A Chat with Molly Harper & Amanda Ronconi AND a Giveaway!

Today, we’re honored to have with us the dynamic author/narrator team of Molly Harper and Amanda Ronconi. If you bring up the romance bestsellers over at Audible, you will consistently see Molly Harper titles sitting at or near the top. How does one describe Molly Harper’s books? I could easily choose words such as paranormal, contemporary, vampire, and werewolf. But the best descriptive word for Molly’s books is hilarious. Laugh-out-loud funny. And listeners simply love listening to Molly’s tales as related by Amanda Ronconi. She knows how to make the most of those very funny lines.

Although we’re highlighting Molly’s latest release today, The Dangers of Dating a Rebound Vampire, this is more of a celebration of all Harper/Ronconi titles as they are all beloved audios. Therefore, in addition to my chat with Molly and Amanda, we’re giving away five sets of two Molly Harper audio titles – winners’ choice.

With our chat today, Amanda becomes our newest Narrator Friend. You will find out more about her background and other romance narrations on her Narrator Friend Page.

 

The Giveaway

We’re giving away five (5) sets of two downloadable Molly Harper audiobooks of your choice courtesy of Audible.com. Entry is simple. Just complete the easy entry form found at the bottom of the page by midnight (CST) Thursday, April 2nd. No comments are necessary to enter although we’d love to hear your thoughts in our discussion area. You may only enter once. We’ll contact winners on April 3rd so watch your email as we must have acknowledgement of your win within 24 hours. If we don’t hear from you, we’ll select another winner.

 

The Chat

LEA  Welcome Molly and Amanda to AudioGals! We’re thrilled to have you with us today.

MOLLY  Thank you for hosting us!

AMANDA  Thank you for having us!

LEA  Molly, I’m sure it comes as no surprise to you that your audiobooks are extremely popular. Occasionally, over at Audible, I sort romance titles by bestselling just to check the trends and I consistently see the Molly Harper/Amanda Ronconi team sitting near the top. Your humor draws us in. Your audiobooks have made two of our AudioGals Guides to Romance Audio graphics – The Classics and Paranormal Romance. We just can’t seem to get enough of your writing. How did you come up with a humorous vampire romance series for your first books?

MOLLY  Dark and angst is just not my personality. I’ve tried it. I really thought I went really dark with the first Naked Werewolf book and my agent read it and said, “OH, honey, no.”

MOLLY  I am a quirky weirdo. So I write quirky weirdos.

MOLLY  When I wrote for the newspaper, the most popular “first person, day in the life” columns I wrote were the ones where I humiliated myself or injured myself in some fashion, so I wrote the most humiliating way possible to become a vampire.

MOLLY  Poor Jane gets fired from a job she’s good at, mistaken for a deer and turned. And the whole world grew from there.

LEA  When we started looking for humorous paranormal for our first Romance Audio Guides, we realized that there were very, very few out there to choose from.

MOLLY  So I cornered the market by process of elimination. MWAHAHA.

LEA  At least very few that literally make you laugh out loud!

LEA  Molly, I see your first audiobooks were released in early 2010 – the first three entries in the Jane Jameson series. Did you know Audible would be releasing these books? At that time, had you ever listened to audiobooks?

MOLLY  No. When I signed my first contract, I asked my agent, “Do you think we’ll be able to get audiobooks recorded because I LOVE audiobooks.” Working for the newspaper (don’t know why I keep dropping that reference), we covered 19 counties and it meant driving all over the place. Audiobooks in the car kept me sane.

MOLLY  We didn’t know if anyone would be interested.

MOLLY  And it was weird because I got so crazy excited about the idea of someone having to sit in a booth and read my book out loud.

LEA  You entered the market just when audiobooks were becoming hot items. Audible opened the doors very wide with digital downloads and they were gathering a lot of steam by 2010.

MOLLY  Thank you, MP3 players!

LEA  Amen to that!

LEA  What sort of audiobooks did you listen to as your drove all those miles?

MOLLY  A lot of Nora Roberts. Three Fates was my favorite.

MOLLY  And any Mary Higgins Clark I could get a hold of.

MOLLY  And North and South by John Jakes, which was flipping epic. I still want to punch Ashton in the face.

MOLLY  and I’m still a little bit in love with Stu Redman from The Stand. I was all over the place, genre wise.

LEA  Any Susan Elizabeth Phillips? In audio format, she was my favorite romance audio author before 2010.

MOLLY  I didn’t discover her until after 2010. She spoke at RWA that year and I thought she was the smartest plotter I’d ever seen. She really plans that stuff out in a way I am not capable of.

LEA  Her books can be incredibly funny too although she’s pure contemporary romance.

LEA  Amanda, I see over at Audible that your first audio narrations were in 2009 and in less than a year, you were narrating Molly’s books – the previously mentioned Jane Jameson series. Was it your first romance? For that matter, was it your first vampire tale? What were your thoughts at the time?

