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Lindsay Barrett Samples Savannah Royals
[00:00:00]
Katherine Grant: Welcome to the historical romance sampler podcast. I'm your host, Katherine Grant, and each week I introduce you to another amazing historical romance author. My guest reads a little sample of their work, and then we move into a free ranging interview. If you like these episodes, don't forget to subscribe to the historical romance sampler, wherever you listen to podcasts and follow us on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.
Now let's get into this week's episode.
I am super excited to be joined today by Lindsay Barrett. Lindsay is a Maggie and RWA award-winning author who crafts dark stories with lots of kissing. An avid world traveler, most of Lindsay's writing inspiration comes from perpetual wanderlust. When she isn't snowshoeing, atop glaciers in Alaska, drinking bourbon in Kentucky, or binge eating tapas in [00:01:00] Spain,
she can be found in her home state of Maryland where she lives with her husband and their tiny Titan Prince of a rescue dog. Lindsay, thank you so much for coming on the podcast.
Lindsay Barrett: Thank you for having me. I'm so happy to be here.
Katherine Grant: Yeah. So you are reading from your debut romance author, debut romance novel, right?
Savannah Royals? Yes.
Lindsay Barrett: Yes, I am. Savannah Royals is a historical romance heist novel. It's set in 1919 to 1920, Savannah, Georgia. And it follows a con artist female main character who has grown up in the catacombs running underneath of Savannah. And she belongs to a gang who's targeting the blue blood and wealthy elite of the city of Savannah.
So they target them and then they rob them or steal from them. So, yeah, the hook of the book is she meets a mark who is different than anybody who has ever come before him. He is very witty, perceptive, charming, and she's kind of falling for him and she's conning him. But it is also a love triangle story.
So the conflict really comes in. She's been [00:02:00] in a long-term relationship with the leader of her criminal gang. It's an open relationship. They're not exclusive. But as the book is progressing, she's still seeing these two different men. And, and the promise of the premise is these worlds are gonna collide.
And she's gonna have to make a choice at some point between the heist of a lifetime and the man who's held her heart in her hands since she was a child, versus this new blue blood golden boy who is offering her the world on a silver platter.
Katherine Grant: Wow. That, that's a great setup. Is there anything we need to know about the scene you're gonna read?
Lindsay Barrett: It's pretty early in the book. I'm gonna read from chapter three. So just the basic background you need to know going in is Kat, Katarina Quinn is her name, main character. She's part of a gang. They call themselves the Wolf Pack or the Wolves. Her childhood, like friends to lovers situationship, his name is Paul and he's gonna be in this scene and where we are in space and time in the morning, she has met the new mark, Matthew DaMolin for the first time.
And this is now evening. She is in her dorm room. She's at a [00:03:00] finishing school. So she's in her dorm room with her roommate where we start. And I do just, I have to give like the disclaimer. There is gonna be an abridged sex scene in the chapter that I'm gonna read. So, disclaimer, it does fade to black, this sex scene,
but the book is Open Door Romance. Anybody who's listening who wants open door romance, I just wanna be clear, this is an open door romance book. Just this one scene is not, 'cause it occurs so early.
Katherine Grant: Got it. All right. Yes. All right. Let me just pull up and we'll get to reading.
I return to the academy in the evening and sit quietly through dinner with Melly. Our nightly routine is enduring. She chatters, I chew. When we walk back to our room, I notice with mild amusement, my morning gown is no longer on the floor. Much like her mindless yammering, Melly's predictability knows no bounds.
We're preparing for bed, me quiet, Melly loud, when a familiar tapping begins at the window. One glance at my roommate reveals she heard it too. She has ears like a bat, this farm girl.
"No way." [00:04:00] Melly gives me a cross look, then strides to the window as a second shower of pebbles hits the glass. She yanks the frame up and leans out to hiss,
"She's not here. Go away."
I rush across the room and stick my head out the window. Paul's grinning face looks up at me. I shove Melly aside, hoping she didn't see him clearly. "What are you doing here?"
"You're not going to come over." He's matter of fact.
"No, I'm not."
"I knew you weren't. So I came to you. Come outside."
