64. JO SEGURA: Blending romance into Indiana Jones vibes & favorite snacks

If you love Indiana Jones or The Mummy movies, but want to see more romance and the girl saving the day, Jo Segura has the books for you. Join us as we discuss "Temple of Swoon", favorite snacks, and the importance of learning that you are enough, even when you're awkward.

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Transcript

00;00;03;26 - 00;00;26;28
Speaker 1
Hi and welcome to the Literary Hype podcast. I am Stephanie, your literary hype woman and today's author conversation is so much fun because we have action romcoms to talk about. If you are a fan of Indiana Jones or The Mummy, but you also like some romance, then this is the book series for you. Jessica is the author of Raiders of the Lost Heart, and her new one is called Temple of Swoon.

00;00;27;13 - 00;00;45;13
Speaker 1
Yeah. Yeah, those are those are big Indiana Jones vibes right there. And Book three is also going to have them. So we're going to talk about that. We're going to talk about book two and we're going to talk about so much more, if you like snacks that you will get along with me and Joe, just great because we talk a lot about snacks and it's a good time.

00;00;45;22 - 00;00;59;09
Speaker 1
So without any further ado, here is my conversation with Jessica Welcome to Literary Hype. It's so exciting to have you on to talk about your brand new book, Temple Swoon.

00;00;59;11 - 00;01;01;15
Speaker 2
Thanks for having me and very excited to be here.

00;01;01;18 - 00;01;06;03
Speaker 1
And you just came in to Saint Louis and it is snowing so hard.

00;01;06;05 - 00;01;13;26
Speaker 2
Yes. Accurate. The snow is here, but that's fine. We're just going to go with it. And it's exciting to see the snow.

00;01;13;29 - 00;01;17;08
Speaker 1
Your sisters with you, are you going to throw some snowballs at her before your event tonight?

00;01;17;17 - 00;01;23;26
Speaker 2
Probably not. We haven't done that in a very, very long time. But, you know.

00;01;24;02 - 00;01;25;04
Speaker 1
So why start now?

00;01;25;09 - 00;01;27;19
Speaker 2
Why start now? But now that you've given me the idea.

00;01;28;17 - 00;01;29;24
Speaker 1
Powder or donut treatment coming.

00;01;30;00 - 00;01;32;23
Speaker 2
In, Mike, it might happen. We'll see. Let's see. She makes me mad.

00;01;33;07 - 00;01;37;26
Speaker 1
See, that's what happens. Like, this is her. Says one wrong thing in the snow. Yeah, it's faceplant.

00;01;38;02 - 00;02;01;21
Speaker 2
We did go for a little walk yesterday because we we're over by Forest Park, and we're like, oh, let's check it out. We walked maybe, maybe 5 minutes into the park. And we're like, Let's go back to the hotel. It's cold. It was cold. I brought my winter gear, but the trails weren't plowed or anything. So like, I didn't bring I didn't bring footwear for this.

00;02;02;02 - 00;02;04;09
Speaker 2
I didn't bring clothes for walking through the snow.

00;02;04;13 - 00;02;10;06
Speaker 1
So, no, I mean, half the roads aren't cleared either. So we can't expect the trails to be clear if we can't even clear on roads.

00;02;11;01 - 00;02;12;09
Speaker 2
That's very true. Very true.

00;02;12;18 - 00;02;14;21
Speaker 1
Trails are a lower priority than snow.

00;02;14;28 - 00;02;17;00
Speaker 2
But what about my priorities?

00;02;17;04 - 00;02;24;19
Speaker 1
Oh, honestly, your book is an adventure romance. Yeah. So it would have been on brand for you to go off an adventure.

00;02;24;22 - 00;02;40;20
Speaker 2
I write those books because I'm not super adventurous myself. I'm actually very accident prone. So really, it's more this gives you an opportunity to be warm inside when it's snowing outside. Reading a book about being in the jungle.

00;02;40;23 - 00;02;49;07
Speaker 1
Exactly. So for anyone who hasn't seen Temple of Swoon or your first book, Raiders of the Lost Heart, can I set up what's going on in your stories?

00;02;49;10 - 00;03;16;27
Speaker 2
OK, so Raiders of the Lost Heart is a means to lovers adventure rom com. Inspired by my love of adventure movies like Indiana Jones, Lara Croft. It stars Corey me here, who is an archeologist who's been wanting to find the funds to go on an expedition to search for her Aztec ancestors remains. And she finally gets asked to go on such a dig.

