51. LUCY EDEN: Adding controversial topics into romance novels

Some books have meet cutes and others have meet disasters. Love in Bloom falls more on the latter, with our heroine halfway undressed in the men's bathroom ahead of her grandparent's will reading.... and the guy who catches her won't be out of her life anytime soon. Lucy opens up about crafting romance with controversial topics and much more.

FOLLOW LUCY

BUY THE BOOKS
Bookshop
Love In Bloom
Blind Date With A Book Boyfriend

Amazon
Love in Bloom
Blind Date with A Book Boyfriend

LibroFM
Love in Bloom
Blind Date with a Book Boyfriend

Transcript

00;00;00;01 - 00;00;21;18
Speaker 1
Hi and welcome to Literary Hype. I am Stephanie, your literary hype woman. And today's author conversation explores a little bit of some controversial topics that happen to be present in the books Love and Bloom by Lucy Eden. This is about a woman who inherits a farm. And there are some shenanigans going on at this farm that she does not know about initially.

00;00;22;10 - 00;00;35;11
Speaker 1
And that's where all the controversy could come in, depending on your view on some things. So go into this with an open mind that there might be something that you learned a little bit about today. So without any further ado, here's my conversation with Lucy Eden.

00;00;40;18 - 00;00;45;27
Speaker 1
Well, welcome to Literary Hype, Lucy, it's so exciting to have you on to talk about your book, Love in Blue.

00;00;46;16 - 00;00;47;24
Speaker 2
It's so much to me.

00;00;48;08 - 00;00;54;01
Speaker 1
So for anyone who hasn't already seen this online or floating around their bookstores, tell us what the story is all about.

00;00;54;07 - 00;01;33;27
Speaker 2
It's about Emma, who is a PR rep from Atlanta who's very good at her job until suddenly she realizes that she has inherited a farm from her estranged grandparents. And when she goes to collect her inheritance, she discovers that it comes with a very handsome British Indian horticulturist and a lot of secrets. So she has to kind of navigate that and there's a lot of it's illicit in books, so there's a lot of hijinks, tomfoolery and shenanigans, high jinks.

00;01;34;09 - 00;01;46;03
Speaker 2
And yeah, there's also a lot of angst and a fair a fair amount of steam. So it's got all that it's got all the things that you want in a story.

00;01;46;05 - 00;01;48;23
Speaker 1
What was your initial spark for this book?

00;01;48;26 - 00;02;14;02
Speaker 2
I have always been interested in medical marijuana. I actually I believe it was Marie Claire I want to say it was Marie Claire, our Cosmo, that I read an article. Maybe it was like ten or 15 years ago about this family who had a son who had seizure disorders, and they actually ended up going to the UK to get medical marijuana for him.

00;02;14;02 - 00;02;44;02
Speaker 2
And I believe it was they use CBD oil excuse me for him because they just couldn't get anything in the US. And even though most, you know, medical professionals know that medical marijuana does have some medicinal properties, there is just not there's just not enough testing, not enough empirical data for the medical community to feel safe green lighting it.

00;02;44;02 - 00;03;11;16
Speaker 2
For most things, that is slowly changing. There are more and more like medical marijuana is becoming legal in more and more places. But it's still we're still at the point where it's not accessible for everybody. So when I was given a chance to tell this story, you know, I jumped at it because, you know, obviously I had very, very strong feelings about it and very, you know, very strong opinions.

00;03;11;16 - 00;03;28;16
Speaker 2
And yeah, I'm just grateful that, you know, Honey Magnolia and Forever gave me the space and the opportunity to kind of bring this story to life with a humorous twist, because humor is a part of life.

00;03;31;01 - 00;03;52;14
Speaker 2
And yeah, I mean, that was that was a spark. It's just something that's always, really, always interested me. I mean, I could talk about, you know, research and, you know, the things that kind of fuel this project forever, but I'm afraid I would lose you. And pretty much most of your listeners. So yeah, I'll, I'll, I'll cut it there.

00;03;52;28 - 00;04;06;10
Speaker 1
Research rabbit holes happen it's controversial topic. So how did you approach working such a controversial topic into a romcom and trying to make sure that you don't lose your reader when you get to that point?

