321. Royals Both Real and Fictional, with Lindsay Emory

[music]

Sarah Wendell: Hello, and welcome to episode number 321 of Smart Podcast, Trashy Books. I’m Sarah Wendell from Smart Bitches, Trashy Books. With me today is Lindsay Emory. We are going to talk about royalty, both the royalty in her new book, The Royal Runaway, and about the way many, many people are interested in contemporary royalty around the world. We talk about why so many people are curious about royal families and how it’s a slightly different kind of celebrity culture to follow. We also talk a little bit about celebrity encounters that we’ve had.

Now, you can probably hear that Orville is trying to stick his head in the sound box. Buddy, I am recording. So Orville would like you to know that he is royalty, and he does not appreciate the fact that the sound box is on the desk where he wants to sit.

I also talk to Lindsay about her new book, the creation of a country in which to place her royal family, and the research she did into the world of royalty. Plus, we try to compose romance plots about the English royal timekeeper. You know, for fun!

The podcast and the podcast transcript this week are brought to you by Ensnared by J. S. Scott, available now from Montlake Romance. Love is worth a fortune in this sizzling novel of accidental romance and riches by New York Times bestselling author J. S. Scott. Wildlife conservationist Jade Sinclair is not used to having money. But when she and her siblings learned they were part of the mega-rich Sinclair dynasty, they became billionaires overnight. Jade doesn’t even know how to act rich, especially when she’s dealing with an arrogant, privileged, unreasonably sexy snob like Eli Stone. Unlike Jade, Eli grew up rich, and he just keeps getting richer. Eli is always looking for an adventure, and he’s found an inviting one in Jade—as resistant as she is irresistible. His less-than-honorable plan? Get her alone in the wilderness by buying out all of the spots in her survival class. Calling a truce, they strike a bargain: Jade will teach Eli basic survival skills, and he will teach her how to navigate the world of the wealthy elite. Jade has only one condition—she will not let herself be seduced by Eli. But some things are easier said than done. Readers who love sexy billionaires – and who doesn’t love a sexy billionaire? – and fiercely independent women will love Ensnared, the first in J. S. Scott’s steamy new Accidental Billionaires series. It’s available now from Montlake Romance.

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The music you are listening to is provided by Sassy Outwater. I will have information at the end of the show as to who this is and where you can buy it. I will also have a preview of what’s coming up on Smart Bitches next week, and we have a cool giveaway I want to tell you about, and I have a truly dreadful joke. In fact –

Orville: [Head butt]

Orville would like to rub his face on the foam. This is not for eating, buddy! Good heavens. Quit head – ahh! This is going to be an excellent podcast. Orville’s going to have his own line in the transcript that’s like, Orville: Head butt. Anyway.

I have a real cool giveaway and a really terrible joke. It is so bad that I could hear my husband groaning when I texted it to him, and he’s many miles away. I mean, not really, but it’s really that bad.

Orville, quit trying to rub your face on the sound box! I left the sound box on the futon in my office face up and left the room and came back, and he was in it. This was a very big mistake, because he is now deeply in love with the sound box, so I apologize for all the weird noises that come along with my cat helping me record.

I will have links to all of the things that we talk about and all of the books that we mention, and we mention several, so if you are looking for them, they will be in the show notes at smartbitchestrashybooks.com/podcast.

But now – oop, Orville has decided he’s had enough of helping me, so now it’s time for us to do this podcast. On with the interview.

[music]

Lindsay Emory: Hi! I’m Lindsay Emory. I’m an author of mysterious and romantic fiction, and I also have a podcast that’s not nearly as, as professional as Ms. Wendell’s here, but –

Sarah: [Laughs] Yeah, professional. That’s, that’s not a word I would ever use to describe myself as a podcaster, but thank you!

Lindsay: You have, like, music! That’s how I, that’s the level. Like, that, that’s the level I aspire to. I can’t even deal with music. [Laughs]

Sarah: I can, it’s so easy, I can teach you how to do that.

Lindsay: Okay. [Laughs]

Sarah: That’s the easiest part. So you sent me an email about your new book, The Royal Runaway. Congratulations, by the way, on your new book.

Lindsay: Thank you very much.

Sarah: And you contacted me about talking about royalty, which is fascinating, because this past weekend my – and then again today as we’re recording this – all of my social media is, like, royal bananas.

Lindsay: Right! It’s almost like I’m manifesting it, which –

Sarah: Yeah!

Lindsay: – I –

Sarah: Very smart! Well done!

Lindsay: Thank you, thank you. I just kind of, you know, sacrifice some – no, I didn’t do that. That would be awful.

[Laughter]

Lindsay: No! It’s been very good luck for me, I guess, just to stay, you know, kind of part of the conversation and, and talk about the, the made-, you know, the made-up royals that I created, which have nothing to do with real-life royals at all. But yeah, it’s been fun to watch and fun to see people’s enthusiasm for pretty dresses again and carriages and babies!

Sarah: Funky hats.

Lindsay: Funky hats!

Sarah: And funky hats.

Lindsay: It’s just pure joy, right? I mean, that you’re seeing. There’s not a lot of – it’s, it’s, it’s a, it’s a distraction from – [laughs] – day-to-day life.

Sarah: Yeah. Yeah, just a bit. One of the things you mentioned was that why it seems like more progressive women are unabashedly obsessed with royals. What, why do you think that is? I have many, many thoughts, but I don’t think any of them are right.

Lindsay: Well, I don’t know if all mine are right, either. I would love to hear yours. I mean, this is a discussion I’ve been kind of having with some friends and things, because I think that, that’s kind of new, right? I mean, about ten, twenty years ago, I think that a progressive “modern” woman would be poo-pooing princesses and fairytale romantic weddings, and I don’t know if it’s the, the environment we find ourselves in? I kind of alluded to it that we just really are looking for something happy and positive and that looks kind of maybe more pro-woman than – [laughs] – than what we see in our day-to-day lives? I think that might have, be a lot to do with it. I think Meghan Markle being American, being an older bride with experience and a career and –

Sarah: Being biracial and divorced. I mean, they, the British royal family, not have the greatest history with American divorced women marrying into the royal family?

Lindsay: Nooo.

Sarah:  She’s kind of undoing a whole lot of really terrible history just by showing up?

Lindsay: Right! And I think that, like, will satisfy a lot of our, like, yes! We’re, progress is made! We see progress being made! We see a feminist, you know, taking over. We see an American, biracial feminist, you know, over there.

Sarah: Who’s not abashed about calling herself a feminist! I love when people do that; it just makes me so happy.

Lindsay: It is, it is, it is so inspiring. And I think it just gives us that little spark of hope that, you know, will brighten our day, so if we’re going to all now be on, you know, Meghan Markle baby watch, it’s purely –

Sarah: Poor woman.