00;03;16;27 - 00;03;40;27
Speaker 2
But when she shows up, the person who's leading the dig is actually her grad school rival, Dr. Ford Matthews. But the two of them have to work together and have all this history, and it's just fun and sexy and, you know, a very adventurous temple of swoon kind of picks up where Raiders left off with new characters on a new expedition.

00;03;41;08 - 00;04;12;21
Speaker 2
This one stars Miriam Jacobs, who is Corey's mentee. She is now leading an expedition to the lost city of the moon in the Amazon rainforest. And there's a photojournalist Rifleman Fee who is supposed to be chronicling the expedition for his magazine Global Geography. Oh, I don't know where that came from. And but secretly, he is actually there to sabotage the mission.

00;04;12;21 - 00;04;32;18
Speaker 2
He's a descendant of the people of the lost city, of the lost city of the moon. And so he's trying to stop the team, but he cannot help but fall for the endearingly quirky Miriam Jacobs. Super, super fun. That's really what I set out to write was just fun books. And that's what we have here.

00;04;32;21 - 00;04;40;03
Speaker 1
Corey is a big part of this Temple of Swoon. Yes. So Miriam is her mentee and she's kind of obsessed.

00;04;40;04 - 00;04;40;15
Speaker 2
Yes.

00;04;41;07 - 00;04;50;25
Speaker 1
Just a smidge bit obsessed. So what was it like writing a character that is so obsessed with one of your previous characters, but not in a romantic way?

00;04;50;28 - 00;05;19;07
Speaker 2
Corey is just this bad ass adventure who is smoking hot woman who has just exudes confidence. She knows what she's doing. And Mary is not that Mary's basically the opposite of that. She wants to be like Corey. You know, she's never led an expedition before. She's never published articles and journals. And so she really looks up to Corey, and she's always thinking in her head, what would Corey Maria do?

00;05;19;18 - 00;05;40;03
Speaker 2
And she tries to emulate her. But in the end, she's her own person. And even though she wants to be a bad ass like that, she you know, she thinks that to be a badass, you have to do things like swing from vines and go trekking through the jungle. But really, there are many ways that you can be a badass.

00;05;40;27 - 00;06;06;14
Speaker 2
But really, this Mary character was something that I wanted to write because when I heard from a lot of readers for Raiders, everyone was like, Oh, I wish I was like, Corey, Corey's such a badass. Oh, I you know, I wish that I could be like that. And so I thought it would be really interesting to write a character who has those thoughts, because we all wish that we were more of this or more of that, but what's wrong with the person that we are?

00;06;06;15 - 00;06;11;16
Speaker 2
So that's really like the moral of the story is that you are nothing as you are.

00;06;11;24 - 00;06;25;19
Speaker 1
It is a rom com it is an adventure story, but it's also Miriam learning to love herself. Yes. Talk a little bit about that journey and the emotional toll that that takes on a writer of putting that into a character.

00;06;25;19 - 00;06;48;18
Speaker 2
A lot of misery is actually in me and and really in all of us. It really is this thought that we have to do like these really fantastical things and we have to be the best at this or the best of that for people to respect us or for us to be somebody. And even Rafa's father always talks about doing great things.

00;06;48;18 - 00;07;10;10
Speaker 2
And so Mary kind of has that mindset. You have to do great things to to be someone. And, you know, inside, however, she's just this nervous chatterbox who says the wrong thing all the time. And can't stop talking. And, you know, she thinks that she scares people away when she's just going on and on and on saying ridiculous things.

00;07;10;19 - 00;07;17;03
Speaker 2
And who doesn't have those feelings? You know, there are times, right? We're not talking about anyone here.

00;07;17;03 - 00;07;18;14
Speaker 1
I'm not awkward at all.

00;07;19;05 - 00;07;39;01
Speaker 2
But I think think about the times when you know, you just can't stop talking and you're like, say to yourself, stop talking, stop talking. Why are you still going? And Mary is basically that. And so I think a lot of people will be able to identify with her character and see a lot of themselves in her. But it also helped me to kind of explore myself.