00;04;06;17 - 00;04;33;04
Speaker 2
Really, the best thing to do is make your stories. I mean, this is I think this is just across the board with any book is make your stories as character driven as possible. So I always relate it to the characters. You know, I didn't get into really too in-depth into, you know, the legal jargon, the, the more sinister aspects of running a marijuana farm.

00;04;34;05 - 00;05;07;21
Speaker 2
It's really about the people. It's really about the characters and who this is for, who this helps, how it affects everyone, even if they're not taking it. What are what's the emotional toll on doing something like this, even if you're doing it for the right reasons? So, yeah, I think that's something that everyone can relate to. You know, just just delving into the emotions and connecting those to, you know, every circumstance and every every situation.

00;05;07;26 - 00;05;24;15
Speaker 1
You kind of hinted that the town really does have something at stake in this relationship as she's kind of developing things throughout. So what was it like to make it where it's not just a relationship that doesn't mean anything to the people around it. This really is crucial to the community.

00;05;24;17 - 00;06;04;24
Speaker 2
Yeah. I mean, there there are you know, there are a lot of other things you can kind of pull from this. I like to to sneak I like to do this all my books. I like to sneak heavier topics into them. Even though they're romcoms. But, you know, there are a lot of American families who are American families, American farms, who put pretty much most of the fresh food on our tables that are failing for, you know, either they are being bought out by large companies or they are just not financially able to sustain themselves.

00;06;04;24 - 00;06;40;14
Speaker 2
And that's like a real, real tragedy. That is unfortunately going to come and bite us, all of us. I mean, I live in in Brooklyn, New York, even though there are like some people who farm and grow their own stuff. But I'm like pretty far removed from the land and getting food from the land. But, you know, with the failure of the American farm, if that is something that is realized and we are closer to that than a lot of us understand, you know, that's when you go to the grocery store and blueberries are like $25 a pint and you're like, well, how did this happen?

00;06;40;14 - 00;07;03;13
Speaker 2
And it's like, well, it's been happening and we haven't been paying attention. So, you know, so in this you know, it is touched on a few times where, you know, one of the big mysteries is how is this farm doing so well when, you know, kind of farms around the country just aren't? And also, the farm is kind of the it's the linchpin of the town.

00;07;03;13 - 00;07;34;18
Speaker 2
It holds the entire town together. So if that farm fails financially, you know, it kind of takes the town with it. And because the farm is is growing medical marijuana, it's also attracting people from all around the country, all around the world. So that means there are hospitality sector in the town, even though it's very, very small. The hospitality sector thrives, the restaurants thrive, the hospital, the nearby hospitals thrive.

00;07;34;28 - 00;07;46;12
Speaker 2
Everyone is connected. The stores thrive. So it is it's you know, they are very, very interconnected. And this is and this is how they're doing it.

00;07;46;20 - 00;08;00;07
Speaker 1
One thing about Emma going into this story is that she's already in a relationship when we first meet her. Yes. And that can be very tricky as well. So talk a little bit about crafting a heroine who's already in a relationship.

00;08;00;07 - 00;08;22;08
Speaker 2
No, I listen, I am totally smelling what you're stepping in. It's like, how do you get the audience to be OK with her being in a relationship with somebody else who is not the person she's been relationship with in the beginning? Because as romance readers, like you can tell by the cover or the blurb or whatever, you know, going into it, this is not the hero.

00;08;22;08 - 00;08;53;03
Speaker 2
So what's happening here? So, yeah, I mean, for for Love in Bloom specifically, I think it's pretty evident even in the first or second chapter or the second chapter especially. It's pretty evident that Teddy is not the one for her. We even if Dan, you know, wasn't an option, we don't want her in. We would rather her be single, honestly, than be in a relationship with Teddy.

00;08;53;12 - 00;09;17;13
Speaker 2
By the end of the second chapter, we're like, oh, this is not this is not good. So we kind of want we want something better for her. And by that time, we already know Dan exists. And we know that Dan, even though he did not know her they were there. Their start was very contentious. He still went out of his way to make sure she was OK.

