Ep. 87: Tia Williams (Author of Seven Days in June) + Book Recommendations
Sarah's Bookshelves Live
Sarah Dickinson
4.9 • 732 Ratings
🗓️ 23 June 2021
⏱️ 44 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In Episode 87, Tia Williams (author of Seven Days in June) shares how she wrote such a meaty romance novel and what it’s like to be an author with chronic pain.
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Highlights
- Tia’s inspiration for Seven Days in June.
- Whether Shane was inspired by anyone in her real life.
- How Tia went about writing a love story with such meat.
- Tia’s affection for supporting characters (and her favorite supporting character from Seven Days in June).
- Tia’s thoughts on an empowering kind of love (vs. the kind that makes you lose yourself).
- The problematic romance novels of the 1980’s.
- Tia’s experience pitching The Perfect Find and how it influenced her decision to include publishing industry commentary in Seven Days in June.
- What it’s like to be an author (and have a full-time day job) while suffering from chronic migraines.
- Tia’s experience talking about books while on dates.
- Sarah’s weirdly good luck with books by attorneys turned authors.
Tia’s Book Recommendations [26:44]
Two OLD Books She Loves
- I Don’t Want to Die Poor by Michael Arceneaux | Buy from Amazon | Buy from Bookshop.org
[27:52]
- Florida by Lauren Groff | Buy from Amazon | Buy from Bookshop.org [29:17]
Two NEW Books She Loves
- The Beauty of Living Twice by Sharon Stone | Buy from Amazon | Buy from Bookshop.org [31:24]
- Brat: An 80’s Story
by Andrew McCarthy | Buy from Amazon | Buy from Bookshop.org [33:01]
Two Authors She DIDN’T LOVE
- Charles Bukowski | Bret Easton Ellis [35:16]
One NEW RELEASE She’s Excited About
- Black Girls Must Die Exhausted by Jayne Allen (September 28, 2021) | Buy from Amazon | Buy from Bookshop.org
[37:40]
Last 5 Star Book(s) Tia Read [40:32]
- Americanah
Other Books Mentioned
- The Accidental Diva
- It Chicks
- Sixteen Candles
- The Perfect Find
- Seven Days in June
- Carry On
- Fangirl
- Fates & Furies
- Matrix
- American Psycho
- Less Than Zero
- Miracle Creek
by Angie Kim (My Review)
- The Bad Muslim Discount by Syed Masood [39:09]
- We Should All Be Feminsts
About Tia
Tia began her career as a beauty editor at YM, Elle, Lucky, Glamour, and Essence. In 2004, her debut novel, The Accidental Diva hit shelves – and she went on to publish the It Chicks series and co-write Iman’s The Beauty of Color. Tia’s award-winning novel, The Perfect Find, is being adapted for a film starring Gabrielle Union for Netflix. Her latest novel, Seven Days in June (Grand Central Publishing), debuts in June 2021.
Currently an Editorial Director at Estee Lauder Companies, Tia lives in Brooklyn with her daughter and her husband.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to Sarah's Bookshelves Live. I'm Sarah of the blog Sarah's Bookshelves. Each week I'm |
| 0:15.5 | talking with one bookish guest about two old books they love, two new books they love, one book they don't love, and one new |
| 0:22.7 | release they're excited about. We're going to get real and sometimes a bit snarky about all things |
| 0:28.3 | books. If you like the show, I'd really love your support. Spread the word to your reader friends, |
| 0:33.8 | subscribe to the show, rate and review it wherever you listen to podcasts, or get bonus podcast episodes |
| 0:40.8 | by supporting the podcast on Patreon. There's a link in the show notes and in my Instagram bio to my |
| 0:47.5 | Patreon page. Let's get rolling. Hey everyone, welcome to Sarah's Bookshelves Live. The romances I love tend to be of the meaty variety. |
| 0:56.8 | In addition to the romance, they deal with serious issues and the characters go on impactful personal journeys. |
| 1:03.4 | The new romance Seven Days in June by Tia Williams did all of this and more while avoiding the dreaded cheesy territory. |
| 1:10.9 | This story is snappy and Tia Williams writing crackles. |
| 1:15.3 | Tia had a 15-year career as a beauty editor for magazines including L, glamour, and essence. |
| 1:20.7 | In 2004, she pioneered the beauty blog industry with Shake Your Beauty. |
| 1:25.0 | She wrote the best-selling novel, The Accidental Diva, and penn two YA novels, It Chicks, and 16 Candles. |
| 1:31.9 | Her award-winning novel, The Perfect Find, will be adapted into a Netflix film starring Gabrielle Union. |
| 1:38.0 | Tia is currently an editorial director at Estée Lauder Companies and lives with her daughter and husband in Brooklyn. |
| 1:43.4 | Welcome, Tia. |
| 1:44.5 | Hi, thank you for having me. I'm so glad to talk to you. You are only the second romance author |
| 1:51.1 | I've had on the show. So this is exciting. Oh, what an honor to bring the romance. |
| 1:56.5 | So for those listeners who have not yet read seven days in June, can you tell us a little bit about it? |
| 2:02.6 | Sure. Okay. So it is about two famous authors who randomly meet one evening at a literary event at the Brooklyn Museum and sparks fly. |
| 2:14.3 | But unbeknownst to everyone there, they are not strangers. Back in high school, they shared |
| 2:18.9 | seven days of torrid romance and then went their separate ways, never to speak again. |
... |
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