Bookwild - Snarky Dialogue, Subversive Women and Cinematic Imagery: A Likeable Woman by May Cobb

Episode Date: August 25, 2023

This week, Gare and I talk with May Cobb about her summer thriller A Likeable Woman!Follow us on Instagram:Gare @gareindeedreadsKate @thegirlwiththecookonthecouchMay Cobb @may_cobbBooks We Talked AboutA Likeable WomanI'm Not Done With You YetA Friend in the Dark Get Bookwild MerchCheck Out My Stories Are My Religion SubstackCheck Out Author Social Media PackagesCheck out the Bookwild Community on PatreonCheck out the Imposter Hour Podcast with Liz and GregFollow @imbookwild on InstagramOther Co-hosts On Instagram:Gare Billings @gareindeedreadsSteph Lauer @books.in.badgerlandHalley Sutton @halleysutton25Brian Watson @readingwithbrian 

And we are going to be discussing all things, chills, thrills, and kills. Kate and I are going to be talking about our favorite books, TV shows, and movies that are in the thriller or crime fiction genre, as well as some reading habits and other items related to how we met on bookstagram that will fit in with this podcast. So thank you so much for joining us. And we hope that you have fun and get totally terrified. So we are continuing our fun little author tour of the summer. Yes. Today with Miss May Cobb. Yes. The sweetest cherry in Texas. That's funny. Thanks for having fun, guys. I love y'all. Oh my God. We love you. I'm so excited to talk to you. as you know

Kate and I have been like huge fans of your books since The Hunting Wives and we are so pumped to talk to you I personally want to be one of the stab cherries on the book cover of My Summer Darling's

but maybe maybe for book four it'll be like a little but today we're going to be talking about a likeable one woman. And we don't just mean May.

Yeah. The book is the likable woman. May is the lovable woman. There we go. So. Oh my God. Oh, the cover is amazing. Oh, my God. I love it. You have some people do

some really cool, like, kind of like. Amazing covers. Yeah. Like, what am I trying to say? They would like stage themselves in the pool. There's some cool, cool, like, cover. Yeah. What am I looking for it? What am I looking for it?

Like, like, like, like, like, like, doing the cover. Yeah. They recreate the covers. It's there we go. There we go. That's the word I needed. Like a roundup of all those.

I just haven't had the bandwidth, but I want to because there's been some great ones. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I wish I had a pool. Yeah. I had, I have a pool and I had a tear in my liner.

And they fixed it. And I went in the pool once. And then it, like, cooled down here enough that, like, I haven't felt the need to be, like, I haven't been hot enough to, like, actually go in the pool since it was fixed. Oh, yeah. Of course. Yeah. Like, all of July here sucked.

Like, it was so hot and humid. I would have, like, probably drowned myself. But this month, it's a little cooler than expected. But I'll take it because falls on the way. Yeah. I mean, you're in Texas. So, you're probably. It's miserable.

Yeah, it's been over 100 for like, like, I don't know, like over a month. It's awful. Yeah. I don't know how you do it. We're ready for fall here. We're continually ready for fall here, though. Yes. Yeah, always.

Yeah, we have been since May. Yeah. Yeah. So, well, one of the things I loved with a likable, woman is I felt like with the hunting wives and my summer darlings, you had that, that, you know, female cast ensemble and you had kind of like, I call it like the like thriller version of like with Syria Lane because they had these like elements that like reminded me of like the juicy gossip of desperate housewives and like some of like the darker seasons that that show

had. This one is a lot different. And. it was so good. I loved what you did with like the the dual perspective and timeline, I guess we'll say. But what was like your indication that you were going to go in the direction of the story of a likable woman? Yeah, because I mean, it is different. So I appreciate you saying that you liked it because not everyone liked that change of direction for me. And I was expecting that. And I was expecting that. But I just don't want to be like, you know, a one joke, Janet where I'm just known for like, it's porkies, but there's murder, you know, like I wanted it to be. And I love, you know, I do love like more serious thrillers. And so for this book, kind of the inspirations were Riley Saeger's Home Before Dart because of the book within a book.

