We chat with author Allison Ashley about her latest novel The Roommate Pact, which is perfect for fans of the friends-to-lovers and frenemies-to-lovers tropes and readers of Tessa Bailey, Amy Lea, and Sarah Adams!
Hi, Allison! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
Hi! Sure – I’m an Oklahoma native and have lived here my entire life save a single year of living in Nebraska. I’m an oncology pharmacist by day and an unapologetic science geek, which is why most of my books have a medical twist. I’ve always been an avid romance reader, and other than the occasional nonfiction book, romance is almost exclusively what I read. I also love baking, Peloton-ing, and drinking coffee from dawn until dusk.
When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?
I wrote lots of short stories as a kid. I’d forgotten about it until my mom found the letter a couple of years ago, but when I was nine or ten I actually submitted a story I wrote about a girl and her horse to a publisher. Back then, this involved sending a full printout of the manuscript and sending it in a manila envelope to the publisher. I got a very kind rejection letter (what would become my first of many writing rejection letters, ha!) that my mom kept! Once I entered high school, I stopped writing to focus on other activities and didn’t pick it back up again until after pharmacy school. I’d really missed using that creative side of my brain while I pursued science education, and I loved being able to bring that back into my life.
Quick lightning round! Tell us the first book you ever remember reading, the one that made you want to become an author, and one that you can’t stop thinking about!
First book: The Black Stallion (I was a horse girl)
Book that made me want to become an author: All romance novels (truly wasn’t just one book)
Can’t stop thinking about: Seven Days in June by Tia Williams
Your latest novel, The Roommate Pact, is out now! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Snarky, sexy, sweet, fun, and surprising (almost got all 5 words to start with ‘s’ – so close)
What can readers expect?
A sassy heroine, a cinnamon roll hero who doesn’t know he’s a cinnamon roll, an evil tiny dog, secret love emails, only one bed, and a nurse taking care of her injured firefighter roommate.
Where did the inspiration for The Roommate Pact come from?
Claire and Graham were side characters in Would You Rather, my prior book that came out in 2022. I hadn’t planned on writing them a separate story from the beginning, but as I wrote Would You Rather, they really took on minds of their own and kept really sticking out to me. By the time I finished Would You Rather, I knew they deserved their own story.
Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
Graham’s character development really shone through in the secret emails he writes to an old email address of Claire’s that she never uses. He uses it as a journal of sorts, but writes to Claire instead of to himself. This was a really fun way to get inside his head and have him almost accidentally learn about himself and realize he’s fallen in love with her.
What’s next for you?
I’m currently working on a love triangle (which I swore I’d never write – never say never!) with a super intriguing medical twist. I’m excited about it and hope I get to share it with readers!
Lastly, do you have any book recommendations for our readers?
Always. Two of my favorite recent reads are You, With a View by Jessica Joyce and Will They or Won’t They by Ava Wilder. Two books I’m excited to read and that arrived at my doorstep today because we shared release dates are With Love, from Cold World by Alicia Thompson and The Art of Scandal by Regina Black.