00;07;39;02 - 00;07;55;17
Speaker 2
And, you know, so there's a lot of her, a lot of me in Mary, because I definitely am a person who talks and tells me, so I'll stop talking, stop talking and who talks too much about snacks. Mary loves snacks. I talk about snacks all the time.

00;07;55;22 - 00;07;57;24
Speaker 1
That's a question on my list we're going to talk about.

00;07;57;27 - 00;08;15;22
Speaker 2
We'll be talking about snacks, but like I literally did at an event, they asked us to write love stories or a love note, love note, anything you want. And so some people are like writing notes to their spouses. There's a bunch of others writing notes to their spouses. Or writing about their love of a hobby or their dog.

00;08;16;12 - 00;08;22;07
Speaker 2
I wrote a love note to Trader Joe's anyway, you know, I love yeah.

00;08;22;07 - 00;08;25;14
Speaker 1
I mean, they have good snacks. They do. Well, we're already on the snack.

00;08;25;17 - 00;08;26;01
Speaker 2
Talk, but.

00;08;26;02 - 00;08;40;00
Speaker 1
Let's talk snacks. Let's talk because that is a huge part of the meet. Cute in this book is that she's dropping snacks while missing a bus. Yes. And the Pringles can rolls into him. Yes. What is your favorite snack?

00;08;40;03 - 00;09;04;19
Speaker 2
I have so many favorites, but I actually really love hot Cheetos. I just I've loved them since I was a kid. I don't eat them too often now because I try to restrain myself. But I do love Cheeto. I also just love chips in general. Any chip is calling my name. Like I will not kick a chip out of bed.

00;09;05;03 - 00;09;11;28
Speaker 2
None. Potato chips specifically, I will eat. I also like tortilla chips, but potato chips are that's where it's at.

00;09;12;01 - 00;09;18;13
Speaker 1
And this is about Pringles, which becomes her nickname. Yes. So which flavor of Pringles is your favorite.

00;09;18;13 - 00;09;19;18
Speaker 2
Sour cream and onion?

00;09;19;21 - 00;09;24;10
Speaker 1
I had a feeling that as many times as it was referenced, that had to be a personal favorite.

00;09;24;10 - 00;09;48;20
Speaker 2
Yes. They're just so good. I actually had at my launch event in Seattle, I had a temple of Pringles. It was a pack that you get from Costco that has plain cheddar and sour cream. And onion. We took a poor sour cream and onion were the number one favorites, and they were the first ones to go when people came up to get them later.

00;09;48;20 - 00;09;50;05
Speaker 2
And guess what was last?

00;09;50;07 - 00;09;50;26
Speaker 1
The original.

00;09;51;02 - 00;09;53;19
Speaker 2
Yeah, they're sad. They're not as good.

00;09;54;01 - 00;10;00;18
Speaker 1
I mean, they're still frickin delicious. Yes. I wish Pringles would sponsor this and send me bring me to Pringles.

00;10;00;18 - 00;10;23;27
Speaker 2
I'm here. Any time you want to reach out, call me up. You know, it's interesting, though, because Pringles are such a weird chip and they're just nothing else like them. I know they have those lace stacks or whatever. Those aren't as good, but there's nothing like a Pringle. And I think that's so fitting that that is Mary's snack and her nickname because there's no one like her.

00;10;23;28 - 00;10;41;20
Speaker 2
She's very unique. And the whole point is that we're all unique in our own way and we're all perfect in our own way because of our uniqueness. So that's why I think the Pringle is right. So Pringles, I'm available. I played broom ball in high school. I don't know if you know what that is. You know, it's.

00;10;41;20 - 00;10;43;21
Speaker 1
Like I mean, it sounds pretty explanatory.

00;10;43;21 - 00;10;51;24
Speaker 2
It's on it's on ice and my jersey. So Chilly Mac on the back. So now you all know my.

00;10;51;24 - 00;10;55;10
Speaker 1
Very sick nickname. It could be worse.

00;10;55;21 - 00;10;56;16
Speaker 2
It could be.

00;10;56;21 - 00;11;06;14
Speaker 1
It could be like onions or anchovies or something. And what's your nickname? And it's Chili Mac. It's it sounds cool.

00;11;06;22 - 00;11;13;19
Speaker 2
It does it was very cool. I mean, the village, if you didn't know hashtag very cool.

00;11;15;10 - 00;11;15;27
Speaker 1
Nerd, like that.

