Author Jessica Pennington is all around romantic goals. Coming from a background in wedding planning and about to release her third YA romance novel, Pennington is a an expert when it comes to slow burn romances and happy endings. Residing in Michigan, Pennington learnt the art of storytelling after she signed up for a creative writing class in Chicago and since then has gone from strength to strength.
Meet Me At Midnight is her third novel and it releases on April 7th. When childhood enemies Asher and Sidney put aside their differences to unite against a common enemy, a beautiful love story ensues, alongside many laughs and bad jokes.
Jessica took some time out of her busy schedule to sit down with Nerd Daily contributor Tasha Leigh and chat about all things young romance, wedding planning, and release prep while in isolation.
Hello, thank you so much for sitting down and answering my questions today. So you write young adult romances with a difference. What initially drew you to writing in the Young Adult genre?
Thanks so much for having me! I love reading young adult, so writing it was a pretty natural fit for me. I love writing about teens because I have such vivid memories of my own teen years, and especially the feelings from that time in my life. The teen years are such a unique time in your life when you not only have these big dreams and big feelings, but you’re also finally old enough to start acting on them. There’s a lot of my teen self in all of my books, from settings to personal insecurities, to relationship dynamics.
Do you have a certain process that you go through when writing your novels?
As far as the exact writing process, each of my books have been different. Love Songs & Other lies, my debut, was written out of order, and basically in two halves, the before and after timelines. I learned that story as I went. When Summer Ends was partially plotted when I started writing, but changed immensely as I went along. Meet Me At Midnight had major plot points in place before I wrote, but things definitely shifted as I wrote, especially the ending. The one thing they all have in common is that I go into writing with too many ideas, and as I write I figure out what the ‘real’ story is, and start letting that shine through, and guiding me through the rest of the plot.
For readers who are new to your novels, how would you describe your writing style?
I write beachy romances set in the summer. They usually include girls who are at least a little Type A, and boys who are a whole lot of sweet. And at some point, they will probably look at the stars. Apparently, I’m really into looking at the stars!
You manage to juggle both a day job as a wedding planner and writing what is now your third novel. Any tips for those out there trying to achieve their dream while still working a 9-5?
I’m actually not planning weddings as of late (thankful for that in the current crisis) but I actually started writing Love Songs & Other Lies in 2014 as a way to give myself a break from that job. I was easily working seventy hours a week, and as a small business owner, it just always felt like there was something to do. So I signed up for a fiction class in Chicago. I live in Michigan, so it was a three hour roundtrip train ride for me to get to the class. I’d write on the train, walk around the city thinking about my story, go to my three hour class, and then stay with friends who happened to be incredibly creative and energizing people. It forced me to spend an entire day away from work. And at the same time, it got me sucked into the process of writing a novel, which pulled me away even more. By the time I wrote When Summer Ends my first child had been born, and that was a whole new kind of balancing. That was by far the hardest book for me to write, juggling my business and a baby, and writing a book. But it really is all doable if you love the story you’re writing. I think that’s really the key—finding an idea you’re passionate about enough to lose sleep and skip your favorite tv shows, and record notes as you drive kids to school.
Do you take any inspiration from events within your working life when you write?
I think I write romance novels for the same reason I was drawn to wedding planning—I’ve always been a romantic. My books always have grand gestures, or multiple mini grand gestures within them, and that is so much like wedding planning—helping people to find little ways to bring their love story into their special day. Or to surprise each other on their wedding day. And my first two books both had some sort of wedding-related scene in them, so that’s certainly the most direct inspiration from that part of my life.
So I have read Meet Me At Midnight, your latest novel which released on April 7th 2020 and I found it refreshing that it didn’t just end happily and without any drama. Was this always going to be the case?
I’ve actually heard that from quite a few readers, and I’ll admit it always surprises me. It wasn’t something I consciously decided to do, it’s just how their story played out. I did feel pressure at first, to wrap up their story with a neat bow at the end of summer. That’s certainly the common thing to do in summer romances. But that just wasn’t true to Sidney and Asher. They exist in such a bubble on summer vacation, I wanted them to get out of that idyllic summer setting and into the real world for a bit.
Was there ever a time that you thought about throwing caution to the wind and changing up the final couple/s?
I actually think Sidney and Asher pursuing a relationship is throwing caution to the wind. Neither of them is the easy choice for the other, and each of them is taking a huge risk with their heart to even consider that they could be something other than nemeses.
How have you found your preparation for the release of MMAM different from that of Love Songs & Other Lies and When Summer Ends?
