Hi Ellie. Welcome to the What to Read Next podcast.

Hi, I am so excited to be here. Thank you for having me.

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

I am a Canadian romance author in the Toronto area. and I've been writing. I think I was thinking about it like three years or four years. It feels like an eternity to me. But

Yes.

I think about it from like the bird's eye view, like it's still so new to me and

Yeah.

exciting. So haven't been writing that long, but I write spicy romance books. With I like to make people laugh in them. They're not quite rom-coms. I wouldn't

yeah.

rom-coms, but,

I.

I do like to make people laugh. And if I'm not writing, I'm just binging reality tv. I have a beagle who likes to occupy all of attention.

Yeah.

and yeah.

All right, so we're gonna talk about live TV in a minute, but I just have say, like I shared with you before we get started, I've been reading your books and you're perfect for Zoom. Sprawling. They're the antidote because there's a lot of banter, there's spiciness, there's just like fun, like scenes are just kinda you can laugh out loud, but the same time it's not. It's not challenging of like I'm gonna feel my emotions. It's just more like a little bum of like good stuff. And I think we need this in today's society, like wherever we are. Like it's just challenging. And so it's and men are so sweet and they're so like great, they're like ideal boyfriend. Yes. Yeah. They're green flags. Yes. They're not like the love island. USA man this year.

Especially this year.

This year, there were trash.

happened?

I was like, I had to go to therapy like multiple times. I was like this. This is I was like the men the way they were like making you feel too much and too I was like, no it's okay. I'm happy to be single and have my B boyfriend who could actually take care of things.

made me so sad, especially coming off of the season before where the men were screwing up but they were genuine

yes.

like they're

Even Rob. Even Rob was just like a place, I'm glad he went to traders. I'm glad, with his overalls, he was just like having his own space. But, I found Rob amusing. I was like, he's a cutie. He's just he just know how to manage his emotions. So he goes under the pool

It.

and,

It was never like ill intent.

yes.

intention, like even when they were screwing up.

Yeah.

this season, I feel

like they traumatized on Maya's asking for boundaries. Can I call you babe? And I was like, I'm sorry, this is my boundary. Like I felt like they went to TikTok University and I, and got psychology degrees and like the boomers get the war degree in Facebook. I think they went, they were like, they thought law mommy was just talking to someone. It was like, I was like, Gaslight. I'm like, no, you actually are doing the thing.

were the problem here.

You're the problem. It's not me.

It was, yeah. It was a bummer. It

So yeah. So I discovered your books in Prime Long Island Peak after SA, and they were kind of like the odd businesses. 'cause I was like, oh my gosh, I want this football player, I want this place. I'm like, oh, she can handle it. He's Smid, but he doesn't wanna admit Smid by her. And it's just a fun little thing. And yeah, she has a traumatic childhood, but she. Has been able to be scrappy and be able to overcome it, and it's kind of like fun to do,

yeah, they really are kind of just not your brag or anything, but they really are like so well matched,

yes.

She gives it back just as well as she can take it and as hard as he he gives it to her. And I just, yeah. The dynamic is just like my favorite.

Yes. All right. The book is only between us by LEK Wall. There is a second book in the series, but it can be read standalone and you can actually go back to it. 'cause in that the early book is just it's connected to it, but there's more books. I think your books aren't kinda limited, which is exciting. You can actually binge on them at any time. The book is only Between Us by Ellie K Wilde It's the second book in a series, but you can read the, you can start standalone, but you can read the before and read out of order and it's totally fine., Let's talk a reality TV show. So, which ones, we talked a little bit about Long Island, so I'm assuming you did watch it. But what kind of reality TV shows do you end up watching or end up bending?

The more dramatic The better, in my opinion.

yes,

I will tell you that there the first three, have you watched Vanderpump Rules?

yes. I actually tell people that they need to watch it. I've been a, I've been a doula or kind of like just guiding people to watch from the beginning to the space. I did not watch the Valley last season this past season because it's so toxic. But I, yes I basically tell them the first four seasons you have to watch is like Reality two e goal.

It's like it will never be touched

Yeah.

of it just had everything. It was back before TikTok,

Yes.

before even like I think Instagram had just started,

Yeah.

so it wasn't today's reality TV where everyone is just so self-conscious and like worried about how they'll come off online.

Yeah.

These people were just like unfiltered, raw, and they were actual friends with each other.

Yes.

And so the drama was real and so juicy, and it just will never, nothing will ever be better than seasons one to three and like four,

Yeah.

like

Yeah.

it. It was just magic.

It is just magic. I think four is when Jax gets arrested for stealing the sunglasses in and then going, I went to because I, to get away with you and I found peace in a cell.

Like

You make a reality TV show like that,

can't, it's just they really lightning in a bottle with all those, you call 'em characters because they are like, they have, they're such characters, right? Even Just magic, absolute

Yes. It is truly like just a time capsule and it's, and I think in some ways is the end of the era because. We had so much great reality TV shows and the s like we got Flavor of Love and Rock love, which are, like these surreal. We had these, like VH one was delivering us like the most unhinged, crazy stuff and then, then it just became kind of like produced and like looking the from ways, obviously The Hills is like, right, shell, like it's a standard like we. We can't stop, talk about it. I think people who haven't watched The Hills and they see Spencer Pratt now and they're like, oh, he's so nice. I was like, you don't understand. We hated this man.

what's

He was the worst.

original like reality TV

Yes.

he paved the way for

And I think.

toxicity in Vanderbilt

Yeah, and I think in some ways they're trying to, they're, he's, I think he's helping consulting, we assume he's consulting the secret lives of Mormon wives

Oh,

ways, like a lot of the villain, the demy specific things like the villain, like the need of a villain, the need of like needs to have drama and stuff. It's like it's getting the space. They're looking for people like. Him Mc vile, who have been like this role. And so to see it now in this eight day and age of what reality is working right now, but yeah, it's interesting. Yeah, we, I think he has admitted, he has consultant in different reality shows and as a, like how, like storytelling stuff.

