Yulene Kuang (5:25)

Oh. Ooh. Okay. You'll be the first. Tell me.

Danielle Robay (5:28)

I'm thinking Youku.

Emily Henry (5:30)

I think it's cool. Yuku.

Yulene Kuang (5:32)

Oh, God. I think it's very close to Yoko. I'm a big fan of Yoko Ono. I like her artwork. And you know what? Yeah, sure. Let's lean in.

Danielle Robay (5:42)

Okay, thank you. I'd love to give you guys a chance to introduce yourselves to the book club. And I felt like, what better way than to share all of our favorite 90s Rom coms? We're all Love Story girlies. I'll go first, just to set the stage. I'm Pretty Woman. Anything. Julia Roberts.

Yulene Kuang (6:00)

Oh, I think it would have to be Notting Hill. You know, I'm just a girl standing in front of a boy asking him to love her. That's. It doesn't get better than that. Plus, there's that sequence where he walks through. I think it's Notting Hill. And the seasons change. Cinema.

Emily Henry (6:17)

I agree. Love that. I will say, surprising, probably no one. You've got male anything. All the. I agree. Like, any of the Julia Roberts. Any of the Meg Ryan. Sandra Bullock had some really good ones.

Danielle Robay (6:32)

Truly a golden era. I also. I'm split on the Jennifer Aniston ones. Some of them totally plagued my dating life later on. Like, Picture Perfect was such a great movie. And also, I'm like. I think that's why I went for all the bad boys.

Emily Henry (6:45)

Yeah. We did not necessarily always get the right guidance from these movies. Unless Tom Hanks was playing the lead.

Yulene Kuang (6:54)

He was always a good guy.

Emily Henry (6:55)

Yeah, he was a good guy, but he was like, you know, running the little indies out of business.

Yulene Kuang (7:00)

Is he a bad boy? I feel like he's got, like, real cinnamon roll quality.

Emily Henry (7:04)

Yeah, he's not a bad boy at all. No.

Danielle Robay (7:06)

What's a cinnamon roll quality?

Yulene Kuang (7:08)

Ooh, what a question. He will be a standup guy. He's the guy that you kind of do want to marry. He's Tom Hanks.

Emily Henry (7:16)

Yeah, exactly.

Yulene Kuang (7:16)

His foil would be the Hugh Grant.

Emily Henry (7:19)

Grant.

Danielle Robay (7:22)

I'm sort of obsessed with Yulene's dessert analogy. So if the cinnamon roll is the good guy, what are we naming this curmudgeon? Sort of charmingly sarcastic guy.

Yulene Kuang (7:33)

Crumb cake. No.

Emily Henry (7:36)

Crumb cake. Crumb cake. Creme brulee. Even creme brulee is kind of splitting the difference. Yeah. There's that little thin crystallized layer on top and then a soft, gooey center. That's probably actually my perfect kind of romantic lead.

Danielle Robay (7:49)

Okay. You guys are so fun. So I talked to a book agent one time, and she said to me that you can't write a book unless you can't write any other book. Meaning you have to get it out of your body and into the world. And you've both written such great love stories. What pulls you both to love? Like, what is it about these love stories that you have to put out into the world and get out of your bodies? Youku, can I start with you?

Yulene Kuang (8:21)

I was always drawn to romance. That was always my genre of choice as a reader and as a viewer because it was also movies and TV shows and all of those things. Even when I was watching something that wasn't very romance forward, I would find a way to become obsessed with the romance. I think the example would be in the office. I was very obsessed with Jim and Pam. And I think that's because in a lot of comedies, the romance is where they kind of hide the heart, and it's where the seriousness is. And I think any good romance, it gives me this feeling of almost like butterflies. It's like I'm so in love with their love that I am feeling what I would feel falling in love for the first time all over again. It's kind of like microdosing life.

Emily Henry (9:07)

Yeah. You know, that's. I feel like my answer wouldn't be too different. I think a lot about the weird overlap between horror in romance.

Yulene Kuang (9:16)

Yes. I was just thinking that because horror gives you the chills, right?

Emily Henry (9:21)

It's.

Yulene Kuang (9:21)

You also feel it in your body.

Danielle Fishel (9:22)

Right.

Emily Henry (9:23)

And also, like, it's just. There's so many weird similarities too, where it's like both are frequently used to kind of comment on the times falling in love and being terrified. Both are very human. And there's also like tons of overlap. And I feel similarly. Like I was not like a romance reader growing up, but same as Yulene. I would always be most interested in the romantic subplot of anything. I loved having crushes. I think I was ultimately very boy crazy. Loved having crushes, loved daydreaming about falling in love. And now I think the reason I stick with it is because I don't think that there's anything more human or more powerful than love. I think love is a really strange evolutionary habit of ours. I also think that there's just something really magical and strange about how frequently we as humans put other people before us, not just in a Survival means, but just on a day to day basis, putting someone else's desires and needs before our own. Because we have this kind of indescribable feeling for them that just makes us want to elevate them and give them everything. I don't know, I just think it's. I think it's like the most powerful feeling and the most powerful force in the world.

Danielle Robay (10:47)

I have a question about what you just said, Emily. Because that idea of putting somebody else's needs ahead of our own is so human. I think it's also so female. I know, I've felt it my whole life. And I see this sort of renaissance in the romance genre, both in books and in film. And the types of women that you guys are writing that are on screen are very different. What do you attribute the renaissance of romance to?

Emily Henry (11:19)

So many things. First, I feel like, to your point, Danielle, about like it being like kind of different. I think there is in all the romance that I'm reading and loving, including Yulene's book, there is this female lead who isn't just trying to put a man before her. Like that's not the situation. The situation is two people who are broken, who are imperfect, choosing each other and trying really hard to give the other what they need and give them space to be who they are. I'm sure there have always been love stories like that, but I think that's becoming more normalized in media, hopefully.