Lindsay: – for political reasons. [Laughs]

Sarah: One of the things that I find so fascinating myself about Meghan and Harry specifically is the way in which they both approach their role as royals as a job. Like, he calls it a role, and she’s an actress, so I’m sure she is sort of like, yes, this is kind of like a public role that I’m going to play as myself all the time. That they, they see it as a job that they do, and so there’s this sort of representation and separation of self that, like, this is my job. I go and I do things; by being here I bring attention to this thing, because people take pictures of me in whatever I am wearing. And then they, they try very hard to have this private life –

Lindsay: Mm.

Sarah: – that is, you know, private and genuine. One of the things, I think, that makes particularly Harry and Meghan so interesting and so appealing is that they’re, they’re honest about the fact that their, their job is a performance, so to speak.

Lindsay: Mm-hmm. Yeah –

Sarah: And I know I often, at times, though I am not a royal, I oft-, I’ll also have those moments where I’m like, I have a job to do as a person, as a mom, as a spouse, as a business owner. I get that part, you know what I mean?

Lindsay: Right! Oh, totally! And I think when there is some criticism of Meghan that, you know, you see floated out there every once in a while – oh, she’s an actress. You know, oh, she’s an actress. Well –

Sarah: [Laughs] That’s a really old prejudice! Y’all got to let that go.

Lindsay: Yeah. Oh, she just, oh, she knew how to play to the cameras, and well, okay –

Sarah: What?!

Lindsay: – yes, she does. Oh, yes, she knows how to tilt her head and wear pretty makeup. I mean, that’s, is that so wrong?

Sarah: [Laughs] Yeah, right?

Lindsay: You know, you guys don’t want to see an authentic awkward human woman. [Laughs] I think that that is them being professional. Yes, they’re going to go out there, and they’re going to be measured, and they’re going to be practiced, but that is the best way for them to shine their light on the causes and, you know, promotions that they feel passionate about, and that’s what I really am inspired by, too, is that you really see in, in Prince Harry’s advocacy of military and, you know, the Invictus Games. He likes sport, but those are all things that mean a lot to him, and already with Meghan Markle’s sponsorship of the Together cookbook that benefits the community around Grenfell Tower, you just see that these are things that are going to mean a lot to them, and how lucky. I mean, isn’t that what we all want? We all would love to have a job where we could affect change in the areas that we carry about? So inspiring.

Sarah: Yep. I do carry a little bit of shame, but I am fascinated by the fact that they are in a job they cannot escape from.

Lindsay: Mm-hmm.

Sarah: And there’s, there’s not a lot of people that reach that level of nonstop un-, unending public attention and fame where you don’t have any ability to just go outside and take a walk.

Lindsay: Yeah! And it is kind of interesting. You know, I said that about baby watch and you, or bump watch, and you’re like, poor thing, and it’s so true. I mean, how many of us would have wanted our pregnant bodies to be scrutinized – [laughs] – and analyzed for nine long, horrific months?

Sarah: Oh man, no, no! God, no.

Lindsay: [Laughs] But I –

Sarah: And then how soon will she bounce back? We’re not made of elastic. Stop it.

Lindsay: Oh yeah. Oh, look, she’s got a bump, tummy still! I mean – but God. Okay, yeah. That’s a whole ‘nother discussion about, yeah.

Sarah: It’s weird! It’s this mix of sexism and empowerment and sexism and empowerment, and they’re constantly battling each other –

Lindsay: Yeah.

Sarah: – in the way that they’re talked about.

Lindsay: Yeah, and they just can’t escape it, and I do think that that is a real discussion that, you know, all of us in Celebrity Culture Land need to talk about is when do we give ‘em a break? When do we, like, let them go off to their cottage in the Nottingham Forest or wherever to, to just be and raise a family? That’s why, again, I, I, I follow the criticism too; you know, there’s criticism of Kate and William not doing a lot or, oh, she just wants to be a mum, and again, I’m think-, kind of thinking that she’s got three babies at home!

Sarah: You don’t get a lot of choice. It, it –

Lindsay: Mm-hmm.

Sarah: – the, the more you engage in public life and are a celebrity by being yourself and showing up, like you yourself are the celebrity, you also have to endure a great deal of criticism and opinion about everything you do. I cannot imagine how exhausting that is.

Lindsay: Right. So let me ask you this. So this happened recently. I was in Houston at a conference, and it was a romance author conference, actually, and there was some fa-, there were some famous people staying at the hotel, and people were getting their pictures taken with that famous person, and – which is fine, but I chose not to because (1) I’m a total introvert, awkward – [laughs] – you know?

Sarah: Yes, I understand.

Lindsay: But there’s also, like, I’m like, well, he’s over there having a beer! Like, why, why does he have to stop?

Sarah: Yeah.

Lindsay: So how do you feel about, like, would you ever interrupt a celebrity who was just drinking a beer in a hotel bar and get a selfie with him? Or does it –

Sarah: I would –

Lindsay: – matter who the celebrity is? [Laughs]

Sarah: You know, I wouldn’t do the selfie thing, because I, I don’t like taking selfies, and that, that is, that is, for me, not a thing I would do. I have walked up to celebrities randomly and just said, hey, I really admire what you do. Thank you for doing what you do; it’s awesome. Have a good – like, I did that to Usher in a department store once.

Lindsay: [Laughs]

Sarah: And this was, this was a really long-ass time ago, but I was like, I just, I really admire what you do. What you do makes a lot of people happy, and you get me through my workouts, so thank you for doing what you do. Have a good day. Like, I did, like, a fifteen-second, okay, now run, Sarah, run! Run away! Run away as fast as you can, and don’t fall down or walk into the door, ‘cause that would be terrible! But, like, I, I have that same reticence of, oh, I don’t, I don’t want to bother someone if they’re just, you know, having a beer. I have been at conferences where there’s a separate speakers’ space?

Lindsay: Ohhh.

Sarah: Where the speakers and presenters have, like, a private area where they can go and not be sort of on? But at the same time, if I’m speaking at a conference, I presume at any moment I’m outside of my hotel room or I’m not in a space that is just speakers or administrators that I am, you know, part of the, the conference, so I’m expected to, I expect being approached, or I expect people to – especially if I’m doing a lot of workshops and people want to approach me privately versus, like, in the, in, in the Q & A after when everyone’s trying to leave and get back in the room? I presume that I will be approached, so it could be that person who’s having a beer in the bar who is a big guest of a conference is, is probably also, to a certain percentage, expecting that they’re going to get approached –

Lindsay: Mm.

Sarah: – so it’s all in how you handle it? But like you, I have that, that deep introvert reticence of, oh, I, I, yeah, I can’t.

Lindsay: Well, to be clear –

Sarah: I cannot selfie. [Laughs]

Lindsay: Yeah.

