What to Read Next Podcast Recording - L.B. Dunbar and Laura Yamin

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[00:00:00]

Laura Yamin: Hi LB. Welcome to the Retro Next Podcast.

LB Dunbar: Hi. Thank you for having me. I'm excited to be here.

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

LB Dunbar: Well I've been writing for 11 years and I mostly write characters who are over 40, both him and her. I don't write a lot of age gap. And yeah, I am a big believer in second chances. So a lot of the background to the, my romances are a second chance at love over 40. People who've been divorced, they might have lost a spouse, or maybe they've never even found the one yet.

So

Laura Yamin: I love this. I remember reading a couple of your books because , I was turning 40 and I was like, oh, this look a 'cause you get to a point where you read so many 20 year olds and you're like, yeah, I don't relate to it. And there's something.

LB Dunbar: yeah.

Laura Yamin: to it, but at the same time I'm like, no, I am my mid forties now.

And I have like different things in my life that I actually look [00:01:00] forward to, and there's expectations that the bar is a little bit higher than settling for a lot of red flags. You're like.

. And so I find , Romans that are looking for older characters a little bit different.

LB Dunbar: Right,

Laura Yamin: There's a little bit more maturity. I think second chances makes more sense there that if it was second chance when you're in your twenties,

LB Dunbar: well for me, the other side of that too is that as a writer, my children were starting to get into their twenties and I just. I just felt kind of creeped out, like writing stuff that they might do that I didn't wanna know if they were doing. So, I'm obviously older myself. And so I just was like, you know what, I'm just gonna write this couple.

The first couple I wrote, I was like, I'm gonna write this couple that has sex in a minivan. And I've had people, I had people who told me like, no one's gonna wanna read about older people having sex in a minivan to like escape their children, kind of thing. And I was like, I beg to differ. And I'm so glad [00:02:00] because it really changed my entire career, changed when I chose to go only with the people in their forties.

Laura Yamin: I think it makes it, I know a niche, the niche is in the riches as they say, but I think it makes it like, millennials are getting older. Like,

LB Dunbar: Yeah.

Laura Yamin: readers, like I was just had a conversation in a previous episode about. How millennials we were YA readers for a long time and how the publishing industry grow made us grow up to the Roman space.

And now we're getting

LB Dunbar: Right.

Laura Yamin: and like, I can't read ya, I used to read ya, I cannot understand like watching a 16-year-old make decisions like that. And so it makes it more difference now to start looking for, middle age and like accepting or middle age and accepting the fact that it's like. needs are very different than

LB Dunbar: Yeah.

Laura Yamin: were when we were just right out of school. Like our we may have kids, we may have baggage, we may have gone to therapy and we may be looking for things a little bit different.

LB Dunbar: Right,

Laura Yamin: [00:03:00] toxic friend that we have this like situationship or maybe you have a situationship, but I think books like yours gives you another aspect of it.

What happens after divorce or what happens

LB Dunbar: right.

Laura Yamin: Losing a husband or losing a wife, like what will look like. And so I thank you for writing this particular niche and I hope more people would start writing, because we're

LB Dunbar: Yeah, I I agree with a lot of what you're saying too. I think that as we get older too, we just have different experiences. There's no, I'm not throwing any shade on like new adults. I mean, when you are in college and then you first graduate. There's a whole bunch of issues that you encounter that first job, that first, love that first moving outta the house.

But I just think that a 40 for me was a really pinnacle decade. A lot of stuff changed and I just think that, we kind of can sometimes have that phase where like we're starting over again. Sometimes you're getting a new job in your forties, sometimes you're ending [00:04:00] a bad relationship, so I just think that. We're always changing and we don't stop at 40, that's for sure. Or even 50. 'cause I'm old, I'm over 50 at this point, approaching towards 60. And I'm actually excited to start writing characters that are closer to 50 because so much happens then too.

Laura Yamin: Yes. I think at like at 48, what I realized is I didn't give a fuck about anything. I was like, I do not care what you think and you know what, I'm gonna go for the thing I wanted to go for, because nobody, it doesn't really matter. Like,

LB Dunbar: Yeah.

Laura Yamin: it's like in owning your life and owning your choices, like I own, I'm like, I don't have kids.

I am child free by choice and I like my life the way it is and I, I don't wanna have a relationship and I'm actually fine with that. And

LB Dunbar: Right.

Laura Yamin: choice that I was able to, I think the confidence that I'm able to make that choice now, and it can change at any moment.

LB Dunbar: Sure.

Laura Yamin: confidence comes, for that entering that [00:05:00] era where it's like, no we're just like, we're okay with just being different.