Yeah. I'm the silent patient because of the, you know, the diary entries. And then the guest list because I love that it was like set over the course of a weekend. It was more closed circle. So I just, I kind of wanted to push and challenge myself to do something different. And I think probably it was also like the pandemic that this is my pandemic. And so it was probably going to be more emotional and weighty and different anyway. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Well, it still has this like, you know, it's definitely a different direction,

but it still has like the snarkiness and your pros. Like, it's very like sharp and like, you know, it's kind of like you're almost like having the cover. Like everybody has that one friend, right? That like can go back and forth with you and it's like always knows what to like say back. Like they can clap back really well. And they like kind of have that like wild personality that like will just like give it to you straight. So like I feel like that. That. I feel like that aspect of your personality, like, really shows in your writing. And, like, me personally, like, I could read a book about just your dialogue without, like, any imagery or anything like that. Because I just, like, my favorite thing about your writing is your dialogue does not ever

seem, like, one-dimensional or force. Like, I can actually hear these conversations in my head. So, you know, even though you went in, like, a different direction, I think that it's definitely something that like your readers will appreciate and like will still have that like may cobb like snarkiness that's like almost like a what were those candies that were like sour on the outside and sweet on the inside. Gob stoppers. Maybe. Yeah. Yeah. But like that's kind of like what like the writing reminds me of because it's like got that like sweetness to your characters but they're all like, they all got like a little bit of like snarkiness in them. Yeah. Yeah. Or sour patch kids. Yeah. Oh, good one. Yeah. Yeah. Well, thank you. I, yeah, I, it's funny, there was a little bit of an editorial discussion about whether

you were too snarky about stuff. And I, I just, I kind of, I dug in a little because I'm like, well, first of all, guys, like she is my most likable characters that I've come up with to date, but I still want her to have a point of view. Yeah. She's not going to waltz into her hometown. into this lion's den and love all these people that aren't really her friends. So I didn't want it to feel fake just, you know, to not, you know, turn readers off. Yeah, I guess I'm a snarky bitch. So who are we? Yeah, exactly.

I don't even know if I'm snarky. I think I'm just a bitch. So yeah. But that's like there's something about like, people from Texas that like have that in their personality where they're like really kind but like that snarkiness and like the toughness like will really come out you know like it's like you're nice to everybody until they like kind of like mess with you yeah yeah saying like don't mess with Texas yeah yeah it's definitely it's definitely true my older sister will always be like oh she's like even like

she's even more extra than me and she'll be like, you know, they don't know that I had already figured out when I told them, bless their heart that I figured out where I was going to hide their body. Oh my God, I love that. I love that. I'm, like, awful at, like, elevator pitches or, like, small synopsies of books. So with this one,

I'm just going to read a little bit of the, back cover, so I don't say something that, like, people might consider a spoiler. So, um, with this one, um, we have Kira who left her hometown after her troublemaker mother's, mysterious death and never look back. Uh, decades later, Kira is invited to an old frenemies Val renewal party. Um, she's reluctant to go, but things kind of lure her back like her sexy childhood crush and more importantly, urgent text from her grandmother who says she has something to give Kira, that relates to her mother's death and makes it look more like murder than what they originally thought. So, needless to say, Kira's grandmother gives her a memoir that her mother had been

working on before she died and now everything in this town is kind of pointing Kira in the direction that maybe her mother's death was a murder. Dum, dumb, dumb, dumb. Yeah. So. If I remember correctly, the present timeline, there was snow, right? Was it cold? Yeah.

It was very cold. It wasn't snow, but it was like, but it's right before it snows in Texas. Yeah. Especially where I'm from, which is northeast Texas, we do get. snow um a lot more when i was growing up of course because we're all like boiling on this planet but yeah it was very cold there yeah basically that was one of my favorite parts i was like oh nice i don't have to be hot and sweaty this whole book in my mind yeah oh my god i know like the setting i i will never forget there's one part in the hunting wives where one of your characters

wakes up and it's like sticky hot and she's extremely hung over and i'm just like like, you know what, that's got to be the worst feeling in the entire world. Like, I remember those days back when I was, like, fun of, like, waking up hungover when it was, like, really hot. And I was like, my God, like, that's just like a very, like, visceral thing to read because you're like, oh, God, like, I remember that pain. Yes. I remember being fun too. And that's kind of why I arrived at like, bring it back. Yes. Well, listen, I think it's safe that you are where you are. Where you are in your life because I don't think that any of us feel safe in a makeup book. No.

