Q&A: Georgia Stone, Author of 'The Friendship Fling'

We chat with author Georgia Stone about The Friendship Fling, which is a delightfully charming and heartfelt debut love story where two lonely and wildly different strangers embark on a short-term friendship over one London summer—only to discover they may be something more by the time the season ends.

Hi, Georgia! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?

Hi! I’m a romance author based in London and my debut novel The Friendship Fling came out in both the UK and US recently. It’s been the best thing seeing it make its way into other people’s homes.

When I’m not writing, let’s be honest, I’m usually reading (what can I say, I made a hobby into a career). But if you ever catch me leaving the house, it’s usually to see my favourite bands live with my best friends. I’m lucky that London delivers on the live music front – I don’t know what I’d do without it!

When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?

I was one of those kids who always had their nose in a book, and I think with that love for reading also came a love for telling stories. I can remember being maybe eight years old and scribbling stories in this bright pink notebook (with a fluffy pen, obviously) with a padlock, to keep my masterpieces away from prying eyes (AKA, my siblings). I’m pretty sure those padlocked notebooks were supposed to be used as journals, but apparently my biggest secrets lay in the stories I wrote.

Quick lightning round! Tell us:

The first book you ever remember reading: I’m not sure, but it was probably something like Owl Babies by Martin Waddell.
The one that made you want to become an author: I remember reading the Molly Moon series by Georgia Byng and seeing her (my!) name on the front cover and thinking it was really cool.
The one that you can’t stop thinking about: I’ll never stop thinking about The Ballad of Never After by Stephanie Garber. Truly the perfect book, in my opinion.

**Your debut novel, The Friendship Fling, is out now! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?**

Funny (I hope), sparkly, yearning, summery, fun.

What can readers expect?

A lot of banter. An extremely slow burn. A local’s tour around London. Two total opposites who meet and become friends before they turn to lovers, and who, hopefully, over the course of the book, feel like friends to you too.

You can also expect to be lulled into a false sense of security by the easy, fun lightheartedness of the first half of the book, before the emotion amps up in the second half. Sue me!

**Where did the inspiration for The Friendship Fling come from?**

I have a note on my phone called ‘Obscure Reasons I’ve Swiped Left on Men on Dating Apps’. One day in 2022, I shared the list with friends and they found it funny, and I thought ‘what if I wrote a book where a woman goes on dates with these kinds of men?’ The first draft of The Friendship Fling featured Ava going on a lot of bad dates with weird men, and that ended up changing over the 628492 subsequent drafts, but that was where the initial idea came from.

Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?

I loved writing all the characters in this book, but especially Ava. She’s basically the mouthpiece for a lot of my own thoughts and observations, and I had the best time writing her. Diving deep into her psyche and exploring who she is and why she is the way she is was so much fun for me.

I’ll always go to bat for female main characters who aren’t ‘likeable’, especially in romance, and I loved watching her open up while still staying true to herself. She softens a little over time, but she’s still a snarky, cynical grump at her heart, and I love that.

Did you face any challenges whilst writing? How did you overcome them?

This was my very first attempt at writing a full novel, so honestly, the challenge was figuring out exactly how to write a book. Do I need to outline? (Yes. I really, really do.) Do I work better in the morning or evening? (Evening, 100%.) I did a lot of research into everything from plotting techniques to character psychology, and I’m really glad I did, in the end. With each book, I refine my process a little more, but the experience of writing The Friendship Fling was a lot of trial and error.

This is your debut novel! What was the road to becoming a published author like for you?

It’s been a slightly winding road! I wrote this book in 2022 and spent the first half of 2023 editing it, then couldn’t decide between self-publishing and going down the trad route. I wasn’t married to either option, but since this book is super summery, I figured I’d missed the boat on self-publishing it in time for summer, so I had nothing to lose by querying with a handful of agents, and in the meantime gearing up to self-publish. As I expected, I didn’t hear anything back from querying, so I ended up self-publishing The Friendship Fling under its old title A Collision of Stars in February 2024. It was a lot of work, and I had pretty much no budget, but I was really happy with what I achieved alone.

Q&A: Leah Konen, Author of ‘You Should Have Told Me’

I think for most authors on the indie-to-trad route, their books have a buzz that attracts the attention of an agent or publisher, but for me it was a little different. My now-agent just so happened to spot a mention of TFF/ACOS while she was on Instagram looking at reviews of one of her other authors’ books. She emailed me asking to read it, then a few weeks later offered to represent me, then we went out on submission two months later – I was super lucky to get both a UK and US deal within that first month – and now here we are!

What’s next for you?

I’m currently very loosely outlining a fourth (!!!) novel, but soon I’ll be back to edits for my second book, which was recently announced. It’s called The Roommate Rule and follows Ava’s brother Max, and I wrote it all the way back in 2023, so I’m super excited to finally get to talk about it.