We're okay with our life choices and we're okay with making decisions for us. That works for us,

LB Dunbar: yeah, I I think the other thing too for me is that actually happened to me like when I was 35. I went back to school when I was 45. I wrote my first. Novel, so it's like as things are always changing, and actually then when I was 50, I quit my day job

Laura Yamin: Yeah.

LB Dunbar: to write full time. So, I mean, there's always things that are happening.

And like you just said, like making decisions for yourself that, really just fit what you want. I mean, I'm married, I have four children. I'm even a grandmother, but they're still. Ways that you kind of get lost in that and you have to do things for yourself. So, and that's why I write

Laura Yamin: I love this and I love the fact we're writing for older characters and I think the, what we grew up watching was very different from what we are seeing now.

[00:06:00] When you think about the Golden Girls and like,

LB Dunbar: yes.

Laura Yamin: to live in the Golden Girls community with my friends. Like that's my aspiration. But obviously TV made it seem like that space. But like even looking back, I remember watching First Wife's Club and be like, I was smarted with First Wife Club like in my teenage years. And now I'm like, yeah, that's totally fine. You're like totally stand, wonder forties like first wife. Like you just do, you don't marry again.

Like what is going on. And I think it's like media is looking differently, we're looking different.

LB Dunbar: Right.

Laura Yamin: Our, we wanna live longer, but we wanna live a quality of life, a longer quality of life, and we're investing that time of like, whatever that's gonna look like for us and we're getting healthier.

That's the hope that we're getting healthier. Yeah.

LB Dunbar: Well, I'm from the Gen X generation and we. We are really a different crowd and the biggest thing I think for us is, has been menopause. We're super vocal about it because we were raised [00:07:00] where nobody ever talked about anything that you're going to go through. And we're kind of mad. We're mad that we didn't know that this is what was gonna happen to us.

So, yeah, I mean, I, golden Girls is such a good example because I am, I'm like the same age as some of those women were in that show.

Laura Yamin: Yeah.

LB Dunbar: I would hope that look like them.

Laura Yamin: No, you

Like, 49,

LB Dunbar: I know, but those poor women looked ancient in that program. And I just think, yeah, I mean, I think that we're just, I think we're so much more informed now, like you said too about health, like making healthy choices for yourself physically, but also mentally too. Like we're just, we're not willing to take what people in the past took.

So that's what I love. I mean, I love female empowerment. I really do. And I feel, and I'm, like I said, gen X, I'm from that generation [00:08:00] where like we were taught a certain way, but then as we got older, we were like, we're not doing that. We're not gonna live our lives that way. So it's been it's really exciting to put that in my characters.

Laura Yamin: GI React Millennial. So I'm 81, and so now we're talking about hormones, perimenopause, and that space, like it's pretty common. I used to talk with my friends about babies and like weddings and stuff, and now we're just like, okay, are you in the, which HRT are you? What are you planning? Are you in the GP one?

Like what are you doing? Like we're getting too, like, we don't wanna suffer. And I think.

LB Dunbar: Right.

Laura Yamin: Restoration paved the way for us to be like, we don't wanna suffer this,

LB Dunbar: yeah.

Laura Yamin: more open to talk about it and be more open to have a conversation about like, what the fuck is going on?

LB Dunbar: Yeah exactly. Because I think whether you've had children or not, I mean, we've been cursed our whole lives with having a period and then all of a sudden it's like everything just goes outta whack. And the sad part is it's not just [00:09:00] for a little while, like it goes outta whack for like years.

Laura Yamin: and doctors don't know what the fuck they're doing.

LB Dunbar: Yeah.

Laura Yamin: Like you're just like, I'm just like a Petri dish or like a research of trying like, oh, this is what's working. Can you check this? I literally, I have PCOS and I'm happy to share that. And I go see endocrinologist and the is like, Hey, you might be in perimenopausal, so you kind of have to go to the gynecologist to check your hormones because

LB Dunbar: Yeah.

Laura Yamin: already whack from that early, from the past 30 years, and now we're just gonna act another change,

LB Dunbar: now we're just gonna add exactly, add another stage of torture.

Laura Yamin: Yeah. It's

LB Dunbar: It's fine. Apparently we grow out of it. I'm still I'm still not there yet, but apparently we grow out of it.

Laura Yamin: like puberty,

LB Dunbar: yes. It's almost as bad. I feel like

Laura Yamin: yeah. But that's the good news is that we now, we got a generation to talk about it. We got future generations for very outspoken who will talk about this, [00:10:00] oversharing the internet about it. And so we're not alone. So thank you for pivoting that way.

