took four years of French. I took a year of Greek and a year of Japanese in college, and I remember next to nothing. And it's kind of a bummer. So, I'm working on that. But I have so many hobbies that, honestly, I don't have nearly enough time for all of them. - See, language would not work for me, because it takes time to learn a new language, right? But the way that my ADHD works is I like to hyper-fixate on things. So, if you're trying to learn something within the three first three days of me binge-hyper-fixating on it, I'll be done with it, and I don't wanna do it anymore, I don't care. So, there are a million projects I've started. It's like, "Oh, I wanna do this, and I wanna do that." And it's like, "Yeah, I started that and never finished it." - Yeah, I have so many half-crochet blankets or half-painted paintings, or I have equipment for any possible hobby you would wanna pursue in my house somewhere. - And that's the beauty of writing. I feel like, "That's why I feel like I was destined to just get investments on weird words." That's why I feel like writing has always been something that I have that I should have always done, and we'll continue to always do, 'cause it's the only thing that I've ever been able to start and finish completely, like hobby or any type of like passion-wise, that's always been it. Like, it's the only thing that I've consecutively been able to start it and then finish a book and start it and finish a book and I and that just gives me so much of a reward it's like I am fighting the ADHD yeah yeah I'm the same thing writing is the only thing that I've ever consistently enjoyed doing like it's not something that I mean yeah I've gone through periods where I I didn't have time or I didn't have a particular story idea in mind and I didn't write but you know it's something that has always been it's always been something that's been fun for me and something that I could pick up and do and and you know my entire life so it's only hobby I've never really dropped for any significant amount of time or in my life so I'm dating with what my hobby is and I haven't dropped it in my life oh my god you know what diamond paintings are no yeah there are a lot of different ones sitting here for some reason excessive diamond painter she'll send me ones that are like the length of white tables yeah I literally just did a hundred five forty centimeter one wow those three and a half weeks no now are those like super stressful are they super relaxing because I figured they've got to be either one or the other I would say that it depends on who it's who's doing them because for me it it calms my anxiety a lot so if I am really anxious about something I'd literally pull it out and I will I will literally hyper fixate on it for a while dude and she has like a set up and everything she got boxes or color coordinated and like different it's a legit system she's got I have finished ones yeah she just did same I need her to do me a Harry styles one so bad all right so what is the weirdest thing that you've ever had to go for a book um you know I feel like there's something but I can't remember it at the moment um I haven't I don't think there's been anything too weird I had to look up a lot of military terminology yeah um I think for for her defender for the second book I had to look up the pay scale um for enlisted marines that was kind of a weird thing to look up but I had to do that um the next day a marina cruder shows up at your door so you were googling about us but yeah no I haven't there haven't been really too many too many weird things that I've had to look up I had to look up a lot of maps of New York City um because I've been there a bunch of times I love this city but you know I don't have the whole thing memorized by heart I had to look up um in the first book there's a reference to a bar in like the specific location of it is like kind of like between Chinatown and Soho or something like that I had to look that up and just stuff weird stuff like that like restaurants and and street numbers or names or you know whether something's uptown or downtown but I think we want MJ looks up what did you say then what you look up I mean the CIA is coming for you we write two different genres that's why um we're not really genres but two different tropes like specifics um I've had to um I have had to look up some some statutes some legal statutes okay that might come across as a little bit strange if somebody saw my history like you know kidnapping and I googled how long would it take for like a pig to eat an entire human body oh yeah yeah yeah yeah I need a time frame I didn't even put the pick part in there because I was like I feel like it's gonna take too long and I needed it to be in a short span so we're going to the question for I think the question is how many pigs though was he um that was another thing and there were too many variables you know and it was a good point that I was gonna have to do myself apparently yeah because obviously more pigs would eat a human you know would eat yeah yeah yeah I guess the body cut up and I was like you know what we're gonna do we're just gonna do some acid and we're going to not literally do acid like LSD we're gonna do we're gonna do acid in a vat we're gonna melt him down and we're gonna put him in a drain and that'll be it so much fewer variables yeah I know not as many variables and you can always count on chemical reactions to get the job done because like what if the pigs got full that was another thing I was thinking about it was like what if they got full and stopped eating that playthrough like what do you do with the body you just leave it there yeah too many I can't rely on the animals all right so that is my last writing question it is now CV's turn to do reading questions I'm gonna pop off here real quick because I have to go grab something right okay so what book has your favorite cover now this can be any viewers or any one that you've read oh um that's a god and