LiteraryHype Podcast

39. AMALIE HOWARD: The joys of blending 90s movies with historical romances

• Stephanie the LiteraryHypewoman / Amalie Howard • Season 1 • Episode 39

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00;00;03;16 - 00;00;20;29
Speaker 1
Hi and welcome to Literary Hype. I'm Stephanie here. Literary hype woman and Face Off. The conversation is a fun one. We've got a lot of books to talk about when it comes to Emily Howard. So she's got her Y.A. book series. The first one was Queen Bee. She's got another one coming out. So we're talking about that and then always be my duchess.

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Speaker 1
She's got another one in this series. We've got a lot to talk about. So without any further ado, here is my conversation with Emily Howard.

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Speaker 1
Well, welcome to Literary Hype.

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Speaker 2
Thank you for having me. I'm very excited to be here with a literary hype.

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Speaker 1
It's so exciting to have you on to talk about. You got so many books coming up. First off, we got to talk about like because you've got like four books in the next like eight months or so, if that.

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Speaker 2
Yes. And so I have the words to go on, then it's coming out. And then in September and then January, I have the Starlight Heir, which is my debut romance. And then I have the second Queen Bee series book, The Diamonds called Lady Night in April.

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Speaker 1
And I think I saw another one from you or someone with the same name as you. That's my bumps in the night.

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Speaker 2
Oh, Boss of the Night came out this year, but the paperback will come out.

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Speaker 1
OK, so that's it.

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Speaker 2
And also the paperback of another book like. So, yeah.

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Speaker 1
I was looking at I'm like.

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Speaker 2
Girl, you know.

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Speaker 1
How do you balance keeping so many projects going at the same time?

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Speaker 2
I think it helps to have different playlists. So if I have to switch projects, I'll put on that music and I think it does something in your brain which is, I don't know, like just says, OK, time to work on this project. And usually I'll create the playlist, you know, like it's historical. It's mostly classical. Sometimes it's classical with, you know, a beat.

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Speaker 2
I love that.

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Speaker 1
So it goes along.

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Speaker 2
With like Lindsey Sterling, you know, like, oh, hardcore.

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Speaker 1
So the classical with the beat goes along with the Bridgeton.

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Speaker 2
Brothers, which.

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Speaker 1
Queen Bee was getting a lot of comparisons to which a what was it like for you to get compared to something that was such a is such a cultural phenomenon.

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Speaker 2
For Reggie? To me.

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Speaker 1
Yeah.

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Speaker 2
It was phenomenal. And, you know, the person who did it was Julia Quinn. She on her site was, you know, said really great things about, you know, supporting the book and supporting me. She's always been such a great advocate, I think for, well, me especially, which I really like appreciate thank you, Julie.

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Speaker 1
I mean, what a big name to get support from. Yeah, that's right. I would die. Yeah. I would just be like I'm I have to a cease to exist now.

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Speaker 2
She's I think she's a very, very kind person and generous with her time, which is great. So but yeah, I mean, being compared to Bridget Anne, that's pretty awesome.

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Speaker 1
Yeah. So talk a little bit about Queen Bee and the next book. Would you just shut off the brandy, however, because it's so cute, so beautiful.

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Speaker 2
Queen Bee is pictured as a count of Monte Cristo Meets Britain, and it's about a teen girl who's betrayed by her best friend over a boy. And she decides three years later, instead of just taking, you know, the crumbs that she had of her life to disguise herself and go back to high society as an heiress and basically shows up, sees him and suddenly has to decide whether revenge is worth another chance at love.

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Speaker 2
Thought that.

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Speaker 1
Time.

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Speaker 2
I mean, revenge is always awesome.

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Speaker 1
I mean, yes, revenge stories are wonderful and bridges and vibes and revenge. It's just a delightful time. Right? So where are we looking to go with books?

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Speaker 2
You are so book, too. I'm so excited. For this book. It's Lady Night and I kind of pictured as Dead Poets Society, but with girl gangs and banned books. So it's a girl group that does you know, they come together and they do all the stuff that boys do. They fence, they ride races at midnight, sometimes in disguise, sometimes not.

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Speaker 2
They steal from the heroine's brothers to save an orphanage. So, you know, not quite on the straight and narrow, but like, you know, they're taking chances here and they're and then Ralph, who's in the first book, finds out. So it's Zia and Rafi Carson sister. And then basically by the end of it, they have to, you know, figure out that, you know, it's not worth kind of breaking the law to like break boundaries, basically.

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Speaker 2
So I'm excited about that one.

