Well, I’m a little behind on keeping up the blog, because Hot Mess actually came out months ago. But, here we are, and and I wanted to share a little bit of the behind the scenes for this one like I’ve done for my other three rom coms.
Hot Mess was one of the easier books that I’ve written and I think it’s because it was book four and the second in a series. Once I’d built the world for Love Unleashed, and created the characters that live in it, all I needed to do was shift perspective, move into the future a bit, and then tell the story of the next pair: Gigi and Cade.
Here’s a sneak peek at some of the tropes in Hot Mess: Forced proximity, forbidden love, dual POV, he falls first (and hard), lots of secrets, and much more.
Writing Process: Hot Mess
Something happened before writing this book that also made it a lot more fun to write than some of my past books. It’s kind of a funny story. After Love Unleashed was published, I started to get some reader reviews saying my characters were emotionally immature, etc., Well, first, find me a rom com (movie or book) where that isn’t the case. In fact, I’m pretty sure the baseline for any romantic comedy is characters who bumble their way through falling in love. But, second, that happens to be what brings a lot of the “com” in the “rom com”. The more the characters struggle with the process of falling in love and embarrass themselves, the more hilarious the story becomes.
So, as I saw some of these reviews coming in, it really lit a fire in me. Because, honestly, I was using restraint in my other books when making my characters ridiculous. I was actually holding back. There were ideas I almost wrote, but then I said, no–let’s give these characters a little more decorum. Just a little. A hint.
When it came to Hot Mess, I used no such restraint. Some reviewers wanted to complain about my characters emotional immaturity? Well, then I was going to give them a real Hot Mess. And that’s where the title of the book came from and why I decided to write Gigi and Cade’s love story the way that I did. Of course, I had already introduced both of them in the first book of the series and I had planned for them to both be living a life full of secrets. But, when I sat down to flesh out the story, I just went for it. Mermaid storyline? Check. Hilarious coffee making scene? Check. Constant near misses? Check. A ridiculously bumpy ride to falling in love? Check. Check. Check.
And, ironically, it’s been my most popular book written to date. People really resonated with the characters. They fell in love with both of these ridiculous characters as they make all the mistakes in falling in love. But, love finds a way, because we’re all human, we all deserve love, even if it’s a total hot mess.
I’m so proud of how this book turned out, because for me – it represents how I just wrote what I felt was right for the characters and not what I thought people would want to read. When I wrote my first book, Miss Indecisive, I wasn’t sure if I’d ever finish the book, let alone release it, so I wrote with a similar stream of consciousness flow. It’s the most fun way to write a book, in my opinion, because you just get totally enraptured in the story, sucked in by the characters, and surprised by how things go.
When I start to write, I have a loose outline of the story and some character sketches for the main characters and then I just run with it. That means there are a lot of things that happen in the books that even I didn’t see coming. The scenes play like a movie in my mind and I just write as fast as I can to keep up. Not sure if that’s how other authors write their stories too, but that’s definitely what happens for me.
Hot Mess: Reviews
The reviews for Hot Mess have been amazing. Most readers have really connected with the characters. It’s hard to see someone tank so badly and not see a little bit of yourself in them. And, if you’ve really never acted like a fool when falling hard for someone, you might at least appreciate the humor in seeing it go that way for another (pretend) person.
Here are some of my favorite reviews for the book:
It’s hilarious and sexy and fun from start to finish. The twists and turns throughout this book are so well done and I love that it ties back to her first book, Love Unleashed. Highly recommended, don’t miss it! – Scarlett
I went into this book expecting it to be like every other romance book but, boy was I wrong!!! I was genuinely interested in knowing what happened next and I HAD to know how it ended. From family dynamics to drama to secrets. I was eating up every bit of it. I absolutely loved the humor in this book too; no joke, there were times where I was chuckling at the banter. See what I did there? I’m happy I picked this book, not to mention that the cover is adorable! It was a 5 star read for me. I also enjoyed that it was set during modern times. I breezed through every page. HIGHLY recommend!! 🙂 – Nena
Gigi and Cade are definitely a hot mess ????. These two have so much chemistry, but Gigi’s brother has put a hard NO on that! But with the forced proximity situation, things heats up! These two want to make it work, but are keeping so much of themselves from each other as well as their families. I was thoroughly intrigued by their side hustles that the author came up with! So original! And hilarious (aka Cade ????). They both had a lot of growing up to do in the story, and I’m happy that Gigi realized her insecurities and took ownership of them. I’m not a huge fan of second act break ups, but I think Gigi needed it to show growth. – DelightfullyBooked
This was a fun read. I had a good time reading it. Definitely swoony with a pinch of spice. Gigi and Cade were attracted to each other at first meeting. A year later both ended up in circumstances that led them to stay at her brother’s house. This forced proximity challenged their self-control. Both also had to deal with the secrets they kept regarding their work situations. Not to mention the roadblocks both their brothers set-up trying to prevent them from getting involved with each other. While Gigi was pretty confident in her own skin, Cade was more lost, avoiding figuring it out for himself, and instead trying to fit into the role his family wanted him to play. “I feel like I live at that intersection of what I want and what everybody else wants.” There were some pretty fun and funny moments in the story, and definitely some very swoony ones courtesy of their strong attraction to each other. – Jenny
If you’re interested in checking it out for yourself, here’s a link to Hot Mess.
What’s Next?
Well, I was working on book three in the Capitola Crushes series when I hit a major writing block. Not only that, but I needed to dedicate more time to my other work (that actually pays the bills), due to some changes in our family. This meant that I wasn’t working on a book for the first time in a year.
But then, something happened. Inspiration struck, just not in the way I was expecting. The result? My upcoming magical Christmas romance, Merry Switchmas. Check it out here.
I’ll be back with another blog post soon on Merry Switchmas!
Until then, keep reading, friends.
Elise