Danielle Robay (11:57)

Yeah.

Yulene Kuang (11:57)

The romance thread that I feel like is always present is that feeling of what is. What is it gonna take to get the happily ever after? What am I willing to sacrifice? What's the thing I'm willing to give up to get the thing that I want. And ultimately in a romance it's worth it. It's always worth it. But it has to, I think, feel like they're choosing each other now rather than just like one person sacrificing all. And I think there is a lot more of an appetite for heroines who are a little bit prickly, a little bit complicated, who have the whole spectrum of hum. Human emotion and complexity to them. And I don't want to put down who she has been in the past. I don't think it's as simple as saying, oh God, they were all manic pixie dream girls and they were all trash. Because I don't think that's true. You know, I still love Summer from 500 Days of Summer. I think she's still one of my favorite characters that I've seen on screen. And so I think what the heroine often does in these pieces is she reflects something of who we are and who we crave to see in the moment. And that tells us something about ourselves. And so right now, it seems like we're craving women who need therapy and.

Danielle Robay (13:15)

Men who are willing to go.

Emily Henry (13:17)

Yes. And men who are willing to go. And. Yeah, I mean, we have a lot of conversations in this biz about, like, you know, is romance realistic? Is it aspirational? And it's like, to me, I'm like, no, it is absolutely realistic. It's just you writing about the exception, not the rule. Like, mostly dating is horrible. But if you're watching your friends go through that dating experience when they meet someone who's clearly so right for them and so good to them and who they're so wild about, you're not like, oh, this is impossible. There's not just a nice person out there that you could be with. It's not unrealistic to write two characters who are capable of getting past these obstacles, who are willing to do these hard things, willing to heal and grow if it means that they can be together and be the best versions of themselves. Like, that's not. It's. It's only unrealistic until it happens. You know? Like, there's.

Danielle Robay (14:12)

Until it's not.

Emily Henry (14:12)

Until it's not. And, yeah, most of the time, that's not how dating is going to go. But when you're writing a romance novel, you're not typically writing about, like, someone meeting their shitty college boyfriend. You're writing about that person who's, like, worth writing about.

Danielle Robay (14:27)

I went on a date the other night with a guy who used a French fry as a knife to get salad onto his fork.

Yulene Kuang (14:36)

Oh.

Danielle Robay (14:37)

And I'm like, I don't want to read about that. I want to read about the happily ever after.

Emily Henry (14:42)

But you know what? That's actually like, a great romance novel.

Yulene Kuang (14:45)

Detail, fascinating behavior.

Emily Henry (14:46)

But it only works when it's the right person. It doesn't work when it's like. And also, he was wearing spongebob pajama pants and Crocs. And, like, this was our first date. You know? I mean, maybe it does. Maybe it does work.

Ryan Seacrest (15:01)

The best AI assistant isn't one that knows the whole world. It's one that knows your world. A custom assistant built on Watson X with IBM's Granite models can leverage your trusted data, be easily trained on your workflows, and integrate with your apps. It can be tuned to do just what you need. Because the more AI knows about your world, the more it can help you do. Learn more@IBM.com productivity IBM let's create.

Megan (15:30)

You're great at protecting your own personal information. You probably even use things like two factor authentication, strong passwords and a vpn. But as much as you try to be in control of how your information is protected, there are lots of places that also have it and they might not be as careful as you are. That's why LifeLock monitors millions of data points every second for identity threats. If your identity is stolen, a LifeLock US based restoration specialist will help solve identity theft issues on your behalf, guaranteed or your money back. Plus, all LifeLock plans are backed by the million dollar protection package, meaning LifeLock will reimburse you up to the limits of your plan if you lose money due to identity theft. You might not be able to control how others handle your personal information, but you can help protect it with LifeLock. Save up to 40% your first year. Call 1-800-LIFELOCK and use promo code IHEART or go to lifelock.com iheart for 40% off.

Ryan Seacrest (16:28)

Terms apply hey, it's Ryan Seacrest for Albertsons and Safeway. It's Oral Care Month, which means you can earn four times points on all your favorite oral care brands. Now through July 15th. Shop in store or online for items like Colgate Toothpaste, Listerine Mouthwash, Crest Mouthwash or Toothpaste Sensodyne Toothpaste, hello, Toothpaste or Gum Flossers and earn four times points. Points can be redeemed for future discounts on gas or groceries. Offer ends July 15. Restrictions apply. Offers may vary. Visit albertsons or safeway.com for more details.

Yulene Kuang (16:59)

It's Megan.

Megan (17:00)

Are you ready for hashtag Megan Summer?

Danielle Robay (17:03)

Megan, Megan, Megan, Megan, Megan.

Emily Henry (17:05)

Would you prefer that I give you a printout that you can read at your own pace? Megan, yes, it's Megan, What a shock. Etc.

Megan (17:11)

On June 27.

Ryan Seacrest (17:12)

She is a smoking hot warrior princess.

Emily Henry (17:15)

All right, meat sacks, let's get to work. Are you going to stand in my way?

Megan (17:20)

The bee is back.

Emily Henry (17:22)

You think you learned your lesson the first time?

Ryan Seacrest (17:24)

Megan Megan 2.0 only in theaters June.

Emily Henry (17:27)

27 for DPT 13.

Danielle Robay (17:31)

You both write different romance. I want to hear from each of you what the secret style of your love story is. If you can kind of take me behind the scenes into your writing something that maybe I wouldn't know as a reader even. What is the secret sauce for you?