Sarah: I have no problem posing for selfies; that’s so fun! But I cannot ask for them. Also, if I take a selfie, I don’t know how I do this, but there is a special filter that is only on my phone, and my nose increases by about seven thousand percent.

Lindsay: [Laughs]

Sarah: So it’s just not good. On my phone.

Lindsay: So people should use their own phones when they’re taking pictures.

Sarah: Mm-hmm!

Lindsay: Well, to be clear –

Sarah: Exactly.

Lindsay: – to, to be clear, this was not a guest of the conference. This was Senator John Kerry, and he was not there for the –

Sarah: He’s just chilling in the bar, not as part of the conference?

Lindsay: The roman- – yeah, so apparently he did talk to some of the other people, and he saw the badges. He’s like, what this, what, what are y’all here for? And they said romance author signings. [Laughs]

Sarah: At this point, if you’re John Kerry, at this point, you kind of have to be used to it, right?

Lindsay: I guess so, but then I was –

Sarah: I guess?

Lindsay: – I was pretty sure there were, like, body guards and stuff around, and maybe that-

Sarah: Ohhh, man!

Lindsay: These guys just need to have a beer and relax. I mean – but that’s just me. But I don’t, you know, other people.

Sarah: Yeah.

Lindsay: But then I kind of have that FOMO, too, like, oh, I could have had a really cool picture with John Kerry, so. But that’s a, that’s a thing with the princesses. I mean, if I ever see Meghan or Kate, I know – I don’t know what I’ll do. I should, I should come up with a plan.

Sarah: [Laughs] Yeah, probably a good idea.

Lindsay: Like, go through it in my head, just in case. Back-up plan.

Sarah: It’s, one of the things I find very interesting in examining my own behavior is that typically I don’t care very much about celebrity culture? I, I just, it’s not something that’s interesting to me? If it’s something that someone else is interesting, is interested in, all cool. No judgment. This is not a thing that I’m into, but for some reason, the royal families of different parts of the world are, is, is fascinating to me, because it’s like, you know, you get, you, you’re born, and here’s your job. That’s your job! Not going to have a whole lot of other jobs, ‘cause, well, that would be a problem security-wise, so here’s your job! It’s –

Lindsay: Yeah.

Sarah: Like, and I think – this is one of my theories, my, my weird theories – I think that that very narrow, proscribed path is something that resonates with a lot of people who feel like, because of their gender or their sexuality or their culture or the things that they are, were also born into, that they also do not have options, but that is, like, next-level wealth options. The wealth part adds the fantasy.

Lindsay: Mm-hmm.

Sarah: That’s my theory.

Lindsay: Now that’s interesting! It was something that came up; I did another interview about my book, and that, that kind of came up too. They were like, well, why would people like this book if it’s about a princess? And I said, well –

Sarah: Wait, what? Somebody asked that? [Laughs] I promise, that is not on my list of – why would someone read your book?

Lindsay: Like, what would, what would begin –

Sarah: Wow!

Lindsay: Yeah, it was fine. It was a guy, but, you know.

Sarah: That’s the kind of question where you just give whatever answer you want, ‘cause there’s no way to answer that question, right?

Lindsay: [Laughs] But I do think that a lot of women can relate to that feeling. It’s exactly right. I mean, that they’re, you had this life planned out for you, and you might have thought it was okay, and then something happens where you have to take another look at it and decide, is this what I really want? What’s going to happen if I don’t continue down this life? You know, am I going to give up my family? And that, to me, is, you know, kind of a great start for any kind of fiction. You know, these choices that you make you might have to lose everything that you’ve ever been given or earned –

Sarah: Right.

Lindsay: – so, you know, what are you going to do next? And it’s nice when you’re a princess and you have, you know, some, some cash in the – [laughs] – in the royal vault.

Sarah: Options.

Lindsay: Yeah.

Sarah: Staff, yeah.

Lindsay: But that still could be limiting in so many ways, like what we just talked about, your fame, your choices. I mean, until recently, I would say until the last fifteen, twenty years, these, these people couldn’t really marry who they wanted to marry, and would you – that’s an interesting, that’s like a dinner party conversation right there – would you give up, you know, marrying the love of your life for being a ruler of a country? And –

Sarah: So what did you think of the royal wedding over the weekend? Did you watch any of it?

Lindsay: No, I watched it afterwards. I could not do the get up early. [Laughs]

Sarah: I cannot either. During the, the wedding, Harry and Meghan’s wedding, I was in Denver, and I think you, I would have had to get up at, like, very small number hour of the morning, and I was like, yeah, no, I can’t do it. I’ll just look at the pictures.

Lindsay: Yeah, you don’t even go to sleep then; just stay up.

Sarah: I’ll just wa-, look at pictures if I want to see ‘em.

Lindsay: But I thought they looked lovely, really gorgeous, classy, elegant, warm. I am a big fan of Sarah, Duchess of York, still. I have been told that that is hopelessly out of fashion and that shows my age, but I don’t care! [Laughs] Because –

Sarah: [Laughs]

Lindsay: – I just think she is a hot mess and kind of owns it now, and I love that about a woman who’s just kind of, you know, okay, I’m here. I’m fascinated with her relationship with Andrew.

Sarah: They live together, but they’re divorced.

Lindsay: Yes, and they have a –

Sarah: Amazing.

Lindsay: They, they co-parented happily. I mean, you can see it in their public interactions and, and that they live together still, and so that has just been really interesting. That’s a book that needs to be written right there, that they basically were like the, oh, what’s the Gwyneth Paltrow, conscious uncoupling?

Sarah: Yeah.

Lindsay: Like, she and Andrew were like the conscious uncoupling before Gwyneth and Coldplay guy did it.

Sarah: Yeah. And they made it, they made their relationship function for them, which is really the only people they’re responsible to, them and their kids.

Lindsay: Right. And, you know, what if there was a secret romance this whole time? I mean, that would be – ooh! Sorry, I’m getting my, my romance author brain on there.

[Laughter]

Sarah: So with your book –

Lindsay: Yes.

Sarah: – The Royal Runaway, you have a heroine who is a European royal of an entirely made-up country.

Lindsay: Yes!

Sarah: Did you put it in a location in your brain? Like, is it, like, right next to the Netherlands or Belgium? Like, where is it in your brain? Where’s, is it dry-den or dray-den?

Lindsay: Dree-den [Dreiden].

Sarah: Dreiden! Well, I was wrong entirely! My bad.

Lindsay: I know; it’s fine. Depends on if you say it with the accent or not, the made-up accent. [Laughs] I have it on the North Sea.

Sarah: Right.

Lindsay: It is on a, just a little pie-shaped area up there. [Laughs]

Sarah: That works!

