1--What is the title of your latest release?
LOVE, COFFEE, AND REVOLUTION
2--What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
Dee Blum was supposed to follow the plan: law school, divorce lawyer, success. Instead, she’s leading eco-tours in Costa Rica and falling for two very different men. One is a passionate activist, the other is the charming scion of a wealthy family. But when she uncovers corruption behind the “ethical” coffee farms she’s promoting, Dee must decide how far she’ll go—for love, for justice, and for the life she really wants.
3--How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
I lived in Costa Rica for a year when I was 20, and it was the most formative experience of my life. Learning to navigate the world in a different language and culture changes you forever. It helps you see things from multiple perspectives. Also, Costa Rica is a gorgeous country with a rich history and welcoming, generous people.
4--Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life?
Definitely! Dee is fun, adventurous, supportive, and funny. She genuinely wants to do good, and be good.
5--What are three words that describe your protagonist?
Naive, passionate, and even though she doesn’t believe it — brave.
6--What’s something you learned while writing this book?
How hard and joyful writing a novel is. I’ve written TV for sixteen years and a novel is a whole other beast! But I love the freedom, and I particularly love writing in first person.
7--Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
I lightly edit as I go — revising the work from the day before. But mainly I edit when a full draft is done. I do several drafts. I also outline pretty in-depth, but I allow things to change as I go. Then I re-outline! Like a psycho, I need my outline to match what I’ve written even when it doesn’t matter! Why?! Who knows!
8--What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
Chocolate and coffee, obviously. I currently love a lavender latte.
9--Describe your writing space/office!
I write near a big window looking out on many trees. Books are stacked on every surface because I don’t have enough bookshelf space; they’re literally on the floor, the bench, the desk, my stereo. I have a bunch of crystals and tarot decks on my table, because I like to keep it weird.
10--Who is an author you admire?
So, so, so many. I’ll go with Ray Bradbury, because he’s the first author who impacted me in a massive way. I feel like his stories reach out and grab my heart. I have such an immediate emotional reaction to them. His writing is full of such deep empathy.
11--Is there a book that changed your life?
Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury. When I was a kid reading it, I saw myself in it. The narrator wonders when he will feel like his life has started…and at some point, he has a realization: he is alive! It gave me hope I would have that realization at some point myself. Love, Coffee, and Revolution also explores this critical, glorious moment when you know you are truly alive, and not a passive observer of your own life. You are the main character.
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.
While I’d been a TV writer for a long time, being a novelist was always my dream. I had put that dream on hold for a long time, and I didn’t know if it would ever happen. When I got the call, I was over the moon! Filled with such happiness and relief and gratitude — to my agent, my editor, the friends who supported me — but also to myself, for not giving up.
13--What’s your favorite genre to read?
I read pretty widely, but I love speculative fiction, romcoms that also have a strong secondary story, and mysteries.
14--What’s your favorite movie?
When Harry Met Sally
15--What is your favorite season?
Summer! I love being outside and especially being in the water.
16--How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
Excellent coffee, some time in nature, a decadent dinner with family and friends, and lots of champagne. If I’m by the water, even better.
17--What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
I really loved “Olga Dies Dreaming” by Xótchitl González. It had a strong character arc, a romantic element, a political element, and a beautiful specificity of place which is everything I love in a book, and hopefully what I have achieved in mine! I loved every minute of it.
18--What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
Mexican.
19--What do you do when you have free time?
I read! I also read tarot, another passion of mine.
20--What can readers expect from you next?
I’m working on an action-adventure romcom that involves tarot. It’s delightfully weird and I am having so much fun.
A Novel
Deftly weaving romance, action, and humor with a quest for integrity in an unjust world, Love, Coffee, and Revolution is a timely and relatable coming-of-age novel.
Idealistic and naïve college senior Dee Blum is suffocating. Trapped in the soul-killing plan laid out by her parents—go to law school and become a divorce lawyer—she is desperate for an escape. She’s also desperate for a more meaningful life. So when she unexpectedly lands a job organizing eco-tours of coffee farms in Costa Rica, she drops out of school, setting off on a journey of activism and adventure.
In Costa Rica she finds freedom—maybe a little too much of it—and discovers she’s woefully unprepared to navigate another culture and the real world in general. Dee quickly meets not one but two attractive men. Adrián is sexy and fun but politically wrong for progressive Dee. Matías is a globe-trotting revolutionary organizer who sets her mind and heart ablaze.
As Dee pursues her work, she soon discovers that a powerful fair-trade organic coffee network is actually exploiting the environment and the very people it claims to help. Risking her safety to uncover the depth of their wrongdoings, Dee confronts the real-world implications of her progressive ideals. If she doesn’t act, what will happen to the farmers whose livelihoods—and lives—are at risk?
Will Dee find the courage to chart her own course? The wisdom to understand her own heart? And has she finally found a cause worth fighting for?
Women's Fiction | Humor [Blackstone Publishing, On Sale: June 10, 2025, Hardcover / e-Book , ISBN: 9798874805432 / ]
Stefanie Leder is a TV showrunner and writer whose credits include the MTV teen dramedy Faking It, TBS comedy Men at Work, Netflix’s Boo, Bitch, and the long-running ABC Family comedy Melissa & Joey. She is also a guest lecturer on television writing at the Low Residency MFA at UCR. Bilingual in English and Spanish, she spent a year abroad in Costa Rica, and has worked for a nonprofit on Fair Trade Coffee and anti-sweatshop campaigns. Love, Coffee, and Revolution is her first novel. You can also read her award-nominated short story, “Not a Dinner Party Person” in Eight Very Bad Nights; A Collection of Hanukkah Noir, or in the upcoming The Best American Mystery and Suspense 2025.
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