00;09;18;03 - 00;09;28;28
Speaker 2
And it's like, OK, now imagine that from a guy who actually cared about her. Like, Oh, my God, this is this is it. Like, let's get these two together.

00;09;29;19 - 00;09;40;28
Speaker 1
And you also don't want your female main character to be judged too much for why is she still in this relationship? And kind of figuring out where to go with lead on that end as well.

00;09;40;28 - 00;10;05;21
Speaker 2
Yeah, and I think that's another reason why I love writing in first person because you are in the character's head. And Emma, at this point in her life, that Emma's kind of just going with the flow with her life and she just wants to make everyone in her life happy and she really doesn't know another way. Her happiness is not a priority for her.

00;10;05;26 - 00;10;29;10
Speaker 1
You know, line it in this book where she's talking about like not realizing that Teddy's ambition was actually narcissism. And that's kind of a really fascinating way to think about things sometimes. Like when you're in the relationship, you might not notice the problem because you're thinking it's something else that's a little bit about crafting that aspect of their relationship between Emma and Teddy.

00;10;29;11 - 00;11;04;24
Speaker 2
Emma has grown up in a world full of really ambitious people, really high achievers. So this isn't something new for her until she's introduced to something new. Which is, you know, Dan and you know, one of the lines she has with Dan is the dichotomy of, you know, just dealing with people who are, you know, their greatest you know, their greatest ambitions are winning an Oscar or an election or, you know, world domination.

00;11;04;24 - 00;11;30;23
Speaker 2
They want power. They want this. That's the world she's used to. And just to meet somebody who just wants to make the world a little more beautiful and and they're they're their deepest desire is to help people. That is something that she's never experienced before. So just being around Dan and the people in the town, it's really introduced her to a new way of seeing the world and a new way of thinking.

00;11;31;02 - 00;11;46;16
Speaker 2
So when Teddy comes back into her life, it's very easy to see that, yes, this is narcissism, this is selfishness. This is he doesn't care about people. He doesn't care about helping or doing anything good he just wants to further his own ambitions.

00;11;46;21 - 00;11;58;27
Speaker 1
BackStory is so important to this book. So, A, are you a plotter or a panther or do you just let it figure out the backstories as you go? What's your process on that?

00;11;59;15 - 00;12;24;28
Speaker 2
So I am what's called a planter where I have a skeleton and that's just because I also have ADHD and I don't want to get too off track when I'm writing a story. But most back stories come to me in the moment. They just kind of pop into my head fully formed. Like there was a story about Emma's mother as a child, and that kind of shaped the person who she was.

00;12;24;28 - 00;12;46;17
Speaker 2
It was it was from told from the perspective of her childhood best friend who was talking to Emma about how who her mother was as a child. And that story just kind of popped into my head, and I just thought it was like so sweet and so perfect. And yeah, a lot of the back stories just kind of come to me as I get to know the characters, because backstory is important.

00;12;46;18 - 00;13;12;21
Speaker 2
Who you were yesterday is an important part of who you are today. So I also think it's important to include that and also important to kind of explain a character's behavior. Like things don't just come out of nowhere. Decisions don't come out of nowhere, choices don't come out of nowhere. They're really just kind of informed from your past, from, you know, you're making decisions based on the knowledge that you have, the information that you have.

00;13;12;21 - 00;13;14;13
Speaker 2
Where does that information come from?

00;13;14;13 - 00;13;23;26
Speaker 1
There are so many great tropes throughout this story. How do you approach picking what ones you want to put in the book? And what ones are your favorites to play with?

00;13;23;27 - 00;13;58;23
Speaker 2
Oh boy. I think Enemies to Lovers is is a lot of fun to play with because I love sarcasm. And I love, you know, people who really kind of dig into each other. So that's always fun to play with. But I really love all tropes. I don't have any tropes that I don't like. I feel like every story needs to have at least three because in life, you know, people are never just one thing and you never have just one challenge at a time.