00;11;19;24 - 00;11;27;02
Speaker 1
But this is a very nerdy series. Yes. It's very heavily Indiana Jones inspired. So which is your favorite Indiana Jones movie?

00;11;27;08 - 00;11;56;19
Speaker 2
My favorite is actually The Last Crusade. I just love the banter between Harrison Ford and Sean Connery. I think they just did such a good job. And it's so interesting because they actually were not that far apart in age when they filmed that movie. But they just have like the perfect chemistry. I do really have a soft spot for Temple of Doom because of watching that one with my brother and sister when we were kids.

00;11;56;19 - 00;12;05;16
Speaker 2
So that one still has a special place in my heart, but I'm a I'm a last crusade person. What about you I need to know.

00;12;05;26 - 00;12;12;29
Speaker 1
I've only seen one of them. I think it was Raiders of the Lost Ark, I think. Oh, my gosh. I think that was the one I watched.

00;12;12;29 - 00;12;17;06
Speaker 2
Wow. At home OK, we'll check them out. It's it's been a while, OK?

00;12;17;26 - 00;12;30;17
Speaker 1
One of them was on like the AFI Best Hundred Films list, and I was like trying to be a nerd and watch all of them. And now that I made like 35 and gave up on that. I was like, I'm never going to do. Yeah. They're not easily accessible movies.

00;12;30;17 - 00;12;48;23
Speaker 2
I know I tried that too. And I finally saw Citizen Kane for the first time a couple of years ago. And I'm like, OK. I mean, I guess this is about the time that these movies were made, too. Not necessarily. Is it the best movie in the world? Don't come at me if you love me.

00;12;49;01 - 00;12;57;14
Speaker 1
Just watch part of one. The newest one with Shiloh. But we did just watch that on Christmas. Because it was on TV. So we really kind of in and out watching that. And that was entertaining.

00;12;57;14 - 00;12;58;29
Speaker 2
That one's like the worst.

00;12;59;02 - 00;13;05;27
Speaker 1
That's what everyone says. And my husband hadn't watched it because he didn't want Indiana Jones tainted. Yeah, but we still ended up enjoying it.

00;13;06;09 - 00;13;14;15
Speaker 2
I mean, I'm not going to lie. I saw it in the theater. I've seen it multiple times since, so it still entertains me. But it is the worst one.

00;13;15;06 - 00;13;24;13
Speaker 1
I don't watch a lot of like the big crazy movies. Like, I have only been in the room for one Star Wars movie, and I was texting a boy the whole time. So, OK.

00;13;24;25 - 00;13;28;07
Speaker 2
There are a lot of people who haven't watched all the Star Wars movies. So it's like.

00;13;29;00 - 00;13;40;11
Speaker 1
When I was younger, I was like, I'm not going to watch them until I'm married because it's going to take so much love to do it. And now I married a guy who's like, I don't care how long time without you. I don't care. There you go. It works out in the end. Don't let a boy change you.

00;13;40;13 - 00;13;46;03
Speaker 2
Exactly. Be who you are. You are enough even if you don't watch Star Wars.

00;13;46;25 - 00;13;52;27
Speaker 1
See, and that goes back to the message of your book. It all comes full circle. It's like we planned it, but we didn't we did not.

00;13;52;27 - 00;13;55;02
Speaker 2
We we don't even know what we're talking about now.

00;13;55;04 - 00;14;08;06
Speaker 1
We're just we're just having a good time with it here. But so that comes back to you being enough. So what was it like for you to put that aspect of yourself on the page? And now that people are starting to read that for.

00;14;08;07 - 00;14;30;19
Speaker 2
Authors, you give up a little bit of yourself. With every book that you write, there is always something about you that you put in your book. You know, whether it's like a moment that of you know, something that happened in your life that inspires a scene or a person from your life who, you know, inspired a character or whatever it might be.

00;14;32;04 - 00;14;56;05
Speaker 2
You know, I like to be my true, authentic self when I go to events and when I meet readers and when I when I communicate with readers and, you know, I don't I don't want to be some fake person, you know, I want to be who I am. And I am a nerdy dork who likes snacks and talks about Trader Joe's all the time.

