Hi Aurora. Welcome to What your next podcast.

Thank you for having me.

So happy to have you here. We've been talking before the show and laughing about the different things, so I am so excited to have you. You were supposed to come last year, but we just, long story short, at a terrible year.

Yes.

Hurricanes, cancers a lot of things. And Aurora was very gracious to be like, don't worry about it, you're gonna be okay. So I am excited to talk to you about Honey and Heat and all the things and talked about both books. 'cause let's talk about the book from last year and talk about this year. So let's talk about them.

good

So,

to love.

yes. So first things first, tell us a little bit about yourself. You're in Canada and all the fun stuff.

So, hi everyone. My name is Aurora. Yeah, I'm in Canada, specifically Alberta. Which some people call the Texas of Canada and I am not on board with that. Yeah, I've been writing since about 2017. I have two books to my name or I will soon enough with Sunshine and Spice being my debut novel and then Honey and Heat, which comes out this fall and I'm just. You know a lover of reading books, romance Laura, she's hilarious. I'm so happy to be here.

Oh, I'm so happy to have you here and thank you for indulging me and some of my theories are coming soon to you all, because I have a lot of thoughts. I have a lot of thoughts about the state of the book community in the Lord year 2025. So.

it. It's like hot Take city. It's awesome.

Yes, so, so it's sort about your debut Sunshine advice, like what is it all about and why should readers pick it up? And then they have a new book coming out afterwards, so they have two books.

Yeah. Yeah. So, sunshine and Spice came out in 2024 in September, and it follows the story of Naomi, who's a brand consultant. She's struggling. She's new to the community she lives in, which happens to be a smallish tourist town in. Canada and she gets the opportunity of a lifetime to rebrand a failing store for this Bengali family, which is near and dear to my heart because I too am Bengali. And unfortunate side of this is that Naomi herself is Bengali, but she comes from a little bit of family drama where she. Doesn't know her culture doesn't know her ancestors. She doesn't feel equipped to take on this new job, and so in true romance fashion, she strikes up a fake dating deal with the son of the. Son of the woman who owns the business, and his name is Dave and he needs some help because his mom has matchmaking plans for him. So in exchange, she says she'll pose as his fake girlfriend to drive away potential brides, and he's going to teach her what she needs to know to impress mother and, run a successful rebrand of his family's business.

I love this. I love the fact that it's like you're supposed to, you're kinda like working together and you're not supposed to get any feelings, but you know it's romance and the feelings are gonna happen and you're denying them. That's the beauty of an author is denying those feelings from happening, and you're like, oh no, we are gonna make you suffer a little bit and we're gonna like you be like. Holy shit. I fell in love with someone.

Yes. I think the greatest feeling as a romance author is. You know when, and someone tells you like, I squealed when I read this part, or when they weren't getting together, or when they finally did get together. It's just yes, I did my job.

Yes. And so now we got Honey Heat. We got Ice Princess. We got someone who is not supposed to, and it is like. Trying to figure out if she's gonna fall in love with this, but it turns out that it's rival. So talk to me about honey heat and what can we just expect?

So, honey and Heat is a standalone novel, but it does feature some characters from sunshine and spice. And the lead of Honey and Heat is Cynthia Kumar. She was also in my debut novel, kind of as a character foil. But this novel is all about her and drive. She has to be the successor to her father's business empire, and she's been working towards this her entire life. And thinks she's got it in the bag. And then her dad hires this guy named Rohit Patel, who she may have unknowingly spent a night with shortly before he starts, and now he's her competition. And yeah. Yeah, exactly. As romance de decrees, they had to have some sorted past and yeah. Now they're in competition for the job. And when the business falls under public scrutiny, they work together to kind of fix its tarnished re our tarnished reputation. Sorry. And know what happens? They're gonna fall for each other.

Yeah, I, it's like you had me at we had a previous encounter, a one night, and then you're like, oh it's happening. It's either gonna be super baby or they're actually gonna have a second chance. And you're also supposed to have it, it's. And there's a magic to that formula because you're like, I have, I'm not supposed to have feelings, but I know how good it was that I'm like, I need to have this, but I'm not supposed to.

And speaking of like how good it was I will say honey and heat feels hotter than Sunshine Spice in terms of like how soon things happen and how you

How spicy.