No one feels safe in a makeup book. The thing that I really loved about this one, I'm really curious to see what inspired you to write this one because the thing that I loved, love, love, loved. In my opinion, Kira's mother was not necessarily a bad parent, but I loved the role of having the parent be the one. Oops, smack myself my face with it. I love the role of like having the parent be like the troublemaker compared to like the child because usually with stories like

this you have like the parent who's like got the apron on like the stepford mom and then it's like the child is the troublemaker and like the one that's like a little wild compared to other people. So I love the mom was a little bit of like a troublemaker. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah.

I mean, that really great from my mom. Like, she's very much like Sadie, extremely like provocative, doesn't, doesn't bite her tongue. Just that's how she is.

And, you know, look out, you know. Yeah. Also like this extraordinary mama bear that will, you know,

hunt you down if you do anything to her daughter. So it's, yeah, really, the whole book came from Stady because that's the first voice that I heard in my head. And I was like, and I had been in a little bit of, oh my God, what am I going to write next? And so I was really grateful to have that. And then it kind of all, it all came together because I kind of did want to pay, my mom's still with us, thank God, but I wanted to pay tribute to her because she like raised us and, you know, for a while, like after my parents divorced, she was pretty much like single working mom, working nights in the hospital, but then still like making boutiques and painting and doing all these really cool out of the box creative things for like back when I grew up in the,

you know, the late 80s, early 90s. That was just not that, not that heard of in a small town like where I'm from. You know what I mean? Like yeah, maybe in the like in the village in New York, that's your role model was that but not not in my town so that's what i was going to bring up next is like the in that in the time like in that in the past timeline say these all like it was even more unconventional for a woman to be that way which is uh basically a plot point that we are always passionate about yeah is like women who like feel okay being like their whole self but it was even less common, kind of to your point, like in your, in the location, but also just like 30, 40 years ago, it just wasn't as common. Yeah.

Yeah. I love, Sadie was such a fucking badass. Like, she is just like, oh, she's such a rock star. I loved her so, so much. I seriously, I was like, I remember when I was reading the book, I was like, this could have been like a trilogy. you know what I mean like we could have had like a whole book of Sadie whole book of Kira and then like maybe like you know the third act I won't say anything but third act be like another book but yeah I just loved Sadie's voice so much she was oh my god I can like picture her too like the long hair and like just like kind of like badass and like gorgeous

and walking around with like the world at her fingertips. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. I really loved her too. I mean, it's what sort of like pulled me through the story was getting to write her parts. And my mom's my best friend.

So I did feel like it was cathartic to write that because, you know, I never cried when I finished a book, but honest to God wept when I wrote when I typed the ends. Like I totally had a breakdown. I think that I had met my deadline. But it's a beautiful, you know, book for me. But no, thank you.

Thank you guys. I really love Sadie, too. I say this about all my books just because, like, I always try to write with, like, the screen in mind. But, man, I would love to see Sadie's stuff on screen, like, in a TV series or something. I don't know if it'll ever happen. But I feel like she was going to be there. if that's okay for me to say that.

Like, I feel like, I don't know. I feel, yeah, like, you picked Kate Hudson for her, Gair, and I love that casting. Yeah, yeah. I think it was, like, the way that you described Sadie, I pictured Kate Hudson, like, almost famous Kate Hudson and, like, kind of, like, how she was in, like, her 20s and 30s. And I was like, oh, my God. And Kate Hudson, like, I just, I have a huge soft spot for Kate Hudson. Hudson, I think she can do no wrong.

But yeah, I think I would love to see like Kate Hudson. And she's like, she always talks about how much she loves like the 70s and 80s, like era and everything. So she would like fully, fully embody that. But I think you have a chance. I honestly do. I think that like thrillers that have dual perspective or dual timelines. And the thing is, is that I feel like when I'm reading a book,

book by you. Sometimes I forget there's a murder involved because I'm so wrapped up with what the characters are doing. I'm so like just like riding right along with them in a sense of like experiencing what they're like, getting a feel for their personality and just like going along with them in life that like even if they like go grocery shopping, I'm like, oh, like, what are we going to get for groceries today? And then I'm like, oh shit.

