Summary:

Harlequin romance author Sera Taino goes Backstage with the Book Babes for a fantastic conversation about writing for Harlequin, her LatinX Characters, and writing queer normative worlds.

Sera Taino tells us all about winning a Harlequin romance contest which resulted in her novel being edited and published and how that led to her ongoing relationship with the publisher. Her novels focus on small towns, family & community connections, LatinX characters and different pairings both queer and MF.

While Harlequin is her primary publishing outlet, she also enjoys finding anthologies where she can publish short romance stories. These are often to raise money for charities that are important to her.

Sera tells us all about balancing family, her job as a high school teacher and her author life. She tells us about the importance of taking some time for herself after finishing a book, reading books and watching movies as well as exercising, eating well, and getting enough sleep.

We also learn about Sera’s use of journaling and tarot cards in her creative process. If ever she’s staring at a blank page, she’ll take some time to journal which helps her reconnect with her creativity and her characters. She also uses tarot cards for inspiration. She finds the storytelling aspect and use of archetypes is very useful when exploring her characters and the story she’s currently working on.

Sera has always been a fan of fanfiction and spent her teen years making fanfiction comics with her cousin. She’s been involved with lots of different fandoms over the years, and while she doesn’t currently have time to write it herself, she loves to read other people’s day in the life stories on Threads. Especially for Heated Rivalry.

Her trope for life is slowburn. She loves an angsty journey to get to the HEA.

Sera’s question for listeners is a fantastic one: If there’s a book you love your think she’ll like, drop it in the comments on our YouTube video or visit the Book Babes Instagram/Threads accounts to answer. Bonus points for queer or BIPOC authors.

We hope you enjoy the show, and if you do, leave us a review on Spotify, Apple, YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts. And make sure to follow us on your fave platform.

Music by Christopher Tallon

If you listen and it brings you joy, you can help support the podcast through Buy Me A Coffee.

Help Support the podcast:

Buy Nikki a tea: buymeacoffee.com/nikkijewell

Buy Alby a tea: https://buymeacoffee.com/albyblake

About Sera Taino:

Sera Taíno has lived all over the world and now calls Central Florida her home. She writes contemporary romance with a Latinx flavor. When she's not missing a deadline, you can find her teaching, slinging tarot cards, and reading about her latest hyperfixation.

Here’s where you can find Sera and her books:

All Links:

Social media - serataino on all platforms (IG/Threads)

www.serataino.com

Books can also be found on https://www.harlequin.com/shop/authors/29243_sera-tano.html

Keep Up With The Book Babes:

Social Media: Backstagewiththebookbabes

Email: backstagewiththebookbabes@gmail.com

Links & Guest Author Applications: linktr.ee/backstagewiththebookbabes

Find Nikki Jewell & Her Spicy Contemporary Romance:

Social Media: @nikkijewell_books

Website: authornikkijewell.com

Event Links: ://linktr.ee/nikkijewellbooks

Find Alby Blake & Her Unique Sports Romance Books:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/author_alby_blake/

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@alby_blake

Website: www.lovelunapress.com

Summary:

Queer romance author Kent Holland goes Backstage with the Book Babes for an insightful conversation about queer joy, making connections in the romance community, and the different subgenres he writes in.

Turns out the book babes have a lot in common with Kent Holland. He grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan where Alby lives and he shares a birthday with Nikki. Just goes to show you how connected we all are.

He starts off telling us about his books which include the Marquis Men theatre romance series, the Wanderlust travel romance series, and his Frostbitten hockey romance series. He even has a Western romance in the mix. And his next release, Hothead, is the first book in a new firefighter romance series.

Kent’s journey to authorhood was well planned and intentional. He studied English and entrepreneurship at school with a particular focus on online sales. This helped him grasp both the creative and the business side of being an independent author. His advice for aspiring authors is that writing is an art, but publishing is a business.

He shared how important making connections with readers is and how his personal measure of success is when readers reach out to say they felt seen. Kent is also very focused on ensuring he’s navigating his career in the most mindful and ethical way possible.

We talked about the impact of Heated Rivalry on queer romance including how it has brought many new readers into the community especially queer males who weren’t reading queer romance before.

Kent’s question for readers is a two parter. The first part is for LGBTQ2SL+ readers. What aspects of your experience have you seen in literature that you’re excited about or what aspects haven’t you seen that you’d love to see? And part two is for everyone. What drew you to the romance genre as readers or writers and what was it that brought you to this wonderful space? Please answer in the YouTube comments or follow the book babes on social media to answer there.