How spicy. Yeah. You can thank my editor for that one. She was very like let's keep going, push it more. I'm like, okay.

Yes, let's add a chili.

Yeah. Yeah.

Awesome. So what led you to start writing romance? Were you, I know you were a romance reader, you actually read some of my favorite Buddhist rivers and historical romances, which we'll talk about a little bit more, but what led you to start writing romance? 'cause it's not as simple as I, and you started writing you started writing before it was cool in some ways. I, I call it, as I was sharing with you before, 2020 romances was kind of like the stepchild. The people didn't wanna talk about, it was performed really well but it was not as mainstream as it is now, which it has come its own stuff, but it's definitely so you're before the 2020, era.

Yeah, I mean, romance is so underestimated and even before I started writing, I did not know, it's not just a love story. There are, have to have really fleshed out like character arcs, emotional a. External plots, like it's a million things coming together at once, and now that I'm doing it and understand it more, it's like the greatest, most satisfying challenge. But when I started, I just, I'm drawn to love stories. Like I love the me cute, I love those moments when you're reading a book, whether it's romance or not. But if there is, some squishy scenes and your heart just like clinches in your chest. love that feeling and when my imagination, thinks of stories or meet cutes or potential characters, there's always this romance, love story element in there. So it's just something I naturally gravitated to when I decided to start writing.

I love this and. What's been your favorite part of writing a romance? Is it the actual, like getting to figure out the meet cue story, or is it just the characters coming in and like actually competing external or internal conflicts that's just gonna drive them to the story, what's your favorite part of the formula? Is it, as they say.

I, I love writing me cutes. I think when I think of stories, they always start with a me cute, and then the characters and the plot grow from there. But I don't know. There's something about romance too. Like you become so drawn to characters, some of those characters live in your brain long after you're done the book. And part of writing is discovering those characters and owning them and kind of creating a little space in your heart for them. So it's kind of a mix of that. I love learning about my characters. I don't have them fully fleshed out when I start writing. the mecu, I love to make them like as awkward and cringey as possible.

Yeah, make them suffer. I not want it for myself, but my characters could have that experience.

Right. this never happens to me.

Yeah. Yeah. That's like famous last word. And then it'll just happen. You're like, oh my gosh, really? I wrote the story.

You know what though? I like, I don't know about you. I'm one of those people. I just invite awkwardness into my life.

Yes.

like mortifying has to happen at least

Yeah.

So

Yeah.

I'm just writing what I know.

Yes. And it's okay. You know what? Because it's relatable and it's just fun. And in this day and age where you know it's dating is cringey and it's just, it doesn't look good. It's it's kind of like nice to be like, you know what? I escaped to the books where it's actually acceptable to be awkward, cringe, and it can actually have a happily rafter and a nice mini golden retriever or black cat or whatever kind of men. Or woman or non-binary person, you wanna go for it. It's just there. The possibilities are endless,

if you find a friend or romantic partner that you

Yeah.

over the cringe with, keep them.

Yes. All right, so we gotta talk about your recommendations, which are actually, it's very timely because a lot of the book industry has moved away from this kind of recommendations. But they're the og, they're the reason why we have romance, the reason why we have this, and we'll talk about one of them that actually, we had a couple of them, they're old g that I'm like. You there. There must read. If you're gonna read romances, you kind of have to get over yourself and read some historical romances. So talk to us about your history with historical romances. How did you end up falling into the genre? Because it's, everyone has their own story of how they fall into the genre.

Yeah, I mean, I remember. I was too scared. Like I discovered romance in high school and as you mentioned before, romance had a stigma behind it. So I was too afraid to go to the romance section in the library. 'cause it's

yeah.

I don't know. I don't want

Yeah.

to see me in there where I probably shouldn't be. But in a used bookstore, I don't know, I think I just stumbled the section. And contemporary romance wasn't a huge thing back then.

Yeah.

you'd find contemporary more in fiction than in the romance. It was all, pirates and knight and Scottish settings and stuff.

I about you, but Scotland seems to be having its moment.