Melly snorts. I turn to her and bite my lip.
"Oh no." She shakes her head. "Don't even think about it."
"I won't be long," I whisper, hitching a leg over the sill.
"Katerina. No." She grabs my arm and tries to pull me back.
"Melly, let go. You're going to get us both in frightful trouble."
"Kat, you can't keep doing this. I'm going to tell. I mean it this time."
"You have not said a word for three years," I tell her, stone faced. "You're certainly not going to say anything now."
She drops my arm. "You're so stupid, Kat. So, so, so stupid."
"Leave the sash open. I'll be back soon." I swing my other leg over the edge and find my usual toeholds in [00:05:00] the weathered brick wall.
"And if I don't?" Melly whispers.
"Leave it open. If you don't, I'll still be able to get in, but I'll be out for your blood. Just leave it open, Melly." After scampering down the wall, I follow Paul away from the academy. Rounding a corner and crossing the street to the deserted moonlit Forsyth Park, we seek shelter within a grove of thick moss draped oak trees before I turn on him.
"What are you doing here?"
"I told you." He sticks his hands in his pockets. "I miss you."
"We were together last night." I fold my arms. "All of us."
He frowns and says, "That's not what I mean, Kat."
I point to the academy. "Melly might have seen you."
"So what?" He shrugs. "She has no clue who I am."
"We agreed. If you need me, you send Abe. Always Abe."
"I couldn't send Abe to do this." He reaches for me and brushes a lock of hair off my face. His fingers move over my cheeks, ghosting down to tickle my collarbone. Then he reaches behind my neck, slides his hands down my back, and over my butt, pulling me in. He's already hard.
"You're thinking with your lower half," I tell him, slightly [00:06:00] annoyed, slightly thrilled. I can't help my body's response to him. It's been this way between us for years. No matter what my mouth says, my brain swirls with secret pleasure in knowing he came here, took this risk purely for me.
" Maybe," he admits grinning. "I know you're worn slap out, but let's spend an hour together, please. I really have missed you, Kat." It's the earnest look on his face that undoes me. Paul never begs. This is as close as it gets.
"One hour," I finally agree. "I trust you'll make it worth my while."
"Don't I always?" Paul's hands work the buttons on the collar of my dress as his lips meet mine.
His kisses are strong, hungry. The center of my gut clinches as my gaze sweeps the park for voyeurs.
"Paul," I whisper his name, a familiar rush rising. The bottomlessly heady, will we get caught? The thrill from publicly doing something forbidden and reckless with him. He inches up my dress and teases his fingers across my thigh before placing them right where I want them.
"Oh." I press against him. He stays there for a few minutes, then pulls hard, ripping through my step-in [00:07:00] chemise. my hands move feverishly to unclip his suspenders. I've never been a very patient person and neither is Paul, not where this is concerned. We are two bodies with one mind moving through the steps of a choreographed dance,
a quick step every time. He lifts me onto his hips and presses my back into the nearest tree. Low hanging Spanish Moss surrounds us on four sides. I dip my fingers under his shirt, over his tattoo tracing the swiping paw of the wolf tracking forward over his shoulder onto his right pectoral. Paul shivers. Remotely,
I hear the telltale tear of a paper condom wrapper. "Kat." He sinks into me. I returned my fingers to the ink of the massive Wolf coating his back, holding on. There is so much hunger between us. I tug his bottom lip with my teeth. He growls, increasing the pace. I press my lips to the paw on his shoulder. My panting breath heats the tattooed marks on his chest.
We move together, murmured cries floating into the canopy of greenery overhead. Fade to black.
"Only 20 minutes gone, kitty Kat, 40 still to go." [00:08:00] Laughing, I give Paul a playful shove. He flops to the grass beneath the starry sky and reaches for me. I rest my chin on his chest, looking at his face as he closes his eyes. "Wake me in 40 minutes,"
he mumbles.
"How romantic," I sniff, but snuggle into him. His fingers brush through my long black hair.
"Did you have a good day, doll?" He murmurs, his chest rumbling beneath my ear.
"It was okay. There was an open house this morning."
"I know."
"Course you do."
"I met someone interesting."
