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

Hey, thank you So much for having me.

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

Well my name is Allie and I am a high heat contemporary romance author with a little bit into the darkish, not But darkish. for my day job, I do a lot of content and copywriting and willing Pray is my debut novel.

I love this. I was telling you, I was like it's the perfect season to listen to, to read this book or listen to this book because it's a little bit, it's darker, but it's not the dark of trauma. It's the darker of. Of survival and exploring kinks. Exploring things are just basically, that we may have and it's an awakening that you have and it's kinda like fun because there's the touch of what it'll feel like a touch of horror of being chased and being like, like running in the woods and you just dunno what's gonna happen. But there's also the safety of being a Romans where we know the characters are gonna be a alive. At the end,

Yes. Yeah.

Which in horror is not a guarantee. There's gonna be a happily thereafter, but they're gonna be alive. They're gonna make it too.

they will. They will survive till the end of the book, I swear.

Yeah. They're gonna survive, which I think it's comforting for someone who may be diving into more of the darker tones in that area. This might be like a good bridge book even, So talk to us about Willing Pray. Yeah. Talk to us about Willing Pray.

okay, so willing prey is basically for anyone who isn't familiar with the concept of the story. It is, we have a. 40-year-old lawyer who is experiencing a midlife kink awakening. His name is Shane. And he has discovered he has this interest in this kink primal play. Which in his case it would involve like hunting someone through the woods like sexually. And he is very obsessed with trying this new kink, and he is very obsessed with trying it with his coworker's, ex-wife Claire. Claire is in need of money to pay off her student loan debts. So Shane's let's make this simple. I'm a lawyer. We're gonna draw up a contract. This is gonna be a business arrangement. I get to chase you through the woods for 30 days in exchange for $30,000. Then they do that and it's supposed to be business, but of course, because it's a romance novel, they fall in love along the way and they have to sort

Yeah.

and kind of navigate, how do we go from, this was just supposed to be a transactional relationship with an expiration date on it to now making this like a full-time relationship. Like a real relationship.

Yeah, it takes the idea where we people may like the fake data, the MER convenience idea. We're not gonna catch feelings that trope, but it in a darker tone in a kink place that is safe. And it gives you the idea like, we're here for a contract, essentially. The me, the ideal merit and convenience. We're here for a contract, we're trying to get the money. And then you realize holy crap, we have feelings. But even at the beginning you start realizing it's no. There might be something here. Like we, we start off with Claire just coming to the house and we're not sure what is happening. This is like the first chapter

Yeah.

then within 10% we see oh no, there's a click. I think these are perfect match to each other.

Yeah.

Which is exciting for the reader to know, like we can prove for them and it's gonna be a fun ride, which it is a fun ride from the beginning.

thank you.

Yeah.

No, that was what was really fun to write was Shane's character. 'cause I have such a. Soft spot in romance for like male female pairings. When you have like maybe the male character who because of like toxic masculinity, he hasn't gotten to explore this emotional side of himself and he is kind of had to always be reserved and maybe wasn't super confident, like sharing his emotions. And he is also never stopped and like really sat with his feelings and thought what do I think about this? So he has all these feelings towards Claire and he just takes them straight to sexual because he just. Hasn't worked through his emotions enough to feel like oh, I also do like her as a person too. Like I do, like there is a romantic relationship here too. So his character was really fun to write as he kind of like he's having a kink awakening, but he is also having a, getting in touch with his emotions and his softer side awakening as he

Yeah.

fun.

Yeah. It's kind of like fun. I was like I always like an it's a red flag in real life, but an obsessed hero

yes,

who's I'm gonna find everything I know about this lady that I have sort of intrigued and then I'm gonna go and show up and like the star soccer light, tendencies.

Yeah, exactly. You're like, how can I make this? It's in real life we would be like, oh no, this is boundary crossing. This isn't good. But I was like, but can we make it kind of cute like in here?

Yeah.

look the other way and make it kind of sweet, like

Yeah it's oh you, the red flags are there. And yet I'm like, well, I'm here for it. It's friction.

Yes, exactly.

So, so Ali, talk to us about like the writing process. 'cause this originally was self-published and then it just got picked up by a traditional publish. What was the process like? Because obviously self-publishing is basically building your own business and sharing your work and then. Then transitioning over to, Hey, this is actually gonna get picked up by a publisher and it's gonna have all this other extra stuff that you may not have thought of the beginning, we're not ready for it.

No, it. was a really just a neat experience to get to see both sides of it. And going forward, I do hope to be like hybrid, like a foot in each camp. And starting with the self-publishing was really fun because I got to do myself in terms of editing and formatting and like the original cover, like I made that. And so it was just a very. experience. And I originally, when I started, I hadn't thought about traditional publishing as an option for it just because I do like the hands-on ness of self-publishing. Is what I'm gonna do and I'm gonna learn and 'cause it was first book out, I was like, I'm gonna learn how to market. 'cause you don't expect to come out of the gate and things like you have to learn things. It's like anything else you learn by doing. and I was like, oh, I'm gonna figure out how to market and find my readership and all this and it's going to be, really fun. And then as I got going, it was wonderful 'cause readers got really excited for it. And as readers got excited for it, it got a little bit more traction. And that's how I organically met my agent was just like, through readers, like recommended it. She was like, oh, this is really fun. Would you ever wanna try taking this try? And I was like, okay, sure, let's try it. It wasn't something I had planned on, but I really like her. She's lovely. And it sounded exciting. and so we were like, let's give this a whirl. And then we took it out and Berkeley picked it up and always nervous of every single new thing, like being on the podcast, like doing anything. And so I was super nervous, like going into that. But the transition of taking it from being an indie book and expanding it and now going into the trad side has been really great. It's been just as exciting, just as fun and something that was really neat about it that I hadn't thought. I just hadn't considered it being like a possibility was how much fun it is to have other people like excited about your book with you, When you're indie, like you have a community of like authors helping you, but we're working together on separate projects, like towards our same goal. So it was like we're, it was just very different to now be like, oh, there's like a graphic designer working on my books cover and all this. It was just really neat to just meet new people and see them be excited about this project too.