Emily Henry (17:49)

Honestly, there are two components that are kind of tied together for me. One of them is that they do have to Be flawed again. I think there's this misconception that when people are reading romance, it is because they're reaching for an aspirational story about two perfect people. It's like something that would never happen. But I really specifically feel like I write flawed female and male characters, and my books are pretty popular. So clearly people like that. People want that. I think people feel more drawn to characters when they have a flaw that's recognizable and relatable because it feels like someone real that they could know. And I think that we're all just craving connection, even just talking more about what might have caused this romance renaissance. I think part of it is that need for human connection In a time where we're all so disconnected. We want real characters. So them having a flaw that is a central and significant part of the book. A flaw that's something they actually do have to overcome and work through in order to be together, I think is something that is always going to be what I reach for when I'm pairing characters together. And then the second part of that is I specifically really love pairing two characters together who have, you know, history and flaws and issues that kind of chafe against each other. Like, I want their specific issues to kind of exacerbate each other's, like, you know, to trigger. I want them to trigger each other a little bit.

Danielle Robay (19:17)

Emily, you're a little toxic. I love it.

Yulene Kuang (19:19)

But.

Emily Henry (19:20)

No, but, like, the thing is, that's, like, why else would they ever work through those things? Like, when you fall in love, you find out really fast what your toxic traits are. You find out what you're most afraid of when you're falling in love. Like, I love using a romance to take two characters with flaws, put them together, have those flaws chafe against each other, and then the only way those two people can be together is if they kind of work through their own individual issues.

Danielle Robay (19:48)

Mm. I love it so much. It's very real. Like, that is what romance is in real life. Yulene, what's it for you?

Yulene Kuang (19:54)

I think a lot about the Susan Elizabeth Phillips quote, I think where she says something like, if your hero is a firefighter, then your heroine better be on Arsonist. And I think that's such a great kind of distillation of a dynamic where it's these two people. They should be something to each other. And what I'm most drawn to is people that, like, something's combustible there. So that's kind of what I'm drawn to in a dynamic. And then similar to Emily's Flaw theory. I like to look for a wound. I like to find a character wound. Because I think we all kind of, you know, you go through life and things hurt you, things bump against you, you develop some scars, and it kind of does become this moment of like, do you want to know how I got these scars? I think when it's falling in love with somebody else and you're finding those things. So it makes sense that we're drawn to similar things.

Emily Henry (20:44)

I was thinking that just hearing you talk about it, like, I really feel like there's just. Even though obviously our writing styles are different, whatever, there is like a similar baseline DNA there. And I think it makes sense that our readership has such overlap too, because I think our. Our readers do tend to be people.

Yulene Kuang (21:02)

Who have great taste.

Emily Henry (21:03)

Who have great taste, first of all, really pretty. Not that it matters.

Yulene Kuang (21:07)

So smart.

Emily Henry (21:07)

Really smart. And then like just. Yeah, want. Want real people who they can see as mirrors. Like Danielle said, they can see as a mirror and see their own stuff that they need to like, figure out, work through.

Danielle Robay (21:22)

It's cool to hear that a lot of your readers overlap. Is that part of the reason that you guys became collaborators? Emily, do you remember time you read something of Yuleins?

Emily Henry (21:33)

The first time I read something of Uleen's actually was just a draft of the People We Meet on Vacation script. Like weirdly like, so we got hooked up before your book had published.

Yulene Kuang (21:45)

So I was sent the People We Meet on Vacation manuscript before it was published as this kind of like a four year consideration to adapt. I knew it was being sent to multiple people around town and I read it in one sitting. And I remember thinking, one. Yes, yes, yes. A thousand times, yes. Like this has all the thousand thread count pining that I need from a romance. But also it had like a Titanic number of locations.

Emily Henry (22:15)

Yeah. And you go to there.

Yulene Kuang (22:18)

Yeah. And I was like. Well, I was like, this is such a fascinating kind of Rubik's cube of adaptation. It was a really interesting puzzle. And that intrigued me rather than other things I'd been sent before where you could kind of. It was like almost like written to be adapted. And that was less compelling somehow. And so that was how Emily's writing was first sent to me. I kind of describe it as like a marriage of convenience. It was like an arranged marriage through the publishing industry and Hollywood. They were kind of like, you two seem like you have a certain vibe.

Emily Henry (22:50)

And maybe like kind of sad girl romance. Sad girl romance. Sad girls making jokes in romance.

Danielle Robay (22:55)

Hot girls cry.

Emily Henry (22:56)

Hot Girls cry. That was the vibe.

Yulene Kuang (22:57)

Hot girls cry.

Ryan Seacrest (22:58)

Yeah.

Emily Henry (22:58)

And so I think we were set up just kind of on a. A zoom meeting. I remember using this phrase that I've heard you use since then about being drawn to the blue shades in romance. And that was really appealing to me because I knew that going into Adaptation, there was every chance in the world that it was going to just go this route where it could become really broad and just tonally very different from the book in a way that I thought would be disappointing to the readers because I think that they, like we've already discussed, they want that depth. They want to feel like emotionally engaged on like a deeper level. And yeah, it was just like, I feel like you, the way you talked about first of all what you like in romance, but also adapting because I remember you talking about being like such a huge reader and then being really disappointed.

Danielle Robay (23:47)

Shady. I'm just kidding.

Emily Henry (23:48)

But she was just talking about being kind of like, as a reader, being disappointed with how adaptations went. And that was a huge green flag to me because I knew that while she has talent and vision and voice, she doesn't have ego in the way that I think a lot of people do. Like, you're confident in your work, you know your value, I think, but you don't have ego in so much as you're like, I'm going to make this mine and I don't care if that makes it good or bad.

Yulene Kuang (24:16)

Yeah, it's kind of a fascinating process, adaptation. And I will say we met, I want to say, back in 2021. And so it's been a four year journey, I do think, in process of doing the work, I would watch these other things get made and I would read the books and then I would watch the movies. And I would always wonder like, well, why did they cut this, why did they cut that, why didn't that? And things do change. And so seeing kind of people we meet on vacation through the process, that has been very interesting and informed more of my thoughts on adaptation now. So I was the first writer on People We Meet on Vacation. I was not the last writer.