We hope you enjoy the show, and if you do, leave us a review on Spotify, Apple, YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts. And make sure to follow us.

Music by Christopher Tallon

If you listen and it brings you joy, you can help support the podcast through Buy Me A Coffee.

Help Support the podcast:

Buy Nikki a tea: buymeacoffee.com/nikkijewell

Buy Alby a tea: https://buymeacoffee.com/albyblake

About Kent Holland:

I am joyfully and proudly queer, which informs everything that I write. I live in a beautiful Southern town with my partner and our adorable cat, Poppyseed, who spends most of her free-time trying to step on my keyboard when I'm writing. I hope you find just as much queer joy in my stories as I do <3

Here’s where you can find Kent and his books:

All Links:

Website: https://kentholland.myshopify.com/

Instagram: @kenthollandwrites link

Threads: @kenthollanwrites link

Substack: @kentholland link

Keep Up With The Book Babes:

Social Media: Backstagewiththebookbabes

Email: backstagewiththebookbabes@gmail.com

Links & Guest Author Applications: linktr.ee/backstagewiththebookbabes

Find Nikki Jewell & Her Spicy Contemporary Romance:

Social Media: @nikkijewell_books

Website: authornikkijewell.com

Event Links: ://linktr.ee/nikkijewellbooks

Find Alby Blake & Her Unique Sports Romance Books:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/author_alby_blake/

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@alby_blake

Website: www.lovelunapress.com

Summary:

Sports Romance Author Eden Knox goes Backstage with the Book Babes for a fun, chaotic chat about her Sin Bin hockey romance series, Apollycon and other amazing book signing events, work life balance, and making connections with other authors.

She tells us all about her green flag men and how her dom MMC just happened to be a Cinnamon Roll at heart. So she’d like to coin the term Cinnadom if it’s not already a thing.

Eden has been a lifetime fan of the Pittsburgh Penguins and her first crush was Jaromir Jagr. To say she was devastated by his trade is an understatement. So when she decided she wasn’t going to be the next Anne Rice and pursued contemporary romance instead, hockey romance was the natural choice.

She spills the tea on her new book in the Hell’s Hollow interconnected world. She’s doing this one with a group of her romance author friends. So then we get into the importance of forming connections and building a support group with other authors. She’s got an amazing group and is happy to shout about how we collaborate, we don’t compete with other indie authors. She even got quoted in the press for this.

Eden tells us all about her amazing experience at Apollycon and meeting JR Ward twice. She’s got a great story about this, but you’ll have to listen to hear it. She also tends to overbook herself, so she’s got lots of events coming up.

We talk self care and balance and how sometimes you have to keep your deadlines to yourself so you don’t get overwhelmed. Eden knows all about that as she currently works in a library while writing books and completing a Master’s degree in Library And Information Science.

Eden’s question for listeners is: “Sprayed Edges or No Sprayed Edges?” Let us know in the comments or on our Instagram/Threads posts what your preference is.

We hope you enjoy the show, and if you do, leave us a review on Spotify, Apple, YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts. And make sure to follow us.

Music by Christopher Tallon

If you listen and it brings you joy, you can help support the podcast through Buy Me A Coffee.

Help Support the podcast:

Buy Nikki a tea: buymeacoffee.com/nikkijewell

Buy Alby a tea: https://buymeacoffee.com/albyblake

About Our Guest:

Eden Knox is a sports romance author who lives in Ohio with her giant tattooed husband, 2 amazing daughters, and their herd of animals. She is a geriatric Xennial who has been a Pittsburgh Penguins fan since the 90’s, and her first hockey crush was Jaromir Jagr. When she isn't screaming at hockey or football games, she's working on tormenting her fictional hockey team or completing coursework for grad school to earn her master's in Library Science.

Here’s where you can find Eden:

Website: http://www.edenknoxauthor.com/

Social Media: https://edenknoxauthor.com/pages/social-media

Keep Up With The Book Babes:

Social Media: Backstagewiththebookbabes

Email: backstagewiththebookbabes@gmail.com

Links & Guest Author Applications: linktr.ee/backstagewiththebookbabes

Find Nikki Jewell & Her Spicy Contemporary Romance:

Social Media: @nikkijewell_books

Website: authornikkijewell.com

Event Links: ://linktr.ee/nikkijewellbooks

Find Alby Blake & Her Unique Sports Romance Books:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/author_alby_blake/

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@alby_blake

Website: www.lovelunapress.com