00;14;56;17 - 00;15;27;23
Speaker 2
And so, you know, this is just who I am, you know, and it's nice for people to say that they identify with my books and that they really enjoy my books. I'm like, oh, that means you like me, too. But you know, it's just that's just how writing is when you're writing, you're writing from your own experience. Even though I'm not an archeologist, there are bits of my own life and experience in these books, and I want to share that because we all have these stories that are swirling around in our minds, and it's fun to share those with other people.

00;15;27;29 - 00;15;34;07
Speaker 1
And since you're not an archeologist and writing these books that are very heavy on the archeology, what is your research process like?

00;15;34;08 - 00;16;15;08
Speaker 2
It's interesting. I have a lot of books about like the Amazon or for Raiders. I had a book about Aztec Civilization. I do a lot of Googling. I have I've got this children's book actually about the Amazon. That's really great because it has all the pictures of all the different animals and bugs and plants that are there. But I'm only I want to make sure that I'm creating a really lush experience for the reader, even if some of my research doesn't necessarily make it into the book, it helps me come up with what this world looks like.

00;16;15;08 - 00;16;40;07
Speaker 2
So then I can write a better, you know, story for the reader. I did research a lot about insects in fur for a double swoon, which was not a whole lot of fun. So I'm not a big bug person. So that was not my favorite research. But the the city in the law or in the temple assignment is not real.

00;16;40;07 - 00;17;00;14
Speaker 2
So I do want to say that that is completely made up. There are a lot of real places in people that are mentioned in Raiders of the Lost Heart, the as tech warrior that they're searching for, he's not real. But the other events that are talked about, a lot of those are real. But in Temple of Swoon that's completely made up.

00;17;00;23 - 00;17;23;28
Speaker 2
I want to make sure that I'm respecting the people who still do live in the Amazon. There are a lot of indigenous people who still live there, and so I didn't want to model the book in the city after any specific group of people because I don't I just don't know enough about those cultures. And it's actually hard to get some of that information because they are very private people.

00;17;24;27 - 00;17;45;15
Speaker 2
So that's why I just made that up. But you know, the places that they're at, the, you know, the area that they're searching, those are all real. Some of the landmarks. Those are real. The rivers that they're traveling on, those are real. But you know, the rest of it is just for the sake of storytelling.

00;17;46;00 - 00;17;59;28
Speaker 1
So with building your own historic ancient civilization in this and this big search, how do you keep the world building straight and like decide what pieces need to be, what way to make this the best?

00;18;00;09 - 00;18;25;10
Speaker 2
I actually made a map of the area where they would be searching in the Amazon because the locations are actually real locations. Again, that doesn't make it in the book. There's no map in the book. But I know what it looks like because I wanted to make it realistic. How long would it take people to get from this place to this place?

00;18;25;10 - 00;18;49;25
Speaker 2
Is there even a route to go from this place to this place? Do they have to go by boat? Do they have to go by foot? Do they have to go by car? Whatever, whatever the case may be. But not all of that makes it in the book because again, some of that's just not really that interesting. But you have to decide what what is going to move the plot forward and what's just something that you need to know so that you can write something later that moves the plot forward.

00;18;50;04 - 00;19;01;14
Speaker 1
In this book, you do have like a couple of places where you're talking about all the dangers of the Amazon and you list off a few of the things which would you most rather run into and which would you rather never see?

00;19;02;29 - 00;19;37;16
Speaker 2
I guess I probably would be OK running into a Goliath bird eater spider because they're not actually dangerous to humans. They look terrifying. But, you know, it's not it's not going to kill you. It's that worse. It's going to be like getting stung by a wasp. So unless you're allergic to wasp stings, you'll probably be OK. I think the cannonball trees are kind of terrifying because they just drop those nuts on your head and can kill you and you're not going to see that coming.

00;19;38;00 - 00;19;54;08
Speaker 2
So that's pretty terrifying. Or there's like some like insects and plants that you can't even see them and they're going to kill you. But I mean, if I'm I don't necessarily know I'm going to run into those things because I can't see them. So.

00;19;54;27 - 00;20;11;25
Speaker 1
Yeah, and that's not the only danger that Mary and Ralph are facing in this book because we do have a villain. Dun dun dun dun dun dun. So what's it like for you to be carrying your villains through this story and revealing more of him as we go?