00;13;59;06 - 00;14;31;21
Speaker 2
If only you always have more than one thing happening. So it's like you are a, you know, like, OK, so here's the here's the trope. The trope deck that I did with fairy godmother. So, yeah, so you can have a story where, you know, there's more than one thing going on. So you could have you could be it could be like your first love, but also like one of you gets amnesia and someone is betrayed in that.

00;14;31;22 - 00;14;33;20
Speaker 1
Go together so well right off the bat.

00;14;34;00 - 00;14;54;05
Speaker 2
You do. Because if somebody has amnesia and you pretend like you kind of fought because I wrote it, I wrote an amnesia story where you're just kind of like going with the flow and not telling the amnesiac the truth about themselves. That's a betrayal. Oh, my God. Wait, these were actually the tropes. I shuffled the deck, I swear.

00;14;54;05 - 00;14;55;21
Speaker 2
But these were the tropes for that.

00;14;57;12 - 00;14;58;17
Speaker 1
That's hilarious.

00;14;58;29 - 00;15;07;11
Speaker 2
Wild it's called Head Over High Heels, and it's an overboard retelling because I'm obsessed with that movie, because who was it? It's so good.

00;15;07;14 - 00;15;17;06
Speaker 1
I listen to part of this book on audio talk, what it's like for you as an author to hear your words, come back in someone else's voice.

00;15;17;11 - 00;15;39;22
Speaker 2
I love to tell the story. I primarily get my books through audio. I am an audio file. I started listening to audio books when I was nine years old. I used to go to the library and I would get my first audio books were Stephen King, and they would come in these huge things and there'd be like 16 cassette tapes that's how old I am.

00;15;40;02 - 00;16;05;15
Speaker 2
There's 16 cassette tapes, and you had to make sure that they were like rewound all round to the beginning because some jerk, the last jerk who like you know, borrowed it just like stuck the tapes back in and brought back. So yeah, I listened to hundreds of audio books a year that is not hyperbole. So audio books are something, especially when it comes to my work, it is something that I take very seriously.

00;16;06;13 - 00;16;33;05
Speaker 2
Probably the most serious like I it's probably the thing I care the most about, like not cover, not that this not that it's like who's doing the audio? Which is probably why I only have like three books an audio, but I'm OK with that. But yes, this book was narrated by Wesley Shavon, who also did Blind Date with a book Boyfriend, which coincidentally I was listening to when we started our call.

00;16;33;05 - 00;17;06;11
Speaker 2
She did Blind Date with the book Boyfriend with Oscar Reyes. And that book is that audio book is Magic if you have not heard it. So, yes, Wesley Sharon did such an amazing job that there were parts of the book that I laughed out loud at, and I wrote the book and her delivery just made it funnier. I don't know if you've gotten to this part yet, but, you know, there's Teddy's mom, who I wish I could have written more about her because she's such a character.

00;17;06;11 - 00;17;34;01
Speaker 2
But yeah, she made Teddy's mom just hilarious for me, and I wrote the book, so, yeah, she hurt another thing I worry about with audio book narrators is that, you know, when they when some narrators they say to themselves, OK, I'm reading a romance book and I know that there's sex in here somewhere. So everything has to sound like the horniest thing.

00;17;34;10 - 00;18;04;13
Speaker 2
And it's like the character's like, at the grocery store and it's like, this is uncomfortable to listen, like, what is going on here? So, yeah, so Wesley Sharon has amazing accent work, amazing comedic timing, you know, there are parts in the book where she's crying and I'm crying, you know, so you know that she's somebody who really gave an insanely good performance and I could not be be happier about it.

00;18;04;20 - 00;18;16;09
Speaker 1
I saw online that you have been doing some scavenger hunt when you're making convention appearances. So where did you get the idea to have your books, be it other authors tables to help kind of build that community?

00;18;16;11 - 00;18;39;13
Speaker 2
It popped into my head literally like the beginning of I think steamy lit was the first one. I did it. It just kind of popped into my head and I was like, wouldn't it be fun if people had to go to other authors tables because that's what they're doing anyway to find this book. And it was great because I had gotten those copies complimentary from forever.