Like we are supposed to be investigating murder. like focus but I think that that's the thing is that your characters are so well written that they would be fantastic on screen and you know you have that murder aspect but like having a dual timeline story is like really good for an adaptation so I mean especially when they can like sometimes when they go back and forth between certain characters perspectives like you bounce between episodes I love when they do that that would be perfect have you ever watched the affair, the show the affair? I have. So no. No. So it's like it's about an affair, but I think it's the whole first season, but they kind of have the same thing happen. But the first half of the episode is from

his perspective where the woman he has the affair with is like a little flirty, you know, like hiking her skirt up a little bit at him and kind of like coming on to him and initiating the affair. And his mind. And then the second half is her perspective where it's like she's just being herself and he's the one that's like flirting with her in front of his wife and doing these other things. And I feel like that's the vibe I get with this where it's like you could have those episodes where like half of them from Sadie, half of them from Kira. That'd be really, you know. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I mean, did you write like back and forth or did you write like all Sadie and then all. Kira or vice versa.

Like how did, how was that writing process for this one? Mm-hmm. So, Sadie did come first. So I, like, I wrote the first five scenes or whatever entries. And then I stopped and I kind of like, kind of conceptualized Kira's stuff. And then I wrote them like one after the other. For the, for the most part, you know. As much as I can remember, I mean, this wasn't like French as,

of the shutdown and my kid was at home crazy. You're like, I've slept a few times since then. So my God. I don't like to tell you that time. It's so gross. But yeah, I usually do try to write like, I usually do start and go. Even if it's different POVs, I don't like to kind of go out of order. I don't think I can.

I think it's too hard for my brain. People that use, Rivner can do that kind of stuff. But I'm like, I'm too old for Scrivener. I can't do all that stuff. My office looks so messy and there's papers all over the floor because, like, that's not... Hey, listen, I am not going to knock the office because you have three bucks that I have absolutely loved. So keep those papers on the floor. The office can look how it looks.

Yeah, yeah, leave them there if that's what it takes. Yeah. But, no, I mean, I'm impressed by that. Oh, go ahead. No, you're totally fine. I was going to ask if you think you'll always place your books in Texas. So since you kind of switch your narrative structure this time, do you ever plan on writing something not in Texas?

Or do you just want to stay there? Yeah, the funny thing is the book I'm editing right now. My next one is it's the first one not set in Texas. It's set in Hollywood. Oh, my God. hyper fixation. Yeah, we are loving Hollywood stories lately. So that's amazing. Thank you. We'll see. Let me know. Oh my God. I'm in the thick of edits. But, uh, yeah. So that's kind of crazy. But then I think the one I'm going to start next is back in Texas. Yeah. Yeah. I mean,

you do it really well in Texas. So I didn't know. You could go either way. Well, the thing, you're so creative that like you could like, I mean, are so many stories you have left to write in your writing career. So like keeping them in Texas, like if that works for you, then by all means, go ahead. Because I think the thing is, is like, as you continue to write, like, you could add in like fun little Easter eggs for like previous books and things like that. And like having it in Texas, you know, like could be like a real treat, you know, even if you mentioned like a restaurant from like a previous one. But yeah. No, that's a great idea. That would be fun. Books to write, Gary. I don't know.

No, it's just so day to day. I have full faith in you. I have full faith in you. I've never read any books that are like yours. Like, they're so cinematic and your, like, your prose is so fun. Like, it's so, like, snarky, but, like, it's, like, it's got that snarky, like, sweet vibe to it. But, like, you just get lost in it. Like, it's very lyrical.

Mm-hmm. Thank you. that means a thank you. Yeah. I'm always, always pumped to read a new makeup book. I'll tell you what. And like,

I mean, like I said, with like, I love how you did the dual perspective with this one. Like the book within a book, I have talked to plenty of authors before who have done this. And they're like, this is the hardest book to write is the one that had the book within a book.

So, I mean, you told amazing stories. And I am extremely impressed with your writing. with this one because I felt like Sadie's memoir and Kira's timeline were very parallel with one another. Yes. Like, yeah, I love when the timelines, like the climax has kind of come together well at the end. It definitely did that.