that's a tough one um I for my own I would have to say her keeper which is the third book even though unfortunately that cover got me TikTok bands like twice story like her life yeah yeah um so you know strategically placed text boxes the next time I posted it um that's my favorite one so far of my books um but oddly enough I I tend to prefer more like stylized covers when I'm looking for books to read like um Deborah Harkness's series um what was it uh oh the book of life for the book of life and um yeah yeah yeah so like those more like kind of stylized covers always tend to grab my eye um so things like that but it's um it definitely depends on the genre because you know you tell you know a lot by what genre the book is by the you know by the the cover and what it looks like you know I want to see how to take a couple on the cover then it's going to be a good book probably I don't want to know what people got to put on covers to read like to give off the vibe of toxic romance because the you know like the like okay there's a vibe right I love those okay mind you there's like I don't know if you know who kv Rose is do you know she is mm-hmm okay so kv Rose uh CM Radcliffe their covers just radiate toxic romance and I'm like y'all by that immediately like the dead of bipers like that kind of cover oh it's on my shelf is yeah that cover definitely says toxic toxic romance yeah yeah yeah just love it it's bad it's like I never wanted my real life but I definitely in my fictional head I want it it's fun to read about for sure yeah so what a track sheet told book the cover the blur a recommendation from someone or a title um I think at one point or another I've probably chosen a book based on any or all of those things but definitely um the cover is the is the first thing that grabs my attention if I'm um you know if I'm out at a books if I'm a Barnes and Noble or I'm on another bookstore or you know what a thrift store and use bookstore anywhere else and I see a cover that really grabs my attention then I'll pick the book up and I'll read the blurb and if the blurb sounds good then I'll you know um then I'll look more into it but definitely the cover grabs my attention first um but I have read based on any one of those things I'm I'm a book hoarder so so anything you know anything and everything that catches my attention for any reason at all usually ends up either on my e-reader on my bookshelf so I have a book about the anatomy of like the human body okay and I did take anatomy in college but it's like a it's not a course it's like just a random book on like the human body on anatomy that I saw and the cover is really cool and I was like yeah I might need this so I bought it I mean I've definitely done that I've definitely done that I bought books I'm like uh you know Norse mythology or I have like a whole shelf there's a shelf like over here it's in the corner it's behind this little thing over here but this whole little area right here is all kinds of mythology yeah yeah so I just you know and I'll pick something up and if the cover looks really cool I'm like oh yeah yeah yeah I'm gonna buy this I'll take this one this will look good on my shelf for how many books I have with my Kindle it's God she has like a thousand books under her Kindle just in her Kindle oh my gosh and I literally had to buy new book shelves the other day because I was running out of space yeah I actually built two custom books bookshelves when I redid my upstairs because I was like we don't have nearly enough bookshelves and I they're literally literally six feet tall and like four five feet wide story of mine yeah we need more bookshelves so who are you some of your favorite authors to read um Jane Austen is by far my favorite author and again I think that's because of the the back and forth and the repartee and that sort of thing she's just the master of that and I love her books um I love uh Cody Gary's books I love Marie hearts books. Sylvia Day is great. I'm cheating. I'm looking at my bookshelf right here. At least a play fuzz for like historical romance and things like that J.R. Ward, she has just found her new best friend for life. Oh, dare Ward, fantastic. That black dagger brotherhood series. Oh, one of my life. Yeah, I love those books. Yeah. I so I picked up the first funny story. I found the first book on my library app. Right. And I read it just like was like, I'll try this one. It was like a recommended for you type thing. And I read the entire like I don't even know how many on my e-reader and or on the library app. And then when I ran out, I was like, oh, I went out like the next day. And I was like, I need the next book right now. Oh, yeah. Right now. That's the type of breeding idea when I'm reading a series. And I run out of the series or I can't find the next book. It's like, I can't stop until I find it. And I read it story of my life. Zadis Rath, all the reason that I love toxic men. They are the reason Rath is actually so we have a question coming up. And I'll explain it more in detail. But Rath is like my husband and Zadis is on my baby daddy. Like I love so much. Yeah. Ian may or may not have started out loosely based on Zadis. Oh, oh, my God, dies on the inside. It dies on the inside. You know, tall quiet doesn't talk a lot kind of broody. Like, you know, looks like he could seriously. You know, fuck you up. Definition of a torture hero period. Like he is the E is the fuck. What is the original blueprint for a torture hero? Oh, definitely. I also thought you were Sarah J. Mass fan in your bio. Yes. Now I have a very serious person for you right now. Oh, come here we go. Okay. Throne of Glass series, Tog or Akatar. Oh, gosh. I got to go with the wingspan. I got to go with Akatar. Yeah, you're going with Akatar. Damn. Okay, listen, if we're talking about like a beautifully crafted world building experience, you know, Throne of Glass would probably win for the books that I enjoyed the most. And that were like, you know, gave me