S. Massery

Laura: [00:00:00] Hi, Sarah. Welcome to What to Read Next Podcast.

Sara: Thank you so much for having me.

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

Sara: So my name is Sarah. I write as S Mastery. I write dark, spicy, new adult romance and kind of dabble in an array of sub genres. I have some reverse harem, some sports, some mafia, some bully. It kind of runs the gamut, but dark and spicy is my go to.

Laura: Yes. And it has all the triggers.

Sara: Yes, pretty much everything does. Yeah.

Laura: going to watch everything. As I was telling you, I was like, I'm reading the latest release and I'm like, the first page, it tells you like, here are the triggers. So don't be surprised. And then once I started reading it, you're like, oh yeah, these are real, these are triggers.

Laura: Yes it's really permanent here. So,

Sara: Yeah, the pucking coach's daughter goes dark pretty fast.

Laura: it does. And so the Pucking's Coat of Zotter [00:01:00] is, is it white shoes? It's sort of, but

Sara: is. Yeah, it's a reverse high rim,

Laura: Okay I, this is like my first harem, the first, you know, so I was like, I don't know, because they don't talk to each other, what, they talk to each other, they kind of do, like, it's just but there's multiple love interests, there's three book boyfriends, as it says in the dedication,

Sara: Yes.

Laura: And there's a little bit of, I text you it's not your typical white shoes in that sense of the old best friends forever.

Sara: Right, yeah. One is a rival from a rival school, and then the other two are teammates. So, it's an interesting dynamic from the start, but They come together. Haha. And make it work.

Laura: let's try to actually do a little bit of pitch for the parking coach's daughter, parking coach's daughter. Let's do a little bit of pitch and then we'll talk a little bit about it and talk about your backlist and stuff.

Sara: So, it is as the name suggests, about the coach's daughter. She goes to a rival school to start. And she [00:02:00] does something kind of bad right in the beginning. And she gets in hot water with not only the rival school, but also her school. And she ends up having to go to this rival school the following year where everybody knows what she did and everybody does not like her because of it.

Sara: So she's automatically kind of an outcast. She stands out and she's caught the attention of the hockey captain and the goalie. And they are out to make her life miserable. While being aware that, she's their coach's daughter. And there's also her ex who goes to that rival school that she left and He's more of a stalker.

Sara: He's not quite a bully, so he just kind of hangs in there. He's like, I'm not letting you go just because you left me. So, you get an interesting dynamic there. And, there's some bad guys and some suspense and some spice.

Laura: Yeah. There's a little bit of everything. I think this is perfect. It's, yes, it's dark and yes, it's dark. I think it reminiscent of like what we [00:03:00] would think of the eighties and nineties. Moments where there's a lot of non consent, not consent, and all type of consent situation happening.

Sara: A whole mix.

Laura: we're a whole mix.

Laura: It's if you take it back to that part of like, old school romance, and the same time, like, dark, what we now see is dark romance. It is, and there's kidnapping, attempted kidnapping, fight club, bullying. Violence, there's.

Sara: And eventually it'll be, there's a found family aspect of it, which she really needs to, which is nice to see that come together.

Laura: And so it's a, and it has a little bit of hockey. So what else can you ask? Like, yeah.

Sara: had to throw some hockey in there. It's my favorite sport, so

Laura: Yeah.

Sara: can't be anything else.

Laura: it has everything that you look for. And this episode is going to come out at the end of the week. So the book will be out and it will be in the limited. So feel free to borrow it. But before that, I know, is this part of a series or is this a standalone?

Sara: It's a total standalone, so there's no other book that goes with it.

Laura: Even better.[00:04:00]

Sara: One and done.

Laura: want to dive. So after this book. They should check out your previous Dark Hockey Woman series, so let's talk about that series because, we're still in the hockey era.

Sara: Oh, absolutely. We are in our hockey era forever. So that is the Hockey God series. Book one is Brutal Obsession. I would say it's probably on par with the Puck and Coach's Daughter in terms of darkness but it's just MF. So, You have Grayson and Violet and what a tangled web they weave together.

Sara: So I quite enjoy their story. She's a ballerina and he is the new superstar transfer into her school hockey player. So they immediately don't get along.

Laura: I am excited. I do actually own the audio, so I did, I am excited to listen to this one. Not

Sara: Teddy Hamilton does a great job as Grayson. He really brings it with the dark boys.

Laura: Yes, oh, I'm excited. Yeah, I actually, this will [00:05:00] be a daytime buff to read, just because. Trigger warnings and galore, but this will be a daytime while I'm at work, as I was telling you, I was seeking some pages while I was at work today. I was like, I just need to know more because the best way to describe this is like, I don't know why I'm reading, but I just know I need to, I cannot stop reading this.