But I agree. I love when there are two timelines and it's like different stuff is happening. But it's like also still the same pacing all together and then it like comes together at the and it's like a little like triangle like kira's over here sadie's over here they're doing their own thing and like as the book goes on they get like closer and closer to like overlapping or like connecting and i was just like my god it was so hard for me to put down i don't think i did actually i think i read this on a saturday so i was like i'm not putting it down until it's done i can make so good about the book thank you i really appreciate it yeah it's so good i loved it i

absolutely loved it. Like the characters, the scenes, like, there's so many like scenes that I remember like in my head, like what they looked like. Like there was like the scene at the bar. Mm-hmm. And I could just like picture like what that bar looked like. And like even though you can't, I don't think you can smoke in bars in Texas, can you? Just in certain places. Yeah. Like that's what I kind of pictured. I kind of picture it's like this bar. in the place that like, you know, you can smoke in here if you want, but if somebody complains, put it out, you know, like one of those, like, situations where you have, like, the red, like, Coors Light sign and then, like, the cigarette smoke. Like, it was just so, like,

emblazoned in my mind. Like, I just remember, like, so many, like, key scenes. Obviously, I'll never forget the finale, but I can describe what I was like. I was going to say, there's a, there's a scene in water, too, that, like, when we started talking about it again, like, that's what keeps going through my head. Oh my God. I can picture the trees by the water. Yes. Does it?

Yeah. We're thinking the same thing. Yeah. That's funny. That's funny. Bring that up. My dad called me last night because he just finished it. And he said,

oh, my God, just grabbed the cove. And that was like where we had this, like, little lake house cabin. I was like, yeah.

So it was so. Yeah. It's funny. Yeah. Yeah. It was so good. It's so good. And I hope that everybody reads it. I mean, it's like your books, I think you can read year round. Like, they're always going to be fun and enjoyable. Like, if you are ever in a reading slum, pick up a May Cobb book. But like, this is just like such a like fun reading experience for me in the summer. Like, I always look forward to your books in the summer.

Thank you. And I loved that you dedicated it to your mom. I know you've talked about how she was like the inspiration. But I even remember like, like, I think because you posted the dedication page before like arcs were even out. And it said something along the lines of like thanking your mom for saying the least, the last thing you should worry about is being a likable woman, something along those lines. And I was like, I got like goosebumps when I saw that Instagram post. I was like, oh, I love stuff like that. So we just love everything about it.

Thank you. Yeah. I really did kind of come out. out like a people pleaser. I mean, I'm adopted so I don't have her, her DNA. And so she was always drilling that into my brain. And finally, I think I'm there at 50, you know. So some people never get there. So I mean, I still struggle with that. I still just want to make everyone happy all the time, which is awesome. But not. I used to be like that. And I stopped like two years ago and I was just like at the end of the day like you're laying your head down on your pillow

in your bed and no matter how shitty you feel throughout the day from trying to please everybody else those people are not the one at the end of the day that are with you that are trying to comfort you from everything that you've tried to do for them so I mean at the end of the day like it's fine to be a people pleaser to a certain extent but like at the end of the day like you have to to take care of yourself first. Yeah. No. That's very true.

That's very true. Yeah. That's a good. Because everybody around you loves you for who you are. So like if you continue to run yourself into the ground being a people pleaser, then eventually it's just going to like, you know, make you so stressed out that nobody want to be around you. Yeah. And one fun perspective would be like, I wonder if writing like,

these like snarky and like confident women like kind of like helped you grow into like yeah why why do I care what people think because like you write so many characters that don't so it's kind of cool that like over time it kind of went away for you too yeah that's true it probably has helped me honestly in some kind of way um things that we have to take care of where's murphy oh my gosh where is he oh my god he He is being, he's with the babysitters right now because little Murphy is like my Sour Patch kid. Like some nights he's like so sweet and I'm like, I think that the puppy stage of like being bad is like over. And then the next day he'll be like a tormentor again.

But he's he's teething. So the other day like I got a package of new clothes and I had like this like fresh white t-shirt on. he went to grab the sleeve and it was like a makeup scene. Like there was blood everywhere on my sleeve because he like lost a tooth and like was trying to tell me that he lost it. And he lost another tooth last night. So we're just we're teething and I'm trying to be a good doodle dad. But the struggle is real sometimes.

I'm sorry that teething business is a lot. I only have two canines left. Right now he looks like a little vampire because he's only got the two on the top. Oh, that's adorable. Got those two little canines left and I'm like after that like hopefully he will be not so bitey. But he only does it out of excitement, you know, he's a good boy, but he's just, he's a lot. he's a lot. Like my best friend has two little girls and three dogs and two cats and a husband. And I'm like, I have one dog and I'm like, how are you doing this? Like there are some days that I feel like I'm like falling apart.