00;20;12;01 - 00;20;37;15
Speaker 2
So one of my best friend's husband loves the villain. He's just like, I need more of him. And so I thought it'd be kind of interesting to explore more of his backstory, but he you know, he's just one of those bad guys just never goes away. How do you get rid of them, that kind of thing. But, you know, he is also searching for this lost city at the very end of Raiders.

00;20;37;15 - 00;20;43;20
Speaker 2
You know, we know that he's been searching for it. And so he's going to find his way to find this city as well.

00;20;44;08 - 00;20;45;07
Speaker 1
Dun dun dun.

00;20;45;13 - 00;20;46;05
Speaker 2
Dun dun dun.

00;20;47;03 - 00;21;01;15
Speaker 1
It gives the book that extra with the adventure and the danger of having this bad guy involved. So talk about crafting a romance with all these extra points of tension. Mm hmm.

00;21;01;25 - 00;21;32;24
Speaker 2
It's an adventure romance. But the romance is really the focus. So, yes, they're on this adventure. Yes. They're searching for artifacts and searching for lost cities. But really, it's a story about Mary and Rafa, not about, you know, finding lost cities. The Lost City search really just enhances the love story. It gives you an opportunity to put these characters in situations to help build on their love story.

00;21;32;29 - 00;22;08;12
Speaker 2
I think that's really an important it helps to build that tension between the two characters. You know, it's interesting to see how do the characters react in these dangerous situations? Does the love interest run away and leave her by herself? No, he helps her or, you know, she helps him. A lot of my stories, it's about, you know, the woman actually being the more adventurous one, the woman being the one who's going to save him versus the man like in every other adventure movie that we don't need that women that kicking.

00;22;08;13 - 00;22;36;01
Speaker 2
But exactly. They're the bad asses. They're not just like a pretty thing. They're to scream, help me and help me. They're the ones that are doing the cool stuff. So, you know, the the adventure really just enhances the story and enhances the relationship. But in the end, it is a romance. So, you know, I've had some people who, you know, they might just be wanting an adventure well, you're going to get adventure, but with romance.

00;22;36;01 - 00;22;47;27
Speaker 2
So this is like if you love Indiana Jones, but you want to see his relationship with those damsels that's what you're going to get. But it's going to be flipped where she's the badass.

00;22;48;20 - 00;23;01;12
Speaker 1
Which we love. Yes. And you mentioned that your favorite is Last Crusade, which is appropriate because your next one is Lust Crusade. Yes. What can you hint about for book three?

00;23;01;16 - 00;23;26;20
Speaker 2
So the Lust Crusade is maybe my favorite of the three that I've written, which is shocking to me because, you know, Raiders was my baby and I just didn't think that I would ever write something I love more than that. But I, I love The Last Crusade. So that one, it takes place in Greece. So a little bit different than these two, which both took place in the jungle.

00;23;27;16 - 00;23;41;10
Speaker 2
It features a librarian who is in love with her brother's best friend. I keep having to make this clear. I have never been in love with any of my brother's friends.

00;23;42;21 - 00;23;44;00
Speaker 1
Very important details. It is.

00;23;44;00 - 00;24;08;27
Speaker 2
Very important. And my brother needs to know that, too. So he is an archeologist and he goes to Greece on an expedition and goes missing and he's presumed dead. So she goes just to get closure. She was you know, when she was younger, she was this person who always was going to go, you know, travel the world and do all this amazing stuff.

00;24;08;27 - 00;24;14;02
Speaker 2
But she ends up staying home to help take care of her parents in Grand Rapids.

00;24;14;11 - 00;24;17;01
Speaker 1
Hey. Oh, hello, Midwest.

00;24;17;01 - 00;24;47;24
Speaker 2
Boo boo. She she stays home to take care of her parents and becomes a librarian. And she's never seen the world. So she goes to Greece to get closure. And while she's there on a a seniors single's tour, an accident, she sees her brother's best friend and he is not dead. He's been captured. And so the two of them have to work together to find an artifact for more bad guys.

00;24;48;03 - 00;24;58;17
Speaker 1
More bad guys? Yes. Got to have the more bad guys. Yes. Keep the adventure and stakes high. Yes, exactly. And I didn't really have a question for this. I just wrote down Dr. Quinn, medicine man.

00;24;59;00 - 00;25;03;25
Speaker 2
Oh, my I had a doctor. Oh, my God. He is so annoying.