Lindsay: I, I’m not too, I’m not too uptight about where exactly it is. It’s, it’s in there. I, I thought of it definitely as a cousin to the Netherlands, Swedish, Denmark aristocracies, where it was a smaller country where the people can, you know, kind of chill out a little bit more. You know, go on dates and stuff without there being too much hubbub about.

Sarah: So the set up of the book, she is about to get married. Her husband, or her husband-to-be, deserts her on her wedding day. She has no idea where she’s been – where he’s been; excuse me –

Lindsay: And what he’s been doing, yeah.

Sarah: – where he’s gone. She is basically stood up in front of her whole country and the rest of the world, whoever was tuning into the royal wedding.

Lindsay: Yes.

Sarah: She goes on a hiatus personally for a couple of months and comes back and ends up meeting this hot Scottish spy and finds out that that’s her, her missing fiancé’s brother.

Lindsay: Yes. Eventually, after he leads her on a merry chase a little bit. [Laughs]

Sarah: So you – [laughs] – you made up a country, then you broke up her wedding, and then you set her up with his brother. Okay, you’re just mean! [Laughs]

Lindsay: Yeah. Oh my God!

Sarah: Yeah, that’s a lot!

Lindsay: Yeah, and I didn’t know, I don’t remember when it, when I decided it was going to be the brother. I think he needed – yeah, and I was like, oh, now it’s tricky! [Laughs]

Sarah: Yeah, he needs a reason to be all up in her business.

Lindsay: Yeah, and, you know, I had to double down on the, the issues going on. Yeah, that, that came up a couple times in editing. I think people were wanting me to make someone meaner or nicer, and I’m like, but it’s, there’s a lot going on here!

Sarah: Yeah.

Lindsay: People can’t be black and white.

Sarah: So what led you into this story?

Lindsay: Well, I, I’ve been pretty open: it’s, it was a dream! Honestly, I woke up one morning, and I’d had a dream, and I went and wrote it down as fast as I could. I dreamt that there was a princess, and she was, she’d been stood up on her royal wedding day, and now she was back in the capital and just kind of aimless, wandering. She was going out of the castle at night, she was meeting people, and that there were, you know, things going on with her family that she couldn’t talk to people about, so I, I wrote that down and just started scribbling, scribbling scenes as they came to me. It was very cathartic and also very scary, because it was the first time I’d kind of just said, okay, let’s see where this goes, and was somehow able to put it all together with the help of some very nice editors at Gallery Books. [Laughs]

Sarah: Very cool! So what went into creating the country? What elements did you make sure that you had when you’re creating not only a small country in Europe with a, with a monarchy and a royal family, but how it relates to other countries.

Lindsay: Oh, well, I did put in, you know, the geography and –

Sarah: Mm-hmm.

Lindsay: – that they kind of all, I intimated a few times that they would kind of all have to know each other, you know, that, at that circle, on those cir-, high circles, they would know this person or that person.

Sarah: Right.

Lindsay: There’s an aristocracy-lite group that they go on ski trips and things together.

Sarah: Mm-hmm.

Lindsay: And then I think I, I also mentioned that, you know, Queen Victoria’s grandchildren basically were married off throughout, throughout Europe, so there was going to be all these connections there.

Sarah: Right. They’re all cousins of some sort.

Lindsay: Right! Did you watch that documentary, Queen Elizabeth’s ninetieth birthday that they did?

Sarah: No, I did not! Is it good?

Lindsay: Oh. It is really good! And it shows all these, like, home videos and things I’d never seen before, but one of the people that they interview I think is the Queen of Denmark, who is, like, they’re like, Queen of Denmark, Queen Elizabeth’s second cousin. Now, oh, of course she is! [Laughs]

Sarah: Course she is! Right, yeah. ‘Cause they’re all related.

Lindsay: Yeah! And say, they obviously know each other quite well and they’ve been to Christmas dinners together. I don’t know, you know, it was just very, it’s a whole ‘nother world, but then it makes sense, because we all have our circles, right? We all have people –

Sarah: Right.

Lindsay: – that we might be connected to, so that makes sense that they all have other royal friends.

Sarah: Yep. With your, with your story, the heroine is a really big history nerd.

Lindsay: Yes.

Sarah: Like, she is really into the history of her country, not only because it’s going to eventually be her job to, to be the monarch, but she’s really a history nerd. Like, she is super into obscure monarchs, and the thing that was interesting was that each of the stories that she was focusing on, or, you know, choosing to lecture someone on so they would leave her alone, was about a person who was stuck in a role in their monarchy and used it to their advantage.

Lindsay: Isn’t that interesting! [Laughs]

Sarah: Oh, is that news? Sorry. [Laughs]

Lindsay: Oh, no, no! I mean, I, I didn’t really necessarily put all that together. I know some of them were particularly correct. But yeah, that’s totally it. That theme of the, the princess in a tower –

Sarah: Right.

Lindsay: – sounds so romantic, but, you know, most princesses would probably, or most women would probably be extremely pissed about being put in a tower, so, you know, how would you feel if you were put here or put there or sent away, and yeah, that’s just a, a theme that kept coming up in the book, and probably for good reason –

Sarah: Yep.

Lindsay: – because –

Sarah: Being stuck and getting unstuck!

Lindsay: Yeah!

Sarah: With the tools that you have.

Lindsay: And this whole thing about the, the history of royal women has really been pissing me off lately. Okay, can I just talk to you about a book that y’all reviewed on your site? And I, I don’t know if this is the book portion that I want to talk about yet.

Sarah: Yeah, sure! Any time!

Lindsay: The Phantom –

Sarah: You want to talk about a book on a podcast about books? Oh no!

Lindsay: I know, I know! The Phantom Tree by Nicola –

Sarah: Oh my gosh. Okay.

Lindsay: I know.

Sarah: Did you, did you have, like, trouble putting it down?

Lindsay: I wanted more. I wanted so – and it’s one that I could not stop thinking about, but because I read an advanced copy I didn’t have anyone to talk about it with.

Sarah: This was my problem! This was what I – I was like, Elyse, did you read it yet? Did you read it yet? ‘Cause I really want to talk to you about it! Did you read it? You should read it now. Read it! Did you read it? Okay, so tell me, tell me, tell me all your thoughts, yes.

Lindsay: Okay. So that is what I kept thinking about. Like, I first read it, I really loved it. It has all the things that I want to smoosh together. I want a history; I want a little bit of supernatural; I want a little bit of romance; I want mystery. It’s, it’s like all the things smooshed together. I really liked it. But then I just, after I was done, I kept thinking about it and thinking about it and thinking about it, and being so pissed off because they just sent these little girls away, and these – okay, maybe we should tell people. These are based on real-life…women?

Sarah: Mary Seymour was a real person, and her his-, her history is largely unknown, but she was tangentially royal –

Lindsay: Tangentially.