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Speaker 1
Very excited. I got an arc of Queen Bee and it's in rough condition because I took it with me everywhere for a while.

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Speaker 2
It's awesome.

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Speaker 1
Everywhere. But you also have an adult Regency romance coming, and that one is the worst. You've in London. Yeah. So this is book three in a series. So tell us where this is and if people can pick this one up without having read the first two.

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Speaker 2
Most of my books are standalones, and so it's a friend group, so you don't have to read the first one. So hopefully you'll read it and be like this group sounds delightful. I want to read all of them. But the third book, so it's base, the series is The Taming of the Duke series, and it's based on nineties films reimagined as historical, which is kind of funny because you look at the first book, which was Pretty Woman, right?

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Speaker 2
So that was Pretty Woman, but making historical book two is clueless, but make it historical. But Clueless was Emma. So Emma clueless. And then, you know.

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Speaker 1
Bringing it.

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Speaker 2
Full circle, never met a Duke like you. And then the third book, which comes out in September, is Ten Things I Hate About You, which is one of my favorites, but that's also based on Taming of the Shrew. Like what is happening here full circle. Yeah, exactly. But it's yeah, it's a friend group and how they each meet the men that, you know, that are their matches.

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Speaker 2
Basically.

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Speaker 1
This is kind of ten things I hate about you inspired. Did you rewatch the movie as you were plotting this or as you were writing to help keep you along with the plot of the movie? Why did you I.

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Speaker 2
Literally have those movies memorized in my head because I watched them so many times, so I didn't have to rewatch it. You know, I love, love, love Heath Ledger in that movie. So like, it was it was great. I didn't have to. And plus, the thing about retelling is as you never want it to be like an overt copy because that does nothing fresh.

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Speaker 2
I read I don't know who was I was talking to one time I said, if you're doing a retelling, pick three things that are iconic about the thing you're retelling and then put your own spin on it. So that's what I did.

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Speaker 1
Why are retellings so popular right now?

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Speaker 2
I want to say that I think it's like a sense of nostalgia. So if it's something that you love and you see a fresh version of it, it's like exciting. I had somebody come up yesterday and tell me Beast of Ezra was the best Beauty and the Beast retelling they'd ever read. And that made me feel really good because there's so many.

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Speaker 2
I love reading those but everybody likes a good, you know, pit in the bistro.

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Speaker 1
Are there any more books planned for this series and what movie would you be looking at for those.

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Speaker 2
Well, I'm going to have to get back to you on whether there's a fourth book, because there is a fourth book, but I don't have a timeline on it, and it will probably be based on Drive Me Crazy, that movie.

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Speaker 1
So what is it about Regency romance that you love that now you've got why A and Adult Regency romances I mean.

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Speaker 2
I love the time period it was I want to say 18, 11 to 1828 when the Prince Regent Britney, you know, was running things and he it was a bit of a womanizer and a player and was always like, you know, showing up at all the parties and stuff but that was the time period. 18, 11 to 1820.

00;07;35;09 - 00;07;59;07
Speaker 2
If I'm wrong I'm sorry. Yeah. But I like it because I'm, I love research so if I'm researching for the world I'm really going to know what I'm writing. I don't have to go look something up because I've already learned it because I've written so many books in that time period. So it's a comfort factor for me. Somebody asked me that as well, like when we were chatting on a table and I was like, Yeah, Regency and Victorian, I know both of those.

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Speaker 2
I know what fashions were worn, I know what words were used during that time frame, you know, and you would think that maybe a word existed. No, there's words that started in like in the 1860s that weren't used in 1815 I like to be that authentic. So whether it's Y.A. or adult, it doesn't matter.

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Speaker 1
What's the weirdest facts you've come across while researching for your first love?

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Speaker 2
This story I'm going to horrify everyone here. We're having forever. In the Victorian era, there's something called a bordello. It looks like a gravy boat. And basically women under those massive dresses, their ladies maids would hold it under so they could go to the bathroom and then go it out and it looks just like a gravy boat. So happy Thanksgiving to everyone.

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Speaker 2
When you know.

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Speaker 1
Gravy.

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Speaker 2
And think that it was a pebble called aboard a loop.

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Speaker 1
Having Regency romances for teens and for adults, do you approach writing them differently or how does that process go through in your head?

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Speaker 2
Oh yeah. I mean, I think it is different right? Obviously, I mean, for teenagers, things are like they're bigger, there's neurons involved, there's more emotions involved. You know, the frontal cortex is not really developed for teens until 25. So they're going to make more impulsive decisions are going to be, you know, not think things through as you would if you are older than 25.

