Fans of Raven Leilani, Lily King, and Xochitl Gonzalez won't want to miss our latest blog tour. Haili Blassingame joins us to celebrate the launch of her book, They All Fall in Love at the End. Join us as we interview the author about her incredible novel and give you a chance to win a copy for yourself.
Before we get to that, here's more about the book:
Cat St. Clair is ready for her messy love triangle era now that she’s in an open relationship. But she didn’t foresee a forbidden love triangle with the only two people who are off-limits: her boyfriend’s best friend and his girlfriend. Being a twenty-something writer who lives for plot, she falls for them anyway, with deliciously disastrous consequences, in this electric literary debut for fans of Xochitl Gonzalez, Coco Mellors, Lily King, and Raven Leilani.
It’s the fall of 2024, and twenty-four-year-old Cat isn’t asking for too much: all she wants is three boyfriends, to write her little novels, and to survive another chaotic presidential election. She’s in an open relationship with her college sweetheart Jay, but nonmonogamy isn’t just a hot trend she’s trying. It’s her sliver of freedom in a world eager to wrestle it from her for being a Black woman going after what she wants with reckless abandon.
While political tensions roil the campus where Cat is slowly earning her creative writing degree, she finds herself drawn to Jay’s best friend, Tristan, who’s smart, super hot, and…in a monogamous relationship. And then she meets Tristan’s girlfriend, Nia, a captivating art student with her own gravitational pull.
Friends and family urge her to just be happy with Jay, but Cat is determined to have it all—or blow up her life trying. As she falls for all the wrong people, racking up lies, betrayals, and terrible drafts of her novel, she tries to write her way to a happy ending. But in art, politics, and love, true liberation may take more than rewriting the old scripts. It may mean inventing something entirely new.
Publisher: Scribner
ISBN-13: 9781668204122
ASIN: B0D9DP6GDY
Print length: 384 pages
Purchase a copy of They All Fall in Love at the End on Amazon and Bookshop.org. Be sure to add it to your Goodreads reading list too.
About the Author, Haili Blassingame
Haili Blassingame is a producer for the show 1A from WAMU and NPR. She writes literary fiction about love, desire, and the decisions that feel impossible to make starring plucky, loud-mouth female protagonists of color. Her debut novel is called THEY ALL FALL IN LOVE AT THE END. It has a hot-pink cover. She's also written a New York Times Modern Love essay about breaking up with her boyfriend and a piece in The New Republic about Kamala Harris and Gretchen Whitmer. She’s also been a guest on the Modern Love podcast, NPR’s Life Kit, and NPR’s 1A. She previously worked on NPR’s Code Switch and Weekend Edition. She lives in Washington, D.C., with her 10,000 books and no bookshelf.
Find her online at:
Substack: https://hailiblassingame.substack.com/
Instagram: @hailiwroteabook
Website: https://hailiblassingame.com/
TikTok: @shutuphaili
-- Interview by Nicole Pyles
WOW: Congrats on your book, They All Fall in Love at the End. What pulls you towards writing romantic fiction?
Haili: I LOVE love! I don’t know if I know how to write about anything else—or I should say, I write about many things, but romantic love often is the center of gravity of it. I’m also someone who grew up bingeing RomComs, so that genre and its quirks lives deep inside of me.
WOW: I think loving your genre is so important. How did your book change from the first draft to the final draft?
Haili: It changed DRAMATICALLY. There was an iteration of the book where the heroine’s main love interests, Jay and Tristan, were not childhood best friends. There was also a version where Cat and Tristan’s girlfriend, Nia, were just friends and there was no romantic complication there. All the tension was drained from the narrative in those drafts, it was like, Who cares!!? We wouldn’t even be talking about it right now if I hadn’t rewritten the whole thing; it wouldn’t have sold.
WOW: The changes you made ended up being so successful. What an experience to be published with a major publisher! What has that experience been like for you? Any insights or lessons you can share?