Like at the end of the day, I'm like, oh my God, I'm doing something wrong. I'm like, this is me. Like, I don't even know. Like, how could I ever raise a child? Seriously, though. No, no. I don't. I He's like, it's not for the week. No. It's them. It's not you. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. And she's like, I feel the same way about like my dogs, but also about my kids. Like some day is my like little two year old. Like it's very, very sweet. And I love her. And she's so funny. And then other days she's like, like today, my friend is like going out of town to go camping. And she like texted me and was like, I'm so embarrassed.

We were in Target. And my daughter was going, help me. no, get away, get away. And so people thought that she was like kidnapping her own child. And she was like, I am so embarrassed. Oh, my God. But I was like, oh, Murphy lost a tooth. But like I could not do that. That's pretty rude. My God almighty, I would die. Yeah, yeah. My mom's like, my mom used to take me shopping. Like that was like our thing when the weekends came. So she would take me shopping and like that was our thing. But. But I guess I was like always very curious about how you could only see the upper half of somebody when they were standing behind like a cash register or like a counter.

So my thing when I was little was like I guess I was very curious what their footwear was. Like are you wearing slippers? Are you wearing shoes? And so I used to like when my mom would cash out, I used to go to the cashier and be like, can I see what shoes you're wearing? I don't see what you have on. and like they the cashiers thought it was the cutest thing in the world but kathy would like instantly start to my mom's name's kathy but like she would start to instantly like get hot and like start to sweat because she was like i'm waiting for the day somebody walks out from behind the counter

and gira is just like those shoes are ugly because she's like if you like if you didn't like them like you would tell them but like think oh those are nice like i like those or whatever and like kathy was like i'm just so nervous one day he's going to be like you're shoes are ugly. Oh my gosh. There's always like a story. So you've been the same your whole life is what you're saying. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Now I don't ask that because I just like know as my experience working in retail that like you can't wear your slippers to work even if you're standing behind a cash register. But but yeah. Yeah. I used to be very curious. It was almost like my like Wizard of Oz moment like the man behind the curtain.

I love that. Yeah. Yeah. now I'm like getting my payback with Murphy because I never know what he's going to do but he's a sweetheart he's a sweetheart so if you're in editing mode are you reading anything at all we normally ask at the end if you've read anything that you love but you might be stuck in your edits no I have been but I did I got to and this was so amazing it was like it was like for me like narcotics I got to be my

friend Sam Bailey's a friend in the dark which comes out in next year and so I got to read it early and I finished that and I like I I mean I read it like over a weekend I'm a very slow reader but I was

it's you're going to freak out over it. It's so it's her like I'm obsessed with all of her books but this one is her best. My favorite it's about a you might already know but an online relationship and it's a little torrid and you know it's I don't want to give too much

way it's so good I love her so much oh my god yeah yeah I'm really excited for that one because one of my like I unwind with like true crime documentaries and stuff because I'm like no matter how much Murphy bites me or like how many times I lose my shit in a day like I read or I watched like a true crime documentary and I'm like well my day wasn't that bad compared to like some of these other things but the ones that I am fascinated with are the ones that involve online relationships like catfishing and what was that one the what was the one about the the tinder swindler oh yeah oh my god I mean I just like that shit up don't fuck with cats yes yeah I'm like I don't I don't know why I'm like awful with titles tonight.

But yeah, I love anything to do with like online, like people like banding together and like taking down like shitty people. Oh my God. Oh yeah. It's like my drug. It's like my drug. So like I already know like when you were like it's kind of like my version of like narcotics. I'm like I totally know what you mean. And then the fact that you said it was online like dealing with an online relationship.

I'm like I eat that shit up. Like I love the show catfish. I don't care how fake it seems. sometimes. I don't care how many times I'm like, are these paid actors? I like the fact that it's just like people doing like shitty things online and there's always a twist at the end, sign me up. I haven't. I don't get to watch a lot of TV because of my kiddo and stuff, but that actually, I need to watch that immediately. That sounds amazing. Yeah. It is so good. But the thing is too is that like you can kind of skip around or like watch an episode here and there because

they're obviously not connected. So like if you only have like a half hour to an hour to yourself at night, it's like put on an episode of catfish and then like maybe you'll be writing the book next about like online online shenanigans. Yeah. I want to watch the affair too. That sounds great. It's very good. It's so good. Because it's another one where each season they also start with like in the first season, you start with people being interrogated, kind of similar to big little lies, where like you know something terrible happened. Oh, cool.