Emily Henry (25:00)

But you were also like, you were the writer multiple times.

Yulene Kuang (25:03)

I was the writer multiple times.

Emily Henry (25:05)

You were the first writer and you were the second to last writer, I think too.

Yulene Kuang (25:08)

So when, when there are this many writers, this is going to get very inside baseball. But they take every draft and they read through them all and they determine who gets credit, who's done enough work that shows up on the screen that they'll get credit and so part of that process meant that I got to read every draft as well. And so I found that to be very fascinating to see what changed from my drafts to the next writer's draft to the next WR to the next writer's draft. And I could see things that I had struggled with early on, structurally, that then became an issue for somebody else later and then got removed completely by another writer. And I was like, that's brilliant. Why didn't I think to just.

Danielle Robay (25:48)

That's interesting.

Yulene Kuang (25:49)

I came at it more as a reader. That was mostly my experience of watching these adaptations of my favorite books and just being fucking disappointed because they did not match the movie in my head. And I think now on this side of it, that part of me still is very much alive and well. But I think there is also another part of me that having gone through the process, I can kind of see how we get there. Because I think in order for a movie to stand on its own, it needs to be a work of art that stands apart from the book. And I truly do believe the purpose of adaptation is not to provide 100% faithful thing.

Emily Henry (26:22)

Oh, yeah.

Yulene Kuang (26:22)

It's to bring new readers to the source material. And so for it to do that, it has to stand as a work of art on its own.

Danielle Robay (26:30)

Well, there's that phrase, the book is better. And it came from the idea that people like the adaptations didn't live up to people's ideas of what these characters were. That, you know, when you read something, you just sink your teeth in so deeply and you have your own imagination. Yulene, you're now you're writing people we meet on vacation, but you're also writing and directing. Beach Read. Can you take me into the writer's room like Emily, I heard you talk about how your involvement in all of these adaptations is really different. It sounds like you're maybe. Is it fair to say you're closer with Yulene than some of the other?

Yulene Kuang (27:06)

Well, yeah. I mean, you lean rank us. Yeah.

Emily Henry (27:09)

Yeah.

Yulene Kuang (27:10)

So your favorite screenwriters.

Emily Henry (27:11)

Yeah, Yulene and Brett Haley, our director, from people we Meet on vacation. Both of them. We have now. I've been friends with them now for years because of this process, and we've had a lot of back and forth. But Yulene is nice because we've been through this already once before and I really trust her. And I have read a lot of her work at this point because I've read her novel. I've read multiple drafts of her People Meet on Vacation script. I read other writers scripts in between Those. Which was really, like you said, it was really illuminating. And I think while there were things from all of them that I appreciate, it also deepened my appreciation for your work, because I think what you do is really special. So I don't. Yeah, it's like Yulene, she basically is just, like, when there's a new draft, sends it to me. If she has a question, she'll send it to me. Like, it. There was a point where she was like, does Poppy have a middle name? And I was like, oh, no. Does she? I don't remember. And I was like, well, I do think it would be this. So I, like, gave Poppy a middle.

Yulene Kuang (28:07)

Name, and it made it into a draft that I remember, and it turned it into a joke, and then that joke got rewritten, and it's no longer in the movie. But I know Poppy's middle name.

Emily Henry (28:17)

Yeah, exactly. And, like, we're the only two people in the world, Poppy, possibly, who know it.

Danielle Robay (28:21)

Well, now you just shared it with us. Thank you. Not the actual name. Do you want to share?

Yulene Kuang (28:26)

Can we tell them?

Emily Henry (28:27)

Sure.

Danielle Robay (28:27)

Can you tell us?

Emily Henry (28:28)

Sure.

Yulene Kuang (28:28)

Do you remember?

Emily Henry (28:29)

Sit. On three. One, two, three. Diana.

Yulene Kuang (28:33)

Diana.

Emily Henry (28:34)

I feel like you waited, and we did we decide that it was after Princess Di. I feel like her mom totally named her Poppy. Diana. Yeah.

Danielle Robay (28:43)

Okay, so you guys both talked about adaptations gone wrong. Is there any adaptation in your mind that has gone right?

Emily Henry (28:50)

Oh, yeah.

Danielle Robay (28:51)

Like, when you think what's, like, the North Star for each of you for an adaptation.

Emily Henry (28:55)

Oh, my gosh. Okay. These are so different. But the Hunger Games adaptations are phenomenal.

Danielle Robay (29:00)

Ooh, that's a great.

Yulene Kuang (29:01)

They are great. Oh, man. This is such a hard question. 2005 north and South miniseries on the BBC is probably one of my favorite adaptations. It stars Richard Armitage. It's based on Daniella Denby, actor, I believe. And it is an adaptation of Elizabeth Gaskell's, like, 1800s novel on the Industrial Revolution.

Emily Henry (29:27)

That also reminds me of another phenomenal adaptation, Gone Girl.

Yulene Kuang (29:31)

Oh, yes. We talked about Gone Girl in our initial meetings. I remember.

Emily Henry (29:35)

It's so good. It's really faithful. It's like. I think what we should call it is faithful plus. It's, like, faithful in that the heart of the story is the same. The heart of the characters is the same. You understand that it's the same story, but plus is that they took the fact that they have living, breathing actors and are performing this, and they use that to make it feel, in some ways, bigger. And I think people does that really well. But Gone Girl, the Whole thing with Ben Affleck having the butt chin. And she's like, you just don't look trustworthy because of your little crease in your chin. And so whenever he's saying, I'm telling the truth, he covers his chin with his thumb and he's like, I'm not lying. Whatever. That little detail is not in the book. That little detail was written because Ben Affleck was cast.

Danielle Robay (30:22)

Okay, so this is actually my next question. Because Emily, I can imagine when you're writing this character is fully baked out. And then, Yulene, when you're writing the adaptation, do you have a cast in mind? Like, do you have an actor in mind for people?

