Hi, Kara, welcome to What's Your Next Podcast.

Hi. Thank you so much for having me.

So happy to have you here. Tell us a little bit about yourself.

Yeah, so my name is Kara. I'm a mom. I have three kids. I live in Arizona. I'm a full-time writer. I spend a lot of my time either writing, reading or at my kids' baseball games. Basically half my books, I swear, written from the sidelines. So that's what I spend most of my time doing.

Oh my gosh. I can imagine. I was gonna ask you, how do you balance it all? Like writing, being a mother, just even just writing full-time is still, it's a job. And then being a mother and doing all the kids' activities and everything that takes entail. And being in 2026, which is a whole, Trauma Olympics that were happening,

I definitely don't do it all. When I am in like a really busy season of writing I had a book, a draft that was due in mid-January. So when I'm like really focused in on something and I'm on deadline, then pretty much everything else falls by the wayside. Like my house is a mess. I don't do laundry, I don't cook anything. My kids are fending for themselves. They're old enough now that if mom doesn't cook, they can make themselves macaroni and cheese or something. And then once I've turned a draft in and things get a little slower on the author side of things, I try to have a little bit more balance. But it's definitely hectic.

It's just basically managing it all and you just cannot do it perfectly. As millennial women, we have this idea that we have to do it all perfectly and it has to be. The highest level of effort and the reality is we can, you just have to coast with it. What you can do and focus on what you should do,

yeah, I actually heard this metaphor one time that I really liked that said you have to, at any given time, like you're juggling, all of us are juggling a million different balls every day and that we have to know which balls are glass, so which ones at any given time you can't drop. And so the person who said that is well, maybe somebody listening to this would say, oh. Your family. That's always glass, but that's not the case. When I'm on deadline, like the book is glass and feeding my kids is not 'cause they can eat chicken nuggets and be fine. And then there are other times when they need me more and those balls become the glass.

I like this metaphor 'cause it's like you're trying to figure out which one is important at this moment and this moment by moment, nothing is permanent. I think in some ways we believe the idea that everything decisions for the rest of our lives, we can change our mind, we can figure out, and there's ebbs and flows and some stuff is coming easy. Some stuff it comes hard and you just have to just go with it. It's like riding the wave as opposed to pushing the wave or going against it.

Exactly. Yep. We're just along for the ride.

Awesome. Let's start with the write off, which I actually got to read early and I am so excited to chat with you because we have two writers who met in college in freshman year in writing class as one does, and they've been kind of like parallel lives and relationships happen. We got dual timeline, so we got the college era and then we got. Almost 10 years later since they met, and they're both our authors. They're both, one is successful, but she's having, terrible. Block about her upcoming release and they're attending a big event in their college as headline author. So you get to play around with the author space, but you also get to play around with the new adult inks that we love. Talk to us about Wednesday elevator pitch. Probably describe a little bit better than I do, and it was hard about a little

not. Yeah, so it is about these two writers We have Mars, which is short for Margo and West, and like you said, they meet in college. And then over the course of the next about 10 years, they go through lots of different ups and downs with their careers and with their relationship. And when they meet again in the future, which is where the book starts at, the Tucson Festival of Books on the U of a campus, which is where I went to school in Tucson. So it was fun to be able to write all those little details in there from my experience. They meet up again and you can tell like something has happened between them and you don't really know what it is. And so then through the course of the book, the alternating timelines just unfolds the mystery of what happened in the past, how it got them to where they are today and are they gonna be able to sort of mend this mess that they've created despite the fact that they have been like, they've loved each other basically from the beginning.

Yes, and she basically writes her mailman character based on.

Oh, that too. Yes. When she, she writes her book the Her bestselling Fantasy series. She writes it in college and before she realizes that she's in love with West, she accidentally like completely bases the book character off of him. And it's so similar and she doesn't see it. And then it. Everybody's you know this is him, right? And he reads it and he's this is me. Right? And then the book explodes. It gets very popular. He becomes like everybody's favorite book boyfriend, but by this point they are not speaking to each other anymore. So she basically has to spend the rest of her career, like making all of her fans fall in love with this guy that has hurt her really badly. And it doesn't always end well for her.

No it's, she's placed I love the, what you consider the meet cute in the future, which is she's trying to get her, like she's been called by her publicist is like, Hey, we have a headliner you're gonna talk about, 'cause you both went to the school and you're gonna have this. And then she goes, tried to go talk to the. Person in charge, but there's no person in charge to be like, we gotta change this. This is not working out. And we shows up, reminds her she's being a Karen in this space.

Yes. And he's I know you don't want me here, but basically I'm here anyway and you're gonna have to deal with it. And she is like just beside herself because she feels like he has done her so wrong. And it takes a while to figure out like exactly what has happened and how he has done her wrong. Yeah, it was a really fun dynamic to play with them, like seeing each other again for the first time. That's one of my favorite moments in any second chance romance I read. It's like when they finally come back and they see each other again, and there's so much history and so many feelings there, and it's just so angsty and delicious.