LB Dunbar: You are welcome. You're so welcome.

Laura Yamin: Awesome. All right, so let's talk about some Christmas recommendations.

And I think Christmas Romans is our great little treat because they allow you to escape from the terrible things. And at the same time, to have a little bit of holiday spirit, a little bit of Romans, a little bit of this, a little bit of that. It's so great. So why did you decide to write a Christmas Romans? And I think you have written a couple Christmas ruins,

LB Dunbar: Well,

Laura Yamin: you know.

LB Dunbar: The funny part is that. I used to, I, I don't as much now, but I used to hate Christmas. I, like I said, mother four and I worked full time and I was also writing all night long and I just could not stay on the holidays. I really couldn't. And then this was actually, I think this is my fourth year writing a Christmas book.

So four years ago, I, it was April. [00:11:00] And I like had this idea to write about like a really. Grumpy woman who hates Christmas. And again, I don't know why it was April, I'm pretty sure it was like a, I know for a fact it was a palette cleanser though. I was like, I'm just gonna write this silly little novella called Scroogish about this woman who works for a department store and she just hates Christmas.

And I love. I love sort of like retellings of stories. So for Scrooge, because in a Christmas Carol, you get the ghost of Christmas, past, present, and future. This woman goes through three things. She has a reunion, which she meets her past, which is an old boyfriend in the present. They hang out together, of course, and then she sees what the future could potentially be for her because she does have an ailing mother in the storyline.

And I. Had so much fun writing that book. I was like, you know what? I'm gonna write a Christmas book [00:12:00] every year just for me, because I wasn't really sure. I wasn't really sure if people would like this book. And it did do really well and I, I was so motivated that the following year in July. I wrote the next one, and then each year I've just written anoth another, actually, this year I have two Christmas books coming out.

So Elf-ish is the, probably the main one that you reached out about. But I also have one called the Holiday Post. So I feel like this year I had like a double dose of writing holiday books in like June, July and August. So, but I still love them. I just, I don't know, they literally like bring me joy to the point that when I wrote Screw Juice, he was the grump.

And then now when I wrote Elfish, she's all like loves Christmas and he's the one who can't stand it. So I've changed myself as well.

Laura Yamin: I love this. So how did you get into Christmas food? I always ask this too. [00:13:00] author who writes holiday books, how do you get into Christmas? Very while writing this In the middle of the summer or in the winter, or like after the winter, after all the holiday luster is happening. Do you listen to music?

Do you like, like have some seasonal traits or something related, how do you get into spirit to this energy?

LB Dunbar: then, I don't I don't actually listen to the Christmas music in like, the spring and summer. But like I told like I told you. For Scrooge. It's very much like a Christmas Carol. So I just kind of took that storyline and I was like, how would I, how could I modernize it, I guess, in a sense?

And then even even the next book, which is Naish, I mean, it was just the same thing. I just had like all these things that I had seen at Christmas time and I was like, that's so romantic. It would make such a great. Fit so nicely in a romance of all the holidays. And then Grouches, we were just talking about the 12 days of Christmas [00:14:00] and Grouches actually takes place starting on the 26th and going to January 6th, which are the official 12 days of Christmas.

And I used the 12 days of Christmas, the song, and then I just. Put all these modern twists like her name is pear and so she is she's a partridge on a pear farm. And I just have other fun, like little quirky things that played off the song. So that's really it is I just take something that's very Christmas related and then try to turn it around for Elfish, which is coming out November 1st, and this case.

He is very much like Scrooge and I always think to myself like, did Scrooge just change for one day? Like he wakes up from seeing those ghosts and then he's all like, happy, Merry Christmas, everybody. He makes amends, but does he stay that way? And so Elfish is kind of based on that.

Like how does this modern man who's very [00:15:00] grinchy, very scrooge, how does he kind of change himself? The one twist is that in a Christmas, Carol ESER Scrooge, he never gets a girl. He lost the girl. That's part of his, like visiting the past, is that he lost a girl. And so in Elfish, he's determined that he's not going to lose the girl.

He's going to get her. So, yeah, I just use, again, I just use like something that's very Christmas themed and just go from there with it.

Laura Yamin: I love this. I love this. I'm excited for reading Elfish for sure. And the next one, the 12 days of Christmas, because obviously. January 6th is still the epiphany. That's where we get

LB Dunbar: Yeah.

Laura Yamin: And Puerto Rico, we get the G, we're supposed to get the gifts on the which is the three Kings Day. And

LB Dunbar: Okay.

