Once upon a Twitter convo (all the way back in 2009), Elyssa Patrick DM’d Tamara Morgan because Elyssa was being her usual nosy self, and a friendship was born. Through rejections, triumphs, book releases, and a mutual love of romcoms, these two have wasted a lot of time they should have been spending writing.
Elyssa Patrick: So, as you know, I totally DM’d you right after you got an agent offer to get all the nosy details. Mainly because that same agent wanted me to do revisions on AS YOU WISH, and she was like read Spencer’s Small Town Girl, and I did and freaked because my books are nothing like Spencer’s. But anyway, I was curious and pretty much asked prying questions, and then demanded to read your book.
Tamara Morgan: You were kind of famous, even back then, and I remember being really flattered that you were the least bit interested in me. You were friends with all these big authors and actually knew what you were talking about when it came to publishing, and I flailed around for a while.
Elyssa Patrick: Me, famous? Hahahahaha. Let me get my sunglasses and feather boa out of storage.
Tamara Morgan: I think this demands a selfie.
Elyssa Patrick: Sadly I actually don’t have a feather boa. Barbara Cartland I am not. 🙁
Tamara Morgan: Thank goodness! Didn’t she write a book like every two weeks? Ours only come out every few months or so.
Elyssa Patrick: Well, you’re a much faster writer than I am. I tend to um…bitch a lot when I first start a book, and you’re all lalalalala, I have 30k written in a week.
Tamara Morgan: I would like to state for the record that that has NEVER happened.
Elyssa Patrick: Dude, when we decided to write during that week where everyone was going to RWA but we were staying home, I wrote like nothing, and you were like oh yeah I got 30k done. IT HAPPENED. DO NOT TRY TO MARTY MCFLY EVENTS!
Tamara Morgan: Fine. I’m a wizard.
Elyssa Patrick: About time you admitted it! 😉 And now, after five years, we finally share the same release day. I’ve read IF I STAY and love it. But for those who haven’t, what is IF I STAY about?
Tamara Morgan: The Twitter version? It’s a modern-day upstairs/downstairs romance featuring the nanny and the chauffeur. The Tamara version? It’s like Downton Abbey and Sabrina had a love child, and then that love child grew up watching too many romantic comedies.
Elyssa Patrick: See? Everyone needs to read your book, asap. The movie, Sabrina, (I admit I love the Harrison Ford version) is one of my fave romcoms.
Tamara Morgan: Our shared love of romcoms is definitely one of the things that first comes to mind when I think about what we have in common. I think we both write cinematically too, which is really fun. (You kick my butt at physical comedy, though. I bow to your superiority.)
Elyssa Patrick: Aw, thanks! I agree with you on that. We do have similar styles. I think you’re way better at conflict than I am and keeping your plot going. I’m sad there aren’t more romcoms out there. 🙁 I think I torture you a lot with my Hallmark TV movie recommendations, lol.
Tamara Morgan: It’s not torture if I love it! Okay…so FOUR WEDDINGS AND A BREAK UP is my *favorite* Elyssa Patrick to date. What’s the short and sweet version?
Elyssa Patrick: In a nutshell, FOUR WEDDINGS AND A BREAK UP is about a couple who decide to fake date to get through the wedding season of the summer, but soon their pretend relationship becomes all too real.
Tamara Morgan: Fake-it-til-you-make-it is one of my favorite tropes! I’m trying to think of a real-life example of a romance starting this way, but none come to mind. Hollywood stars, maybe, when they’re forced to pretend to be together for a movie?
Elyssa Patrick: I’m sure it happens in Hollywood. Actually that would be a good idea for a book where a Hollywood couple is thrown together to promo film. Hmmm. But I really do love the fake-it-til-you-make-it trope. So, Tamara, tell me a little about your hero and heroine in IF I STAY? Wasn’t Ryan a stunt driver?
Tamara Morgan: Yes! (Speaking of Hollywood…) His career hit a bit of a hitch when he literally crashed and burned, and the only incoming job offer was to become a chauffeur at Montgomery Manor, this huge mansion in rural Connecticut where a wealthy hotelier family resides. The heroine, a nanny, actually grew up at the Manor, since her mom was the nanny before her.
Elyssa Patrick: I remember when you first told me about this idea. I was SUPER JEALOUS of it. I especially love that you focused on downstairs-downstairs for the first couple. It’s like Anna and Bates, except not really.
Tamara Morgan: ANNA AND BATES!
Elyssa Patrick: FOREVER.
Tamara Morgan: It is a really fun idea, and for the first three books, I made sure to get one of each couple (downstairs-downstairs, upstairs-upstairs, upstairs-downstairs).
Elyssa Patrick: I just realized you did this just now, lolol. I’m so smart.
Tamara Morgan. Mwahaha. I have my little tricks. Your heroine in FOUR WEDDINGS AND A BREAK UP, Ginny, is one of my top five heroines of all time. How did you come up with her?
Elyssa Patrick: I love Ginny a lot, too. Mostly it came from that very first scene where she popped on the page, in a bar and not happy about it, but then she sees the hero and things start to turn around.
Tamara Morgan: She has a very positive attitude despite her situation, which I loved. If you had to pick a favorite scene for her, what would it be?
Elyssa Patrick: This is actually hard to choose from. Maybe the Bachelorette scene? Although the bathtub scene later on in the book was super fun to write. What about you? What was your favorite to write?
Tamara Morgan: Lunges. That’s all I’ll say. 🙂
Elyssa Patrick: Lunges are awesome. That’s all I’ll say. 🙂
Tamara Morgan: Okay, we know the Montgomery Manor series will be continuing this year (book 2, WHEN I FALL, will be out in August, and book 3, BECAUSE I CAN, is currently scheduled for October). What comes next for Elyssa Patrick?
Elyssa Patrick: Next up on July 1st is my second new adult contemporary romance, GO WITH ME, which features a hero in love with his best friend’s younger sister and “enemies” to lovers trope. You can find out more on my website: www.elyssapatrick.com.
Tamara Morgan: Oh! Oh! I have a website too: www.tamaramorgan.com. Yay for websites! And yay for books!
Elyssa Patrick: Yay indeed!
Tamara Morgan and Elyssa Patrick: We hope you’ll kick off your summer reading with these two books (of course), but are there any other must-have beach reads you’re thinking of this year?
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Thanks for this fun promotion post ladies! I never go to the beach, or I would get sand in my books! The horror! I read summer and winter books all year long, I am not season specific. And ofcourse, the more you read, the more you want to read. For contemporary, I love Nora Roberts, and Bella Andre.