Yulene Kuang (30:36)

I did not. For Beatrid, I did.

Danielle Robay (30:40)

Are you able to share who for Beach Read?

Yulene Kuang (30:42)

No.

Emily Henry (30:44)

Do I know? Text me later.

Danielle Robay (30:48)

Okay. You're gonna have to come back on.

Emily Henry (30:49)

Yeah, yeah.

Danielle Robay (30:51)

Well, here's the thing. Emily is known for her Easter eggs. Are there any that you can drop with us about the adaptations?

Yulene Kuang (30:59)

Ooh, ooh. Eagle eyed viewers may already know. So I am going to share maybe one Easter egg, which is that in the very first draft of People We Meet on Vacation, I knew what I would want as a reader was a recreation of the COVID And so I wrote something that was like a recreation of the COVID that I think book lovers will identify. I think I even wrote into the text. It was like, book lovers will recognize it. That was mine. Like a nod also to Book Lovers, which was out at the time. But I was like, this is a cover recreation. And that is one thing that as much as things change from the first draft to the last and what actually gets produced, I am so proud to know that that book cover recreation did make it into the final.

Emily Henry (31:49)

This is something that is okay to share because you literally will not be able to tell. I don't think in this. But in that scene we do have a little Easter egg, which is that Alix is reading an Augustus Everett book in that scene. A book that does not exist, Funnily enough. I mean, none of them exist, but it doesn't exist in print. I have not named this novel in an existing book. Because Hollywood is weird and because there are different studios making the Beach Read movie than the People we meet on vacation movie. I could use the Augustus Everett name because he gets name checked in People We Meet on Vacation. This is so probably boring to other people. I think this is fascinating. And so we weren't allowed to use any of the book titles that are included in Beach Read, so we had to come up with a new book. So I came up with a new book title and I got to choose from, like, a couple of different covers. And Alex is reading this book, which you will not be able to see whatsoever, I don't think. But in the COVID recreation. So that's an Easter egg on an Easter egg. A hat on a hat.

Yulene Kuang (32:49)

Okay, so for me to know, as the director of the next film, like, where does that fit into Gus's, like, bibliography? I feel like this is important.

Emily Henry (32:57)

It's later. But did you know that there is another unnamed Easter egg book in Happy Place? Yes.

Yulene Kuang (33:02)

Yes.

Emily Henry (33:02)

Okay, good.

Yulene Kuang (33:03)

Emily. I am an Emily Henry scholar. Okay. Oh, my God.

Ryan Seacrest (33:13)

Your business deploys AI pilots everywhere. But are they going anywhere? Or are they stuck in silos, exhausting resources, unable to scale? Maybe you don't need hundreds of AI pilots. You need a holistic strategy. IBM has 65,000 consultants with Gen AI expertise who can help you design, integrate and operate, optimize AI solutions. So you're not just deploying AI, you're scaling it across your business. Learn more@ IBM.com consulting IBM, let's create.

Ryan Seacrest (33:43)

Hey, it's Ryan Seacrest for Albertsons and Safeway. It's Oral Care Month, which means you can earn four times points on all your favorite oral care brands. Now. Through July 15, shop in store or online for items like Colgate Toothpaste, Listerine Mouthwash, Crest Mouthwash or Toothpaste. Sensodyne Toothpaste, hello, Toothpaste or gum flossers. And earn four times points. Points can be redeemed for future discounts on gas or groceries. Our friends. July 15th. Restrictions apply. Offers may vary. Visit albertsons or safeway.com for more details.

Yulene Kuang (34:13)

It's Megan.

Megan (34:15)

Are you ready for hashtag Megan Summer.

Yulene Kuang (34:17)

Megan.

Danielle Robay (34:18)

Megan.

Yulene Kuang (34:18)

Megan.

Emily Henry (34:19)

Megan.

Yulene Kuang (34:19)

Megan.

Emily Henry (34:19)

Would you prefer that I give you a printout that you can read at your own pace?

Yulene Kuang (34:23)

Megan.

Emily Henry (34:23)

Yes, it's me. What a shock. Etc.

Megan (34:26)

On June 27.

Ryan Seacrest (34:27)

She is a smoking hot warrior princess.

Emily Henry (34:29)

All right, meat sacks, let's get to work. Are you going to stand in my way?

Megan (34:34)

The BE is back.

Emily Henry (34:37)

You think you learned your lesson the first time?

Danielle Robay (34:39)

Megan.

Emily Henry (34:40)

Megan 2.0. Only in theaters June 27th for DPT 13.

Yulene Kuang (34:44)

Wasn't that delicious?

Danielle Robay (34:45)

So good. Your bill, ladies. I got it.

Yulene Kuang (34:48)

No, I got it.

Emily Henry (34:50)

Seriously, I insist. I insisted first.

Yulene Kuang (34:53)

Don't be silly.

Emily Henry (34:54)

You'll not be silly.

Megan (34:55)

People with the Wells Fargo active cash credit card prefer to pay because they earn unlimited 2% cash back on purchases.

Emily Henry (35:02)

Okay. Rock, paper, scissors for it. Rock, paper, scissors.

Ryan Seacrest (35:05)

Shoot.

Megan (35:05)

No, the Wells Fargo active cash credit card. Visit Wells Fargo.com ActiveCash terms apply.

Danielle Robay (35:16)

You mentioned book lovers. I'm wondering how much influence Booktok and fans actually have over both your book, Emily, all of your writing, and then you lean on the adaptation. Like, do you try to put fans wishes in there?

Yulene Kuang (35:34)

I can tell you, I can see.

Emily Henry (35:35)

The diplomacy wheels turning in your head.

Danielle Robay (35:38)

Like, give me a percentage if you can't answer.