Laura: And this is like, the best feeling when you find a book that you just can't stop reading. You just want to know to keep the pages turning. So it is definitely like very plotty, very driven, and just there's a twist and turns and you're just like, I'm sure you're just like your main character trying to figure out like what the fuck is happening here.

Sara: That's my favorite part.

Laura: Yes. So, writing this book, like, how do you get in the headspace just to go and then, not just the headspace, do you plot it out, do you plan it, or do you just, like, just uncover as you write it, as you get through it?

Sara: The only thing I generally know at least a little bit of is the suspense [00:06:00] plotline. But as far as the romance, I come up with That inciting incident usually first, and then it's just a wild ride from there. But yeah, as long as I know who the bad guy is there, there are a few books where the bad guy surprises me like it's just been a mystery throughout the whole book and then there's a reveal and I was like, I didn't even see that one coming but I like it too because then I get surprised and it's like I'm reading along with you guys.

Laura: Oh my gosh, I love this. And so, you mentioned you also have Mafia and other genres, so after we've done Wakaki, where else can we go next from your backlist?

Sara: If you like Reverse Harem or White Shoes and want to stick in that vein, I have Sterling Falls, which is a four book series. And that is like a gothic romance. There's a lot of Greek mythology influence, which is my favorite thing besides hockey. So it's kind of its own little world and lots of twists and turns.

Sara: There's a masquerade fight club called [00:07:00] Olympus. Everything kind of ties back to Greek mythology. Or if you like mafia, I have a DeSantis mafia series that is just MF. It's not as dark as my hockey. And I also have a Fallen Royals, the Fallen Royals series. It's currently pulled down. But it will be relaunching this year.

Sara: It's a six book series. The first three will come out this year. Again they're getting new covers. They got new content. It's Dark High School Bully. He, Caleb is my original bully. So, he kind of inspired Grayson, who's in Brutal Obsession. And every bad guy I've written since.

Laura: Oh my gosh, I can't wait. So that's what we expect from you,

Sara: Yeah, it is. After the Puck and Coach's daughter yeah, I think the three of Fallen Royals will be next, and then I'll be hitting you with more MF hockey, and then we'll get into a spinoff of Sterling Falls. So, busy schedule.

Laura: You gotta keep [00:08:00] writing. Oh my God.

Sara: There's so much writing. It's fine.

Laura: Were you a woman's reader before you started writing or were you a writer? What kind of reading do you read?

Sara: big romance reader. And I also liked the occasional thriller, which I feel like you might be able to like, tell in my writing. But yeah, I was big, I mean in high school, it was all the YA stuff. I was the person in school who would, if the teacher like paused for a second, I would pull out my book and start reading.

Sara: Which they probably hated. I don't know. And yeah, just continued reading through college when I got the chance, and I always tried to write, and I felt like I didn't have a good enough story until I finally had, like, the idea, and it carried me through and it proved to me that I could write a book, and I was on my way from there.

Laura: Oh my gosh, I'm excited. And so, what kind of books do you recommend our listeners to pick up after reading all of your books and going through,

Sara: I'm a big fantasy reader, so I don't really have any [00:09:00] recommendations, like, in my same vein, I would say.

Laura: That's

Sara: My book bestie Elthorpe has a new reverse harem trilogy coming out soon. So if you like RH, check her out. Her St. View stuff is great. And Jo Lee Vines is another really good author. She writes Scottish romances.

Sara: She has some darker stuff. She has some lighter stuff. Those two are really good. But if you like fantasy, I would recommend Laura Thalassa. she is my favorite. Her Bargainer series, I have a whole shelf. I have way too many copies of that book. The four books. So I would recommend her. If you need a little say, spice in your life.

Laura: Yes. We always need a little face spice. It's like a good power planter. Just add a, add a little world building, add a little face, add a little spice, a little bit of more and everything between.

Sara: Exactly. Exactly. And I've never met, well, I wouldn't say met. I've never read someone who'd write a bad guy [00:10:00] as well as she does. Like, I don't know. My skin was crawling and the bargainer series her bad guys are so good and I'm in a bad way

Laura: yeah. Yes.

Sara: yeah, give me the heebie

Laura: yes. I love this. I have to add this, bump it up for the fantasy. I think fantasy is gonna be this fall, it feels like a fantasy period. Dark, thriller, spooky whore, everything in between. And maybe

Sara: hundred percent.

Laura: Call power cleansers, cozy mysteries. You just gotta like, just the mood. So, but yeah. Sarah, tell us, you can find out why

Sara: My website is smassery. com. Most of my handles are author smassery Instagram and Facebook, and then TikTok is just smassery. And you'll find me posting the occasional teaser there, probably sometimes earlier than everywhere else. Cause

Laura: stuff. So thank you Sarah. Putting a show.

Sara: absolutely. Thanks for having me.