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Speaker 2
And so there's a lot of more like they'll, you know take chances more. I think everything's like all or nothing. There's more of an all or nothing like necessity to be with that person. Whereas I think when you're older there's that impetus is still there, but it's also grounded by better reasoning, right? You think things through more you are kind of way in your head, this is what I want because you've either learned coming up what you don't want or what you did want in a relationship, whereas a teen is like figuring the stuff out for the first time, right?

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Speaker 2
So it's going to be like the summer and fall. And when you're an adult, you're like, let's let's just jump gracefully because we know the dangers on the bottom, you know what I mean? It's a little bit more care. So I am very conscious of those things.

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Speaker 1
What's your favorite scene in your upcoming to Regency Books.

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Speaker 2
And the which.

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Speaker 1
In which to go in London and Late.

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Speaker 2
Night? Oh, my God. The worst. Duke in London has such great scenes, but I'll give one away. There's one where they go into this, like, underground gaming hell and they're dressed as boys. And they decide to fence for money, and the male protagonist comes in as the opponent. So Zia and Rafi fighting, and it's just so full of tension and of course, beats him because she's amazing girl power, though.

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Speaker 2
Exactly. Ed, but it's just so tense and they're talking during the fight. And this is really I love that see lots of tension, which is I think also to why an adult angst and tension really build that romantic stuff. Up.

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Speaker 1
Well, since we're talking about tension and big emotions, you've also done some bungee jumping and some skydiving. How does the adrenaline of those kind of activities compared to the adrenaline of releasing a book?

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Speaker 2
I think releasing a book is worse. It's like literally when you're putting your blood, sweat and tears out there for people to say whether they hate it or love it. Right. So as an author, I think, you know, there's a lot of discussion about when you publish the book, it doesn't belong to you anymore. So I kind of just move on to the next thing.

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Speaker 2
So I think that's more fearful that doing the bungee jumping in the skydiving, yes, it's scary. But once you jump, the feeling of flying is incredible. So the adrenaline takes over. The fear. I think with releasing a book, the fear kind of continues a little bit because you never want it to like, you know, you want it to be great.

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Speaker 2
But even if you have like a gazillion angry reviews that one person, you know, I think the more books you release, though, you get you want to say a thicker skin because I don't think I'll ever have a thick skin. But, you know, you just you know, when you're writing for, you know, your audience and you know the people who are going to always appreciate your.

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Speaker 1
Books and you've lived and visited all over the world, what is something you've learned along on your travels that have really helped shape you as a person and as a writer?

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Speaker 2
I love that question. I think we have to realize that the world is really, really broad and there are many different cultures and many, many different customs and if you, you know, put all those things together, it like it gives you a broader worldview of, you know, how something might exist somewhere else. Whether that's, you know, language or, you know, how people interact with each other or even clothing.

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Speaker 2
You know what I mean? I think living in Europe and living, you know, here, living in the Caribbean has really helped me to kind of broaden my worldview. And I really, I mean, I, I value that a lot.

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Speaker 1
I've also been in Fortune 500 companies and all that business, Sea World. What have you learned from that that has helped inform Regency Romance, where money is so important to these romances?

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Speaker 2
Yeah, that's a good question. I mean, I worked on Wall Street and, you know, I was always a very like I wanted to make my own money and live my own life. And I think the comparison with Regency, because women weren't allowed to work and all their money was owned by their husbands and they can own property I wanted to show how two women in that time who are constrained by the rules of society and the restrictions break out of those to get what they want.

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Speaker 2
And that's what all of my historical romance novels are about. How does each character get what they want within the limitations of the society, particularly the women, because the men had a lot of freedom.

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Speaker 1
To do whatever they.

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Speaker 2
Wanted. I know by the end I forget it.

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Speaker 1
And there's a line in the worst you can London in the beginning that feels very timely for everything going on now. It's like it's still the argument of the women's places in the home, and they should be seen, not heard. And it feels like that argument was going on back then, but it's still going on now. Why is that a message that still needs to be talked about?

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Speaker 2
I mean, I feel like, you know, it it comes down to basically women being able to use every gift that's given to them, whether it's their brain or their ability to do things I mean, I feel like it's kind of equality is what it comes down to. Right. And the right to be able to do anything that a person is a man can.

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Speaker 1
You've been an part of many, many sports of your life. Are there any chances that you might dabble into the very popular world of sports romances? And which sport would you think would be the best one to start with sports romances?

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Speaker 2
Because you've done a.

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Speaker 1
Lot of sports like.

