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

Summary:

Contemporary & Sapphic Romance Author Maude Winters goes Backstage with the Book Babes for a fantastic conversation about switching between male female and sapphic romances, writing chaotic interconnected worlds and chasing plot bunnies

Maude writes billionaire and royal romances as well as sapphic romances. She has too many ideas to contain and is constantly fighting off plot bunnies to stay focused on her current work in progress. But she does have an accountability editor to help her stay on task. Shout out to Becky.

Her love for the sapphic romance community is strong, and she finds the community very welcoming and helpful. However seeing as how there were not enough events for this community she went and created her own. She’ll be hosting her own sapphic romance book event at Pages & Grapes in Grand Rapids, Michigan with a few other authors. And their slogan for the event is amazing. “Sounds Queer, I’m in.” She hopes this event will go well and she can bring it back for a second year.

Maude has an amazing supportive family who helps her get her writing time in while still working a full time job. She has a special ritual of heading to a coffee shop on Saturday mornings and her husband even set her up a space in the basement to continue this practice during the pandemic years.

Alby and Maude have known each other for a few years, but it feels like a lot more as it always does with people you have a great connection with. So they catch up about their local author community and all the fantastic events and meetups they participate in.

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:

Maude Winters is an pansexual, disabled author of open-door sapphic and billionaire romance who lives in Michigan with her husband, a horse-obsessed child, and three dogs. A weird theater kid and competitive choir devotee in a past life, she brings camp into all her stories.

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

All Links:

Love in the West End

Executive Decision

maudewinters.com

https://crewfiction.com/maudewinters/links

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:

Canadian Romance Author Frances Everly goes Backstage with the Book Babes for a delightful chat about writing in multiple subgenres, the importance of a quality cover, and filling her well by meeting readers at book signing events.

Frances writes contemporary romance in a variety of subgenres including rockstar, and sports romance under the name Frances Everly and she writes romantasy including her King Arthur inspired series under the name FD Everly. And she shares the inspiration for her first book as well as what keeps her going forward with new ideas.

Frances has been writing since she could put a pen to paper and has notebooks full of poetry from her emo high school years, but didn’t start publishing until shortly before the pandemic. She initially published with an indie publisher but got the rights back and went forward to forge her own path and learn all the ins and outs of self publishing.

She tells us all about how she refills her well after a big book signing weekend by taking some time off and resting on the couch for a couple of days. As much as you can when you’re a mother of a couple of young children. But also how meeting readers is another thing that keeps her inspired to get those words down.

Nikki and Frances have a long history and have known each other since their early days of publishing. They attend a lot of the same local book fairs and signings and this friendship has led to an amazing idea they’re excited to share. A Canadian sports romance convention likely to be held in the Hamilton area. Which will be great for all the Heated Rivalry fans as there are several HR filming locations in the city. They’ll be sharing more on this soon so stay tuned.

Frances’ question for listeners is a very specific one. For those of you who enjoy a secret baby or accidental pregnancy romance, would you read a book with the Jane the Virgin style concept of spontaneous pregnancy when both the MCs are virgins? She needs to know. If you don’t like pregnancy books, no need to chime in. We get it, not every trope is for every reader.

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:

Frances Everly is a prolific daydreamer and romantic. Her love of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien led to a pursuit of an education in Anthropology and she earned an Honours Bachelor of Arts Degree from Trent University. When she isn’t writing, she’s busy teaming up with her husband and chasing her two young children around. Frances grew up in Toronto and continues to reside in Southern Ontario with her family.

Here’s where you can find Frances:

All Links: http://linktr.ee/franceseverly

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:

In episode 19 of Backstage with the Book Babes, we interview hockey romance author, Ruby Rana. She writes romcoms featuring driven women, the hockey players who fall for them, and super fun meet disasters.

Ruby shares with us all about her Ottawa Regents series including the comedy, the spice, and the reason she chose Ottawa as the home for her fictional hockey team. Even though Ruby is not Canadian, she has family there and has visited many of the locations she mentions in her books, but she has a special love for Ottawa.

She shares with us how the difficulties of bringing physical comedy elements into book form, but how a lot of the inspiration comes from her own life. We even get to hear true story that led to a scene in one of her books.