Yeah. Well, and I have to ask because just to everyone listening, Laura, I have learned, knows things. She knows things. So I just wanna ask you, because you mentioned like historical romance is kind of having its fallout right now, which is

Yes

and now that I think about it, like, why do you think that's happening? Because Bridgeton is a

Book talk is not listening. Book talk is not reading. They did not discover. They discover. So a lot of the 2020, what happened is a book talk, we discover fantasy which is paranormal, and they rebranded, romantic. They discover contemporary dark romances. They discover because of Kindle Limited. So a lot of the historical romances are not a Kindle Limited. They're not in the way to consume them in the same way where there's if. Free, easy to consume. A lot of 'em are in libraries or maybe old publishing books, but they also have the stigma of history and I think in some ways, like the stigma that we have right now. Whereas we don't wanna look back at our past and yet we're reliving our past, and so, so I think there's a stigma of what does it mean to my history? Or the things that happen are, there's dubious consent, there's non-consent, there's a lot of grape, may have happened in these con s but there were a period of their time and they were part of what it is. And it's just like part of it. There's also publishers are not putting money on it because they're not performing as well as the others places, but there's also like authors rewriting the content. Let's talk about Lisa Kleypas, who has been rewriting her old grade historical Romans to me, 2020 Sensi sensibilities. They're like things that were okay in the two thousands bridger's. Another example. There are scenes that. Acceptable right now. But they're part of it. And so I think they were banking on Bridgeton to bring the genre, but it did not. And I think that the weight of Bridgeton was great for that 2020 year because there was a lot of historical ones. People were buying lots. I remember into 2020 people were buying lots of historical was an eBay, like you pay $20, you get a bunch of historical romances, and they were sharing setbacks and stuff like that, but Bridgeton was not coming every year. Unlike summer turned pretty where it's every year clockwork, we got another episode. This is taking two years. It's taking too long that people forget about it. And so they're just like, it just didn't, I'm hoping that cycles are happening 'cause everything's cyclical and it'll come back.

Yeah.

I don't think Bridgeton is gonna be the one that's gonna bring it back, but I think it might be like something else, like book talk discovers. eBay and paying $20 for a lot of books. Harlean, the category womens I think did not realize their category existed and they thought they were ai and it's no, no title. It's a whole genre. And it's like a long history and there's a specific way to write those category romances. It's a whole.

and I'll just, and I'll just add if Shonda rhymes or if anyone in the Bridgeton production universe is listening, you need to hurry up. We want more seasons faster.

Yeah, just I hate to say this, but King Kardashian people need to get to work. I hate to say this because she's MAGA and she's a terrible person, a terrible bird, and this is a very terrible thing to say, but at same time, it's get to work. We need this kind of content. I am glad that we're getting fed with Roman's content. I'm glad that, Netflix is meeting as our need and some of the content is dubious because they're selling rom drums. People die, as rom-coms, but. It's a better sign, so I think there, there's a market there, but I hope that it just comes back. I think maybe in like in five years, we'll get back to discovering body buying Bodice rippers, and learning about, and Lindsay and Julie Garwood and Ward Chase and

Yes.

all these others that are actually riding,

historical romance is where it's at for the

Yeah.

and tension. Like it's beautifully done. It's amazing.

And if you want dark stuff, there's a lot of dark stuff.

stuff. Yes.

If if you like dark from cap to captive, there's plenty of that in that space.

There's even lots of kink in,

Yeah.

romance. It really does have everything. So let's

Yeah.

people.

All right, so let's talk about recommendations. 'cause I love all of them and I am so happy. And some of them have been guests, actually. One, I do wanna get one of them actually. The, I'll share which one. I'm like, I need to just get them to become a guest. But most of them have been guests to the show, so yeah.

Wow. Yeah. So did you want me to list

Yeah

them? Yeah.

let's talk about Sherry Thomas first. I think that you have a Sherry Thomas, which is, I wish she writes Lady Sherlock and her delightful historical mysteries, but her historical women just are so good.

I know I, I am a fan of so many authors and I'm inspired by so many, but she might be one of the best writers for me. I can't get enough and, once she responded to a comment I made on a photo of hers on Instagram, and I thought, is it for me. This is all I need. But yeah, so I I recommended ravishing the, hes by Sherry Thomas. Was hard to pick just one, it's just, it's like emo level pining. It is so. And when it, when things finally start to happen for those two main characters, it's like and raw and just amazing. Have you read it?