"Oh?"
"Don't you already know?"
"No," he laughs. "Who?"
"His name is Matthew. Matthew DaMolin."
"Matthew DaMolin?" Paul shifts beneath me.
"Yeah." My gaze flicks to his face. "You know him?"
"I know of him," Paul clarifies, settling back down. "And his family. Publishing Titans. Generational wealth. He's the younger son. Works at the hospital, lives alone downtown. Physician."
"Uhhuh." Paul's endless stream of knowledge never ceases to amaze me. I decide to bait him. "He's handsome."
"Is he?" Now Paul angles my head in the [00:09:00] crook of his arm so he can see me better. "Do I need to worry?" There's no concern in his gaze. His dark irises laugh at me, knowing.
"Smug bastard." I roll my eyes.
"Wiley wench." After a few more laughs, we settle again. When Paul's breathing evens out and my eyes grow heavy. I force myself to stir.
"I should get back." As I rise, I feel a lump weighing my skirt pocket. "I have something for you." I pull out Ray's payment. "I nearly forgot."
The envelope smacks him in the chest. As he sits up, he opens it and quickly counts.
"What did you sell, Paul?" He doesn't answer right away. When he is satisfied with the tally, he rolls over and rises. "Paul," I try again. "We haven't worked a job for weeks. What did you ask Ray to move?"
"You know I don't yank you outta here for every job we pull, Kitty Kat."
"That doesn't answer my question."
"I didn't realize I have to answer to you."
He flicks his hair before stretching to brush stray grass out of mine.
"Hmm." I reach out to snag his hand. I pull it down, straighten out his fingers and trace the small king of diamonds tattoo on his right ring finger. It's [00:10:00] done in black ink, just like his wolf. "I forgot. You're the king, right?" I raise my eyes to his. He frowns, and I lift my own hand sliding the thick silver ring he gave me off my right ring finger.
I've worn it every day since my 16th birthday. I flick my red queen of diamonds tattoo toward him. "Maybe you forgot who you're talking to."
He smiles and kisses the mark on my finger. "I didn't forget, Kat. Is it really that important to you?"
"Your behavior? Like you're hiding something? Makes me think per chance it is."
"I'm not. It wasn't anything important, doll. Just some tribute I took from the condor and magpie gangs ages ago, oil, gunpowder, the usual plus a few watches Tony lifted last week. You know, he likes to have his fun." I slide the ring back on my finger.
"Okay."
"Okay?" He is incredulous.
"That's it. You told me. That's all I wanted."
"Next time, cut the theatrics, Kat." He looks disgruntled.
" It got your attention. It did, but I'd never forget." He slides his ring up slightly and reaches for my hand, placing our paired tattoos side [00:11:00] by side. Everyone in the wolf pack is marked. Paul has the wolf across his back and shoulder.
Abe and Tony each have paw prints and swipes tracking up their sides. The three boys had them done when I was 15. Then they badgered me for a year about getting inked too. I refused. On my 16th birthday after bringing in a particularly successful hall of stolen diamonds, Paul brought me to the tattoo parlor himself.
He went in first and I watched him get the king of diamonds tattoo. Then he handed me his silver signet ring, the one I'd seen on his finger since before I could remember. It's thick and old with an engraved crest weaving its way across the band. His only memento from the family who dropped him on the orphanage steps as an infant.
"I'm the king and you're the queen," he told me as he handed the ring over. "This is yours now. It'll cover your finger. No one has to know but us." This was a very different ask than before, and I knew it. I carefully took the ring and sat down in the chair. "Queen of diamonds, please," I whispered handing over my finger.
That night I realized ink or not, Paul marked me years ago. I was his. [00:12:00] His queen of diamonds. The boys put out a rumor of the cat burglar's mark a few weeks later, said I had a tiny silhouette of wolf ears done on my wrist, dainty feminine. The papers ran with it. Misdirection. "Kitty cat," paul told me, "it's the oldest trick in the book."
Snapping back to the present, I slowly follow Paul out of the arboretum.
"We'll do another night at Astor Manor tomorrow," he says, "and the boys wanna go out on Saturday. Think you can get away?"