AMANDA  It was my first romance for mature audiences. I had done some young adult audiobooks already.

MOLLY  Aw, I got in on the ground floor of the Ronconi empire!

AMANDA  Yes you did.

MOLLY  I made you say dirty words.

AMANDA  Yes, this is true. It was no more PG13 for me.

AMANDA  Which I have to say is very liberating.

AMANDA  It was my first brush with narrating vampires.

MOLLY  I do keep that in mind, believe it not, when I write, “I don’t want to make Amanda say that word.”

AMANDA  You do not!!! you make me say all kinds of things!!!!

MOLLY  Hey, you have no idea what I have edited out!

AMANDA  Though they are all, of course, tasteful and in the service of humor and storytelling.

MOLLY  HAHA!

AMANDA  I want a copy of the “unedited for Amanda” manuscripts sometime.

MOLLY  Didn’t you end up recording the love scenes in Better Homes and Hauntings alone, at night with the engineer?

MOLLY  Like in an awkward, uncomfortable fashion?

AMANDA  Thanks for the reminder.

AMANDA  I had just managed to recover from that

MOLLY  I broke you this time!

MOLLY  If I had known all I had to write was “Cat butt face”.

LEA  Amanda, I have to ask – how do you keep from just laughing out loud when narrating Molly’s tales?

AMANDA  I DO laugh out loud.. and yes, she seriously broke me this time for The Dangers of Dating a Rebound Vampire (I am bad with acronyms).

MOLLY  Amanda had to re-record an office scene in REBOUND because she kept breaking up.

MOLLY  I am oddly proud of that.

LEA  I think it is a GREAT thing to be proud of.

AMANDA  It wasn’t really fun at the time. It was fun at first and then started to hurt when I couldn’t stop laughing. But congrats.

LEA  If an author can make me laugh out loud book after book, she’s (or he) a sure winner.

MOLLY  Achievement: UNLOCKED

AMANDA  I agree. It happens very often with Molly. I just don’t always admit it to her.

MOLLY  Meanwhile, the engineer is like, “Damn it, Harper.”

AMANDA  Don’t want her head to get too big.

LEA  And if a narrator can make me laugh even more with their delivery, I’m a loyal follower. Amanda – you do that!

AMANDA  Thanks, Lea!

AMANDA  And, yes, we do actually need to finish recording sometime so the audiobook can be released.

MOLLY  I stay humble through my kids, who tell me that I’m not a real author until I write Harry Potter.

MOLLY  I told them Harry Potter has already been written. But no dice.

LEA  Kids…I’m now LOLing!

MOLLY  They are so unimpressed with me.

LEA  Molly, although our chat today is really more of a celebration of all your audiobooks, I want to focus first on your most recent book, The Dangers of Dating a Rebound Vampire, released on March 24th. I see it’s the third in the Half-Moon Hollow series. Can you share with us some background on the series?

MOLLY  The Half-Moon Hollow series is a spin off to the Jane Jameson series. I wanted to write more vampire stories, but I had “completed the journey” with Jane.

MOLLY  So because of Jane and the hub of vampire culture in Hollow, I told stories about her network of friends and acquaintances.

MOLLY  It’s great because I have a large cast of people to work with. I love writing scenes with lots of dialogue between big groups of people.

AMANDA  Large groups of people in a scene…the narrator’s greatest challenge!

LEA  Listeners think that Amanda, and with a sense of awe when it is done well.

LEA  What is the setup for The Dangers of Dating a Rebound Vampire?

MOLLY  It picks up on the events of I’m Dreaming of an Undead Christmas. Gigi, Iris’s little sister from The Care and Feeding of Stray Vampires, is a junior in college and working for the Council as a computer programmer. The mystery vampire from Undead Christmas shows up on her first night of work and attacks her. He turns out to be an old (old, old) friend of Cal’s.

MOLLY  Nik doesn’t remember anything about their Christmas encounter or even attacking her at work. The whole things stinks of paranormal and Iris wants Gigi to quit immediately.

MOLLY  So Gigi has to grow up pretty quickly as she navigates a dangerous work world, her first vampire relationship, and the strange awkwardness left by breaking up with her high school sweetheart, Ben. (Hence the Rebound Vampire)

MOLLY  And can I just say that Amanda’s Russian accent for Nik is AMAZING.

AMANDA  I will admit that I watched Viggo Mortensen in Eastern Promises.

MOLLY  That man.

AMANDA  Over and over again. For research purposes.

MOLLY  I feel the same way about Jai Courtney in Divergent. Damn

AMANDA  Whew!

MOLLY  But yeah, uh, research purposes.

AMANDA  Very taxing but somebody has to do it.

MOLLY  Also, I think it’s amazing that I pictured Armie Hammer with a Russian accent and he’s playing a character with a Russian accent in the Man from UNCLE.

MOLLY   It’s like the movie fairies are listening to me.

LEA  I’m listening to The Care and Feeding of Stray Vampires and getting to know Gigi. So Nik appears earlier in this particular series?

