What's the story behind the story? What inspired you to write this book?
For a long time, I have held on to really traditional love beliefs (I cannot tell you the age at which I lost my virginity; it was so late it’s embarrassing). Before this, I had written stories with related tropes, but I was never really invested on a personal level; I wasn’t really looking at the world around me—it was just a hobby. When I first encountered a romantic contract was in the blockbuster Fifty Shades of Grey, but I quickly dismissed that as “fiction.”
Then, I remembered 2 dudes from college who had been offered sperm donation contracts by older women because they had “great genes.” I have worked intimately with healthcare for over a decade, so you would be very close to the action, but never connecting the social to the medical. Then, several real-life stories later, including surrogate stories, I realized that I might have been fighting a wave with my bare hand. In the movie Dune, Paul’s mum was in a contract with his dad. I realized that the definition of truth/lie in a romantic context was a wide, colorful spectrum that nobody owned, and maybe I was the only one attempting to dictate my homegrown, singular view.
Hence, I decided to unpack the subject with 6 novels called the “Romance Truism 101” series, of which “Almost Lying” is #4. The more I looked around me, the more romantic arrangements I became aware of. In the Bible, there are some forms of marital arrangements (no offense intended here). It wasn’t an easy decision—developing the stories—because I really felt betrayed. But it did something to me, and I was losing myself—but again, I thought that maybe the therapy would be to share the debate with the world, even if only one person ended up listening, ever. And here we are.
If you had to pick theme songs for the main characters of your book, what would they be?
Eysh...
What books are on your TBR pile right now?
Ana Huang – King of Wrath
Freida McFadden – The Housemaid
Dan Brown – The Secret of Secrets
Meghan Quinn – 4 the Cameras
Colleen Hoover – Verity
What scene in your book was your favorite to write?
Gosh, I wrote and rewrote so much I lost track, but the kidnapping was “work,” the opening was fun, and the spice was… spicy.
Do you have any quirky writing habits? (lucky mugs, cats on laps, etc.)
I pull fasting routines, maybe one-meal-a-day for 2–3 days. It always does “something” to my imagination.
Do you have a motto, quote or philosophy you live by?
Life has no endings, expect more.
Julie Dave is the author of the new book Almost Lying (Romance Truism 101 Book 4)
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