Yeah, I love the dynamic of getting the first love and the second chance from us. 'cause you get both the coming of age are happening in college and then you get the second chance as adults like in established. So you get the best of both worlds when you are reading a look Ya. And like I'm actually our new adult where they're in college. You get the adult aspect that like we're in the full front of Lobe has been formed and we have like adult issues now to deal with. They're not related to parents or they're related to what's my career. They already have quote unquote established careers. This book actually brings you the best of both worlds. But you get the feel that you're in University of Arizona. You get to get the college experience,

yeah, thank you. And I think what becomes very clear, and what I tried to make really obvious in the book is that if they had gotten together when they were in college, like it never would've worked because they both had to go off on their own and grow up and become their own like adults and go through a lot of things and learn lessons. So they like realize that as much as they loved each other when they were younger, they weren't ready to be together yet.

Yes, which a lot of those college books is true, that it's very hard to root for a happily or after. When you're reading an AxD College romance, it's like, it's just hard. 'cause you are like, I don't know, maybe because I'm a cynic 44-year-old who's maybe you need to have some more life experience. It's not life or death. You,

No, I'm the same way. I'm like, oh, you still have so much growing up to do. You're gonna hit so many obstacles

Yeah.

if you can't grow together, it's just gonna be so much harder.

Yes. You got a date around. Go figure something out. Make mistakes be messy. That's what you're supposed to do in your twenties,

Exactly.

supposed world in when you're 25.

No, unfortunately no. That's not how it works out, huh?

No. So that's a writeup, which I'm so excited for the listeners to pick it up because I think you get the best of both worlds. You get the college experience, the angst that we love from, new adult books. But we also get the second chance romance of so tender and just so angsty too. So you get the

you. It is high angst.

Yes. Let's talk about the books. Do you read, what kind of books do you actually read? Do you read content or romance, or you read other genres to help you while you are writing, read something else,

yes, I read mostly contemporary romance. And it does hurt my feelings sometimes because they are so good that I'm reading something and I'm like, Ugh, I will never write anything as good as this. That feeling. But then it also becomes like extremely inspiring. And so I'm basically just like hoping that I can write something as good as this. So while I'm in the middle of drafting, I do tend to veer more towards maybe romance or I mean fantasy or something. So it's not quite so similar. But when I have time and I can just binge a bunch, I will just read a bunch of contemporary romances and absolutely love my life.

Yes. Let's talk about the everyone's recommendations. 'cause you got quite a few and I was sharing, we were talking beforehand. I was like, oh, I love this book. I love this book. This one, it's on my TBR. So let's get through the list. I can start saying the name. So the first book Is she really Going on with him by Sophie Cousins?

Yes, I read this one last year and it just blew me away with how much I loved it. And the main character, she's in her late thirties, she's divorced, she has kids, and I just find that to be like a really refreshing breath of fresh air in this genre where like a lot of times they're in maybe their late twenties. They haven't been through some of that, stuff that we talked about earlier. So she's just like on a different. Side of her life and sort of navigating finding love a second time. And it's very funny. The setup is really cute and I am obsessed with this book.

Oh my gosh, I have to put this on my TVRI love Sophie's other books, like they're just delightful. They're, I don't know, they just work really well, For me. So this one is you have me in like late thirties. I'm like, yes, this is actually, I need to bump this one up. So.

Yeah, and it has the perfect amount of kids in it. 'cause sometimes, if there's kids in a book, it might be a little bit too much, but this is not at all. It's just just, right.

Just right. I read this one, the Romcom by Katherine Center. I think obviously it's, if you like romcoms, Catholic Center is the Queen. I think some of her books, I think the Bodyguard's gonna be a holiday movie coming out with Dean from, and Blair from Gossip girl. and Girls, the Romcom is. I, I think it's like the perfect romcom,

yeah, that was my feeling coming away from it. I was just like, this is a Pitch perfect rom-com. Like every beat was so incredible. It's funny, it's tender, it makes you like really fall in love with the characters and really believe them. A lot, most of the books that I read have a little bit of a higher spice level, but this one is closed door and I feel like you don't miss the spice at all. It's just like perfectly done that I wouldn't want it to be anything different than what it is.

Yes, I think this is a good introduction for new content bar romances readers. This is a good introduction to Romans, so you're not feeling too shocked by the, a why choose Romans or alien romances that you're like getting it on. So it just it's like a welcome movie in a book,

It does, it feels like those perfect romcom movies from like the late nineties, early two thousands, that they don't make as much anymore, which is why I'm so glad that they're turning her books into movies because she just does it so well.

Yes. I think you're doing something that helps us, which is writing the books that eventually can become movies, film shows, and other things is Hollywood has moved away from original screenwriting into books as ip. So we love to see more romcoms being.

Always.

I missed that. I missed the 1999 and two thousands, rom club era so much. So the next one I actually loved, which is problematic Summer romances by Ali Hazelwood. There's, it's just so good.

It's so good. And it was hard for me to choose an Ally Hazelwood book because they are all perfect, in my opinion. I love every single one of them. Problematic Summer romance. I just love that. I know like age gap, romance is such a taboo in the normal, like in today's world with the younger generations. I saw a TikTok video the other day where one of, somebody was talking about a couple and they were 17 and 18 and someone was talking about how that was an age gap and I was just,

Okay.

