Narelle here. I’m excited to share an interview with the lovely Becca Kinzer talking about her new romcom novel, Love in Tandem, that’s releasing next week on April 2, 2024.
What inspired Love in Tandem?
The original inspiration for this story came from an experience I had working as a nurse on a trauma unit. One of my patients, who’d just been in an accident that was going to require him to remain in the ICU for a few days, told me he was supposed to be meeting up with an old friend for supper later that evening. Since they’d only been conversing through email, he didn’t have her phone number. So he asked if I would do him a favor and log into his email on one of our computers, then send her a message explaining why he wouldn’t be able to make it. (I should note this was back in the days before everyone had smartphones.) The seed for this story was planted when I started imagining a situation where the only way to deliver a patient’s message was to go to the restaurant in person, then all the myriad of ways that simple task could go wrong.
What messages or themes do you focus on in this book?
One of the big themes in this book is about what “keeping the faith” looks like when things aren’t going according to the plan you thought for sure was the right plan.
How does faith play a role in this story?
While the focus of the story is Charlotte and Zach’s tandem bicycle trip along the Natchez Trace together, beneath the surface they are both on a more subtle journey with their faith—and not necessarily pedaling in sync on that aspect either.
What do you hope that readers learn from Love in Tandem?
I hope this story helps to encourage and remind readers that God is still the same good God during our setbacks and detours as He is when our paths run straight and smooth.
Who was your favorite character to write in this story?
D’Artagnan, the dog. Just kidding. (Kind of.) I always have a hard time choosing a favorite character. Melba? She certainly plays a critical role in this story. But no, I suppose if I absolutely have to choose, I’ll go with Zach. What can I say? He won me over with his lousy John Wayne impression.
How did you decide to set this novel along the Natchez Trace?
This one is easy. My husband and I biked the entire Natchez Trace on a tandem bicycle the summer before we got married, so I already had lots of journal entries and notes on hand from our trip. It was fun getting to incorporate some of those experiences into this story.
What do you enjoy about writing romance?
The happily-ever-after ending is great, but what I love most about writing romance is creating the whole messy journey it takes for the two main characters to reach that happily ever after—especially when they start off as complete opposites like in this story.
Do you have a favorite literary meet-cute?
It’s more of a cinematic meet-cute, but I love the scene in Return to Me where the two main characters first meet in O’Reilly’s Italian Restaurant. The whole exchange, especially with the side characters, always makes me laugh.
What are your top three favorite romance tropes in fiction?
Well, if you read my stories, you probably won’t be shocked to hear I’m a big fan of mistaken identities and fake relationships. Another longtime favorite is the friends-to-more trope, but recently I’ve been coming around to the enemies-to-lovers trope too.
What do you find to be the most challenging part of the writing process? What advice would you offer young writers?
Getting through that first initial draft is the most challenging part of the writing process for me—especially when my internal critic likes to repeatedly tell me how much my story stinks compared to every other story in the world. So my advice to young writers is to ignore that internal critic and just get the words down on the page. Remind your internal critic that you’ll polish and shine your slop of words into a masterpiece later.
Which books and authors have shaped you most as a writer?
I’d say two books that impacted me early on as a writer are Little Women and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Both books started stirring up a desire in my heart to write long before I realized in my brain that I wanted to be a writer. As far as authors go, I have to credit Susan May Warren for teaching me so much of what I know when it comes to the craft of storytelling.
Do you have any other writing projects planned?
Oh, do I! Right now I’m working on another romantic comedy that is set to release in 2025 and brainstorming a Christmas novella full of Yuletide joy and all my favorite romance tropes.
Book Description:
She’s perfectly content leading a quiet life in her small hometown. He’s an adventurer with unquenchable wanderlust. The two couldn’t be any more opposite if they tried. But a tandem bicycle and a 500-mile road trip just might change all that.
After a failed engagement and her mother’s battle with cancer, Charlotte Carter’s life is finally turning around now that she’s landed a dream job teaching music. What she didn’t see coming was the imminent closure of the school’s music program. She’s determined to save it, even if it means getting creative. There’s no way she’s chalking this up as just another failure in her book of recent embarrassments.
Zach Bryant is back in town just long enough to see his brother Ben get married and then he’s off traveling the world again. He never imagined he’d run into Charlotte Carter, his brother’s ex-fiancé, or that everyone would believe he and Charlotte are an item. He certainly didn’t dream he’d end up riding a tandem bicycle hundreds of miles with her in an attempt to raise funds for a defunct music program, but how can he say no when the prize money would help him out of his financial predicament too?
Charlotte is sure she can set aside her differences with Zach long enough to cross the finish line and win the giant cash prize . . . can’t she? A few hundred miles in, she’s questioning her deeply held assumptions about Zach and wondering if maybe tandem biking is only the start of their biggest adventure yet.
Becca Kinzer lives in Springfield, Illinois, where she works as a critical care nurse. When she’s not taking care of sick patients or reminding her husband and two kids that frozen chicken nuggets is a gourmet meal, she enjoys making up lighthearted stories with serious laughs. She is a 2018 ACFW First Impressions Contest winner, a 2019 Genesis Contest winner, a 2021 Cascade Award winner, and an all-around champion coffee drinker. Love in Tandem is her second novel. Visit Becca online at beccakinzer.com.
Connect with Becca at:
Amazon | BookBub | Goodreads | Becca Kinzer’s website
Narelle: I enjoyed reading Love in Tandem and I highly recommend it to contemporary romance readers who like LOL fake relationship romcoms with a fun cycling road trip adventure and a relevant faith element in the story. Check out my book recommendation on my author blog at the link below.
https://www.narelleatkins.com/book-recommendation-love-in-tandem-by-becca-kinzer/
