We chat with author Gabriella Gamez about Second First Dates, which follows a librarian who swipes right on a charming high school teacher, only to realise that she’d already dated him once and it ended in disaster.
Hi, Gabriella! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
Hello, Nerd Daily readers! I’m Gabriella Gamez, author of messy contemporary romance novels with lots of heart and heat. I can’t function without caffeine and love stories of all kinds, whether they’re from books, movies, TV shows, or even video games. All my books so far are set in San Antonio, Texas where I currently reside.
When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?
Probably around the time I got my first laptop in fifth grade. We didn’t have a stable internet connection at home, so I’d spend a majority of my free time on Microsoft Word writing fanfiction before I knew there was a word for it. No, I never posted it and no, it will never ever see the light of day, and nor should it ever!
Quick lightning round! Tell us:
- The first book you ever remember reading: Vampire Kisses by Ellen Schreiber
- The one that made you want to become an author: Sarah Dessen’s books in general
- The one that you can’t stop thinking about: Currently, “When She Loves” by Gabrielle Sands
Your latest novel, Second First Dates, is out July 28th! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
I only need three: idiots in love.
What can readers expect?
Readers can expect an awkward meet-cute, meet-again when Leti and Julian match on a dating app and agree to go out only to realize halfway through that they’ve already been on this date before—and it’s going about as well as it did the first time four years ago, which is to say, not great.
Despite how much Leti might want to, they can’t seem to get rid of each other afterwards. Not only do they work at the same school and live in the same apartment building, but it turns out Julian’s roommate is Leti’s younger brother. When Julian witnesses another one of Leti’s terrible first dates he offers to help take over her dating apps, but lines are blurred and unexpected feelings grow as they become closer and closer. If only he wasn’t setting her up with other people…
Where did the inspiration for Second First Dates come from?
The inspiration for this book came from an episode of How I Met Your Mother (Season 5 Episode 3: Double Date) in which Ted is set up with a woman he went on a first date with seven years prior, only neither of them remembers it when they go out on another “first” date.
HIMYM has been a comfort show of mine for over a decade. For as long as I can remember I’ve always romanticized this episode in particular, perhaps because there’s something intriguing about the way Ted plays out the what-ifs. What if he’d called her after their original first date? Would they still be together now, seven years later? The life lesson at the end is that it’s always better to hold out for the person who loves your weird little quirks rather than just tolerates them, which is ultimately what made these two characters incompatible.
But I’ve always thought this would make an amazing premise for a romcom movie or romance book, and I couldn’t stop thinking about the idea that maybe you’ve already crossed paths with the person you’re meant to be with. Maybe even someone you wrote off within an hour of meeting, and never looked back. That’s how Leti came to be and how she views Julian the first time they meet. I think there’s something fated about the universe pulling a few strings to force your path to cross with the same person in the same exact way for a second time, and I loved digging into Leti’s perspective as she slowly changes her mind about Julian and starts to view him differently.
Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
I really enjoyed writing the banter and overall dynamic between Leti and Julian. I’m a big fan of two people with opposite personalities getting together in romance, and it was really fun to get to explore that dynamic for myself in this book.
I’d also say their first kiss was a really fun scene to write, and possibly one of my favorite moments from the whole book. Not to keep making this about HIMYM, but I think there’s something really delicious, nerve wracking, and sexy about the build up to a first kiss—a “drumroll”, if you will. It can be a really good way to create tension between two characters who know that nothing will be the same after, but fuck it, they can’t resist each other anymore.
Did you face any challenges whilst writing? How did you overcome them?
I faced the biggest challenge when I asked myself the worst possible question a writer could ask themselves when they’re 70k words into a draft: would this book work better in dual POV?
The answer was yes, unfortunately. After writing nearly the entire book in single POV, I made the decision to completely tear my book apart in order to add Julian’s point of view in the hopes of making this book better—which it did! But not without a whole lot of editorial consequences, because the butterfly effect is real.
Even though it was a lot of work whipping this book into shape, I still had so much fun implementing this massive change. Drafting from scratch has always been my favorite part of writing, and I got to do a lot of that in Julian’s POV. On the downside, editing is my least favorite part of the process and I had to do a ton of it in Leti’s. Still, I think it made a world of difference compared to the first draft I had of this book and I’m extremely proud of the end result.
What’s next for you?
I can’t say much about my next book since I’m still in the middle of drafting it, but I can tell you that it’s a “roommates with a spicy audio narrator” type of premise.
Lastly, what books are you looking forward to picking up? Any you’ve read so far this year that you’ve enjoyed?
I’m highly anticipating Mutal Discord by Liana De La Rosa, which comes out August 18th! It sounds deliciously messy and just like something I’m going to eat up immediately.
