Hi, Ruthie and Annie! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourselves?

Ruthie: Hello! I’ve been an author for over ten years, and I’m a trained historian and historic genealogist who’s worked in academic publishing. When I’m not writing, I’m an avid knitter and gardener. I’m married to Annie, and we have two teenagers, many pets, and live in a hundred-year-old house in the Midwest that’s mostly cat trees, dog beds, and books.

Annie: I’m married to Ruthie! I wanted to confirm her introduction. We have two teenagers, who are amazing, and yes, all of the pets. I’ve been writing my whole life. My first completed novel was an urban paranormal set in the subway and utility tunnels of a crumbling city and involved sentient rats and lore about radioactive jewels. I was fifteen. Because there was only one paper copy, it is lost to multiple moves and time, so I can confidently say it was a BANGER.

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

Ruthie: As soon as I could read, before kindergarten, I was a reader, and by middle school I was competing in Ohio’s Power of the Pen.

Annie: Same. Except for Power of the Pen. I can remember the first time I checked out a book in the library and how my entire body was genuinely buzzing with so much excitement, I was nauseated. It was a picture book about ballerinas.

Your latest novel, Big Name Fan, is out now! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?

Ruthie: funny, nostalgic, tinseltown, romantic, layered

Annie: homage, nerdy, emotional, defiant, L.A.

What can readers expect?

Ruthie: A genuine genre crossover between cozy mystery and romance, it features a very cold case and two protagonists whose on-screen will-they-or-won’t-they spilled into their personal relationship. They’re TV detectives from a beloved detective procedural, and when they do a rewatch podcast together for the network’s reunion special, it introduces a mystery (and feelings) that are all too real.

Annie: This is the book for readers who love a cast of characters and ensemble mystery-solving with their romance. It’s expressing real gratitude to fandoms and fanfic for keeping what we need alive and demanding more. We think of Big Name Fan as a love letter to the LGBTQIA2S+ community and a statement about how we have had to queer-code so many of the things we love in order to see ourselves.

Where did the inspiration for Big Name Fan come from?

Annie: My agent mentioned it would be fun to see a book with a podcast rewatch element. Ruthie and I were brainstorming about the general idea and talking about TV procedurals, queer ships that didn’t get airtime and that get explored in fan fiction instead (Annie reads and has written fan fiction), and one of us mused, What if there were clues to a murder buried in fanfic?

Ruthie: The idea of TV detectives who become real-life detectives when they’re drawn into the lore of their own show is what really came to life for us. We love the idea of actors who discover that what they’ve learned by playing detectives comes in very handy as they learn to be detectives—and that ultimately, in Hollywood, TV detective versus real-world detective is a distinction without a difference!

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

Ruthie: Bex is my favorite, because I really identify with her struggle of having her dreams and passions derailed by the responsibility of raising her younger sisters, Party of Five style. Bex isn’t sorry she’s a caregiver, but she’s not sure how to prioritize her own desires anymore. It’s something so many women and marginalized people come up against.

Annie: I love Bex’s sisters because they are two young women who were raised by a big dreamer (Bex) without any of the struggle (because of her sacrifices), and so they know how to demand their own big, out-loud lives for themselves. They have been given space to make mistakes and know and be who they are, and I think they are 100 percent a reflection of Bex’s heart.

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

Ruthie: It was a challenge to do something new (half mystery/half romance) that has legs as a series and has all of the elements that make a Ruthie-and-Annie book. There were a lot of elements to keep in play!

Annie: Yes! And this was a book, then, that required a lot of vision and attention to rewriting and reimagining.

Ruthie: But also frequent reminders that we had to follow our own vision and let this book be what it wanted to be.

Can you tell us a bit about your process when it comes to co-authoring?

Both: We work in the same Google Doc with a detailed synopsis/chapter outline we’ve authored together. Sometimes someone drafts ahead while the other revises behind, and sometimes we’re literally on top of each others’ sentences. We tell people to think about how music ensembles or actors on stage work together—it’s a similar kind of in-the-moment collaboration.

What’s next for you?

Ruthie: We just turned in the second TV Detectives book with Bex and Sam, this one from Sam’s point of view, titled LOVE A COMEBACK. We have another detective series coming out in June – HOMEMAKER in our Prairie Nightingale series. Also in June, our sapphic spy romance IF I TOLD YOU, I’D HAVE TO KISS YOU, written under our shared pen name Mae Marvel, comes out. Think “Ms. and Ms. Smith.” We’re very lucky and happy to have a lot on our plate!

Annie: In addition to the books with Ruthie, I have a sci fi-flavored sapphic romance called COSMIC LOVE AT THE MULTIVERSE HAIR SALON releasing in June. It’s a love story told via the multiverse.

Lastly, what books are you looking forward to picking up this year?

Ruthie: Olivia Waite’s Murder by Memory looks like a lot of fun, and I’m dying for Victoria Helen Stone’s Bald-Faced Liar. I thought first book in Amelia Diane Coombs’s series, Drop Dead Sisters, was super fresh and going in new and interesting directions, so I’m looking forward to where she takes that in Sisters Before Misters. Also, Annie and I both loved Elise Bryant’s series debut in It’s Elementary, so we’re definitely going to pick up book two, The Game’s Afoot.

Annie: I’m excited for so many. DEATH IN THE CARDS by Mia P. Manansala and THE POSSESSION OF ALBA DIAZ by Isabel Canas are pre-ordered!

Will you be picking up Big Name Fan? Tell us in the comments below!

The post Q&A: Ruthie Knox and Annie Mare, Co-Authors of ‘Big Name Fan’ appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

Read on to discover some of our picks and let us know if you’ll be picking up any!