Yeah, I am excited for the book, finding new readers and to discover it and it's, which is not like a neat thing about it, but I love the idea of going to transition, going to build it on your own and then be like, well, maybe some other. Like I can have assistant and have other people rooting for it and seeing the success, even growing and having a career. But I was very excited too when I got the pitch for this book. I was like, well this is interesting. I haven't seen this kinda, this kind of book, traditional publish. And I was like, oh, this is exciting. And then when I read, I was. Oh, this is perfect. For what we need and especially when it's getting publish, when it's getting traditional published, which is in the fall where we are trying to do like spooky season and like thrillers and Dark Jones. And I think this is a good kind of like fall book. I know we look at the cozy and the Gomo girls, but sometimes we just need a little darker space. And so talk to us about your reading taste, like you, kind of, what kind of books do you tend to gravitate?

Oh gosh. I read every single genre, but my favorite are romance and horror. I think just because I like the extremes of emotions and romance, you have a lot of the extremes of oh, this is like the high. Like everyone's in love and like even if it's a dark romance manion, you're getting a happy ending. Like they're gonna end up happy together. And it's

Yeah.

these big feelings. And then. horror for the same reason. 'cause it's like we have big feelings, but they are terrified feelings and everyone may not be okay at the end.

Yeah.

like the way they're very similar in some ways, but also opposites.

Yeah. I love this idea of seeing those book in some way reflected when I, and I was like green. I was like, oh, it's, it has the chasing, it has the space, but the romance part, as I said at the beginning, it makes you feel like, oh, they're gonna be alive.

Exactly.

you're gonna have big feelings, but they're gonna be alive. Well in, we don't know. We cannot get it to attach to the characters because they may just. Be on live, so,

I don't wanna like you too much. 'cause I don't know where you're going.

no. So talk to us about some book recommendations. Like which ones would you recommend listeners to pick up after reading Will and Pray and waiting for your next release. What they can try out. You know

well some ones

I

have to recommend. And now they are like tonally, some of them are different from Willing Pray, Like. As I tie in aspects, I think it'll make sense. You could stop me if it

Yeah.

sense. One of the ones I had mentioned to you before was Little Deaths by NEA Campbell. And that is an erotic bromance, but it.

Yeah.

have a happy ending, which isn't a spoiler

Yeah.

the happy ending going in. But it is a lot darker. You've got dub Con, you've got Non-Con and you've also got an ex horror actress who she's in her forties, which I love. That was one of the things I really wanted to do with Willing Prey was like bringing these characters who are like 35 and.

Yes.

and give like us middle aged people like some, excitement. Let us have some representation there. And that's something I really love about this book is you have this she's an ex horror actress and she's just so done with Hollywood and everything. They've put her through as a woman there. so when these creepy kind of weird things start happening to her, she's very, how can I come out ahead of this? I'm going to make. Best of this and survive the situation. I don't wanna give away spoilers, but it's just, it's very thriller. It's fast paced all the way, beginning again. Perfect. Spooky season read.

Oh my gosh, I am so excited for this one so much. 'cause I was like, I need a little bit. I am dabbling into horror. I've been dabbling into, after reading Romans for almost 10 years, like ex. Exclusively I, and then I was like, no, I need to, the husband needs to do it, reading the popcorn, thrillers, the mysteries, the Christie's. And so I need a and now I'm like, oh, maybe I can drive into horror, like dive into a little bit more in that place. 'Cause I do, even though most of my reading looks like rom-coms and like fun things, I actually liked the darker tones too. The darker romance to explore. Things that I normally wouldn't work like again, the red flags galore

Yes.

I'm like, and I'm like, okay, but I'm here for it, oh, he killed someone on the side. It's not a big deal.

That you're like, it's okay 'cause it's fiction, like we're

It's fiction. It's okay.

Yes. No, I

Awesome.

so fun too. And something I really love about like romance and dark romance is you see that full range. Like you can go from like baby red flags to like, okay, you've got Shane who's. Watching Claire in the coffee shop, it's Ooh, that's boundary crossing. But it's not really scary to like these ones who are like, I have put a tracker in your car and I'm following you everywhere you go.

Yes.

how you get that full range depending on what you read in the genre.

Yes. Awesome. So, Allie, tell us where you can find your lie.

Oh, you can find me online@olender.me is my website, and that's probably the best way because it links you to every other possible thing. I'm also Ally dot Olender at. Instagram and Threads and on TikTok, but I am never on TikTok 'cause it scares me. So,

It is okay. It is okay. Thank you, Ali, for being on the show.

thank you so much for having me. It was so great to chat with you.

Thanks for joining me on this episode of the What to Read Next podcast. If you enjoy our bookish conversations and want more recommendations, don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode. Also, head and over to the whattoreadnext blog for a list of books mentioned in today's show. Happy reading.