Yulene Kuang (35:40)

So I'll tell you this. Last summer, I had a wonderful summer intern, and I was like, trawl the depths of BookTok, Book, Twitter, all of the places that I cannot look, and just kind of come back to me with a PowerPoint of what these people want. I had my list, and then I also had my intern create this other list for me as well. And there was some overlap, which was fun to see, but it was just a little piece I wanted to add to my research process just to kind of honor my former fangirl self.

Danielle Robay (36:15)

Yeah.

Emily Henry (36:15)

I mean, and I remember the very first conversation that I had with Brett about people was him saying, can you make me a list of the things that the readers will riot if they don't make it into the final cut? And so I did that. But I will say for books, I'm not doing that because I feel like for books, my attitude is, like, everything we write will hopefully be someone's favorite book. But for the adaptations, because there is already this readership to honor, I was very grateful that I knew you would be factoring that in on some level.

Yulene Kuang (36:48)

Yeah. I remember in our very first meeting, I did ask you, if you could only save one scene from the book, what scene would it be? I do remember. Do you want me to say it?

Emily Henry (36:56)

Yeah, tell me. Cause I have no memory.

Yulene Kuang (36:58)

It's the condom scene.

Emily Henry (37:00)

Oh, you know what? Didn't make it, clearly. Obviously. Didn't make it, obviously. No. Oh, wait. No, no, no, you're right.

Danielle Fishel (37:06)

You're right.

Yulene Kuang (37:06)

I did.

Emily Henry (37:07)

Oh, I thought you were talking about. Oh, my God. I thought you were talking about a different condom scene. There are two condom. There are two different condom scenes in that book. One is funny and one is sweet.

Danielle Robay (37:18)

And also, Yulene, you love a sex scene. Yeah, I've gotten to interview you before. You love a sex scene.

Emily Henry (37:23)

Well, this condom scene is a comedic. Comedic. The sexy condom scene did not make it in, sadly.

Danielle Robay (37:30)

Do you guys feel like booktok has changed romance? Because I remember growing up, I would read my favorite books. I didn't even think about what the author looked like. And now not at all. I Mean, you both are famous authors. People know what you look like. They care. They're following you on TikTok and Instagram. It's really changed. Do you think Booktok has changed romance as a genre?

Yulene Kuang (37:54)

Yeah, I think it's certainly left, like, a mark on it. From what I've studied of Booktok, a lot of it also comes from kind of fandom, and specifically this fanfiction archive archive of our own. I think the distillation of tropes that we know and love in fanfiction was not actually as prevalent in romance before a certain point in time. Like, they weren't as codified as, like, there's only one bed. Once that language of fandom infiltrated romance like Booktok, which I think makes so much sense because fandom people are extremely online people. Extremely online people are more likely to make content on BookTok, and then they're more likely to talk about it. And why not use this vocabulary that we are all already kind of conversant in to describe it? But then I think that's when publishing starts to see it as a marketing tool. And then they're like, it becomes this shorthand for us all. And so I do feel like I've seen the fanficification. A little bit of romance, would you say, Emily?

Emily Henry (38:56)

Oh, completely. I agree. And that's not like, just a good or bad thing. I think it's a kind of a neutral thing. But I will say tropes literally only matter if you care about the characters. It really only matters if I get to see how these two very specific characters operate in this situation and what happens when they are in this situation.

Yulene Kuang (39:16)

Yeah.

Danielle Robay (39:17)

Okay. Well, speaking of book talk, we have a fan question for you. Hi, my name is Michelle from Texas. I love how you described little Crescent island in Great Big Beautiful Life. So I want to ask Emily, if you could live in any place you've written about, where would it be and why?

Emily Henry (39:35)

Oh, my gosh, I want to live in all of them. I feel like I'm torn. Waning Bay, Michigan. Fictional place. Northern Michigan from Funny Story. But in the winter, I would like to live in Palm Springs, where Alex and Poppy go. I would take either of those happily.

Danielle Robay (39:55)

Hello, my name is Nana. I live in New York, and I'm huge fans of both of you. I'd love to know, as writers, how do you come up with those swoony moments that make readers like me go wild? For example, Yulene, I still think about that scene in how to End a Love Story where he writes on her Thigh. And then I'd love to know, how do you work on translating those moments to the screen and showing the chemistry between the two romantic leads?

Yulene Kuang (40:18)

Oh, so good. That moment, as I was writing it, I was just, like, watching the movie in my mind, and I was like, what do I want to happen next? And I was like, well, that would be compelling. And so I think that was what happened there. And I think I'm always chasing that feeling. And so when it comes to translating that to the screen, I think it's kind of different if I'm directing versus when I'm writing. When I'm writing, I'm creating a blueprint that's for production. And so I knew that I really wanted Emily's Books are Sexy. I wanted it to be a sexy movie, and I didn't want that to get lost somewhere along the game of telephone. That is production. And so I remember writing into the script for one of the sex scenes. It was, this is a sex scene that makes you wish you were having sex right now. And that line. That line made it into the final.

Emily Henry (41:12)

Such a good line.

Danielle Robay (41:13)

It's a great one. Emily, I heard you say, I'm saying yes to things for my future self. I'm wondering for each of you, what is something that you are terrified of saying yes to but you're going to do anyways?

Emily Henry (41:27)

Oh, gosh.

Danielle Robay (41:29)

You're doing it for future you.

Emily Henry (41:30)

Yeah.

Danielle Robay (41:31)

Emily, can I start with you?

Emily Henry (41:33)

No. No. Yulene, do you already have an answer that can buy me time? Sure.

Yulene Kuang (41:37)

Yeah. Right now I would say it's dance class. So I figure skate. And I was talking to my coach about how do I get more graceful? And she said, well, take a dance class. And she's been saying this for the last seven years that I've been skating. And finally I decided, okay, I'll take a dance class. I think right now for future me. That's the thing is I'm committing to the suck a little bit in the hopes that it will get better. And it has gotten better. Actually, when I look at the videos, I'm like, oh, wow. There's a marked difference. But it's hard.