the best bookboy friends. Then I have to go with Akatar. Yeah, I mean, I mean, it's hard to be. It's hard to be as real as like, baby, daddy. I love him. Oh, yeah. So I mean, I totally agree. I'm not a huge Reese. I'm not a huge Reese fan or rice or however you guys say it on care. I call him Reese. I'm not a huge Reese fan. Like I like him for favor, but I wasn't like, oh, I got to love him. I was definitely team, Andrea from the moment I met him. Oh, yeah. But Tog has like this hold on my heart forever because Rowan white thorn is like, he is the love of my life. Also, I saw this TikTok and you'll understand it. You would be the only person on here that I've mentioned it to that will understand it. And it was like, when you start a Saturday mask book and you fall in love with the first hero that's introduced. No, yeah. It's never the first one. Because I started even the second one sometimes. No, because I started out with Tog and Sam fucked me up. I was like, oh, oh, oh, oh, no. And then we had cow or chow or however he says name. I was in cold. Oh, whatever his name is. That happened. And then we met, we met, we met Rowan. And I was like, this motherfucker is in game, bitches. This is the man. Yeah. And I remember thinking like, if any, if she fucks this one up, I'm done. I'm gonna be so pissed. I was like, I will ride up to the theory if he goes away. If he gets, you know, I'm like, no, I'm done. I'm done. No, thank you. Yeah, I love it. And I think the fact that she's able to kill off so many love interests, but still continue to keep you engaged and want to continue reading, I think it's just like an account, like a testament to her ability, her storytelling. Yeah. And I mean, let's face it. Who by the time you get to the end of that series, you definitely want like man and to end up with. Oh my god. I'm gonna lose my shit. They know. Oh my god. I love them. She, like, I'm out of like this. Oh my god. I can't. I can't get into this right now, but I love him. I love them. Ship that hard. Ship that hard. Also, if Azra doesn't end up with when he ends up with a lane, I'm gonna fucking, I'm gonna be. Oh, yeah. Okay. Sorry if you're in a lane and Azrael shipper, but I cannot. I will riot. I will riot. Anyways. Okay. So we're gonna move to the last section of podcast, which is 12 questions. Um, so what is your favorite trope to write and why? So my favorite trope is definitely enemies to lovers. Um, definitely. Um, and again, it's because of that whole back and forth. I love to see two really strong characters just kind of like hit head on like a partner. Yeah. And then, and then, you know, kind of pick up the pieces of the wreckage and build something out of it. Beautiful. I mean, we, we, um, I hope, you know, like you, I wish you would have died to, to whatever end, fire heart. Like, I mean, exactly, exactly. So far, we've had so far in different directions, but it's fine. I think the only one, and I mean, okay, so I, people say that Farah and Reese were enemy silvers, but I don't think that they were like, I don't think that they ever, like, I know that they had like a little bit of like tension, but I don't think that they, I ever got enemy silvers from them ever. I always like, yeah, YouTube bitches are together. Well, I think the thing is that Reese was never an enemy. She might have, she might have been like, she might have felt like he was, but he never really, I, because he from the very beginning, he knew it was like, that is my girl. Yeah, exactly. So it wasn't, it can't be a true enemies to lovers because he wasn't, he never considered her as an enemy. He knew from the beginning. So, and I think that's the same thing with Cassian and Nesta, like Nesta saw Cassian as like a threat, but Cassian never felt that way about her. He was always like, team her, even when she was a bitch. And that was like, she's the one. I love it all. Okay, anyways, sorry, see we take the next one. So what is one trope you would eventually like to write and why? I definitely want to do something with the friends to lovers, the opposite. Because as much as I love enemies to lovers, you know, there's so much potential for all of those like cute little romantic gestures when you have a couple that's know each other for a really long time or they've been friends and they share a history. It's just, there's just so much potential to play with that there and and to tie things. I love to tie things in and to tie things together. And so it's great when you can, you know, show little bits of like, oh, this is what happened in the past and then have one of them bring it up in the, you know, in the in the current story or turn it into something romantic and sweet. And it's just there's something wholesome about that whole childhood romance, high school sweetheart. It's a vibe that I want to do. I want to do that someday. I honestly, I had this come, we had this conversation on the podcast a few weeks ago where I was like, friends to lovers is arguably like up there with my enemies to lovers like favorite trope right. But friends to lovers is such a hard sell for me. Like there are not like, I love friends to lovers, but they're not enough like a lot of books that I would say that I like, oh, I love those books that are friends to lovers because it's hard for me because I'm always, I always end up hating one of them. And it's like, because, you know, like the conflict, right? I enjoy the books where it's like, okay, friends, okay? And then you kind of like something outside of them takes them apart, right? And then they come back to each other, even if they're whatever, right? But it's like when one of them does something to hurt the other one, I'm like, you fucker, you fucker. Yeah. I will never forgive you. I don't care what you do. They need forgiveness, but I won't. Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. So I like those. It's a hard sell for me, but it's like, there's one of my favorite tropes. So I really like them. All right. So what is one trope you will never write and why? Um, I'm not anything like, it's too close to home, shall we say? Is not anything I would put on right? So like the stepbrothers, step sister, step sibling type trope. Yeah. I mean, I'm not, you know, I don't hate it, but it's not really something I enjoy reading. It's probably something I would never write. It's just kind of weird and strange for me. I can't even front that I read the shit out of those. I know judgment. No judgment whatsoever. It's just not something that interests me. Yeah. Everybody has their, you know, their thing, you know, I don't yuck nobody's yum. Okay. And for me, I just so happen to enjoy. Now granted, the ones, and I talked to Stevie about this on the last part, we had this conversation because I was defending this. I don't like when it's like I don't like super taboo like they really want like they were their blood related that's a little yeah it's too far for me and I'm saying a lot because I read a lot but that's too far but I think it's like and if they grow up together like if the step simlings like have been full for years they've grown up together I'm like uh now that really is kind of your brother but now they're older and mom and dad got married and you know you know we moved in together I'm like okay yeah or if they're like or if it's like oh these are my grown-up children this is my 20-something year old you know that's all right I would probably read that but like there's something about like if they're young enough to still be living like to be living in the same house together or something about that just kind of like I don't know so it's something weird to me maybe it's maybe it's because I have like half siblings and I've had steps siblings and it's just like it's something that's just to me it strikes me as like nah that's not going to happen oh yeah totally get it I totally get it but at the same time I still read the share of them I love them I don't know if it's fine you do you do you do you do I'm the worst one I read either so it's fine all right so all right CV you can ask the last question all right so if you were in a book what trip would you want for your story um I would want enemies oh yeah it's only a broken record but I have always wanted to be Catherine Hepburn I've always wanted to be in one of those like classic Hollywood like where they're fighting and talking 90 miles an hour and like you know everything kind of happens in a rush and you know like the kind of sparks flying type situation I that's that's always been my that's always been my thing it's always been my my biggest thing steveys is billionaire which I thought was genius because yeah can I change my answer and here's my here's my thought on this is that if I pick a billionaire he can literally have he could be my enemy still lover like what it could all start out that way but he could also be a rock star and money can buy me happiness and it can find me a lot of books that's very true yeah yeah there's a science behind this yeah and there's nothing that says you can't have an enemy to lover is romance with a billionaire so exactly yeah we'll see I'm going to get to the world world's because I want reverse hair on so I'll just yeah it's a good one but I don't know how to put it in your hair on because it makes more sense oh I definitely will tell her my hair after I explain that I so like with the 80s hd thing I have like multiple personalities uh almost where it's like I want to say multiple personalities but it's like I have different vibes for like different moods you know like I very much am like dark and moody most of the time but I also have like an outgoing uh like sporty side and a competitive side and then I have like a emo goth side and it's like I need multiple men to fit this yeah yeah so my color mix is five men because that feels like enough uh it's rowing from thrown of glass because competitively we match each other so well like gang night with us we are fucking everybody up period okay like there's no beating us in charades um and then daddy Zeus from welcome to the dark side by Gianna Darling because he just he's oh and he like he fits my like rebel outgoing soul I love him wrath from dark love from uh dark lover uh because I feel like he would be so can see he would he would not even be bothered with like human shit all he would be worried about was me so that's all that matters um and then it is Simon Blackwell from medicine man by saferon camp he's a psychiatrist and I think that we all would need that at some point yeah yeah yeah and I need some structure in my life and he would keep me in line and the ones who take care of you make sure you eat your meals and drink your water it's not ugly that's him but also know what to do in the bedroom and then Damon Torrance from kill swage by finale we do this those that's my hair room those are my those are those are it and he's there because he's just like too hot not to be there so there's MJ's home and why she's decided to select those however that is our last question this has been so fun and we want to thank you so much for coming on joining us uh we are going to give you a few minutes to talk about uh you have a book coming out soon or a sale or cover reveal or anything like that let our listeners know where to find you the floor is yours well I do have book four coming out like I said hopefully the beginning of next year so really January um I do have a website I have a TikTok I have an Instagram and those are all like @reonacamble um Facebook page as well so you can find me at any of those um and yeah I'm looking forward to book four and book five and maybe getting you your mm novel that you're waiting and um I actually am hoping to launch another series um based on some of the characters you're going to meet in book four so stay tuned for that exciting exciting you love the good spin-off all right so once again thank you for joining us and we hope to chat with you again soon thank you so much