1--What is the title of your latest release?
We’re very excited to share our latest release, BOOK BOYFRIEND, with Fresh Fiction readers!
2--What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
In BOOK BOYFRIEND, Jennifer Worth, romantic idealist and huge romantasy fan, goes to a weeklong immersive fan experience centered on her favorite series…where the last person she expects to encounter is her prickly rival coworker Scott, who judges Jennifer’s fandoms—yet seems to be working to remake himself into the ultimate “book boyfriend,” using Jennifer’s favorite reads for inspiration.
3--How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
The “Elytheum Experience,” as Jennifer attends, was a major inspiration and component of the story that helped Book Boyfriend come together. Following a couple of versions where Jennifer would be transported by magic into the literal land of her favorite stories, we noticed the proliferation of Bridgerton, Game of Thrones and other fan experiences in the real world, where fans could partake in richly detailed recreations of places and activities from their favorite reads and hang out with other fans. Intrigued, we developed the Elytheum Experience for Jennifer’s perfect fandom event.
One of our favorite parts of writing Book Boyfriend was bringing the Experience to life, both in coming up with the world-built details of Jennifer’s favorite romantasy series, recreated at the Experience—from fantastical desserts to in-character actors who interact with participants—and in creating the college campus where the Experience takes place, and where Jennifer gets a throwback of what it’s like to live in a dorm with communal bathrooms and a rival-turned-crush right down the hall.
4--Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life?
Absolutely! And in fact, we more or less do! Jennifer is closely modeled on fans of, well, everything, but particularly many of our own favorite romance and fantasy reads. She’s a tribute to fandom and has a lot in common with many of our closest friends in the bookish community!
5--What are three words that describe your protagonist?
Superfan, superfan, superfan. No, we’re kidding (but we’re serious). Let’s go with romantic, idealistic, dauntless. Jennifer’s insistence that the real world and her romantic relationships should be as perfect as those in her favorite romantasy reads is her strength to want everything she deserves and her inspiration to find the magic in the world around her.
6--What’s something you learned while writing this book?
We really like coming up with…clues and secret codes. Jennifer’s week at the Elytheum Experience includes a competitive scavenger hunt to find and decode clue scrolls intertwining Elytheum references with cryptic riddles. We honestly had so much fun investing cryptic and complicated clues for Jennifer to crack with new inspirations from her friends and her romance with Scott.
7--Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
We wait until we’re finally done. We’re very iterative, procedurally specific writers—we always do a complete, very long outline, then a complete first draft, in which both of us take passes at each chapter, and then a complete editorial pass. It’s really hard for us to shift back and forth in and out of the free-flowing drafting state and the rigid, analytical editing mindset.
8--What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
Whenever we have anything to celebrate, from selling a new manuscript to finishing a draft to exciting publish news, we go all-out at Los Angeles’ pizzeria Jon & Vinny’s. It’s a delight, from the pizza and famous Spicy Fusilli to the tiramisu and strawberry bread pudding.
9--Describe your writing space/office!
We work surrounded by color-coordinated shelves of our favorite romance and fantasy books, both recent purchases and inspirations and longstanding favorites. It helps us search for inspiration and, when we need it, encouragement and hope of seeing our own writing alongside our admired contemporaries.
10--Who is an author you admire?
We’re huge fans of Kate Golden, whose rich, darkly evocative and undeniably romantic Sacred Stones series captured the romantasy chamber of our heart this year. Not only that, Kate is just as winning a writer of contemporary romance, and is an inspiringly productive and kind author.
11--Is there a book that changed your life?
Jenny Han’s TO ALL THE BOYS I’VE LOVED BEFORE changed our lives because it’s the YA novel that locked in Austin’s excitement and interest in writing YA and romance, at the very outset of our coauthoring career. When Emily asked if Austin wanted to write romance with her, TATB’s charm, cleverness, can’t-help-falling-in-love characterization and intricate, multifaceted plot made for one of the reasons Austin said yes.
12--Tell us about when you got “the call.” (when you found out your book was going to be published)/Or, for indie authors, when you decided to self-publish.
We were in the middle of a demanding, frankly frustrating day of coauthoring, and we decided to give ourselves a walk outside to clear our minds. For months, we’d gone through the disappointments and rigors of being “on sub” with the manuscript that got us our agent. We were down to our final couple chances when we received the news the offer was in from our dream publisher, and needless to say, no more writing got done that week—but we carry the inspiration of that moment with us every day.