Sarah: – but didn’t have any – yeah, but she didn’t have any adults to advocate for her, and her, whether or not she had a fortune of her own remained sort of up in the air, so anyone who took her in was hoping that she would bring in a, a wealthy marriage or that someone would come and marry her and bring them, you know, fame and wealth and status, but that didn’t really happen in the story. Her, she’s paired with a person who was invented, but she’s in the same place.

Lindsay: Alison Parr, right?

Sarah: No, it was Alison – oh goodness, I can’t remember her name, but it was, it had an R-E ending, but it’s not Parr. It’s, it’s a – Banestre!

Lindsay: Banestre, that’s right, that’s –

Sarah: Banestre, yeah. Yeah, so what was –

Lindsay: So again –

Sarah: – what was it about them that got to you?

Lindsay: Just that they, the, how women were seen as, as pawns, as, as well, we’re going to –

Sarah: Yep.

Lindsay: We don’t need you right now, little girl. We’re going to send you away to some cousin’s house, and, and people kept – exactly what you said: people kept them just in case they could get money out of them later, or they would marry them off to someone who could get money out of them, and just the more, and, and it’s probably, God help me, it’s probably because of the other things going on in life right now, but just the thought that they could just be passed around like that, and –

Sarah: Mm-hmm.

Lindsay: – it, I mean, it just really, it, it brought up all the themes from my book – [laughs] –

Sarah: Yep.

Lindsay: – and, like, just, and now I want a sequel where they, like, go back in time with swords and cut everything down.

[Laughs]

Sarah: Burn it all down! One of the things that I really like about that book is that although one of the stories doesn’t end happily – it’s very bittersweet – the other story ends with someone who moves from the Tudor era into the present day – it’s a time-slip novel, so she moves from the Tudor era into the present day, and she owns it! Like, she just completely renovates her life and is very successful moving forward, what, six hundred years?

Lindsay: Yeah. Yeah.

Sarah: Piece of cake! No big deal.

Lindsay: I really like it, and I think there’s even a couple lines in it, she’s like, well, I have to admit, I like modern day better than that time, and –

Sarah: Yeah, can’t say as I blame you, girlfriend!

Lindsay: Right! Yeah, in a lot of ways, but I think I was kind of, I don’t know if I’ve ever read a time-slip book where people were like, oh, I want to go back to 1282! It was so much cooler then! Which done as a fantasy –

Sarah: No.

Lindsay: – yes, but in a lot of ways it’s not? [Laughs]

Sarah: Yeah, it’s –

Lindsay: Who wants that?

Sarah: I, I did an interview with the author, Nicola Cornick, and, and I was, and I asked her, you know, do you ever want to go back in time? She was like, only for a visit, and a very brief one.

Lindsay: Yeah.

Sarah: And it’s, and it’s astonishing to think if, if I went back in time, the number of modern interventions that keep me going, I would be extremely dead if I lived six hundred years ago. I would be extra double dead.

Lindsay: Right?

Sarah: Like, there’s just no way.

Lindsay: Yeah. Well, I talked to Alexa Martin on my podcast, and she was saying the same thing.

Sarah: See, she –

Lindsay: Yes. Oh, I, I adore her. She was saying, like, how she really loves time travel books, but, you know, if she, as a woman of color, went back in time, that –

Sarah: That would not be good!

Lindsay: Yeah. She might not have the same re-, reception that Claire Fraser Randall does.

Sarah: [Laughs]

Lindsay: But you know, it’s still, it’s the fantasy; I get it. You know, that’s what we’re serving up here, but there’s also like, okay, come on. I liked, it was refreshing that this character in this book came to the modern time and, and –

Sarah: Yeah, I’m going to stick around here.

Lindsay: [Laughs]

Sarah: So with your heroine and your hero in The Royal Runaway, what were some of the more difficult things for you to write in their story? What scenes were particularly challenging?

Lindsay: Oh my goodness. Well, I think that they just – I don’t know. I really worked hard at giving them enough conflict but not anything they couldn’t overcome?

Sarah: Mm-hmm.

Lindsay: So, and she can be, the princess, you know, is very princess-y, and trying to make sure that that wasn’t too annoying and trying to make sure that he is not too overbearing, and you know, I fully admit, I probably don’t hit those notes all the time, but –

Sarah: Mm-hmm.

Lindsay: – but real-life couples don’t either. You know, we all have – [laughs] – our moments where we’re –

Sarah: Yep.

Lindsay: – completely unreasonable with each other. I’ve been married for a very long time, and we’re still working out ways that we should be talking to each other, even though we’re both –

Sarah: Of course!

Lindsay: – you know, fundamentally still in favor of the marriage. [Laughs] So –

Sarah: So you, you grow and you change. You don’t stay the same person.

Lindsay: Right. Oh yeah! And so seeing this couple, when they come from really different backgrounds – and he’s even got more issues than we’ve talked about – really trying to work through that was a challenge, but also because it wasn’t like a traditional romance, I didn’t have an extra hundred pages to really go down that path either, so that’s, you know, also a restriction for developing that.

Sarah: Mm-hmm.

Lindsay: So maybe, maybe they’ll get more developed in the future; who knows?

Sarah: Is there going to be a sequel?

Lindsay: We hope to write that?

[Laughter]

Sarah: Hope so!

Lindsay: Hope so!

Sarah: Publishing god –

Lindsay: You know –

Sarah: – you are listening.

Lindsay: – you know.

Sarah: What research did you do about royalty? Like, I know with The Royal We, Heather, Heather Cocks and –

Lindsay: Jessica Mor- –

Sarah: Thank, Jessica Morgan, thank you.

Lindsay: Jessica Morgan, yeah.

Sarah: Heather Morgan and Jessica Cocks –

Lindsay: Yes.

Sarah: – or Jessica Cocks and Heather Morgan? [Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan]

Lindsay: Heather Morgan and Jessica Cocks.

Sarah: Thank you, wow! My brain is really on fire today. Good job, brain!

Lindsay: I’m, I am 98% sure about that.

Sarah: I’m certain you’re right, ‘cause I am not good at that. I know that they did all kinds of behind-the-scenes research about protocol and what happens when, when you encounter a royal; and what are the, what are the steps; and what is the security surrounding them; and what is it like inside their, their homes and the parts that the public doesn’t see. What kind of research that you, did you, did you do that you found really entertaining and fun to do?

Lindsay: Well, the good news is, is when you make up your own country, you can –

Sarah: Yep! [Laughs]

Lindsay: – make up your own rules. So I decided several books ago that it was really awesome just to make up your own stuff, and then no one could tell you you’re wrong! But I just have always kind of followed royals. I lived in Scotland as a kid, and there, we, there were a couple times where, you know, we went to places where the royals were. We went, actually went to church at Balmoral one time when the queen was in residence, so we were in the same building at the same church as the queen.