"Reckon I can. Where?"
"Tony wants to hit carousel."
"Sounds dilly. carousel is the cat's meow."
"Until tomorrow, doll. I love you." He raises my hand in farewell, then steals into the shadows of the park.
I take off in the opposite direction. Back to the academy. "Son of a bitch, Melinda." Our room is dark. The window closed. Resigned, I latch my fingers and toes into grooves between bricks and begin to climb, tapping into a skillset I've had since I was young. When I reached the window, I applied pressure with my hands to slide it up.
It doesn't budge. She must have locked it. What a killjoy. I'm reaching to slide a dagger-like hairpin from my dark [00:13:00] locks when a remorseful Melinda opens the window. I thrust my leg inside before she can change her mind. "Sorry, Kat," she whispers. "I was mad."
"It's fine." And it is. Melly and I aren't friends. Not really.
So she doesn't owe me anything. We tolerate each other and we live well enough together. At this point, i've been sneaking out for so long, if the news came out, we'd both go down hard. She's complicit and she knows it. I land inside on silent feet and head to the bathroom for a quick wash. She follows me her brow furrowed.
"Why are you covered in moss and grass?"
"That's a gross exaggeration. I'm not covered in grass."
"Who was that tonight?" She tries again.
"Hmm?" I play dumb.
"The fellow who picked you up?"
"Goodnight. Melly." I make to close the bathroom door, but she sticks out her slipper foot.
"I saw him, Kat. It wasn't the dark skinned guy. Are you stepping out on your beau?"
Melly has no idea where I go or what I do when I sneak out. She only knows I do frequently and she knows Abe from his occasional visits. In her simple mind, Abe is my taboo paramor from back home, the [00:14:00] reason I'm not interested in any of the men who visit the academy. I gladly let her think it.
It's fairly harmless and only half wrong. Misdirection.
"Of course not," I tell her, narrowing my eyes. "I love him. You know that."
"Then who?"
"He was just a friend, melly. Geez! I left a lot of people behind when I came here. It's not easy staying connected to both worlds."
She looks at her slippers momentarily, abashed.
" I'm not stepping out on my fella," I say firmly.
"I know you aren't," she whispers, "but I'm not sure you should be trying so hard to stay connected, kat. You left the catacombs behind for a reason. Same as me with a farm. Maybe it's time to move on." And with that, she pulls her foot back slowly and closes the door.
Wow. What a enticing scene with lots of different dynamics going on there.
Lindsay Barrett: Yeah. Yeah. It's one of my favorites in the early chapters of the book.
Katherine Grant: Yeah. Well, I have a lot of questions for you, but first we're gonna take a quick break for our sponsors.
Katherine Grant: [00:15:00] I am back with Lindsay Barrett, who just read a great sample from Savannah Royals. Now there's so much about this book that is grabbing my attention. You know, it's first person, it's present tense. Yeah, it's Savannah. It's in 1919. And then it's like this dark romance.
So I guess my first question is
how did the story begin for you?
Lindsay Barrett: Okay, so like the secret behind this manuscript is that it was actually originally written, it was not historical romance.
It was fantasy romance. I read six of crows and then I wrote like, essentially six of crows fanfic, just for fun and filed it under my bed and put it away. And then a few years ago I traveled to Savannah, Georgia, and to the neighboring Jekyll Island, which is a secondary setting in the book.
And I just fell in love with the city of Savannah and the history there. The streets, it's so beautiful. And it was really an epicenter of like clout and privilege in the early 20th century. [00:16:00] So I came home just feeling so inspired and I already had this manuscript under my bed.
It was about a criminal found family stealing from the wealthy. And I decided to rewrite it into this time period in history, and it really just like came alive. But it all really started, I just wanted to write a con artist story that was a love story at the heart.
Katherine Grant: Yeah. Yeah. And so what kind of research did you do to then make it mm-hmm.
Savannah. And did that change the story at all?
Lindsay Barrett: So most of my research was done on the ground in Savannah and on Jekyll Island. It was a real privilege. I didn't know that I was going down there and I was gonna get so inspired to like, rewrite, but while I was in Savannah and on Jekyll Island, we stayed at the club that features in the book.
