I’m delighted to welcome Jessica Kate back to the blog today to chat about her sassy short story The Kiss Dare!
Australian author Jessica Kate is obsessed with sassy romances.
She packs her novels with love, hate, and everything in between—and then nerds out over her favorite books, movies and TV in the StoryNerds podcast. When she’s not writing or discussing fiction, she’s hunting the world for the greatest pasta in existence.
Her debut novel Love and Other Mistakes released July 2019, while A Girl’s Guide to the Outback hits shelves in January 2020.
Receive her sassy short The Kiss Dare FREE when you sign up for her newsletter at jessicakatewriting.com.
You can connect with Jessica on her website, Facebook, and Instagram.
Check out some of her fave quotes/scenes from her debut novel, Love and Other Mistakes!
THE KISS DARE
GENRE: Contemporary Romance/Short Story
RELEASE DATE: March 25, 2019
A workplace nemesis and one outrageous challenge…who will win The Kiss Dare?
All Bea MacLaren wants is to survive this work Christmas party and beat Harry Miller to the Corporate Communications Manager promotion – her mother and siblings are counting on her.
But when Harry attempts to distract her with an outrageous dare, is it just a last-ditch effort to discredit her before the promotion? Or something sweeter?
Sassy, swoony, and sweet, The Kiss Dare will have you grinning from word one until ‘the end’. Harry & Bea’s smart & witty banter is perfectly timed, and THAT KISS sets off more delicious sparks than a New Year’s Eve fireworks show! (my review/endorsement 🙂 )
Q: Welcome back to the blog! So, Jess, tell us about what you write – and what is a ‘sassy short’?
Jessica: Hey! I write inspirational romantic comedies with a healthy side dish of family drama – think more ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ than ’27 Dresses’. I completely adore love/hate storylines (sometimes called the enemies to lovers trope), which is why movies like The Proposal, What Happens in Vegas and Austenland are some of my favorites!
My first novel ‘Love and Other Mistakes’ came out in July, and my next book ‘A Girl’s Guide to the Outback’ will come out in Jan 2020.
I wrote my first ‘sassy short’, The Kiss Dare, because I wanted to pack the fun emotions of a rom com, from the witty banter to the happily-ever-after, into a short story that you could read on a coffee break. The web series ‘Kissing In the Rain’ helped prompt the idea.
Carrie: <adds that web series to my ‘to watch’ list>
Q: What gave you the idea for The Kiss Dare?
Jessica: I spent a Sunday binge-watching romantic comedies and I adore love/hate stories, so I was thinking about how so many of these feature characters who apparently hate each other, but then for whatever reason they kiss and then start to change their minds.
I thought it’d be fun for these rival workmates to test the theory: if someone drives you nuts, is this fabled ‘magic kiss’ a real thing? Of course, things don’t quite go the way Bea expects…
Carrie: Of course not 😉
Q: What are some of those romantic comedies that helped inspire this story?
Jessica: I can’t remember exactly which ones I watched that day, but some of my favorites are:
(movies)
- Sweet Home Alabama
- The Proposal
- The Duff
- Two Weeks Notice
- To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before
(books)
- The Hating Game by Sally Thorne
- Dear Enemy by Jean Webster
- The Convenient Groom by Denise Hunter
- Save the Date by Jenny B Jones
- The Fox and O’Hare series by Janet Evanovich.
Carrie: The Proposal is one of my very faves!!! Two Weeks Notice, too. And While You Were Sleeping… I sense a Sandra Bullock pattern here haha
Q: What do you love most about these stories?
Jessica: I really love to see characters who have conflict between them, but are loyal to each other and work well as a team anyway. I re-watched The Prince of Persia last night and that was such a fun part of that movie— Jake Gyllenhaal’s character and the princess spend the first half of the movie sabotaging each other, but then they work as a great team. It’s so fun to watch!
Plus, when characters don’t like each other, they’re not worried about keeping up appearances and they tend to be more honest with each other. That’s fun too.
Carrie: Oh, that’s a good point!
Q: And where can people find The Kiss Dare?
Jessica: It’s free when you sign up to my newsletter!
Carrie: Can’t beat free! 🙂
grab your free copy of the kiss dare!
What about you? Have you read The Kiss Dare yet? What interests you most about this sassy short?
Okay, Meez Carrie, you’re about to force me to turn in my “I don’t really enjoy contemporaries” card.
I just downloaded and read this story. I was going to just download and save it for later, because as usual I’m WAY behind, but I made the mistake of starting to read and just HAD to read it all the way through. SO cute and SO romantic. I’ll definitely read more Jessica Kate!
Right?!? I’m so glad you loved it as much as I did!
It was delicious! Definitely a memorable kiss. 😀
Yay Deanna!!! I’m so glad you had fun with Bea and Harry! 😀 That’s the awesome thing about a ‘sassy short’, when it sucks you in you’ll still have it finished within your lunch break. 🙂 And you’re not usually a contemporary fan? Then I am SO honored that you enjoyed The Kiss Dare! Hope you have fun with Love and Other Mistakes as well!
It was great. Sassy and romantic and delicious. All around lovely.
I write contemporary cozy mystery at the moment, but when left to my own devices, I usually write and read historical mystery and historical romance. But yours was definitely worth trying. That delectable little bite definitely made me want to read more. Thank you!