00;18;39;13 - 00;19;04;12
Speaker 2
So I was like, This isn't even my money. Like, let's, let's really like have some fun with these copies of these books. So the other reason I am a huge, huge community person. I love working with other authors, meeting with other authors, promoting other authors. I think it's yeah, I really think it's a lot of fun. And I, you know, I approached some authors that I did know.

00;19;04;12 - 00;19;31;12
Speaker 2
I approached authors that I didn't know and yeah, I love that. And I loved when somebody would come back with the book and say, Hey, I never heard of this author before, but I bought some of her books while I was at her table. So yay. And also for the scavenger hunt, it's a picture of the author's cover, but their name is blocked out so you have to know whose book that is in order to get the free book.

00;19;31;12 - 00;19;54;02
Speaker 2
So yeah, people were were working, which is great. You're really working to find those books, which I love. So it's something I will continue to keep doing because I do think it's fun. It's it's not intrusive for the author because I'm also mindful of, OK, if this is too complicated, they've got a line of people. Is this something that they're going to even want to do at a signing?

00;19;54;13 - 00;20;11;27
Speaker 2
And yeah, it was great it was great. The authors loved it. The readers loved it. I love it. I love giving stuff away. I love games. I hope other authors copy me. Some other authors were like, I'm going to do that at my signing. I was like, Do it, please. So yeah, it's fun. It makes a little more fun.

00;20;12;03 - 00;20;23;00
Speaker 1
There's nothing like chasing down free books that brings readers together hello. I literally just came from the book festival and we made so many friends and letters like, Have you seen any code words today?

00;20;23;23 - 00;20;24;03
Speaker 2
Yep.

00;20;24;13 - 00;20;26;13
Speaker 1
Shared all that info yes.

00;20;26;13 - 00;20;48;06
Speaker 2
Oh my gosh. And by teaming up and working together like, Yes, do it. It's great. And it also lets you know kind of like that the authors are fun. Like I feel like if somebody asked me like, Oh, what's the vibe of your books? Like, what kind of book? And I'm like, It's me. I'm the guy. Like, you know, if you meet me, you kind of know like how my books are because I'm kind of the same way.

00;20;49;03 - 00;20;57;13
Speaker 2
So I'm like, serious but funny and, you know, very creative and yeah. So which is what you see is what you get.

00;20;57;24 - 00;21;07;07
Speaker 1
There's one thing that's not quite what you see is what you get, and that is your name is a fun little story of how you chose Lucy Eden as your pseudonym.

00;21;07;10 - 00;21;32;02
Speaker 2
I have like a million reasons why I chose I chose Lucy Eden. So technically, Lucy Eden is a short name that you can put in big print on books. So that was like a good and it's also easy to say easy to spell easy to remember. Like all my social media is Lucy Eden, Lucy Eden, author. So it's very easy to find me.

00;21;32;22 - 00;22;03;05
Speaker 2
So that was like the first main concern Lucy is always a name that I loved. Lucy, the Parish of Saint Lucy is my favorite part of Barbados. If you ever go to Barbados, it's that parish that's at the very top. These are gorgeous, gorgeous cliffs. What else? Lucy is the name of the oldest skeleton in the world, so she's basically the mother of humanity, a variation of the name Lucifer, who everyone knows is the devil.

00;22;03;05 - 00;22;35;21
Speaker 2
But he you know, he also started out as an angel and God's favorite. And Lucifer, the name means Bringer of light. So, you know, it's kind of a person who you know, may or may not be misunderstood, depending on how you kind of go down that road. And if you watch, you know, the the popular TV shows where Lucifer is a character, he's he's always depicted as a little a little deeper than, you know, you know, a little more than meets the eye.

00;22;35;23 - 00;22;39;26
Speaker 2
Like the show Lucifer. He's actually like a good guy, which is kind of funny.

00;22;42;04 - 00;23;02;04
Speaker 2
If you watch the show Supernatural, the character of Lucifer, like, he's like always like this close to being a good guy. But it just, like, never works out for him. Yeah. It's just yeah, just a lot of a lot of, like, really great, great things to talk about. When you talk about the name Lucy, I just think it's an awesome name.