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Speaker 2
Cricket.

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Speaker 1
We have to get romance now.

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Speaker 2
I know. I actually did write a cricket versus baseball sort of romance regency for the Bookish Box anthology. So it was it was called and I can't remember this an unconventional match. I think it was. I can't remember but match right for cricket and baseball. And then they had the drawing was really cute because they had a bat, a cricket bat and a baseball bat crossed.

00;15;15;26 - 00;15;35;13
Speaker 2
So it was really cute. I don't know. I did four varsity sports in high schools. I did cricket, swimming, netball and soccer and maybe a soccer romance because that's what I did through high school and college. But definitely not like hockey. I know that's super hot right now. I've read a few of those spicier yes.

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Speaker 1
I mean, there's something about the bluntness of a hockey player that plays into it.

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Speaker 2
I think it's all those Ticktock videos where they're doing that pre exercises like what's happening. But his buddies.

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Speaker 1
They're just scratching.

00;15;44;20 - 00;15;45;05
Speaker 2
Stretches.

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Speaker 1
That's all it is. Just really important stretches for skating. And for.

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Speaker 2
Me, first, not having injuries, I mean, it's yeah, common sense.

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Speaker 1
No one wants.

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Speaker 2
Hurt. Nobody wants hurt.

00;15;56;14 - 00;16;04;06
Speaker 1
You mentioned the romantically. So romantically is also very, very hot. What can you tell us about your romantics about coming out in early 2025.

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Speaker 2
I am super excited about this romance. The one it's my first. I actually didn't start out I started out in young adult science fiction and fantasy. So fantasy has always been my first love by historical romance. Now back to adult. So it's about a woman who is in a world that doesn't have magic and she finds out she has starlight magic she's on.

00;16;27;02 - 00;16;55;26
Speaker 2
There's this prophecy about old gods that wants to use her magic to return to the world. And so she is part of this selection for the crown prince is trying to find this star keeper with this, you know, to bring like a bridal buffet. I call it and she shows up. She wants nothing to do with it. All she wants to do is visit the Castle Forge, and then she meets the illegitimate son of the king who is part of the rebellion to bring down the monarchy.

00;16;56;07 - 00;17;14;02
Speaker 2
And they go on adventures through the realm to try to figure out, one, her power. And then, of course, there's a devastating attraction between the two of them. But lots of secrets are being kept, and there's a big showdown at the end. So I really love it because the idea of like one person having magic in a world that is, you know, facing a dearth of it.

00;17;14;02 - 00;17;33;10
Speaker 2
So they only have it in crystals and it's very zealously guarded by the monarchy. It was it was a really interesting thing. Right. And what was awesome about it it's a mix of Indian and Middle Eastern American, Caribbean astrology, mythology and Comanche. So I think that's I would say, Carol, Nancy Palmistry, yeah.

00;17;33;19 - 00;17;38;04
Speaker 1
OK, the last question we always ask, because this is literary hype. What books are you hyped about?

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Speaker 2
Oh, my gosh. That's a that's a tough question because I'm like literally reading everything. But I know that Bridget Kimber has a new book coming out. I want to read that. I don't know if there's a title on it yet, but she's such a good writer. Also, it's HarperCollins, and now you're like, I'm stumped. I'm like her every time.

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Speaker 2
I want to read Raven Kennedy's last book in her series I Am Dying, I think that's soon to.

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Speaker 1
Be.

00;18;05;09 - 00;18;05;25
Speaker 2
The Fifth.

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Speaker 1
They've been putting them out, like, republishing them in a traditional sense. So yeah, I have lost track of which one we're on.

00;18;12;15 - 00;18;21;19
Speaker 2
No, no, no. It's five. I need it. Yeah, I need it very badly. And I'm trying to think what else I'm really excited for the know.

00;18;22;13 - 00;18;29;02
Speaker 1
Well, thank you so much for taking time to be with us to talk about your many, many books having those. Thank you so much for having me.

00;18;31;28 - 00;18;50;04
Speaker 1
Thanks again to Emily for taking time out of her stimulant college schedule to talk to me about her books, including the sequels to Queen Bee and Always Be My Duchess, The Worst Duke in London. If you'd like to get a hold of any of Emily's books. And there are many, so there's lots of different options for you to check out the links to do so.

00;18;50;10 - 00;19;01;02
Speaker 1
In the show notes for you. If you enjoyed this conversation, don't forget to subscribe to the Literary Hype podcast. Give us some stars and share this with your friends. Thanks so much for listening to the literary hype podcast.