So I was learning all about these famous families. There's a private island off the coast of Georgia where the Rockefellers, JP Morgan's family, the Vanderbilts, the vanderbilts, the Pulitzers, they would all winter on this private island right within an hour of Savannah. And I was touring some of the mansions on that island and learning about the [00:17:00] history and that's most of the history that went into the book when I came home.
It was just small things that were, I could achieve on the internet, like looking up the dialect and the slang to get the language right. So the plot, the characters, none of that has changed since the original fantasy manuscript. The only thing that changed were the setting details and then things like the fashions and the dialogue.
They all obviously had to be rewritten and unfortunately there are multiple heists in the book, and in the fantasy world, they were using some technology and whatnot that was not available in history. So I had to rethink the heist, which which was a little bit like devastating 'cause they were hard enough to figure out the first time.
And then I had to like redo it in a historical context. But the book is so much better for this time period and setting. I'm so happy with the choice to rewrite it.
Katherine Grant: Yeah, that's really interesting. And in your bio, you describe yourself as writing dark stories with lots of kissing. And obviously having Katerina and Paul be [00:18:00] criminals
is really centering a different morality system you might say than We normally see centered as our heroic morality center. What do you think about when you think of what a dark romance is and how is it writing from a criminal's point of view?
Lindsay Barrett: Yeah, that's a really interesting question.
This book is just a big genre blend. It walks the line between like historical romance, romantasy, 'cause there's a lot of fight scenes that you would find, strong female main character, very, very walks that line. And then it's also dipping into like mafia or like crime Boss romance a little bit as well.
When I think of like dark romance, typically I think of contemporary. So when I was looking at it in a historical context, I was looking at more books like Elizabeth Hoyt's maiden Lane Series, and Sarah McLean's bare Knuckle Bastards. Those are the, those are the comps for this book in a historical setting.
I'm not gonna mince words, there's violence in this book. She is ethically and morally questionable in this book. I enjoy [00:19:00] writing characters like that. I think it's really rich to like dip your toes into such a morally gray space and the way I see it, if I've done my job right as an author, like you might not always agree with what Kat is doing in the book.
You might not agree with her killing people or stealing from people, but if I've done my job right, you should always understand why she's doing it, why this particular character is making that particular choice in that given situation. And I think it makes for a really exciting and rich narrative to step outside the traditional box and confines.
Katherine Grant: Yeah, absolutely. So then I'm also interested because you set up the premise that there's this tension between her love interests. Yes. And that she and Paul have an open relationship. But of course that's a term that is a 21st century term, I think. Yeah. So how did you approach writing
you know, like a, what we would call a polyamorous [00:20:00] relationship in an era when they had maybe different language or a different understanding of what that is?
Lindsay Barrett: Yeah, there's never any labels in her and Paul's relationship because, like truthfully, it didn't exist. She does use the word in her internals, like she uses the word exclusive.
Like she's like, I wonder if he wants to, to be exclusive with me, or like, what it would take for us to be exclusive. So she does use that word, which is a little bit of a modern construct, but like, it could still apply, I feel like in, in someone's head. There's a threesome on page in this book, and it is not with the hero of the story. So Kat and Paul have an open relationship where one, he sends her off to seduce marks, like knowing that it's never gonna be serious, it's never gonna be a true threat to him, which. This book shows that that is not the case.
And then they also occasionally they let another member of the Wolf pack into their bedroom with them and they have a threesome relationship with another guy who they're very, very close friends with. And it was really important to me [00:21:00] to put that on the page. When I wrote this book, I was originally trying to get this book traditionally published, and at one point my agent -no editors on submission, no editors ever complained about the polyamory-
but at one point my agent had had suggested perhaps we take it out and I just, I wasn't willing to do it because with these characters, the Wolf Pack, the gang that she's in, they grew up together from childhood and they grew up in very, very difficult circumstances. And they're bonded together like you wouldn't believe.
And it's just another way that they show love and express the way that they feel their closeness with this other member of their gang. Kat's not in love with the other man the same way that she feels about Paul and Matt. But it is a really interesting dynamic that just shows the depth of the loyalty and the love that they share.
