It’s been a while since I’ve interviewed an author, so I’m thrilled to have Birdie Song in the hotseat today. Thanks for taking the time to talk with me, Birdie. Let’s get started!
Tell us about The Guy from the Wedding.
So, picture this. It’s been a year since you left your trash-fire relationship with a manipulative, controlling ex-boyfriend. You haven’t quite got your life back on track, but you’ve finally decided to start dating again. Except the only single you find even remotely attractive is the obnoxious new guy at work you absolutely can’t stand. At least at first.
But this wouldn’t be an enemies-to-lovers workplace romance without the, you know, romance. So you do eventually find your HEA, but it’s certainly not a straightforward path to get there.
Sounds fun! What kind of research did you do for this book? Did you travel, use the Internet, speak with experts on a topic, etc?
Off the bat, I want to say I visited particular locations to soak up the vibe – specifically a local mini-golf course and a heritage hotel in the south-west region of Western Australia. But now that I think about it, I actually researched a lot more for this book without realising it at the time.
I’ve planned a wedding, dined at restaurants my characters visit, walked along the same streets, aspired to the same dream houses, smelled the same stuffy air in similar small offices and community centres. Writing books set in my home city doesn’t see me travel far, but it gives me a lot of context and a sense of place when it comes to the various locations and venues in the Somerville Downs series.
It’s always good to write what you know, but even that takes research. Do any of your characters take over and write the book themselves? Who?
Oh gosh, this book … So, it actually started as a web serial on my blog, but I only got as far as the characters NOT hitting it off before I got stuck. I was focused on writing a lighthearted romcom at the time, and felt like I was constantly fighting against the manuscript just to put words on the page.
Eventually, I realised this book didn’t want to be written that way. My characters had an emotional journey they wanted to share. The Guy from the Wedding never delves into the darker side of love and fear, but it does explore how we inadvertently hurt the ones we love when we don’t fully process the hurt done to us.
My characters never went “off script”, which is something I understand a lot of authors experience while writing. Instead, they kind of decided what type of script we were going for, and then got me to write it. That’s how it felt, anyway. It took a long time for me to understand I needed to loosen my grip on my work and let the book become what it wanted to be.
It’s great when the characters and the author are in sync with each other. It makes writing the story so much easier! Sometimes the romance genre gets a bad reputation for being cliché and full of Fabios. How do you respond to that?
So many people have said that to my face, you know. Point blank. And I tell them they’re right, because – let’s be honest – they are. We do have clichés and Fabios, and there’s no point denying it.
But we also have healthy communication within relationships. We have healing from trauma, diverse representation, models of consent, sophisticated worldbuilding, gorgeous writing. We have cute and fuzzy love stories, intriguing tales of dark passions, sporty stories, nerdy stories, real world, otherworld, and all sorts of heroines and heroes and romantic couplings and throuplings and more.
Romance is the biggest literary genre in the world, so of course we have it all. Getting snarky about it over a couple of tropes is like getting mad at the dictionary for containing words that start with the letter G.
LOL! So true! Besides writing and reading, what are some of your hobbies?
I love my garden. Now that The Guy from the Wedding is out and our weather’s warming up, I have a ton of onion weed to pull up. I learned recently that they’re edible, and would make a good sustainable food source if people could get over their ick about eating weeds. It’ll take me some time to get over mine, but I now have the whole Australian summer to think about it 🌱
YES! Onion weed is delicious. We have it growing here in western North Carolina, USA, too. My hubby and I are big are foraging wild edibles. Thank you so much for visiting. Now, let’s get to know your story better.
The Guy from the Wedding by Birdie Song
Wedding bells are ringing … but not for them.
Katrina Lee just can’t catch a break. She’s single, failing to mingle, and spending precious weekends surrounded by blissfully happy newlyweds-to-be. It’s just an occupational hazard of working for The Wedding Elves. Another hazard? Her sister’s new business partner, whose first job as co-owner seems to be putting her off guys for good.
Liam Donovan left Melbourne, determined to start a new life in Perth. He never dreamed this would mean working with the sour-faced woman he met at an old friend’s wedding, let alone falling for her. Now he’s caught between the man-in-charge he wants to be and the pathetic loser he swore to leave behind.