Emily Henry (42:08)

Yeah, I love that answer. Something I respect and admire about you so much, Yulene, is that you, I feel, like, consistently push yourself to try new things. Like, as we get older, especially when we find something that we're good at, it's really, really, really hard and scary to try something new. And I hate being bad at things. And so I guess my answer if I'm just gonna piggyback off of yours, which I am, is I have been playing tennis and. Same, same thing. I am so unathletic. And I don't know, like, I think that is kind of a huge deal for, for me as like, a perfectionist to be like, yeah, I'm bad at this thing. And I keep doing it. Like, I can't ever be. I'm not going to be a professional tennis player. I'm not even.

Yulene Kuang (42:54)

You're never gonna make your money doing tennis.

Emily Henry (42:56)

Yes, I will never. No one wants to pay to see that.

Danielle Robay (43:01)

But you'll eventually be good.

Yulene Kuang (43:02)

You'll eventually be able to play maybe.

Danielle Robay (43:04)

Totally. Okay, I'm giving you guys Internet claps. Those were great answers.

Yulene Kuang (43:08)

Thank you.

Danielle Robay (43:10)

Great, great answers. Okay, we're coming up on the end of our conversation, which means it's time for speed read. Here's how it works. We put 60 seconds on the clock, and we're gonna see just how many rapid fire questions. I should say rapid fire literary questions that you can get through. We're gonna go popcorn style. So Yule, you'll get a question, and then Emily, you get a question after. You ready?

Emily Henry (43:34)

Let's do it.

Danielle Robay (43:35)

You're locked in.

Yulene Kuang (43:36)

Yeah.

Danielle Robay (43:36)

Okay. Three, two, one. Okay. One literary trope you would ban forever. Emily.

Emily Henry (43:43)

Billionaire romance.

Yulene Kuang (43:46)

Secret pregnancy.

Emily Henry (43:47)

Oh.

Danielle Robay (43:48)

One that you'll defend with your life.

Yulene Kuang (43:51)

Ooh.

Emily Henry (43:52)

Friends to lovers.

Yulene Kuang (43:54)

Forced proximity.

Emily Henry (43:56)

Yes.

Danielle Robay (43:57)

Favorite book to recommend to people.

Emily Henry (44:00)

Anything by Vari McFarlane or Kennedy Ryan.

Yulene Kuang (44:04)

Luck of the Draw by Kate Claiborne.

Emily Henry (44:06)

Writing it down.

Danielle Robay (44:07)

What book do you wish you could read again for the first time?

Emily Henry (44:11)

Gone Girl.

Yulene Kuang (44:13)

Probably. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. Honestly, you know, like, take it back. I just watched a. Yeah, man, I just watched a movie recently.

Danielle Robay (44:22)

If you could live vicariously through one fictional character, who would that be?

Emily Henry (44:26)

This is so messed up. But I, I, I want to say Amy from Gun Girl.

Danielle Robay (44:31)

Okay. Yueleen. How about you?

Yulene Kuang (44:32)

Eloise at the Plaza. I just want to be rich with a drunk nanny and a pug and a turtle.

Danielle Robay (44:40)

You have 10 minutes in a bookstore. Which area are you going to first?

Yulene Kuang (44:44)

Romance.

Emily Henry (44:46)

It depends on the day. Romance or sci fi? Weirdly.

Yulene Kuang (44:49)

Oh, really?

Emily Henry (44:50)

Yeah.

Danielle Robay (44:52)

Emily.

Emily Henry (44:52)

Secrets.

Danielle Robay (44:53)

That was a left turn.

Emily Henry (44:54)

I know.

Danielle Robay (44:55)

Okay, what's your red flag? Reading habit.

Emily Henry (44:57)

Oh, this is a new one. People are skimming books. Some people only read the dialogue.

Yulene Kuang (45:02)

People who leave. Three star Goodreads reviews. Give it a one or a five. Commit.

Emily Henry (45:07)

Yes.

Danielle Robay (45:08)

Okay. A book that shaped the way you see the world.

Emily Henry (45:11)

I'm gonna say the giver, but mostly because it taught me about what writing could do.

Yulene Kuang (45:18)

I think it was Sanford Meisner's book on acting.

Danielle Robay (45:21)

Do you ever read the last page first?

Yulene Kuang (45:24)

I used to.

Emily Henry (45:25)

Really?

Yulene Kuang (45:26)

But not anymore? No. I did it consistently through high school and then I stopped.

Emily Henry (45:30)

Danielle, do you do that?

Danielle Robay (45:32)

No.

Danielle Fishel (45:32)

Never.

Emily Henry (45:33)

Never.

Danielle Robay (45:37)

Okay, my last question to you both is, what have you bookmarked this week? It doesn't have to be about reading. It could be anything that you've, you know, like, kind of like saved on your Instagram or anything in your.

Emily Henry (45:51)

I know I'm going to my screenshots because it's like I do that thing of screenshotting an article I want to read later.

Yulene Kuang (45:57)

Yeah, I feel like mine is going to be like, embarrassing because I.

Emily Henry (46:01)

Even better, Yuline, I just screenshotted to Google and read this later from BBC science focused magazine. Scientists say our chances of finding alien life just skyrocketed. I don't know why because I haven't googled it yet.

Danielle Robay (46:14)

Very sci fi. This makes sense now. Okay, Yulene.

Yulene Kuang (46:18)

So the last thing I saved was a New York Times article dancing to the beating heart of the New York Public Library. The mission behind the Monica Bill Barnes and company is to bring dance where it doesn't belong. And it's an experiential art company that it does dance in places where dance doesn't belong. And I was like, oh, how interesting. Clearly dance is on my mind. So that's my opinion.

