Jasmine Guilloryhas had a whirlwind few years.
Since then, she’s released four more books in the ever-expanding world her fans have dubbed the Guillory-verse.
In 2021, she’ll back for more withWhile We Were Dating, which hits shelves in July.
Credit: Andrea Scher
The story follows Ben, who readers will recognize as Theo’s fun-loving brother fromThe Wedding Party.
Ben has never been much for serious relationships, not when he’s so focused on his advertising job.
But can it ever become playing for keeps?
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ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY:While We Were Datingis a Hollywood story.
JASMINE GUILLORY:Partly it was that I hadn’t done it before.
I went through a few different ideas for this book.
This was about how to match two people right.
I had wanted to write a book about Ben, who is a character from a previous book.
And I was really thinking about, who would be a good match for him?
Who is someone who would challenge him and who he would challenge?
Can you tell us a bit more about the plot and how the book fits into the Guillory-verse?
This is probably going to be the last book of the arc of that universe.
It was a fun way to close that out.
That’s how they end up meeting.
That’s really how their relationship begins.
You often take inspiration for at least characters' physicality from actors and other real people.
Was that the case here, with Anna especially?
Not at all, actually.
I wrote the entirety of this book during a pandemic, and this book really evolved a lot.
Partly because I had a lot of emotions while writing this book.
Those were all of the things that really inspired this book.
What was it like to write an entire book during this pandemic?
I got an author-in-residence at a writing retreat.
The day that we got to the retreat was basically the day the whole world fell apart.
But I was like, “I can’t do anything now.”
I couldn’t even think about writing for like two months.
And she was like, “Okay!”
But then I needed to escape from the current world that we live in.
So I just started writing.
I wrote this book in a very different way than I have all of my others.
I did not push myself to write a certain number of words every day.
I let myself keep writing a little bit every day, and then see where it took me.
It became the thing I would get up in the morning to do.
I really fell in love with this book and these characters during the course of writing it.
What do you do in a pandemic when you’re not obsessed with writing a book?
Maybe I’m just going to have to cook elaborate things now.
This is set in a COVID-free Hollywood, but you do write contemporary stories.
Would you ever write one set during 2020 as it is was?
I really thought about that a lot.
Because that was actually one of the things that held me back from starting at the beginning.
Because it has to end.
I write books with happy endings; there has to be a happy ending.
I would have to have some distance from it.
This cover is gorgeous, with its palm trees and twinkly stars.
It looks like a movie poster.
How did it come to be?
I just sent in word vomit, like, “These are the fun things about the book. "
I was like, it’s very California, and then they came up with the palm trees.
The original dress was different because I tinkered with certain things.
There’s a little bit of stuff that’s in the text.
You’re very close with your family and openly post about emotional experiences you’ve had on social media.
Did that come from your own life?
Both Ben and Anna are really close to their families, in different ways.
That is something that comes up in the book for both of them.
So yes, absolutely.
Not the exact things, but the emotions are definitely tied to real life.
It’s been so hard this year.
Farrah has just been a delight and a wonderful source of inspiration for me.
She is one of the first Black romance writers that I read.
I’ve got to see a lot of other people have that experience.
So that has really been a big delight for me this year.
Another book that I really loved this year wasA Taste of Sage, by Yaffa F. Santos.
It’s a delightful romance about two cooks in New York City.
There’s a little bit of magic in there, and how they fall in love through food.
It was just such a fun, magical book.
Speaking of which, you’re known for your descriptions of food.
What can we look forward to inWhile We Were Dating?
There are a number of key moments at In-N-Out.
But it’s less food-centered.
There are a few key moments that are based around restaurants.
Maybe some of that was my desire to be inside a restaurant again.
Lastly, this book is set in Hollywood… Any updates on that front for your work?
Hello Sunshine has the rights to the first three books.
[Guillory revealed via text after this interview that Hello Sunshine has also optionedRoyal Holiday.]
So that’s very exciting.
They are working on things.
I think everything is slower because of COVID.
But they have been making some progress.
So let’s keep our fingers crossed.
They just seem really passionate about the books, and I’m really excited about them.