Sarah: Oh, whoa!

Lindsay: But, so I think, but that was back in the late ‘80s, and I have to imagine security is different now, but maybe not! I don’t know. So, I mean, kind of drawing on some of those experiences where there would be security, you would know that they were there –

Sarah: Yep.

Lindsay: – kind of added more to the, the vibe I was going for in my country, which was also, I wanted it a little bit more low key, so –

Sarah: Mm-hmm.

Lindsay: – I pulled on a lot of that and just, you know, my fevered imagination always, always wins the day.

Sarah: So if you think about it, in the, in the greater sort of broad view, what royalty did for many years was the only history that we have of a period of time, because they were the ones who were wealthy enough to have their written down, right?

Lindsay: Mm-hmm.

Sarah: So you have history based on the lives of these people. Like, their lives constituted history a lot of the times, ‘cause they were, you know, running the country and, and several other countries as well. [Laughs] You have this sort of sense that what these people do is really, really important, but then you read about their feuds, and you’re like, this is so dumb!

Lindsay: [Laughs]

Sarah: This is so dumb! Like, I read, I, I, which ones? Which ones? Oh, it’s Charles and Andrew! Apparently, they don’t get along, and I had no idea, and I can’t say that I expended a great amount of energy, like, caring? But I was like, oh, that’s really interesting. If you don’t like your brother, and yet he’s going to rule the country and control your purse strings and affect your children’s lives, I can see why that would make you tense, but at the same time, this isn’t actually important. Like, this isn’t actually vital to the rest of the world; however, it’s still fascinating, and you know, a couple hundred years ago, that was history.

Lindsay: It was! I mean, I’m sure you read Sexy History by Rachel Hawkins on Twitter? The Sexy History threads?

Sarah: Oh, absolutely!

Lindsay: Yes! Okay. So for those who don’t know, author – it’s Rachel Hawkins, right?

Sarah: Yes.

Lindsay: So she does these threads when she has time, because they’re lengthy, but she’ll do something about usually royal history, and, and, and she does it very funny. She tells a story, and it’s very engrossing. But yeah! Back in the day, Charles and Andrew would have gone to war and killed each others’ wives and, like, thrown somebody in the moat –

Sarah: Oh yeah!

Lindsay: – and – [laughs] –

Sarah: Oh yeah, it would’ve gotten ugly if they had a feud that was, like, you know, actually going to cause a state problem. At this point it’s just a profit for gossip.

Lindsay: Right, so it’s, it is like right now we can go, eh, it’s not that big a deal, but this is what drives history.

Sarah: Mm-hmm.

Lindsay: I don’t know, these dudes, though. It’s all dudes! [Laughs]

Sarah: It really is, right?

Lindsay: I don’t know. Would we women do that if we had been in charge of countries for millennia? I don’t know!

Sarah: I honestly do not know either. Very, very strange.

Lindsay: ‘Cause when you were saying that about we have all this history of the peop-, like the kings that made history, I was thinking, but we don’t know, we don’t have the women’s history. All they were there for was where they came from, what children they birthed, what alliance they brought, and we really don’t have anything else. So again, that was a good, big thing for me to play with in my book was, did they have other histories that weren’t written about, and how would we know about them?

Sarah: Yeah. Yep.

Lindsay: And how would that affect their great-great-grandchildren?

Sarah: You also write mysteries.

Lindsay: I do!

Sarah: Are you writing more of them, or have you killed all of the Sorority Sisters?

Lindsay: [Laughs]

Sarah: Are they all dead?

Lindsay: They’re, they, they could come back to life any second –

Sarah: [Laughs]

Lindsay: – as the Sorority Sister Zombies.

Sarah: Fabulous! Okay, wait –

Lindsay: No!

Sarah: – hold on, hold on, I would totally read that, Sorority Sister Zombies?

Lindsay: No! [Laughs]

Sarah: Right?

Lindsay: The things that come out of my mouth are sometimes really good. Yeah, that would be interesting.

Sarah: [Laughs] Good job, brain!

Lindsay: I know! Yeah, and no, I love writing mysteries. I hope to do more of them in the future. I might have a couple things in the, in the works, but it’s so refreshing just to kind of play with, with that side of people, and I really like writing characters that are a little gray, not so black-and-white, and so having a whole cast, a whole book full of people that may have done it is, is just really delicious for me to play with.

Sarah: One of you killed someone. Let’s figure it out! [Laughs]

Lindsay: I know. I kind of go in, and I’m like, they all did it! And then, and then, like, go, no, they couldn’t have all done it. Actually, I had a, I had a plot once where the editor was like, no, they didn’t all come in and – like, I think I, it was kind of a Murder on the Orient Express kind of –

Sarah: I was going to, did you Orient Express the ending?

Lindsay: I didn’t quite. It was like –

Sarah: Everybody did it!

Lindsay: – one person knocked him over, and then they left the room. Then the other person – yeah, like, no. It was so complicated. It takes a real genius to be able to pull that one off.

Sarah: [Laughs] So you mentioned in your email that you had royal romance recommendations.

Lindsay: I do!

Sarah: [Sings] Hit me!

Lindsay: Okay. Well, we’ve, we’ve already talked about some of ‘em. I mean, the, I was going to talk about The Phantom Tree, just because I do feel – that’s not quite royal romance, but just because –

Sarah: But it’s so adjacent.

Lindsay: It is really adjacent, because –

Sarah: It’s like, what happens when no one’s around to give a shit about the children of royals who are dead?

Lindsay: Right. The background players, and they do kind of keep talking about, well, there’s King Henry, and there’s Queen Elizabeth, and maybe they’ll pay attention to me one day.

Sarah: Mm-hmm.

Lindsay: Again, I couldn’t recommend that book enough. Obviously, I just need to go away and talk about it for a week? We already talked about The Royal We, which I think is a good entry point for anyone who kind of wants to dip a toe into royal romance, because it is loosely based on the royal family that most of us probably know here in America?

Sarah: Right.

Lindsay: And –

Sarah: Seriously angsty book, too.

Lindsay: Yeah. Yeah. It’s, I mean it’s a, what, would you call it New Adult?

Sarah: The Royal We?

Lindsay: Yeah.

Sarah: Eh, contemporary. I don’t know if I’d call it New Adult.

Lindsay: Okay. I don’t really –

Sarah: It’s definitely contemporary, and it’s definitely angsty. I generally think, though, that royalty romances are kind of their own subgenre of contemporary? If they’re contemporary set; if they’re historical, that’s obviously different.

Lindsay: Right. So where was, so I was also going to recommend Alyssa Cole’s series.

Sarah: Uh, yeah!