Emily Henry (46:38)

Yeah, you know what? Dance belongs everywhere. First of all, that's true. Oh, I do have another one. I don't know anything about where this is going. So Ladad o' Brien posted a thing about, I think a new podcast she has maybe called Murder on the Towpath. So that's something I wanted to look into.

Yulene Kuang (46:57)

Can I tell you my, my second thing I've bookmarked is how to re wax your barber jacket, which is a YouTube video on. On YouTube. And I need to rewax my jacket and I watch it. It's the most sexual thing I've seen.

Emily Henry (47:10)

Really? When you send that to me, intrigued.

Yulene Kuang (47:12)

It's this very handsome man and he like. And just like works it into the.

Emily Henry (47:17)

Jacket you bookmarked that you're like, I'm coming back to this. And we're gonna circle back.

Danielle Robay (47:20)

Guys, this has gotten so weird. Thank you so much.

Emily Henry (47:23)

The perfect way to end any podcast.

Danielle Robay (47:25)

The absolute perfect way. No. Emily. Yulene, it's so fun to listen to you because you're so descriptive even in your speech. Like if I had to close my eyes and I hadn't read any of your books, I would know both of you were writers. So thank you so much for taking the time. This was so fun.

Emily Henry (47:44)

Thank you so much. This was a joy.

Yulene Kuang (47:47)

This was great.

Danielle Robay (47:52)

And that's a wrap for our very first episode of Bookmarked by Reese's Book Club. We are so excited you tuned in. Thank you you and a huge shout out to Emily and Yulene for setting the stage. This is just the beginning and if you want a little bit more from us, come hang with us on socials. We're at Reese's Book Club on Instagram serving up books, vibes and behind the scenes magic. And I'm Danielle Robay. R O B A Y Come say hi and DM me. And if you want to go 90s on us, call us. Okay? Our phone line is open so call now at 1-501291-3379. That's 1-501291-3379. Share your literary hot takes, book recommendations, questions about the monthly pick or let us know what you think about the episode you just heard. And who knows, you might just hear yourself in our next episode. So don't be shy, give us a ring. And of course, make sure to follow. Bookmarked by Reese's Book Club on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your shows. Until then, see you in the next chapter. Bookmarked is a production of hello Sunshine and iheart Podcast. It's executive produced by Reese Witherspoon and me, Danielle Robaix. Production is by Acast Creative Studios. Our producers are Maddie Foley, Aaliyah Yang, Brittany Martinez and Darby Masters. Our production assistant is Avery Loftus. Jenny Kaplan and Emily Rutter are the executive producers for Acast Creative Studios. Maureen Polo and Reese Witherspoon are the executive producers for hello Sunshine. Olga Kaminwa, Kristin Perla, Kelly Turner and Ashley Rapaport are associate producers for Reese's Book Club. Ally Perry and Christina Everett are the executive producers for iHeart podcast and Tim Palazzola is our showrunner.

Danielle Fishel (49:50)

Hi, I'm Danielle Fishel from Pod Meets World. So for my two boys I got Samsung Galaxy Watch for kids. And I'm not saying I'm kind of jealous of my kids tech. I'm saying I am definitely jealous of my child's tech. This thing lets them call, text and explore all from their wrist. No smartphone required. And don't worry, you're still the boss. You control who they can talk to. And yes, you can totally stalk their location in real time. Get Galaxy Watch 7 on T mobile now kid ready with a new paired line? Visit t mobile.com to order yours today. Parent and child must have a Samsung account and Google account with family link requires initial pairing with a compatible Samsung smartphone and qualifying wireless plan with LTE service activated. Please check with your carrier for more information. Trusted contact applies to compatible apps. It does not restrict communication through third party or other communication apps. Apps, emergency services and contacts remain accessible. Location sharing is dependent on network connectivity and device being recently active. T mobile terms via 24 monthly bill credits when you add a qualifying paired watch line. See additional Offer terms on T mobile.com.

Ryan Seacrest (50:50)

Hey it's me Ear Heart Mind if.

Danielle Robay (50:52)

I pick the next song?

Ryan Seacrest (50:54)

Listen Even though we're eating better, people who've had one heart attack are at higher risk of another. But Repatha Evolocumab plus a statin lowers LDL C, our bad cholesterol and our heart attack risk. So let's talk to our doctor about Repatha.

Emily Henry (51:09)

Do not take Repatha if you're allergic to it. Serious allergic reactions can occur. Get medical help right away if you have trouble breathing or swallowing swelling of the face, lips, tongue, throat or arms. Common side effects include runny nose, sore throat, common cold symptoms, flu or flu like symptoms back pain, high blood sugar and redness pain or bruising at the injection site. View the important safety information in our banner. Listen to your heart. Ask your doctor about Repatha.

Ryan Seacrest (51:35)

Hey it's Ryan Seacrest For Albertsons and Safeway. It's Oral Care Month which means you can earn four times points on all your favorite oral care brands. Now through July 15th. Shop in store or online for items like Colgate Toothpaste, Listerine Mouthwash, Crest Mouthwash or Toothpaste. Sensodyne Toothpaste hello toothpaste or gum flossers and earn four times points. Points can be redeemed for future discounts on gas or groceries. Offer ends July 15. Restrictions apply. Offers may vary. Visit albertsons or safeway.com for more details. It is Ryan Seacrest here. There was a recent social media trend which consisted of flying on a plane with no music, no movies, no entertainment. But a better trend would be going to chumbacasino.com it's like having a mini social casino in your pocket. Chumba casino has over 100 online casino style games is all absolutely free. It's the most fun you can have online and on a plane. So grab your free welcome bonus now at chumbacasino. Com sponsored by Chumba Casino.

Yulene Kuang (52:30)

No purchase necessary.

Danielle Robay (52:31)

VGW Group void where prohibited by law. 21 plus terms and conditions apply. This is an iHeart podcast.