A Tropical Rebel Gets the Duke by Adriana Herrera

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Aurora Montalban, an ambitious doctor breaking societal norms to help women in 19^th century Paris, and Apollo Sinclair Robles, the reluctant Duke willing to risk everything for her.

Celebrity Crush by Christy Swift

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A romance writer’s wildest dreams—the bestseller list, a movie deal, and a date with the real-life inspiration for her Hollywood hero—are all within her grasp if only she can hold it all together.    

Dream Girl Drama by Tessa Bailey

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A steamy chance encounter between a professional hockey player and the manic pixie dream girl he just can’t seem to forget takes a turn when the pair realize that their parents are engaged—in an all-new rom-com by #1 New York Times bestselling author Tessa Bailey.

I Got Abducted By Aliens and Now I’m Trapped In A Rom-Com by Kimberly Lemming

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A hilarious and sexy romance about a woman who gets dropped on a strange planet only to fall for not one, but two, aliens, from the author of I Got Drunk and Yeeted a Love Potion at a Werewolf.

Get Lost With You by Sophie Sullivan

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A second chance at love, small-town romance that’s all sweet with just a hint of heat from the “queen of sweet romance” (Falon Ballard) Sophie Sullivan.

Big Name Fan by Ruthie Knox and Annie Mare

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When two A-list celebrities famous for their on-screen chemistry as TV detectives (think: sapphic Mulder and Scully, or queer Rizzoli and Isles) are reunited to investigate a real-life Hollywood murder, fans who have been ‘shipping the leading ladies for years might just get the ending they’ve always wanted…

Never Planned On You by Lindsay Hameroff

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A glittering, laugh-out-loud second chance romance that reminds us true love is sometimes the one thing you never planned on.

You Between the Lines by Katie Naymon

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In this “brilliant, poignant love story perfect for fans of Emily Henry,” a former sorority girl starts a prestigious poetry MFA program only to discover that one of her classmates is her high school crush-turned-nemesis—​and he can’t stop writing about her. 

First-Time Caller by B.K. Borison

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A hopeless romantic meets a jaded radio host in this cozy, Sleepless in Seattle–inspired love story from beloved author B.K. Borison.

Love and Other Hollywood Endings by Susannah Erwin

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An upbeat production exec is tasked with reining in the cynical director who was her forbidden college heartbreak in this sparkling, sexy contemporary romance.

The Love Lyric by Kristina Forest

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An R&B singer and a corporate executive find love that hits the right notes in this romance by Kristina Forest, USA Today bestselling author of The Partner Plot.

Change of Heart by Falon Ballard

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From the beloved author of Right on Cue and Lease on Love comes a whimsical new rom-com about a workaholic forced to aim for a goal she never thought she’d love.

Deep End by Ali Hazelwood

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A competitive diver and an ace swimmer jump into forbidden waters in this steamy college romance from the New York Times bestselling author of The Love Hypothesis.

Wooing The Witch Queen by Stephanie Burgis

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In a Gaslamp-lit world where hags and ogres lurk in thick pine forests, three magical queens form an uneasy alliance to protect their lands from invasion…and love turns their world upside down.

The Launch Date by Annabelle Slator

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In this witty and fun rom-com debut from Annabelle Slator, rival coworkers become reluctant daters after they’re forced to work together on a brand-new dating app in hopes of winning a promotion—perfect for fans of Sally Thorne’s The Hating Game.

Can’t Help Faking in Love by Swati Hegde

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A young woman with Bollywood roots hires a barista to act as her boyfriend for her cousin’s wedding—only to learn you can’t fake chemistry like theirs—in this desi romance from the author of Match Me If You Can.

On Her Terms by Amy Spalding

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For fans of Casey McQuiston, Alexis Hall, and Meryl Wilsner, an actually hilarious, sweetly sexy, gloriously relatable sapphic rom-com about a fake relationship, very real emotions, and writing your own Hollywood love story – from the acclaimed author of For Her Consideration.

The Charlie Method by Elle Kennedy

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The third in the steamy, hilarious Campus Diaries series by New York Times bestselling author Elle Kennedy, set in the same world as Off Campus and Briar U.

The Girl Most Likely To by Julie Tieu

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A frenemies-to-lovers contemporary romance by Julie Tieu which takes place over the course of one make-or-break evening, almost entirely at a high school reunion….

A Wedding in the Lowcountry by Preslaysa Williams

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Preslaysa Williams, author of the “emotionally stirring debut” A Lowcountry Bride (Oprah Daily), returns to the Lowcountry with a heartwarming friends to lovers story about the courage to fall in love again.

Back After This by Linda Holmes

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From the New York Times bestselling author of Evvie Drake Starts Over and Flying Solo, a podcast producer agrees to host a new series about modern dating—but will the show jeopardize her chance at finding real love?

Break Point by Yahrah St. John

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Falling in love cost Teagan her heart and a pro tennis career. But when her rival returns, they’ve got one last chance for a rematch…if they can keep the game on the court!

Cupid on the Loose by John. J. Jacobson

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From the author of All the Cowboys Ain’t Gone and California Fever comes a romantic comedy about the exuberant intoxication of amore and its often hilarious antics.

Book Boyfriend by Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka

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Devoted fangirl meets hesitant fanboy in this swoony contemporary love letter to readers who adore fantasy worlds, from the beloved authors of The Breakup Tour.

What February romance releases are you looking forward to? Tell us in the comments below!

The post 24 Swoonworthy Romance Reads Hitting Bookshelves In February 2025 appeared first on The Nerd Daily.