Haili: I’m lucky in that my experience at Scribner was seamless. I had a FANTASTIC editor that I adore, a deeply committed publicity and marketing team, so much support, I mean, Scribner hasn’t been around for nearly two centuries for no reason. They are the home of Fitzgerald, Wharton, Vonnegut, Wolfe, Hemingway (a fact I offer unprompted to anyone who cares, I’m just Scribner-maxxing right now). And so the lesson here is this: you can’t always choose your imprint. I sold in a pre-empt, so my editor and I chose each other. But the imprint does matter. Each one has its own identity, culture, logic, resources, vision and that’s hard to understand when you’re just starting out, you just want anyone, someone, to take your book. But just look at FSG, they launched the f*ck out of Madeline Cash. Scribner was the absolute right imprint to launch my debut, I’m certain of it. As a fire sign, I am proud to have the imprint’s flame on the spine of my novel. It’s also electric green which is very hot.
WOW: It sounds kismet! Okay so I have to ask: 10,000 books and NO BOOK SHELF? I love it! But I wonder: where do you put them all? And can we see photos? :)
Haili: I own a bookshelf, I just haven’t put it together and never will! This is my nightstand:
WOW: I love it! Where do you like to write?
Haili: I write in my bed! But my mattress is sinking in on one side, so I won’t show you a picture. Sometimes, when I’m feeling adventurous, I write on the sofa in my living room, which is an absolute mess.
WOW: Sometimes the messiest places are the best places. What are you working on now that you can tell us about?
Haili: I’m working on way too many things because I’m neurotic. I just finished a literary time travel novel that’s part domestic drama, part second-chance romance. Basically a loose 17 Again retelling (pray it gets published!!!). I’m also working on a friends-to-lovers campus Rom-Com, like Deep Cuts but with movies. And I just started a queer celebrity fan fiction featuring a narrator loosely based on myself and the hottest nonbinary actor on Earth. I want it to be a slender summer novel–but we’ll see what happens there.
WOW: I can't wait! Thank you so much for sharing more about your writing journey and your latest projects. Enjoy the blog tour!
-- Blog Tour Calendar
June 22 @ The Muffin
Join us at WOW as we celebrate the start of Haili Blassingame's blog tour for They All Fall in Love at the End. You'll also have a chance to win a copy of the book.
June 23 @ Just Katherine
Visit Katherine's blog to read an excerpt from the book. She also responds to our tour-themed prompt about why she loves reading romantic stories.
June 25 @ Sarandipity's
Stop by Sara's blog for a spotlight of They All Fall in Love at the End.
June 27 @ Chapter Break
Stop by Julie's blog for an interview with Haili Blassingame about her book They All Fall in Love at the End.
June 27 @ Boots, Shoes and Fashion
Join Linda's blog for an interview with Haili Blassingame.
July 1 @ Writer Advice
B. Lynn Goodwin interviews Haili Blassingame about her book, They All Fall in Love at the End.
July 4 @ Brandy's Substack
Stop by Brandy's Substack for a review of They All Fall in Love at the End. She also shares her response to our open blog tour-themed prompt.
July 7 @ Caitrin C. King's blog
Join Caitrin for an interview with Haili Blassingame.
July 10 @ StoreyBook Reviews
Join Leslie's blog for an excerpt from They All Fall in Love at the End.
July 11 @ 30 Days By the Sea
Join Amy for a review of They All Fall in Love at the End.
July 15 @ Hook of a Book
Visit Erin's blog for a review of They All Fall in Love at the End.
July 17 @ Afro Reads
Join Lynelle for her review of They All Fall in Love at the End. You can also check out an excerpt of the book.
July 20 @ A Wonderful World of Words
Stop by Joy's blog for an excerpt from They All Fall in Love at the End.
July 25 @ A Sip, A Shout, and A Sentence
Join Elle for her review of They All Fall in Love at the End.
July 26 @ Nikki's Book and Movie Reviews
Visit Nikki's blog for her review of They All Fall in Love at the End.
***** BOOK GIVEAWAY *****
Enter to win a print copy of They All Fall in Love at the End by Haili Blassingame. Fill out the form below for a chance to win! The giveaway ends on July 6th at 11:59 pm CT. We will randomly draw a winner the next day and follow up via email. Good luck!
1 comments:
Looks very exciting
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