00;23;02;07 - 00;23;08;06
Speaker 1
Awesome. Well, the last question we always ask because this is literary hype. What books are you hyped about right now?

00;23;08;08 - 00;23;11;03
Speaker 2
That is like asking me what my favorite star in the sky is.

00;23;11;13 - 00;23;13;17
Speaker 1
It really is the meanest question I could ask.

00;23;13;17 - 00;23;48;16
Speaker 2
It's so mean. OK, so I would say real easy. Adams has a Christmas coming out, which I'm very excited about. I'm Deja Bru, I believe is the third in the Palestine Martin's witchy trilogy. And Momma Loves Witches that's like all that's popping into my head. But I have like, so many books and arcs and things popping up, and I'm also a person who reads the same books over and over again.

00;23;48;16 - 00;24;20;07
Speaker 2
I was literally reading one of my own books this morning, so I'm like, the worst person to ask. But yeah, that's like all that's popping into my head right now. But I think that, I mean, I think every book is something to get excited about. And especially as, you know, readers who read primarily romance books, we we will read so many books that, you know, you might read ten books in one week and somebody is like, well, what was your favorite?

00;24;20;07 - 00;24;45;11
Speaker 2
Or What are you reading now? And you're like, Ah, I don't know the title I don't know the author, but the cover was green and they had a bakery and he had a pet dog named Spike, and it was really good. And you should read it because you've read like ten books that week. You know, like, I don't know anything about the book except how it made me feel and it made me feel great.

00;24;45;11 - 00;24;47;16
Speaker 2
And that's why I think you should also read it.

00;24;48;13 - 00;24;54;14
Speaker 1
The number of people who come into the bookstore and like, I don't remember the name or the author, but it was green.

00;24;56;04 - 00;25;10;08
Speaker 2
Yeah, that's how my book. Yeah, my books actually used to be color coded. I need to fix them, and I'm I want to give away a lot of them, but that's how I remember what books are. I remember what color the covers are currently.

00;25;10;08 - 00;25;11;19
Speaker 1
I also have a rainbow problem.

00;25;12;02 - 00;25;17;29
Speaker 2
I saw that and I was like, Oh, that's so brilliant, because she's going to know exactly where all of her books are.

00;25;18;08 - 00;25;28;13
Speaker 1
And someone talked about it is like an easier ways. But because I also produced ADHD, more likely to put it away when it's by color than trying to figure out where it goes in the alphabet.

00;25;28;15 - 00;25;34;26
Speaker 2
If there's a shelf of blue books and there's just like an orange book in the middle you'll be like, Nope, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

00;25;35;04 - 00;25;41;09
Speaker 1
This is very unhinged right now, and I haven't fixed it in a while, but it still looks nice now.

00;25;41;09 - 00;26;01;00
Speaker 2
This is yeah, for me, this is unhinged and it looks terrible. Yeah. Even though, like, these are all like, this is separated out because these are all cookbooks, and I need to move them into my kitchen but I just hate the way they look. And this is I just got, like, a shipment of books from forever, and I was like, you know, it's.

00;26;01;13 - 00;26;08;00
Speaker 2
Yeah, so next time you interview me, hopefully this will look a little more a little more cohesive.

00;26;08;09 - 00;26;11;14
Speaker 1
Well, thanks so much for taking time to talk to literary hype about Love and.

00;26;11;14 - 00;26;25;05
Speaker 2
Blue Thank you so much for making the time for me. And I had an absolute blast, and I will love to come back any time. Everybody go read Love in Bloom, and I cannot wait to hear everyone's feedback. Thank you so much for having me.

00;26;27;28 - 00;26;42;23
Speaker 1
Thanks again to Lucy for hanging out with me and talking about all things Love in bloom. If you'd like to get your hands on Love in Bloom or any of Lucy's other books, the links to do that are going to be down in the show notes for you. If you enjoy this conversation, don't forget to subscribe to the Literary Hype podcast.

00;26;43;03 - 00;26;47;19
Speaker 1
Give us some stars and share it with a friend. Thanks for listening to the Literary Hype podcast.