00;25;04;03 - 00;25;07;24
Speaker 1
I'm so glad he does not last long because I would have thrown the book.

00;25;08;02 - 00;25;36;10
Speaker 2
He so Freddie one who doesn't know what we're talking about. Doctor Quinn is another archeologist who's on this lost city expedition, and he and Mary are actually supposed to co-lead it. He's the expert of everything. He's the expert of the lost cities, the expert of being an expert. He's just annoyed and he's one of those people who talks down to you for no reason at all.

00;25;36;22 - 00;26;01;28
Speaker 2
And so he's always talking down to Mary as if they're not equals. And I think that that is something that we see a lot in academia and in other professions. And so I really wanted to have that type of character in the book, but oh, my God, is he aggravating? And every one of my other friends who read the book in advance, my editor, they're all like.

00;26;02;16 - 00;26;03;21
Speaker 1
He is the worst.

00;26;03;21 - 00;26;05;02
Speaker 2
He's so awful.

00;26;05;13 - 00;26;06;11
Speaker 1
The worst.

00;26;06;27 - 00;26;08;18
Speaker 2
But yes. Dr. Quinn Medicine, did.

00;26;08;18 - 00;26;11;22
Speaker 1
You name him just so you could make that pun?

00;26;11;29 - 00;26;27;01
Speaker 2
I didn't, but I was very glad when I was like, Oh, yeah, this works. Also, just as a total aside, the movie Medicine Man, which takes place in the Amazon with Sean Connery, look at all of these connections.

00;26;27;17 - 00;26;29;05
Speaker 1
It's like you planned it's.

00;26;29;05 - 00;26;34;10
Speaker 2
Like I believe it's one of my favorite movies. I, I love that movie. Have you ever seen that one?

00;26;34;19 - 00;26;35;25
Speaker 1
I haven't even heard of that one.

00;26;35;25 - 00;26;52;16
Speaker 2
It's old. He's like a researching and trying to find a cure for cancer, but there's deforestation in the Amazon, and so they think that they found a cure, but they can't replicate it anyway. It's fascinating, but one of my one of my faves from back in the day.

00;26;53;10 - 00;26;55;08
Speaker 1
Good to know. Adding it to the list.

00;26;55;25 - 00;27;00;19
Speaker 2
I mean, it might that it's it's maybe it's not for you. I don't know.

00;27;00;19 - 00;27;20;29
Speaker 1
But we'll find out. I mean, my list of things to watch is long because I end up spending more time reading than watching TV and movies. But it's OK. No, my TBR is going to kill me if I don't make some dense in it here and there. Yes, but looking at your, your bio on the internet it says that you really love BuzzFeed.

00;27;20;29 - 00;27;26;19
Speaker 1
BuzzFeed quizzes a quiz. What is your favorite? That first one comes to your mind. That's your favorite.

00;27;26;28 - 00;27;50;17
Speaker 2
My favorite type of quiz. I, I really like doing the ones where it's like, what, what kind of you know, answer all these questions or pick your favorite foods and we'll tell you, you know, what kind of person you are, ok? Like, sure. But literally, I did a quiz and it was.

00;27;51;06 - 00;27;59;20
Speaker 1
It's like the pick, the dessert pick, pick one dessert out of all these. And this will tell you what your personality type is. It's like yes. How do you get that from there?

00;27;59;20 - 00;28;15;05
Speaker 2
And then they get it right. Sometimes they do. But I like the trivia ones, too. Those are kind of fun. I get kind of sucked into some of the Disney ones. I'm not a huge like I'm not like a Disney person. I like Disney, but I'm not like.

00;28;15;06 - 00;28;16;08
Speaker 1
You're not a Disney adult.

00;28;16;08 - 00;28;36;27
Speaker 2
I'm not a Disney adult. So I like doing those. I like the ones where it's like, Do you know who this person is? Like, you know, the are you are you a millennial? Do you know who these people are? Those types of things? Or guess who this picture of a celebrity from their childhood is now I like this.

00;28;37;17 - 00;28;38;01
Speaker 2
I like them.

00;28;38;01 - 00;28;39;16
Speaker 1
All. So basically all of them.

00;28;39;16 - 00;28;41;29
Speaker 2
Yeah. What kind of snack are you? Yeah.

00;28;42;13 - 00;28;44;21
Speaker 1
Gives me snacks. It all goes back to snacks.

