We chat with author Audrey Goldberg Ruoff about Vengefully Matched, which is a witchy, sapphic rom-com about a mischievous runaway bride and her prim-and-proper Witchery Council rival who must fake-date in order to catch a would-be murderer—and accidentally fall in love.
Hi, Audrey! Welcome back! What have you been up to since we spoke last year for the release of Hopelessly Teavoted?
So much! I’m back to teaching high school English, which is lovely, I got a divorce (it’s a congratulations sort of situation) and now I am chasing joy in all moments small and large. And in fitting form, my new book, Vengefully Matched, starts off with a would-be bride fleeing the wedding just in the nick of time. Siri, play “Stop the Wedding” by Ashe.
Your latest novel, Vengefully Matched, is out now! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Horny, Fake dating, Real feelings
What can readers expect?
Another dark comedy, another romtraumdramacom! Like Hopelessly Teavoted, this one has big Addams Family energy, but think if Wednesday Addams was all grown up and in a romantic situationship with Enid. I was thinking a lot of Aubrey Plaza when writing Priscilla as a side character in the first Hallowcross book, and then even more about her as Rio in Agatha All Along when drafting Vengefully Matched. Expect pranking, fake dating, an age gap, and Aubrey Plaza fantasies.
Where did the inspiration for Vengefully Matched come from?
It’s a sapphic Death Becomes Her, for everyone of us who watched Sabrina Carpenter’s “Taste” music video, mouth open, jaw down, remembering how much we wanted Helen and Madeleine to just kiss in Death Becomes Her, because who even needs Ernest? Isabella Rosselinni in that movie was definitely a big part of my bisexual awakening, so this one is for the bisexuals.
Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
Agatha, the pastel, type-A, prim and proper witchery council president, is a late-in-life bisexual, the kind of woman who spent all of her formative years with men and didn’t allow herself to really look too closely at her own desires. I enjoyed exploring this; I’d like to think that there are women out there in similar situations who deserve to be seen. It’s not exactly my story; mine was a whole lot more along the lines of spending years telling myself that surely this [kissing girls, etc] is straight behavior, but I do know plenty of people, especially happily married ones, who discovered that part of themselves late. And my message to every single one of them is the same as Priscilla’s to Agatha: girl, you’re beautiful, and you count. You’re enough.
Did you face any challenges whilst writing? How did you overcome them?
I pitched this book with a few sample chapters and an outline, and had just sold it and started drafting when my now ex-husband came home from work one Tuesday in June and told me that I was too much, and that my career writing romance novels was unviable and quotidian. It seemed impossible for me to write a romantic comedy when the person I had been married to for a decade, and dedicated a first book to, decided to dip. But I poured my whole heart, first loving, then broken, and then gradually knitting back together, into this book. I dedicated it to a friend who was one of many who supported me unwaveringly while my life fell apart. She reminded me several times about the Japanese art of Kintsugi, which is mending broken pottery with gold laquer, so the end product is gorgeous not in spite of, but including the repairs. I think of this one as my Kintsugi book. I drafted it at rock bottom, and then revised it after a few months of therapy and medication, and by the time I was in edits for it, I was healing. I was already feeling my stubborn heart knit itself back together, and get ready to jump again.
As your second novel, what were some of the key lessons you learned from working on and throughout the publishing process of your debut?
The hardest lesson I have learned is that my writing is not going to be everyone’s cup of tea. And that can be frustrating when people review it in a way that I disagree with, especially because I’m a writing and literature teacher by trade, so in terms of style and structure and grammar, I do in fact know exactly what I am doing when following or breaking a rule. But the hardest thing I learned is that it is a good thing if people dislike a book for something important. Plenty of people don’t like that my books have “political” moments, but all language is political. If they’re not noticing it, that just means it aligns with their own beliefs, or is subtle enough not to make it obvious that it doesn’t. I have never been subtle a day in my life, and that’s OK with me. I learned that I like the sort of writer I am, full of purple prose, dark humor, and clear messages that I hope could help heal the world. I want to be the sort of writer who was very clear about issues I think we should all agree on, like that genocide is bad, and children’s safety in school is more important than gun ownership. That is my authentic voice, take it or leave it. And I want people who think those things to get railed in romance books with fun jokes and pranks, too.
As we head into the spooky season, what are some books, movies, or shows you turn to?
I watch the Addams Family, Pushing Daisies, Practical Magic, and Hocus Pocus like they are sacred texts, because they absolutely are.
What’s next for you?
I have a YA debut coming out in March 2027 from HarperCollins, about a pair of rival high school newspaper editors, one of whom happens to be an alien, and the other the daughter of a conspiracy theorist who has accidentally stumble upon the truth. Like all my books, it’s about two people who want to kiss, but for reasons, can’t. This time the reason is that she would know he is an alien, which was so fun to write. I drew a lot of inspiration from Roswell, The X-Files, and James Gunn’s Superman.
Lastly, what books are you looking forward to picking up? Any you’ve read so far this year that you’ve enjoyed?
I’m so excited for Lilly Lu’s debut, Death Wish, for Mallory Marlowe’s Entities to Lovers, for Isabelle Engel’s Still Falling For You, and Betty Corello’s Back for Seconds, which literally kind of healed me post divorce. In YA, I always have to recommend Bound by Fury by Noelle Monet and The Lovers, The Liars, and Me by DeAndra Davis. Oh, and, if you need a nostalgic ghost romcom, You’re the One that I Haunt by Katie Jung is a must-read.