It feels very different to me, for two reasons: the first, is that it’s very strange to release and promote a book during a global pandemic. As an immune-compromised person, I haven’t left my house in over two weeks now, and it’s just hard to think about promotion. All of my events have been cancelled, and I can’t do the things I’d usually do around release time, like my (much loved) tradition of driving to bookstores with my husband on release day, signing books and listening to the audiobook for the first time. Secondly, by this third book I think I’ve finally relaxed a little bit and realized that the world won’t end if I don’t come up with a million little promo ideas. So I was already planning to be a little more lowkey with this release, but then Covid-19 really forced my hand on that. But as far as the actual book, I think MEET ME AT MIDNIGHT is actually the one I’m most excited for overall. I’m so excited for readers to meet Sidney and Asher.
If you could have one of your works adapted for the screen, which would it be and what form would it take?
I think MEET ME AT MIDNIGHT is the one that would adapt the best—I could totally see it as a movie! Love Songs & Other Lies would be a close second, just because I’d love to see the bands and hear all of the music, but with the dual timelines, that one would be much better suited to some kind of series. I think Netflix does an amazing job with their YA adaptations, I’d love to see one of my books end up there, honestly!
Who would be your dream casting?
Oh my goodness, I am the worst at casting. Anyone who has read my books knows that I’m not the kind of author who spends a ton of time on describing my characters physically. I really delve into their personalities and quirks and histories, but physical descriptions are just never my priority. And I think that’s just a reflection of how my own brain works, because I rarely have a vivid mental picture of characters when I read, even when the author really spells it out for me. But that being said, I think personality-wise I could see Asher being someone like Noah Centineo would fill that role really well. They’d need to pull off the perfect balance of sweet, snarky, and sneaky that makes up Asher. And Noah has the athletic build of Asher. For Sidney, I honestly have no idea. I just haven’t ever come across an actress where she’s stood out to me as being perfect as Sidney. I’m open to suggestions!
Who is your favourite/most unexpected fan ship of any of your characters?
In WHEN SUMMER ENDS, one of the side characters, Ellis, mentions a date he goes on with a (tourist) guy he meets at work. And I am always shocked by how many readers mention Ellis to me, and how they’d love to see more about him and his mystery date. I don’t think he even had a name! But Ellis is awesome, so I totally get why people want to see him get his happily ever after.
Where can readers expect to see you in the coming months?
Well, thanks to Covid-19 my events are all cancelled or TBD at the moment. Hopefully the Chicago YA Book Festival will be rescheduled, and you’ll see me there!
What would you tell your younger self about your road to published author if you had the chance?
I would have told myself to start writing fiction a lot earlier. I’ve always been a writer, but I didn’t write fiction until 2014, and it’s been such a wonderful (and almost therapeutic) experience for me. I can’t imagine the things I would have worked through if I’d started writing as a teen!
And last question for a bit of fun, if you could only read 5 more books in your lifetime, what would they be?
I read for escapism, so you’ll find no tomes or classics on my list, just my favorite swoony comfort reads:
- A Court of Thorns and Roses series by Sarah J. Maas
- The Cruel Prince series by Holly Black
- Roomies by Christina Lauren (really, anything by Christina Lauren)
- My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick
- The Impossibility of Us by Katy Upperman
QUICKFIRE ROUND
- Fiction or nonfiction? FICTION!
- Plotter or pantser? Plotser? I need at least basic plot points to get started on drafting, but the story definitely changes and develops as I write. I usually don’t have an ending in mind!
- Favourite bookish trope? I love romance tropes. Enemies to lovers is (obviously) a favorite of mine, but I also love second chance romance and fake dating!
- Least favourite bookish trope? I don’t have any that I dislike so much that I automatically won’t read anything with that trope, but I don’t tend to love “brother’s best friend” stories, or anything with a huge age gap.
- Coffee or tea? I actually don’t drink either. Lemonade!
- Pizza or pasta? Pasta
- Beach holiday or hiking in the bush? The beach of course!
- Convention crowds or smaller signings? Smaller signings
- Sunny or rainy? Sun!
- If you could pick a single holiday destination for the rest of your life, where would it be? The Michigan lake setting of Meet Me At Midnight is based on the family vacation spot I’ve gone to since I was ten. I still go for a week every summer with my own family and my parents (sometimes siblings) so if I had to pick one vacation to continue, that would definitely be it!
- Music, books or Netflix – you can only pick 2? Books and music
- If you could recommend five authors to the general public that are must reads, who would they be? Christina Lauren (adult romance), Katy Upperman (YA romance), Holly Black (YA fantasy), Huntley Fitzpatrick (YA romance), and Kylie Scott (adult romance).