13--What’s your favorite genre to read?
Romance in all its forms. We’re forever inspired reading old favorites and new surprises in the genre, and excited to follow what subgenres and trends arise year after year.
14--What’s your favorite movie?
They’re too numerous to list, but one favorite that inspired Book Boyfriend was Austenland. It’s an underappreciated masterpiece, wholly inspiring for how perfectly it manages laugh-out-loud humor, a sweet and unexpected romance, and absolutely delightful riffs on classic literature. We decided, if we could do a contemporary romantasy spin on Austenland, it’d be something we’d love to write and to read.
15--What is your favorite season?
Winter. We love the end-of-year holidays, and many important family birthdays are in those months. Perhaps most importantly, our German Shepherd with her heavy coat flourishes in the chilly months.
16--How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
With each other! As long as we have that, we enjoy keeping it low key, with favorite restaurants and video game time.
17--What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
Like the rest of the entire world, we’re obsessed with Severance.
18--What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
Can we say Jon & Vinny’s again? Los Angeles has had a pizza resurgence over the past decade, and we feel lucky and appreciative!
19--What do you do when you have free time?
With three books a year, usually, and a full-time job for Austin, what little free time we have goes into our aforementioned German Shepherd, who loves long walks in the neighborhood looking for glimpses of squirrels or cats. There’s no one we’d rather spend those free moments with than our fuzzy girl!
20--What can readers expect from you next?
We’re very excited to share with romance readers our next romance for adults, SEEING OTHER PEOPLE, a contemporary romance with a paranormal spin, in which two strangers haunted, literally, by the ghosts of their exes decide to work together to exorcise the ghosts by completing the spirits’ unfinished business, falling for each other in the process. It’s been wonderful to write our first paranormal/supernatural story with equal parts humor and angst. SEEING OTHER PEOPLE publishes at the end of this year.
We also cowrite cozy romantic fantasy with our friend Bridget Morrissey under the penname E.B. Asher, and following our first release THIS WILL BE FUN this past year, we’re very excited to share its loose sequel/standalone-in-the-same-world as THIS WILL BE INTERESTING. In 2026, we’ll reunite a new group of unconventional “quest-mates” on a comedic caper in an enchanted city.
Devoted fangirl meets hesitant fanboy in this swoony contemporary love letter to readers who adore fantasy worlds, from the beloved authors of The Breakup Tour.
Jennifer Worth lives to escape into the world of her favorite romantasy series Elytheum Courts, where the romance is sweeping and the men are brave, chivalrous . . . and winged. Newly single and craving connection,she travels to an immersive fan experience celebrating all things Elytheum, only to see the last face she expected—Scott Daniels, her work nemesis, whose disinterest in Jennifer’s favorite series and standoffishness have made their publishing jobs feel like a feuding fae court.
Except the Scott she encounters at the Elytheum Experience, in his secondhand cosplay outfit, is . . . different. Swaggering, flirtatious, confident. Unlucky in romance himself and inspired by Jennifer’s love for the swoonworthy men of Elytheum, Scott is determined to remake himself into the perfect book boyfriend.
Jennifer has no interest in helping the man who vexes her every workday and dismisses her fictional fantasies, but as the immersive convention activities force them together, they’re surprised to discover magic like none Jennifer has ever read about. But is enemies-to-lovers romance only for books, or can Jennifer and Scott bring the trope to life?
Romance Contemporary [Berkley, On Sale: February 25, 2025, Trade Paperback / e-Book , ISBN: 9780593638668 / eISBN: 9780593638675]
Emily Wibberley grew up in Southern California, but instead of working on her nonexistent tan at the beach, she spent her time reading, making music and watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Austin Siegemund-Broka writes contemporary YA novels with Emily Wibberley. They coauthored Always Never Yours (Penguin Random House), which published in 2018, and the forthcoming If I'm Being Honest and As We Go Forth (PRH, 2019 and 2020). A former journalist for The Hollywood Reporter, where he covered entertainment law and the film industry, he graduated from Harvard in 2014 with a degree in English and a focus on Shakespeare. When he's not writing (or reading) YA, he enjoys combing every corner of contemporary music (and watching Buffy with Emily)
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