So I approached writing it in a time period that you don't typically see a whole lot of this. I mean, you know, it was happening behind closed doors. There just aren't really labels and it is very closely discussed, like the motivations and the types of feelings. She dives very deep into laying out how [00:22:00] she feels about these different people and why she's making the choices that she's making.
So that's how I approached it. No labels, but putting it on the page and doing my best to do justice to it.
Katherine Grant: Yeah, I think that's really interesting because in romance, I think we generally understand that sex on the page is also metaphorically doing work to show Intimacy of a relationship. And we also have romance novels where we always, most romance novels also have very strong friendship or family dynamics that are also explored.
Yeah. And so I like that you are daring to pull the sex and the friendship and, you know, say, well, yeah, these things can be commingled.
Lindsay Barrett: Yes. It was really important to me. I never wanted any of the sex in my book be gratuitous. Like, I completely agree with you. Sex in a romance novel is doing work. And the sex scenes in this book, they're all doing work.
The third member, his name is Abe, he, he does appear in the offhand of the, of the sample I [00:23:00] read. He comes out and says it on the page in the book. It's one of my favorite moments. He says that, you know, when I was young, which is when they started hooking up the three of them, he's like, when I was young, I thought that physical intimacy was the ultimate.
That was how you express that you love someone completely. But I'm older now and I've learned like my love for you doesn't need to be physical to prove that it's there. But that's where it started for them like. When you're young, everything's just passionate and they love each other so much.
This, this criminal found family. So I think it makes perfect sense that they dipped their toe a little bit into that world and then as they've matured, they step back and they do, they stop hooking up. Kat eventually, monogamy prevails at the end of this book as she falls for one person more deeply than everyone else.
But yeah, there's a very interesting exploration of many different kinds of love on the page of this book.
Katherine Grant: And did you ever consider not having monogamy prevail?
Lindsay Barrett: You know, I did because I'm not a plotter. This book was Pantsed, [00:24:00] so there was even a point like when I set out to write, like I thought I knew what the happily ever after looked like in my head.
But I will say Abe he's my favorite character in the, in the book. I love him. And there was even a point where I was like, oh my God. Like maybe, yeah, maybe she ends up with him, or this open relationship is what prevails. So I, I just followed the voices of the story really. And as I kept writing, it does become clear like.
The question of every romance for me, like at the heart of every romance, is why is this person, why is this relationship, and it could be a relationship with multiple people, why is this the right relationship that changes this person's life? So I had to look at it from what does Kat need? What are Kat's wounds?
What are her, her fears? What is the lie that she tells herself and who is the one who brings her into the light and answers those questions for her? And it was not ultimately, a polyamorous HEA that did that for her. She has a lot of like, damage and wounds. And she has to end up with the right person who can see her, understand her, and help her step into the [00:25:00] future.
Katherine Grant: Yeah. Lovely. That's so beautiful. I think it's time to play. Love it. Or leave it. We've touched a little bit on it, but I think there's even more to, to get into.
[Musical Interlude]
Katherine Grant: Alright. Do you love it or leave it? Protagonists meet in the first 10% of the story.
Lindsay Barrett: I. I love it. I read all genres, but like when I pick up a romance, like I'm coming for a very particular flavor, and it's that I'm gonna get the romance right off the bat.
I'm gonna get the banter early on. So I always have my main characters meet early on and I, I really wanna see that too when I'm reading someone else's romance.
Katherine Grant: Do you love it or leave it? Dual point of view narration.
Lindsay Barrett: So I love to read it, but I don't currently write it. That might change. I, I've dabbled, but I haven't completed anything.
And I love reading it because there is just nothing sexier than being in the mind of a love interest, a man who's falling in love, like I adore it. My books currently, like, it's [00:26:00] very much the girl's story, like Savannah Royals is Kat's story. The next book I'm releasing in the fall is Margot's story.
They're the leading lady and it's their journey. So. Love to read it. Don't currently write it.
Katherine Grant: All right. Do you love it or leave it? Third person, past tense.