Some of her favorite tropes to write that are included in most of her books include found family and forced proximity. And she tells us how her own found family in real life is just as important as her fictional found families. Although she also enjoys flipping tropes in her books, such as a reverse age gap.

We talk a lot about the many hats us indie authors wear and how important it is to be able to pivot when something isn’t working or a new strategy becomes more important. And also how it can be useful to hire help for some of your admin tasks when you’re able to.

Ruby’s dream is to get her books on a list in a magazine. This would be the ultimate sign of making it for her. Anyone in magazine publishing listening out there?

And her question for readers is: What is the one thing that draws you to a book? Is it a cute cover, the title, the tropes, or the blurb? Let us know in the comments, or post it on The Book Babes Instagram post.

It was fantastic getting to know Ruby.

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

Music by Christopher Tallon

If you listen and it brings you joy, make sure to leave a review or help support the podcast through Buy Me A Coffee.

Help Support the podcast:

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

Buy Nikki a tea: buymeacoffee.com/nikkijewell

About Our Guest:

Ruby Rana is an elder millennial who writes spicy, funny, and heartfelt romance about sassy brown girls. She excels in sending messages where autocorrect is adamant in embarrassing her.

When she's not battling typos, you can find her explaining Midwestern slang to her East Coast-raised husband, being used as a jungle gym by her young children, or really leaning into her plant mom-era.

Here’s where you can find Ruby:

All links

Instagram

Threads

Facebook

Ottawa Regents on Amazon

Keep Up With The Book Babes:

Social Media: Backstagewiththebookbabes

Email: backstagewiththebookbabes@gmail.com

Links & Guest Author Applications: linktr.ee/backstagewiththebookbabes

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

Find Nikki Jewell & Her Spicy Contemporary Romance:

Social Media: @nikkijewell_books

Website: authornikkijewell.com

Event Links: ://linktr.ee/nikkijewellbooks

In episode 18 of Backstage with the Book Babes, we interview contemporary romance author, JD Harbor. He writes cruise ship based romances that are humorous, heartfelt, and character driven.

JD tells us all about his love of cruising, and shares how he met his wife on a singles cruise. These experiences inspired him to write romance novels where the characters meet on a cruise ship and carry their relationship back to the real world.

His current books are all connected as part of the Romantisea Serenades series. The first two books feature a unique dual POV perspective with the first book, Scarlet Wave telling the story from the female main character’s POV and the second book, Golden Shores, telling the same love story from the male main characters POV.

The mystical cruise host matchmaker of the series, Maude, was inspired by the real life cruise host who helped JD connect with his wife. And he tells us about how he was able to reconnect with her later on to share their story and her part in his books.

He tells us about the very unique experience of traveling on board the LoveLit cruise with a small group of readers and other authors. We learn all about the deeper connections he was able to form with readers during this five day adventure.

And what skills has JD learned to support his writing? He’s become an amateur mixologist learning how to mix all kinds of fun drinks. His wife really appreciates this skill.

JD’s dream is to have a contract with a cruise line to stock his books. Any cruise ship operators listening out there?

We had so much fun talking with JD. Enjoy the show.

Music by Christopher Tallon

Help Support the podcast:If you listen and it brings you joy, make sure to leave a review or help support the podcast through Buy Me A Coffee.

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

Buy Nikki a tea: buymeacoffee.com/nikkijewell

About Our Guest:

JD writes contemporary romance that feels like a true escape, set in sun filled destinations where connection comes easily and emotions run deep. His stories focus on slow burn chemistry, found family, and characters who discover love when they least expect it. Expect sharp banter, heartfelt moments, and relationships that feel earned from the first spark to the final page.

Here’s where you can find JD:

linktr.ee/jdharbor,

jdharbor.com,

instagram.com/jdharbor

Keep Up With The Book Babes:

Social Media: Backstagewiththebookbabes

Email: backstagewiththebookbabes@gmail.com

Links & Guest Author Applications: linktr.ee/backstagewiththebookbabes

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

Find Nikki Jewell & Her Spicy Contemporary Romance:

Social Media: @nikkijewell_books

Website: authornikkijewell.com
Event Links: ://linktr.ee/nikkijewellbooks