I have, I actually, this series is so good. Like it's just the whole series. It's not just that book. It's like the whole series just gets you, there's one on the boat, there's one this one, there's one the one with the where she's. They got married and they just came back to each other and stuff. It's the whole se it's what are we talking about? It is a must read and I wish she reads if she writes more historical romances, but I understand her mysteries are just as delightful. She her Lady Sherlock's is like such a delightful series to watch, a better gender bending than the Sherlock Holmes series. So, yeah.

Agreed. So definitely she's one of my favorites. And have to read that book, all of them.

Yeah.

series is incredible. I

Yeah.

recommended Lord of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase, which I feel is not super, it's not new news. Everyone loves

What

That book is

book has not Book Talk has not discovered Lower Kendra. So we need to talk about this

man.

think we assume that everyone knows it, but it's, I have to say they have not discovered the magic

I know the kiss scene in that novel. The me, cute, like it's all just

Yes.

amazing scenes. And Loretta Chase, she can write paragraphs about a woman's wrist that you want to go on forever. She's incredible.

Yes, and the enemies to lower the tension because there's tension here. It is a masterpiece. If you're a ES reader or you think you're acknowledgeable, like you kind of have to read this. This is a required text like it is. Just as required as reading Sebastian St. Vincent in Elisa KPAs World, or Derek Craven, Lisa KPAs World, or Bridgeton and Julia Quinn's world, like Lauren Scandals is just as, is that text that needs to be actually be commiss a series, and needs to find its audience,

is so good. And I think it's an old one, right? Like I think that book

Yeah.

in the eighties.

In the nineties, I think.

That's not too bad, but yeah, definitely. It's like lore. You gotta read it. I also have a few contemporary ish historical romances. They're newer. I have the Duke Heist by Erica Ridley, which is, kind of has that taking historical romance and doing something very different with it. It has this ensemble cast of characters that's like this found family, and just, it's such a wonder. It's nice to read books that have such a strong and they eventually, they are still in the progress of getting all their books out. But they just, it's just a warm, funny, friendly type of book. And one of my favorite to reread actually as well, Yeah I'm assuming you've read that. I feel like you've read everything.

I, yeah, I read, I think I read, I don't think I read this one for Erica Ridley, but I read some of her and I love her series. Like it's just like a fun, it's like fun take of his performances in this. 2020, Sarah, like there's a little bit, there's a different level of writing that's not as bad as rippers and that we had in the past, but I think it's like, it gets you like a sense of if you want the 2020 sensibility, sensibilities grid is a great place to get started.

Yeah. And I think it's obviously as a woman of color, there, there are now, but if you're going back years and looking at those

there wasn't any.

there's nothing Yeah. Eric.

It.

Yeah. So, yes. Yeah. Yeah. So, books like Erica Ridleys are just a little more accessible. And that's not to say, I would, I'm still reading a lot of the Sherry Thomas universes, although Sherry Thomas, I think is a woman of color as well. But also the Loretta Chase, all those amazing authors. But there's something very accessible about taking the historical romance, in. Setting and bending it a little bit to make it feel a bit more contemporary. and then on that note, I also have Wicked in the Wallflower by Sarah McLean, which I think Devon in that in that series is one of my, he's one of my favorite all time leads. He's just, he is wonderful. Just that like hard exterior cinnamon roll interior. I love it.

Yes. I actually love the series. This was like a fun series to read from Sarah McLain. Like it was just like a really fun sensibility. There's fuck the patriarchy. There's like deep. And stuff like that in, in this world. And then at the same time, heroes are just like Sunni, but they're still kind of like rough around the edges and I think that's what helps you.

Yes. And then finally, I, and this is where I discovered romance, I discovered the genre and historical romance at an age where I shouldn't have. But Julie Garwood, I. Couldn't, it's hard to pick. I've read I think her entire backlist as far as

Yeah.

goes. But I recommend Ransom, which is kind of a second novel, and it's a standalone, but it's in a little miniseries and it's the second one. And I just thought it was really well done. It's an interesting kind of adventurous there's a little bit of mystery in there too, and it's just a really it's one of my favorites.