00;28;44;22 - 00;28;53;12
Speaker 2
Slippers. What I did that was like, answer these questions about your personality. Will tell you what type of worm you are. Weird. I'm sporty worm, apparently, or something.

00;28;53;12 - 00;28;55;15
Speaker 1
I don't know what it even is. I don't.

00;28;55;15 - 00;28;58;17
Speaker 2
Know. I'm definitely not sporty, but. Well, regular.

00;28;58;17 - 00;28;59;28
Speaker 1
Worm. OK, BuzzFeed.

00;29;00;02 - 00;29;18;02
Speaker 2
I don't know. They have some really crazy quizzes, but that's why I like them, because they're just fun and silly. And I did have to put a lock on my phone like one of those screen time locks for that app specifically because I would just be like doing BuzzFeed quizzes for like, hours. Like, I don't need to do that many BuzzFeed quizzes.

00;29;18;16 - 00;29;24;02
Speaker 1
You don't even realize how fast time is going. Yes. When you're doing Internet things sometimes.

00;29;24;03 - 00;29;30;08
Speaker 2
Yeah. Until it's like you've you've used your 10 minutes. It's like, but I've only done ten quizzes.

00;29;31;18 - 00;29;36;11
Speaker 1
What do you mean? So last question we always ask because this is literary hype. What books are you hyped about?

00;29;36;11 - 00;30;00;09
Speaker 2
First, I'm really hyped about Heather McBride's wedding dancers. It's got leap year vibes, sister traveling it to her sister's sister traveling to her sister's wedding internationally with the best man who she thinks she hates. But come on, we know. We know it's going to happen, but it's so good. I read it last year and I just absolutely loved it.

00;30;01;04 - 00;30;07;26
Speaker 2
I'm also really excited for Alicia Thompson who's never been shipped. I also got to read that. But like.

00;30;08;05 - 00;30;11;14
Speaker 1
I just, you know, I was so excited. Like.

00;30;12;01 - 00;30;20;00
Speaker 2
So I'm really excited about that book. I have not read yet, though. Is Allie Hazelwood's next book Wet?

00;30;20;10 - 00;30;23;13
Speaker 1
It is really what I would call it. By Deep End. It is.

00;30;23;13 - 00;30;28;19
Speaker 2
Wet. I want to read that so bad. And we have the same editor. I feel like they should give me a copy or.

00;30;28;20 - 00;30;30;05
Speaker 1
You can get one for me too, while you're at.

00;30;30;05 - 00;30;57;10
Speaker 2
It. Yes, that. And then finally, Liliana de la Rosa's next book in her Luna Sisters series. I think this one is Gabriela in his grace. Oh, my gosh. I'm so excited. For it. And the cover is absolutely stunning. If you like Bridger Ten, this series is so, so good. But it's like Bridget in with Latino characters and. Oh, it's awesome.

00;30;57;10 - 00;30;58;16
Speaker 2
I love it. Love, love, love.

00;30;58;16 - 00;31;03;15
Speaker 1
Thank you so much for taking time to talk to literary hype. Despite the snow trying to ruin things yes.

00;31;03;15 - 00;31;05;15
Speaker 2
Well, we're not going to let snow stop us.

00;31;05;27 - 00;31;07;01
Speaker 1
I mean, I deal a lot.

00;31;07;22 - 00;31;08;07
Speaker 2
Today.

00;31;10;11 - 00;31;15;22
Speaker 1
Right at this moment because it lights up a sailor. I know that. It's true. Yeah. Thank you for having me.

00;31;15;22 - 00;31;16;13
Speaker 2
It's a great setting.

00;31;19;09 - 00;31;41;13
Speaker 1
Thanks to Joe for coming out in the snow. It was actually snowing, and she still took to the roads of Saint Louis, which kudos, because I don't even want to do that. Roads in Saint Louis, when it snows, it's not pleasant. So thanks to Jehovah for making the trek out to talk to me about her book, Temple of Spoon if you'd like to get a hold of either of Joe's books, the links for you are in the show notes.

00;31;41;23 - 00;31;51;28
Speaker 1
If you enjoyed this conversation, don't forget to subscribe to the Literary Hype podcast. Give us some stars and share it with friend. Thanks so much for listening to the Literary Hype podcast.