And then you go backward. And then you work your way back to like basically what did happen. But each episode starts with like getting a little bit of knowledge. Yeah. From post traumatic event, basically. And I love, they do it every single. season then. So then the next season, they start with something else horrible that happened. And you just like work your way up to it. It's some of the best storytelling. Because like it came out years ago and we still

talk about it a ton. Yeah. Yeah. And it's like New York City like Montau. Montock. And oh my God. It was the first time I ever learned about Montauk. And then I remember I thought it was just like a fake name made up for the show. And then I remember what I found out it was a real thing. I was like, oh my God. God, I know about that. Yeah. And Joshua Jackson's in it. Oh, really? Awesome.

Yes. Why can't I think of the best female's name? Mara Tierney. There we don't. No, sorry. Ruth Wilson. The other one.

Yes, that one. That's who I couldn't think of. Yeah, it's a great cast. It's just really, really good. Yeah, you'll love it. That could be, like, a little, like, treat for yourself. Like, when you're done with your edits, like, binge a little bit of...

It's like seven or eight episodes, I feel like. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. I always believe in like... Yeah, I always believe in like having like a... When you have a big task, like writing a phenomenal fucking book like you do, when you have a big task like that, I totally believe in having what I call like a rot day where you just like... Yes.

Take care of yourself. Drink whatever you want to drink. Order all the takeout you want. watch TV, just do whatever you can to like have a little bit of self-care, but don't like throw yourself to the wolves as soon as it's done. Like you can like do that to like celebrate yourself. I love I do. I yeah. Funny. Actually, I took one of those this Monday and I had no business doing that. But I was like, I just have to take. And it was real, I just really just took half a day. But I was like, I have to just take a pause. And yeah, it's great. I just went on all.

walk and went to a bookstore, it wasn't anything like that great, but it was just, I just wanted to do what I wanted to do. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Especially like, I mean, you've got a lot going on and you're writing these books. I mean, you're knocking out a book a year. Yeah. That's impressive.

And they're not like 200 page like popcorn thrillers. Like you're creating. And they all feel different. That's the other. Like, it's not just like regurgitated. yeah, yeah. You don't have like a, what is it called? I don't know why I can't think of any words. Formulaic. Your books are not formulaic. You know how like some people do that where it's like, oh, like you're reading their new book and then you're like, well, I know what's going to happen here because it happened at 75% of like every other book. But like yours are always like very different. And there's a lot of like blood, sweat and tears that go into your stories. And. your readers can tell that.

So if you need to take a couple of rot days, then doctor's orders. Yes. I'm going to look forward to the one that I take when I'm done with these edits because I don't like the editing process at all. I bet I'm trying to grow up a little bit and be an adult. Yeah, I get that. I get that too. I get that too. But then like I can imagine those like moments where you get like your art.

in or you see like the final copy in the bookstore for the first time like all of those all of those like troublesome days and the days that really stress you out i'm sure they're all worth that they know they are i'm like okay and then you know yes it does become all worth it so it's but it is helpful to have those rewards because it can be such a quiet lonely job thank god for graham and bookstagram yeah only it's like Like it's so cool, you know, to, and I just had to kick myself off to finish, but I'm like, it's so nice to wake up and go on there and see y'all and, you know, everybody and not feel like you're just toiling in a cave by yourself.

Yeah. Yeah. It's amazing. It's an amazing community because, like, sometimes if I'm in, like, a reading rut, like, I will get on bookstagram and just see what other people are, like, raving about. And that's usually what I'll do to, like, pick myself up and, you know, just be like, Jesus Garrett, pick up a book, like try to read something, you know? Yeah.

And because those are like what my wrought days usually are is like just like picking up something that I don't want to put down and like getting some Taco Bell. Yes. Yeah. No, for sure. I love it. And I'm glad that bookstagram has brought all of us together. Me too. Absolutely.

It's so cool. God. Yeah. So. I love the internet. I remember. when I was in college and, like, wanted to, like, figure out which books I actually liked reading, being like, how do you find? Like, Goodreads had just kind of become a thing. So this was, like,

10-ish years ago, basically. And I remember just being like, how do I find books? And then, like, finally got to Goodreads. But then, like, when I really started getting onto Bookstagram, I was like, oh, my gosh, this is how you find all the books. Like, everyone's just talking about different ones. And it made it so easy to like always have something lined up where like it used to feel like, how do I know about them? So I love the internet and the book community. Yeah. Yeah.

