More Happier: Talking Romance Writing with Stacey Abrams and Lori Gottlieb

Happier with Gretchen Rubin

Gretchen Rubin / The Onward Project

Education, Health & Fitness, Self-improvement

4.7 • 13K Ratings

🗓️ 23 August 2025

⏱️ 37 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this Roundtable discussion, we explore the role of romance in fiction and real life. Author and political leader Stacey Abrams explains how she weaves it into her suspense novels by focusing on authentic human connection, while therapist Lori Gottlieb brings her perspective on love off the page. Together, we look at how romance is imagined, experienced, and sustained today.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Lemonada. This special episode, The Romance Roundtable, is brought to you exclusively by Audible. Do you love a good love story?
0:14.4	The Audible Romance Collection has audiobooks that will satisfy every side of you. You may love a story about a dalliance with a Duke or perhaps
0:22.8	a sexy billionaire set in the big city or at the hockey rink or in another realm with dragons.
0:29.5	Hear modern rom-coms from authors like Lily Chu, Romanticy series from Sarah J. Moss and Rebecca
0:35.5	Yaros, regency favorites like the new Audible original
0:39.0	Pride and Prejudice plus the really steamy stuff. Your first great love story is free
0:45.2	when you sign up for a free 30-day trial at audible.com. com. Hello, we are here for more happier, a podcast where we get happier.
1:07.0	Today's episode is a special edition in our roundtable Conversation series, and the topic today is romance.
1:14.3	Because for so many of us, romance is an important aspect of a happier life, so it's a great subject for a roundtable discussion.
1:21.8	The three of us are here today to talk it over.
1:25.1	I'm Gretchen Rubin, a writer who studies happiness and human nature, and I'm host of
1:28.9	the Happier with Gretchen Rubin podcast. And here today are my two terrific guests. First, Stacey Abrams.
1:35.8	Stacey Abrams is a best-selling author whose romance novels written under the pen name Selena Montgomery.
1:42.5	I love the idea of having a pen name.
1:49.1	Explores themes of passion, justice, identity, and power. Her latest book, Coded Justice,
1:53.5	is a legal thriller that takes on questions of technology, ethics, and accountability,
2:00.5	with romance woven in, too. You may also know her as a nationally recognized political leader and voting rights advocate. She served
2:02.8	as minority leader of the Georgia House of Representatives and founded Fair Fight Action and other civic
2:07.9	organizations to expand voting access and representation. Hello, Stacey. Thank you so much
2:13.8	for having me, Gretchen. It's so fun to have you here. And I am also excited to be talking
2:17.9	to Lori Gottlieb. Lori Gottlieb is a psychotherapist and New York Times bestselling author of Maybe
2:23.6	You Should Talk to Someone, which has sold more than 3 million copies. In addition to her clinical
	...

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