The Guy from the Wedding is a sweet enemies-to-lovers workplace romance, set in the world of Somerville Downs.
Get this book: https://birdiesongauthor.com/books/the-guy-from-the-wedding/
Release date: 1 November 2024
Genre(s): Sweet romance, contemporary romance
Keywords: Enemies to lovers, workplace romance, Australian romance, multicultural romance
Heat level: 1.5 (romance.io ratings)
Excerpt
“Watch it!”
The lid pops off. Milk goes everywhere.
“Oh no, I’m so sorry! I—” I look up.
Standing in front of me in a wet dress shirt, unbuttoned at the top, clutching a charcoal jacket with dark patches from the rain, is none other than Captain Cologne from Sarah’s wedding. He looks as off-putting as he did earlier tonight, reeking of milk, alcohol, and Eau de Whatever, his blue eyes wide with shock.
“I don’t believe this,” he mutters. “Are you following me?”
“Um, I live here, so if anything, you’re the one following me.”
“You live in a convenience store?”
“Clever. Seems you’re a genius at everything except sneaking around.” I pick up the lid and twist it back onto the jug—now slightly less full than before—tightly this time. Then it hits me: I shouldn’t have said anything about where I live. What if he really is following me? What if I’m about to be the back-alley murder?
“I wasn’t sneaking anywhere.” He pinches his soaked shirtfront away from his skin. “You just need to look where you’re going.”
“Like that would have made a difference. Most people don’t walk that quietly by accident.”
“Well, I’m not most people.”
“You can say that again.”
Silence passes between us. He does have a point, I guess. I did just whirl around without looking, assuming no one would be there. The TV and the rain must have drowned out the door buzzer, and now here we are—me with seven-eights of a bottle of milk that definitely smells like milk, and him with a saturated shirt clinging to his chest. His remarkably toned chest. Not that this makes him any less unappealing.
But he doesn’t seem like a murderer. For starters, he’s not charming at all, not someone capable of luring a victim anywhere.
“Sorry about your shirt.” I glance at the embroidered monogram on the lapel. “It looks expensive.”
“Don’t worry about it.” He grimaces and peels away the fabric again. “It doesn’t fit properly anyway, but I didn’t have time to buy a new one before tonight.”
“You only own one shirt?”
“Uh, no.” He gives a withering smile. “I’m living out of a suitcase right now. This shirt was meant to see me through tonight’s wedding and a lunch tomorrow. Hope my hotel does overnight laundry.”
“Where are you staying?”
He tells me and I immediately feel guilty. He’s got no bag, no umbrella, just that damp jacket and the persistent smell of booze and cologne. He must have gotten turned around trying to find his hotel. So, probably not a stalker then, just a tourist who can’t read maps.
His brows furrow. “What’s that look for?”
“Well, your hotel’s ages away.”
“It’s not that far, just a couple more blocks.”
“Um, nope. It’s on the other side of town. And I’m pretty sure it’s too late to order a laundry service at any hotel.” I sigh. “Look, I feel bad about your shirt. Why don’t you let me wash it for you? I have a dryer. We could get it done in like, forty-five minutes. And I’ll give you a lift back to your hotel so you don’t have to go out in that.” I point at the door.
“You don’t have to do that. I can walk. It’s—” A crack of thunder cuts him off. It sounds directly above us. His shoulders drop.
“I don’t mind,” I tell him, raising my voice over the rain coming down harder now. “My place is just next door. Plus, if whatever you’re doing tomorrow needs a shirt like this, I can guarantee rainy milk isn’t the fragrance you want to be wearing.”
“Thank you. That would be helpful.”
“Consider it done. I’m Katrina, by the way.”
“Liam.”
About Birdie Song
Birdie Song is an Asian-Australian writer from Perth, Western Australia on Whadjuk-Noongar country. She pens sweet stories featuring hopeful characters and optimistic endings (spoiler alert!). She believes love is more important than labels, integrity is a person’s most attractive quality, and that no one should be judged for putting pineapple on a pizza. When not writing, she tends to a veggie garden and reads a variety of books, hoping to one day understand the meaning of life.
Website: https://birdiesongauthor.com
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Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Birdie-Song/author/B09RMLLF6Z
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/20263281.Birdie_Song
BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/birdie-song