I feel like before Bookstagram, it was hard for me to like find books unless it was like gone girl, girl on the train. Like luckiest girl alive that like everybody was like talking about after they had come out. Yeah. Because this was right after I finished Gone Girl. I was like, how do I find like where do I find more books like this? I know. That was it.

Yeah. And now that like media has shrunk so much like, you know, coverage of books, you know, and even print magazines and stuff, like it's more to have books to Graham helps spread the word because it's hard to get there. Yeah. And it's, it's really cool to how like I like I know like whatever you all. all are reading I'm going to love. Like, it's cool to know who you're, who you can like, the recommendations. And yeah. It saves me time because I'm like, okay, I'll just grab this. And, and I'm, you know, I'm never steered wrong. Not, fair. And also for, like, for us, like, as readers, though, it's amazing to have authors like you

on books to Instagram because when I read, like, a May Cobb book, I'm like, I want to know everything about this woman because like, I love your story so much. So for me, I feel the same way that you do, but it's like when I have somebody like you who writes books that I love so much and you share a book that you're reading or something that you like, that is like information that I wouldn't get if that platform didn't exist, you know? Yeah. Yeah. It's very rare that like even if you were doing like in person events, like not everybody who is a fan of your books could make it to an in-person event. But I feel like sometimes they're so, like, focused on, you know, let's talk about your book and get you out of here and then

like sell some copies that like they don't usually ask like what books have you read recently. Like, what do you recommend? Like, what do you love? So like to have that bookstagram, you know, platform where we can see what you are reading and what you like as well. Like, that's fantastic for me. Yeah. And I. And I. I have to shout out because one of my best friends, I don't even know, what is today, Wednesday. Okay. Yesterday. It's Thursday, but that's okay.

Oh, my God. Oh, my God. I said it. I said yes, too. You're like, you agree. I was like, I have to tell you guys. The latest book, I'm not done with you yet. Yeah.

Yes. And I know y'all know, but I'm just for the. listeners like you'll have to get this. It's so devious and twisty and stabby. Awesome. And I love it. I keep hearing great things about it. I haven't read it yet.

It's wild. It is wild. There's a lot of like twist and reveals on it. And Kate, you will like it because half of it takes place in Oxford. Yeah. Ooh. Yeah. So you've got your dark academia and then like, yeah.

It's very much like what I do with the comparison? Like probably like Donatart meets like I know what you did last summer. Yeah. Mm. Perfect. Nice. That sounds amazing.

Yeah. Yeah. It's very fun. And it's very character driven. Yes. Well, I'm sold. Talk about. Character driven and twists.

Talk about a snark voice. Like Jesse just really nails. And this is her like her first adult sight suspense and. I'm like, yeah, you're pretty much like, hold my beer, here's my book, you know, like. Yeah. Yeah. It's that good. Yeah, it's really good.

In so many different genres, but she could just write in that one and kill it every time. I don't know how she's so prolific. It's insane. That was, that was cool. That's what I was wondering, too, because she does, like, Y-A and then, like, women's, like, comedy, right? like comedy lit. I don't like to say like women's fiction. So like I, but I think they're like kind of like Finlay Donovan-esque.

Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. So when I picked it up, I was surprised at how like her prose was with like how like snarky her character was. Like it's like probably like all of the things she's like wanted to put that like were too dark in her like YA books and like her other ones like. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. she did a good job writing like bitchy characters. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Gosh. Yeah. It's a really good psychological read. Yeah. I enjoy that. See, there. Now I just need to go read it.

Yeah. These are May's recommendations. But I am so glad you took the time to join us tonight. I'm glad. Like, oh my God, what a summer we were having when we first tried. And I was like in shambrought. And so thanks for letting me reschedule. This was this was so much better than that would have been.

It's been a yeah, a crazy summer. Things are good now, but my God. Yeah, yeah. Well, hey, I mean, sometimes it happens. Yeah, and that's what we mean when we say like you got to take care of yourself, you know? Yep. You got to put May first. Like, I do.

It sounded like you said put May first. Like both work. Yeah. But yeah, well, listen, thank you so much for joining us tonight. And we can't wait to see what comes up next for you with book number four. So if you need a little online therapy with your edits, DM me. I got your bad girl. Okay, thank you.

I will. Yeah. Well, we love you so much. Love y'all so much. Thank you so much. Have a great night.