Get your bag. Like he, he earned it. Like he

He didn't, he made her from nothing.

Yeah, literally. And just put his own life on blast for how many years? Like he was the most hated man.

Yeah.

On TV for so long, got crapped on for so long, so you know what? You gave us the entertainment. Now go get your money. That's

Yeah.

about it.

Yeah, because if you look back, like the first season was we had Jason and it was kinda like boring. And then the second season was just okay, we got Spencer. And it was like, and he actually built the character arc that we wanted to.

Yeah.

I think it's and then it has so many iconic scenes. I actually had to share with a friend. I was like I'm doing a no contact with someone. And I was like, I'm gonna forgive you and I'm gonna forget you. It is such an iconic scene. It's

mAs.

no mascara here. It's yes. And so that's, in some ways it helped shape what Bravo looks like now. What Hulu's looking now what Netflix is trying to do we're looking e is like so, so sad. But it's not that it's no longer a player. But it's interesting like how the state of reality and how it is actually like. What's working, what's not working, and what we, what's not working is that they're overly produced and that we have to understand like what's happening and the spoilers and the,

or like the casting of influencers I think

Yes. That's the issue with Love Island. This season. There were too many influencers. I was like, I only care about Maya Papaya, because she didn't have anyone

know what's

to manage her cake. She didn't have anyone to manage. She went for love, like.

Yeah. Poor

everyone else had this influencer and stuff, and I'm like, girl. No. They knew the money and I think in some ways I appreciate Love Island Season six and even the Beyond the Villa. I haven't watched last night's episode. It's so fresh that we are just, we're just finding out the information as they do because they just recorded like a month ago. It's not like we're waiting like Bravo shows. We're waiting six or eight months to see what's gonna happen. This in the tv. So we already have this I pay for spoilers. I pay for the tea and b cocktail so I know what's happening early. I knew when vendor point, what scandal will happen like three hours early.

Oh my

I actually, I was like in the know I was like no here's what's happening. Be rare, but it's a, it's reality tv. So I appreciate for you to indulge in me with this conversation. So let's talk about your reading life. What kind of books do you tend to read? Where you a romance reader before a writer? Or were you reading other genres and you're just like, you know what? Sometimes we just need happily or after, especially the 2020s.

I, yeah, I I mostly am a romances reader for sure. I think it just. It's again, like me chasing the good vibes and just you get enough of the crap in your regular life. So anything like happy and cheerful is what I'm chasing. I had a very big, obviously like a psychological thriller

Yeah.

all did. Like around like the gun girl.

Yes.

gun girl.

So does you need, sometimes you need to marry the man or you need to kill him.

It's. But yeah, I mostly read romance contemporary, but I'll do like a fantasy romance here and there for like series that are like close to completion because

Yes.

like don't have the soul for cliffhangers.

Yes.

I always keep my eye out for finished series or like ologies or whatever that I can just,

Yeah.

binge and know all the answers right away.

Yeah. Do you like, because you write some sports performs, do you read some sports, romance or you like, or other sports other than football or

read some, like I've read, like of course it's impossible to read romance and not read a hockey romance these days.

Yes.

so I've obviously read some of those. I have read other football romances too. My next book, actually, I'm very excited about this, the one that comes out in February the third in the series is actually a surfing romance.

Yes.

and she's the athlete, which like, I'm so excited about. Like it's always centered around the, like the, course, like there's like the escapism and the fantasy of having a pro athlete falling in love with you, but like really cool too to explore like a female athlete. She's a competitive surfer and it just shakes things up a little bit.

Oh my gosh, I'm so excited. One, because I have a surfing list romance actually that's really popular on Google, so I'm like, oh, I have another one to add on. But the other part is that women athletes are having their moment, like we have the WNBA, we got athletic matter, we got like women athletes are actually dominating. I think we need more romances of that and meet men who can actually support them and be. The best,

Cheerleader

Who can be their match. And I think that's that's actually needed. I, it's okay to have SUNY book boyfriends, but sometimes we just need that, she's actually killing it and he's taking pictures.

the one, yes. And he like loves his pictures.

Yes. Or having the same Travis Kelsey vibe when he goes to the Aris tour. That kind of vibe. Like he's so proud of her.

Literally like the entire time she's out in the water, he's just like

He is like, yeah, like

t-shirts, like he makes like team summer she's like really pink and girly. So he like makes like team summer glitter t-shirts that he like wears, like proudly. He is just like very proud of her.

perfect. Yes, we need this. So I am eagerly looking forward to this. Ellie, do you have any books to recommend or listeners to pick up?

God, what have I been reading recently? I read I Read Not Safe for Work by Nisha

Yes.

Have you read it

Yes, I did. It was a vacation,

yes. So good. I read. Winging it with you by Chip Pons, which was like super cool and fake dating and reality. Like it was like a reality TV like intersection kind of like loosely based on a show like the Amazing Race.

yes.

So that one was great. I'm just trying to think. Those were like my two most recent reads.

I love this. I love this 'cause they're perfect for the summer. So Ellie, tell us where can pan.

I am on Instagram at EllieKWilde Author and also on TikTok with the same handle. then just my website is just kind of the best place to always stay updated on what, what's coming next for me.

Awesome. Thank you, Ali, for being on the show.

Absolutely. Thanks for having.

Awesome. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider rate review or subscribe to the show. Thank you so much for listening. Bye.