I don't always understand, but this I really love that going into it. It's just like titled problematic summer romances. It's you know exactly what you're gonna get into, but then you get into it and it is so so well done. You like, oh, this one also, this is why I put this here because it has the dual timeline romance because you meet the characters in the present day and you can tell that there's a lot of emotions and a lot of history going on there underneath the surface. And then as you read the book, it. Goes throughout their past and tells you exactly how they met and what has happened between them and how they've gotten to the place they are now. And I thought that was really well done. And then as always, in any Ali Hazelwood book, the spice is, it's great.

Yeah, I love that. Hi on the qua, because he's so tight and he's like just ready to explode. And the heroin is like just of spirit of there's let's live life. There's more space. And I think the mismatch of opposite of track feels so what works so well. 'cause if you was like, I don't wanna have a problematic summer romance, I like you, but I can't act on this. And she's yes, do it now.

And yeah, it's his like best friend and coworker's little sister. And he's just trying so hard to be a good guy to the point where he's like making his life worse. He's making her life worse. As the readers, we can see how perfect they are for each other, but he's just attached to this idea he has in his head of doing the right thing. That it's really wonderful to see him like break that down over time and break down his walls and realize that. He is allowed to have the things that he wants.

Oh, all right. We gotta talk about fall book, but you can read it anytime, which is, if it makes you happy about Julia. Olivia, this is the perfect fall book. It's in the 1990s, which we love Vermont. It just has all the vibes,

yeah, it really is such a vibes book. I was actually talking to somebody yesterday who just read it and she was like, I don't even know if I can put my finger on exactly what made it so spectacular. She's it just felt like such so much greater than the sum of its parts like. Everything about it. It just feels so cozy. The characters are so well done. This is a single dad romance, I have older characters. I have single parents. I've just been really into that lately as I've gotten to my late thirties. I just feel like I wanna read characters who are closer to my own age and have more life experiences. So he is a fantastic single dad. It's a Gilmore Girls esque small town where everybody knows each other and they're involved in each other's businesses. And she is, therefore the fall running her her parents' bed and breakfast, right?

Yeah.

Yes. I listened to this one on audio and I really enjoyed it. And like you said, it is a perfect fall read, but it's, I assume would be perfect anytime because it's just really well done.

And there's a new follow up. We saw the cover Real. Which looks so good and there's like a plushy, there's like a whole thing around it. So.

I know, It is so gorgeous. She actually this author, she read an early copy of the write off and she gave me a blurb for it. And I was just like, squealing when that came in because I was like, oh my gosh, you have no idea. I love you so much. I love your book so much. So that made me very, extremely happy.

Did you read her theme park books? She has like a couple theme park.

I haven't, but I have like her whole back list on my TBR. I'm like, I just need it all. And I know once I start, I'm gonna just wanna keep going through them and binge the whole series.

The theme park one is basically it's about a rollercoaster and someone who's very excited about theme park and the guy who makes rollercoasters and he has to go fix the rollercoaster. 'cause had an issue and she got injured. But she loves the theme park so much, and it's and so he's like trying to fix the rollercoaster. It's you wouldn't think about rollercoasters, but

so charming.

so, but it's it's the theme park, kind of like Dollywood but there's so good, there's three books in the series, or it's just delightful.

That sounds so cute. I need to bump that up higher

yeah, That's like a perfect summer book.

Okay. Perfect.

books and then you have this one for the fall, so, Alright.

for every season.

your final recommendation is the book that I have on my TVR, which is Burning With Benefits by Sarah T Dub.

This was actually just adapted into a Hallmark movie which is, yes, it's really exciting. And I listened to the audio. This is another one. It's a dual POV, so it has two narrators. And they do a really good job with it. It takes place in Tucson, like the write-off does, and it's about. A divorced single mom and this guy that she meets and they are in this birding competition, which is where they have 45 days or something to spot the most amount of wild birds around Tucson. And it's a very prestigious competition. And he is an expert birder, and she knows absolutely nothing about birding, but they do it because his ex-girlfriend is there. So they're doing like a little fake dating situation. Where she's helping him out so his ex-girlfriend gets jealous and then he's helping her out at work events like work parties and stuff. So that way they'll stop trying to set her up. And so then there's a little bit, oh we have to kiss right now because our coworkers are looking at us. And so oh, darn, we have to but it's really cute and really well done.

I love it and I love that you're sharing another Arizona representation. I know readers actually read books from different states or where it off? Arizona. It's completely Arizona, if you're reading across the states, that's a book that you gotta add on and maybe then go follow a burden of benefits, so,

Definitely. Yeah.

Tara, tell us, we can find you online.

My website is Kara j McDowell, which will have links to everything. And then on Instagram, I'm Kara j McDowell books. And I'm the same on TikTok. And those are really the only two places that I am, I'm not on Twitter anymore, or Facebook or anything. So Instagram and TikTok.

Awesome. Thank you, Kara, for being the shower.

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