Lindsay: Trilog-, it’s been at three books now. I don’t –

Sarah: Yep.

Lindsay: – haven’t caught up with the third one; I’ve been a little busy lately. Has the third one come out, or did I just see the cover and thought it –

Sarah: You just saw the cover; it hasn’t come out yet.

Lindsay: Okay. Whoops, sorry. [Laughs] Get that right!

Sarah: No, listen, publishing is, is, this is totally normal. If you talk to somebody who works in publishing, they think it’s, like, 2020 right now.

Lindsay: Right! And you, obviously, also get advanced copies of things –

Sarah: Yep! Oh yeah.

Lindsay: – so that is a little bit even more confusing, ‘cause I’m like, is this book come out? Who wants to talk to me? No one? Okay, good.

Sarah: Yep.

Lindsay: Yeah.

Sarah: You can email me anytime, ‘cause usually I have already read it and am like, oh, yes, let’s talk.

Lindsay: You’re going to regret, yeah, you’re going to regret saying that now.

[Laughter]

Lindsay: This Alyssa Cole series I think is also a great starting point for people, because it is contemporary, has the royal tropes, but it’s not, like, completely in, you know, courts or castles or something.

Sarah: Right.

Lindsay: It’s like real-life royals. I will also put on Rhys Bowen’s series. This isn’t strictly romance, but The Royal –

Sarah: Love that series!

Lindsay: I do too! I started –

Sarah: Have you listened to it? Have you listened?

Lindsay: No!

Sarah: Oh my God, the audiobook is so good! The audiobook is amazing; her voice for, the, the narrator’s voice for Belinda is so ridiculously good.

Lindsay: Ohhh. Okay. Yeah Her Royal Spyness is the first one, and I think the whole series is called The Royal Spyness series.

Sarah: Yes.

Lindsay: So that’s what I’ve been calling it. [Laughs] So –

Sarah: Yes, I think you’re right.

Lindsay: Yeah, for those that don’t know, this is a, more of a mystery series. There’s twinges of romance throughout, but it’s someone who is, like, thir-, thirtieth in line to the –

Sarah: Thirty-something in line, yeah.

Lindsay: Yeah, to the throne during the ‘30s and ‘40s, and so there’s a little bit of history that’s thrown in; there’s a little bit of the real queen comes in and out, and there’s real – David, who was the Prince of Wales is in them, and they’re just so light and charming and –

Sarah: Yes.

Lindsay: – cozy.

Sarah: And the audiobook is narrated – ‘cause I will feel bad if I’m like, the narrator is great! And then I don’t say who the narrator is – the narrator is Katherine Kellgren. The audio is delicious. It is so fun to listen to, especially ‘cause it’s first person, but her, Kellgren’s voices for the different characters, particularly Belinda, are just so fun, and then you have, like, every now and again Georgie, the heroine, she gets called to tea with the queen, which (a) you can’t refuse, and (b) she doesn’t have any money, so she’s like, all right, which dress am I going to wear? I have two; she’s seen both of them. Crap!

Lindsay: Yeah, as an author, I really love that you could just throw in a tea with the queen to help move the story along?

[Laughter]

Sarah: Right? You know, tea’ll work; we’ll do that.

Lindsay: Yeah, I don’t really know what to do here. Oh, but if the queen – oh right, get a good –

Sarah: Like, queen’s going to call, and she, queen calls you in, you cannot say no.

Lindsay: Right.

Sarah: That was one of my, one of the interesting parts about your book, the progression of the heroine learning to say, yeah, no, Grandma, I’m not going to answer you right now.

Lindsay: Yeah.

Sarah: That’s, that’s a big deal!

Lindsay: Yeah. ‘Cause the queen is kind of scary in my country. I mean, I don’t know if she’s scary to other people. She’s scary to me, and I write her. [Laughs]

Sarah: Oh, I have a documentary to recommend to you.

Lindsay: Oh, okay!

Sarah: Because I know you, you seem to really dig the sort of behind-the-scenes what, what is happening to keep this running?

Lindsay: Yeah!

Sarah: This show running.

Lindsay: Okay.

Sarah: There is a documentary; I don’t know if it’s available streaming, but I have taped it off of PBS. It’s called Windsor Castle: A Royal Year.

Lindsay: Okay.

Sarah: It’s all about the behind-the-scenes of Windsor Castle in four seasons: what it’s like to run the castle, who runs the castle, what the different departments are, and what they do when the queen is or isn’t in residence, and you meet, like, the guy who mows the lawn, and you meet all of the, the staff who plan state dinners. There’s a scene where they’re plotting a state dinner, and they have these massive leather folders that sort of open, and it’s the table. It’s a, it’s a mockup of the table, and they decide which heads of state will be where, and they’re putting these peop-, and they have this special leather folder just for the table setting? My favorite guy is the guy who sets the clocks in Windsor Castle –

Lindsay: [Gasps]

Sarah: – and there are so many, when the time changes forward or back in fall or spring, he’s running around the castle for, like, three straight days trying to get all the clocks to be set to the right time, and there’s a scene in the documentary where he’s in some part of the castle with a camera crew, and he looks at the camera and he goes, we’re, we’re lost; I have no idea where we are right now.

Lindsay: Oh my goodness.

Sarah: Yes! Like, I want a romance about him! [Laughs]

Lindsay: Oh, that makes me – yeah. That, I would definitely be interested in that. I’ve been on a kick lately of reading behind-the-scenes White House books? And –

Sarah: Oh yeah, I saw that on your site!

Lindsay: Yeah, and, and I don’t really know what pulled me in, but I really love that kind of thing too. I mean, it’s probably not quite as grand as Windsor Castle, but you know, there’s these ushers, and then there’s the head this at the White House, and there’s –

Sarah: Yeah!

Lindsay: – they stay there throughout every presidency. I mean, they’ll be there for, like, thirty years.

Sarah: I know!

Lindsay: Yeah, this one book I read, it was like, this president had thirty televisions set up in this room, and then the next president came in and had them all taken down, and, and I don’t, I don’t know why I like all that stuff so much, but – [laughs] –

Sarah: I am always fascinated by the behind-the-scenes of how that, how an institution and how an, a building like that is, is cared for and managed and run.

Lindsay: Right.

Sarah: And I think that’s partially because when I was working in different jobs, I was almost always in some sort of organizational, administrative job, so that was my job; I kept something running –

Lindsay: Mm-hmm.

Sarah: – either by managing it or scheduling it or putting it on a calendar or answering a phone or all of the above, so I’m fascinated by the people who do the behind-the-scenes invisible labor to make all of that, you know, all of that happen.