Laura Yamin: Santa Claus was supposed to give you a little bit of different things like just like one or two things, but like the real gifts, 'cause they're obviously the whole thing.

The story is that the three kings visit Jesus and

LB Dunbar: Right,

Laura Yamin: bring all this gifts and that's where the gifts come. It's not [00:16:00] Santa Claus, but you know,

LB Dunbar: right, right.

Laura Yamin: cognize things so.

LB Dunbar: Well, that's just it too. So, so the second book in my series is Naughty ish, and it's actually based on Nick

Laura Yamin: Yeah.

LB Dunbar: Has like a slight hint that he might be Saint Nicholas and related to the Santa Claus family. And that was a lot of fun too, 'cause just putting in like.

The tradition is to put out your shoes and you get like a little something before the holiday actually starts and stuff. So,

Laura Yamin: Yeah.

LB Dunbar: yeah. And then the holiday post. Full on reference that this guy is Santa Claus. And he's 50 and he gets stranded in a small town and he has to be a reluctant roommate with a woman.

And that book was just so fun because, I mean, I wrote so many hints that he could be Santa without ever saying he's Santa Claus. So.

Laura Yamin: Yes, and we love a good Santa Claus novel. [00:17:00] So, that's a really big niche. Like that's a niche that is with a niche that it's very popular. Like there's a whole thing about, getting it on with Santa Claus

LB Dunbar: yes. I will totally admit that. Like a few years ago I stumbled across a book and that was it. Like Santa Claus had come to visit this woman and they. Get down that night and I was like, this is awesome. Like, make Santa Sexy as an older guy and just, yeah. So, I'm definitely all about it now.

Laura Yamin: I love this. All right, so let's chat some book recommendations. What kind of books do you tend to read? Are you like a Romans reader or do you read other genres like nonfiction, thrillers? You name it,

LB Dunbar: I pretty much only read romance. I did go through a little bit of a phase where I read. Whereas some thrillers, but I'm pretty particular because I don't really like the gore. I like more of the mystery behind a thriller. But I do very much read romance [00:18:00] exclusively. And let's see, my current read right now, I am actually reading the other books.

In the Hideaway Harbor, which is where the holiday post is. That book is in that series. So I'm kind of inundated with Christmas books right now, but I really love cowboy books. Oh, I wish I, I am, I'm a city girl through and through, but like, I wish I could write a cowboy book 'cause I love to read them so much.

Laura Yamin: Yeah. I love this. Do you have any books to record from our listeners to pick out?

LB Dunbar: Well from from Hideaway Harbor, which is the book where the holiday post, is part of, I would recommend the Holiday Whoopi. That's the one that I just finished by Sarah L. Hudson. I loved this book. It was so fun, so packed with like cheesy Christmas stuff. But I also, I like told her I loved her sex scenes.

They were like beautiful. So I [00:19:00] highly recommend that.

Between the Pines.

Laura Yamin: Amber Duncan, I think it is the I read that one. That was

LB Dunbar: okay. I loved that one. That I felt like that was like my next cowboy one after of course reading Jessica Peterson after of course reading Elsie Silver. So

Laura Yamin: Yeah,

LB Dunbar: yeah, that's probably like my most recent my most recent cowboy one that I've read.

Laura Yamin: I love this. I finished reading Maggie Gates, dust Storm and

LB Dunbar: Oh, Uhhuh. Yeah.

Laura Yamin: That was really good. I think the second one is a rodeo. It's a little bit like you, you get the hint of what's going on in the second one,

LB Dunbar: Okay.

Laura Yamin: grumpy guy who's like, I don't wanna be fixed. And she's like, happy go lucky. Like just. care in the world. He is like, I don't want do, and she's like, no, I'm still gonna work here. And it's like this perfect match of grumpy sunshine. I think it's the storm. I think that's the one that I'm talking

LB Dunbar: Okay.

Laura Yamin: for. So, but yeah, cover Ruins is our, are a delight to read as a city person through and through two,

LB Dunbar: Yeah. [00:20:00] Yeah.

Laura Yamin: so.

LB Dunbar: Yeah.

Laura Yamin: Awesome. LV tell us where you can find out why.

LB Dunbar: Well, I'm old, so I'm mainly still on Facebook. But you can also find me on Instagram. I do have a website. It's just my name, so www.lb dumbar.com. I'm pretty rarely on TikTok, I admit. But I do go over there and like poke around. So, but Facebook's really the best place still to find me.

Laura Yamin: Awesome. Thank you all for being in the show.

LB Dunbar: You are welcome. Thank you so much for having me. I love talking about Christmas, so this was super exciting.

Laura Yamin: Awesome.

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