Yeah I was sharing with you, and I'll air this episode af or after this episode, I air the interview with Julia Garwood. Julia Garwood passed away, but before she passed away, she was on the podcast. I love the fact that she ended up writing romantic suspense with the many generations later of this, the Cannons and the other people like. I had this world that I actually had historical people and then coming back and then this contemporary world like I was like, I'm from the Mayflower and all that. It's like really coming down. But I had an interesting interview with, I did not lead the interview. I just let her talk and it. Fascinating to hear her, how she got started, how the bride came to be, and it's a fun story that she's oh, I was just sitting daydreaming and I had this idea. And it's I am so grateful to have that opportunity and to have that to share with you guys because it's the, a lot of times we'd think about writing in that era was not acceptable if Romans was a stepchild in the 2020s and 2010s, it was not acceptable to be writing about sex and stuff in era where you were only supposed to be a nurse, a teacher, or a secretary, or a mother. And so she was, a pioneer just like Laura Chase. There were pioneers in this genre, and not just for the historical moments, but in the Romans space and building the genre to what it is now,

Yeah,

where it is so popular that we got Romans bookstores, we got Romans, romance, things that, everything's romance, you know

it's actually like romance is like a way of life now, and

it's.

It's hard to believe that years ago, women were probably hiding those books even, and the covers, now a lot of the covers you see in the romance genre, like they don't give away necessarily that it's a romance,

Yeah.

covers, for example, like it was a different era and I'm blown away that you. Julie Garwood on your podcast just because

Berkeley,

okay. Okay. Cool.

your publisher. Your publisher kept publishing her books and Berkeley was so gracious and they were like, she's just gonna call. There's no video. You're just like, I think she picked up the phone and just did the call. No, the audience probably terrible, but you know what? It's. Still, we did not question that. And it, they were so gracious. The publicist. The publicist was like, yeah, she can come. And I was like, are you kidding me?

What? Yeah, because she seems like she's at that era of like untouchable writers almost,

Yeah.

you know, and then sadly, she's passed away now and you had her on your podcast.

I did. It was like the best way to describe it. 'cause there anyway, I've done this 500 times at this point and I'm not exaggerating, it's just that's not the volume of the author is, and so, so many authors I feel like it's just like conversation where I'm like trying to figure it out. But with her, I just was like, no, it's just like talking to my grandma and that's how I envision and just letting her talk about. Her experience and just understanding that is a different age and different time, and it's just as powerful. And I think now and I didn't get it at the time, but now that I'm thinking about where I am in us, in the US in Florida and the era that we're living, it's very telling what she's, what she shares and like how is it reflecting in this world now

Yeah.

we're seeing and stuff. And so yeah it's interesting. But yes, your publisher, Berkeley was. Gracious enough they're, they did everything. They did the magic, so.

Yeah. I mean, it's. It's actually I mean, I don't know if you intended it this way, but it was actually really kind of you to her listeners, but also smart to like, just let her talk because she's an author from a time when she wasn't on social media, she wasn't easily accessible. We didn't know, well, I personally didn't know anything about her personality really. So

Yeah.

yeah, it's it I can't wait to listen to that

So I'll post the interview the next day for if we're at, the interview is available behind it, but I'll post a re added version. Oh, upgrade the audio and then clean it up a little bit. But it'll have that interview. And then I think I'm gonna try to reach out to Laura Chase 'cause she's still alive, to see if she can come on the show and have her. And maybe, or do you wanna come and talk to her?

won't be i'll. I can sit there and stare and talk Gibb.

Pretty much we just have to hold space, essentially hold space. So, we'll put that on the vision board that maybe Loretta Chase can come and talk to us to that. But or tell us, we can find you online and Yeah. And the book is available this week, so.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah. Well, I'm most active on Instagram, so if you wanna find me, it's at Aurora Palit and I also have a website. I'm horrible at updating it and so please don't expect anything there. Yeah, but I'm very accessible online, so if you do end up reading Honey and Heat or Sunshine and Spice, drop me a note. Let me know what you thought.

Awesome. And if you have historical romance recommendations, probably give them

yes, please.

Hey, this is another body you should look for.

Yes, please.

Awesome. Thank you, Aurora, for being in the show.

you so much for having me.

If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider rate, review or subscribe. Thank you so much for listening. Have a great day. Bye.