Lindsay Barrett: So this is a leave it for me, but not, not entirely. I just believe that you should choose what fits the book. I don't think that just because convention says in historical romance that third person past is, you know, the, the pinnacle.
I don't, I think you should look at each individual story and look at how it needs to be told. So, Savannah Royals is first person present. It absolutely needed to be first person. It's Kat's story, like I said, and present tense. I just feel this is a suspense novel as much as it is a romance novel and the immediacy of first person present really suits that sub-genre.
So that's how I made that decision. My next book is for all the purists out there. My next book is a third person past.
Katherine Grant: All right. Do you love it or leave it the third act breakup or dark [00:27:00] moment?
Lindsay Barrett: Okay, so I love it, but I would leave the branding or the title, like, I don't think it always has to be a breakup. Like, I wish we could just call it like the third act test or whatnot. I think more often than not, it is a breakup in romance, but not always. Sometimes the couple can face down a test together or, you know, in a suspense novel, a challenge or a heist together.
So it kind of depends. On the story that you're telling again, and I do think there has to be some kind of like culminating tension and, and climax that pushes them into a dark night of the soul moment. But it doesn't always have to be a breakup.
Katherine Grant: All right. Do you love it or leave it? Always end with an epilogue.
Lindsay Barrett: I love it. I, I wanna see like the little glimpse, you know, we've watched them struggle for so many pages and like, we don't always get that long of a happily ever after within the book itself. So I love that little glimpse into the future. It just like leaves the perfect taste in my mouth.
Katherine Grant: And do you love it or leave it?
Always share research in your author's note.
Lindsay Barrett: Okay, so I love it, but what we can leave is like when, when [00:28:00] people get like into like a work cited, like I totally trust that you did the research. Like I believe you, I read the book, you did a great job. What I love in an author's note is, more seeing how a little bit of research guided the decisions and the themes in the book. I love to hear authors talk about like what inspired their book and then research kind of like naturally comes up to support that in, in the historical genre. So yeah, I love a good author's note, but we can leave a lot of, a lot of the work cited at the door, in my opinion.
Katherine Grant: All right. And are there any other romance rules I didn't ask about that you break?
Lindsay Barrett: I mean, we've chatted about, I broke a lot of rules with this debut and I had a lot of fun doing it, to be honest. So first person present is a rule I'm not afraid to break. I think my settings are inherently a little bit of a they're a little non-conventional as well.
I think when you're in historical romance, anytime that you're writing outside of Victorian or Regency England, you're, you're already in the minority. And then not only that, I didn't write [00:29:00] in like Gilded Age New York. I set it in the south in Savannah. My next book is set in Kentucky on a haunted bourbon distillery at the end of Prohibition, which is an even more non-traditional setting that I just love.
So yeah, I'm not afraid to like bring fresh settings to the page and I'm very atmospheric with my writing.
Katherine Grant: Well, and also with the polyamory, it yeah, for sure might feel very similar to cheating, sort of Yeah.
Vibes that but with different understanding of how the characters feel about it.
Lindsay Barrett: Yeah, for sure. And I can give the disclaimer like, the men know, like she's not keeping a secret. Like Matthew knows that she's in a long-term open relationship with the, the gang leader. And Paul knows, obviously he knows about Matthew.
He's encouraging it. So yeah, it was, it was so much fun to explore that on the page to the best of my ability. And yeah, I'm not afraid to, to get dirty with the characters a little and see where they take me.
Katherine Grant: Well, Lindsay, this has been a fantastic conversation.
Before we wrap up, where can listeners find you and your [00:30:00] books?
Lindsay Barrett: Okay, so you can find me on Instagram primarily. I'm at Lindsay Barrett books on there, and the best place to really keep in touch with me is by signing up for my newsletter, which you can find on my website. It's lindsay barrett books.com.
That's the best way that everybody who subscribes there. I have a bonus epilogue on there for Savannah Royals, and it's where I drop all the details about what's coming next first.
Katherine Grant: I'm gonna put that website in the show notes. So all you listeners who love the epilogue and love a bonus epilogue, make sure you sign up.
Lindsay Barrett: Thanks so much for having me on today.
Katherine Grant: Thank you so much for coming. This was fantastic.
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