Love, Bridget Morrissey | Q&A with the Author of Everything She Does Is Magic

What was the first romance novel you read?

My sixth grade teacher read a few pages of Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli aloud to my class every day until we finished it, and that experience really shaped me. It’s not technically a romance, but it was the first time I remember being exposed to any kind of romantic relationship unfolding in a book. I distinctly recall how invested I felt in Stargirl and Leo’s relationship, and how exciting it was for all of us to come to class every day and hear more of their story.

What romance are you currently reading?

I just finished Our Infinite Fates by Laura Steven. I went in based on a recommendation from my sister, not knowing the premise at all, and I loved it!

What are your favorite tropes?

I have never written it, and I doubt I ever will, but I absolutely love to read love triangles. When it comes to my own writing, I try to challenge myself to explore new tropes with every story, but something I always come back to is a second-chance romance between two people who had a big falling-out in their past. I have written a version of that four times now. There’s no stopping me and two emotionally bruised people who are both each other’s biggest wound and each other’s biggest love!

Who’s your book crush?

When I read romance, I’m there to spy on someone else’s love story, so I don’t think of any of the characters as my own crushes. They belong to their fictional counterparts!

What inspires your writing?

I have an insatiable curiosity about other people and how they work, and writing books lets me imagine other lives to the fullest.

What’s your favorite part of writing romance?

I get so much satisfaction out of figuring out how these two people I’ve created fit together and what it is they bring out in each other. When two people fall in love, they create their own shared language, and I really enjoy developing their inside jokes and idiosyncrasies.

Share with us an out-of-context quote from Everything She Does Is Magic!

I’ve hoped for many things when it comes to Darcy Keller, but few have been stronger than my hope that she didn’t remember those moments. That gazing into her eyes, smelling the cloud of strawberry-and-vanilla perfume as she’d whipped her head around to face me, I’d lost my ability to do even the bare minimum level of speaking.

“I’m really sorry,” I tell her.

“Was I rude to you or something?”

“No,” I hurry out. “I just get shy around pretty girls.”

Now it’s my turn to fumble. The truth’s fallen out without any consideration for my audience—the pretty girl who makes me shy. I’m folding inside myself, hoping to become so small and insignificant, she forgets to notice I’m here. Maybe even forgets my existence at all.

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Read Everything She Does Is Magic by Bridget Morrissey