Lindsay: Yeah! And I’m thinking like that, that clock guy at Windsor probably needs to take your course and set up Google alerts –

Sarah: [Laughs]

Lindsay: – that, like, time change is coming! Maybe do two clocks today, ten clocks tomorrow. Like, pat, your future self will thank you! [Laughs]

Sarah: I’d, yeah, you know what, I’m totally down with that. That sounds great. I do love, though, that there is a royal timekeeper. Like, that’s a job!

Lindsay: Yeah.

Sarah: Isn’t that amazing?

Lindsay: No, I –

Sarah: I love that!

Lindsay: Now, now, like, but now I can’t get the thought out of my head. So Tessa Dare’s last book had, the heroine was a – wasn’t she, didn’t she have something to do with clocks or watches or something?

Sarah: Yeah! Mm-hmm.

Lindsay: She fixed it, so now I want Tessa Dare to have, like, a – no, this is, again, this is the things that come out of my mouth, Sarah – now she could write –

Sarah: Yep.

Lindsay: – a cozy mystery with the Windsor guy –

Sarah: [Laughs] Poor Tessa’s really annoyed, and she does not know why!

Lindsay: I know. She’s like, why do you guys keep talking about me? ‘Cause you know stuff about clocks! I know you do, Tessa! You researched stuff about clocks –

Sarah: That would be amazing!

Lindsay: – and then it could be, like, the Windsor guy who’s doing the clocks, and he meets up with the Royal Spyness, and they’re all behind the scenes solving crimes. And making out.

Sarah: Okay, I have another addition for your future booking.

Lindsay: [Laughs] Oh good! I’m –

Sarah: So I was trying to find the name of the timekeeper, and in 2013, Buckingham Palace announced that they were seeking a royal timekeeper. Or technically, it’s the Royal Horological Conservator. They go to Buckingham, Windsor, Holyrood House, Balmoral, and San-, Balmoral and Sandringham to make sure all the monarch’s clocks are wound and set, starting at fifty thousand dollars a year.

Lindsay: I would do that!

Sarah: Right? For fifty grand? They, they need someone who is experienced with working, working with hand and machine tools and able to strip and clean mechanisms and make new parts. So if a clock breaks, I’m screwed –

Lindsay: Yeah!

Sarah: – but that – and, and it’s great because I don’t even know what time it is, so I’d be like, yeah, that seems right.

Lindsay: Right. Check my phone –

Sarah: That sounds great!

Lindsay: [Laughs]

Sarah: Yeah. You, but what you would do is you’d end up with an app, right? You would wind up with an app that would coordinate all of the clocks into your phone, and then you could just set them manually and go back to bed. [Laughs]

[music]

Sarah: And that brings us to the end of the episode. Thank you to Lindsay Emory for hanging out with me. Thank you to Orville for sticking his head in the sound box. If you would like to find Lindsay at her site, it is lindsayemory.com, L-I-N-D-S-A-Y, Emory, E-M-O-R-Y dot com [lindsayemory.com], and her podcast, Women with Books – both of those things are awesome – available wherever you get your fine podcasts. I will have links to both her site and the podcast site as well.

And if you would like get in touch, it would be so cool if you did. I’m curious what you think: are you into royals? Do you follow royalty, or do you stick moan-ly – mo-, moan-ly, stick moan-ly. Do you stick moan-ly? That would be a good thing. Do you stick mainly to royalty romances? Do you have a thing for royalty in any form? Tell me about it! You can email me at [email protected], or you can call and leave a message at 201-371-3272. That’s 1-201-371-3272. Don’t forget to leave your name and tell us where you’re calling from so we can add you to a future episode. I’m certain that all of you have much to say about royalty; it is one of the mainstays of the genre, after all.

The podcast and the podcast transcript this week are being brought to you by Ensnared by J. S. Scott, available now from Montlake Romance. Love is worth a fortune in this sizzling novel of accidental romance and riches by New York Times bestselling author J. S. Scott. Wildlife conservationist Jade Sinclair isn’t used to having money. But when she and her siblings learned they were part of the mega-rich Sinclair dynasty, they became billionaires overnight. Jade doesn’t even know how to act rich, especially when she’s dealing with an arrogant, privileged, unreasonably sexy snob like Eli Stone. Unlike Jade, Eli grew up rich, and he just keeps getting richer. Eli is always looking for an adventure, and he’s found an inviting one in Jade—as resistant as she is irresistible. His less-than-honorable plan? Get her alone in the wilderness by buying out all the spots in her survival class. Calling a truce, they strike a bargain: Jade will teach Eli basic survival skills, and he’ll teach her how to navigate the world of the wealthy elite. Jade only has one condition—she will not let herself be seduced by him. But some things are easier said than done. Readers who love sexy billionaires – and who doesn’t love a sexy billionaire? – and fiercely independent women will love Ensnared, the first in J. S. Scott’s steamy new Accidental Billionaires series. It is available now from Montlake Romance.

We have a podcast Patreon. You can have a look at patreon.com/SmartBitches. Monthly pledges start at one dollar, and you’ll be part of the community that helps me develop questions, suggests guests, and keeps the show going and making sure that each one is accessible to everyone who wants to read or listen. If you’re part of the Patreon, thank you very, very much!

The music you’re listening to is provided by Sassy Outwater. This is the Peatbog Faeries. This is their album Blackhouse. This track is called “Is This Your Son?” You can find this album at Amazon or iTunes, wherever you get your funky music, and you can find the, the Peatbog Faeries – excuse me – find the Peatbog Faeries on their website at peatbogfaeries.com.

Coming up on Smart Bitches this week, we have many cool things, and I’m very excited to tell you about them. First, on Saturday – tomorrow if you’re listening on Friday – we have Hide Your Wallet, Part Deux, also known as Word on the Street, which is a collection of information and links and posts about books that we’ve learned about that we want to tell you about, because that’s what we do here. We also have Romance Wanderlust, reviews of new and some creepy books, a post about Stuff We Like, including the announcement of the 2018 Gift Guide posts – and if you have ideas, email them to me – and a new edition of Unlocking Library Coolness, which is one of my favorite new columns to write.

But most importantly, we have a very cool giveaway next week. We have two fitness watches from Withings, courtesy of the inimitable Susie Felber. We’re giving away a Withings Steel HR and a Withings Steel watch. Both are classic watches with, you know, watch faces and a little dial that tells you your pedometer. The HR also has a heart rate. I have a Steel, without the heart rate, and I love it, because it is super simple and elegant and easy to read, and I know both what time it is, which is something I never know, and how close I am to my step goal for the day. So I hope you will stop by the site and try to enter to win, ‘cause I’m really excited to get to have a giveaway of Withings watches, ‘cause they’re super rad!

I will have links to all of the things that we mentioned and the books that we talked about, but until then, on behalf of Lindsay and Orville, who has finally decided to leave the sound box alone, we wish you the very best of reading. Have a wonderful weekend. We’ll see you here next week.

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