MOLLY  Nik doesn’t show up until I’m Dreaming of an Undead Christmas.

AMANDA  But we don’t get to hear him talk really till The Dangers of Dating a Rebound Vampire, right?

MOLLY  Yes, because I’m mean.

MOLLY  You had to play a hero who doesn’t speak.

AMANDA  The strong silent type.

MOLLY  All smoldery and stuff.

AMANDA  Very hard to do in an AUDIObook.

MOLLY  It was audible smoldering.

MOLLY  (ba dum bum)

LEA  I’m not seeing your comments. I’m going to try refresh and see if that helps.

MOLLY  We’re good, no worries.

AMANDA  Molly and I will just continue to exchange puny jokes.

MOLLY  we’re shamless

MOLLY  shameless

MOLLY  But also shamless

LEA  Refreshing works!

AMANDA  yay

LEA  Amanda, what do you take into consideration when you are deciding how to vocalize each character? What went into your characterization of Gigi and Nik?

AMANDA  Well for Gigi… the narrator is always going to be some version of me. But she is snappy, more daring, and willing to risk embarrassment.

AMANDA  Which is way more fun than I am and makes for way better stories.

MOLLY  You said in an interview that Gigi was very frank. And that’s exactly it. She grew up in a house with vampires. She knows how dangerous artifice can be. She doesn’t have time for flattery and BS.

MOLLY  You played it exactly right.

AMANDA  Nik, as I said, required much Russian homework of the Viggo Mortensen variety.

AMANDA  Thanks, Molly.

AMANDA  My dream is to be a little more “Gigi”.

MOLLY  Seriously, hearing you do Nik makes me so happy. Because he’s very wry and you made him sound so amused when he was dealing with her.

AMANDA  Oh good.

MOLLY  Like he was watching a pissed off kitten trying to kill a ball of yarn.

MOLLY  Dude, I want to be a little more Gigi.

LEA  We hear that too! You take the words, Amanda, and infuse what Molly is writing into each line of dialogue.

AMANDA  She makes it easy to do.

AMANDA  Her dialogue is very natural easy to deliver.

LEA  It makes the book come alive in a way that isn’t all that common.

AMANDA  Wow! Thanks!

AMANDA  It has been really fun for me the whole time. It is a joy every time I hear there is another Molly Harper in the pipeline.

MOLLY  It helps that her mom is from Kentucky, which I think has given her a natural sense of the accent and the timing and the weird way we emphasize syllables.

AMANDA  Yes, isn’t that a funny coincidence?

LEA  I wasn’t aware of that!

MOLLY  She knows how to say Louisville! Correctly!!

AMANDA  I have to practice a lot.

AMANDA  I have been mocked by Kentucky family members before.

LEA  Do all of your books take place in or around Kentucky?

MOLLY  All but Better Homes and Hauntings and the Naked Werewolf series.

LEA  Narrators have talked with us in the past about the challenges of narrating a series. Amanda, going in, how did you prepare to narrate the Half-Moon Hollow series? I assume you have to make contingencies for characters as they are developed within the series?

AMANDA  It was great actually to get in at the beginning. Molly’s characters are very clear and well developed from the start.

AMANDA  Half Moon Hollow has cameos from the Jane Jameson series also. So some were familiar. I didn’t change characters much as the series went on. They are very consistently written.

MOLLY  Dick Cheney has grown a lot. :)

AMANDA  Oh. Dick Cheney. I guess he has grown. More awesome. He is great and irreverant.

LEA  Molly, I haven’t listened to all of your books but I have randomly enjoyed a good number (although we do have reviewers who have listened to each and every one). I haven’t paid attention to series order – I just choose one here and there as I read good reviews. I don’t’ recall ever being lost due to previous incidents in a series. Can your books each work as a stand-alone or do listeners need to listen in order?

MOLLY  Well, with the Jane books, I would recommend reading them in order. And if you don’t mind occasional spoilers, the Half Moon Hollow books can be read in any order. I really try to provide enough background/explanation so people aren’t lost. With the Naked Werewolves, you definitely need to read them in order if you don’t want the bad guy to be spoiled for you for Book 1.

LEA  Molly, I see you have seventeen audiobooks at Audible. I know you have several series – any stand-alones? Are any of the series related to one another other than the ?

MOLLY  The Jane Jameson and the Half Moon Hollow series are linked, obviously.

MOLLY  But the Naked Werewolf series is just three books.

LEA  Okay – so there are three series with vampires? The Jane Jameson, Naked Werewolf, and Half-Moon Hollow?

MOLLY  The Naked Werewolf series is just werewolves

MOLLY  And then the contemporary series, the Bluegrass series.

MOLLY  And the contemporary standalone, And One Last Thing…

LEA  Amanda, since you have narrated all of Molly’s books, I assume you all developed a relationship over the years (it sure feels like that!)? Do you ever discuss the books?

AMANDA  I narrated the Jane Jameson series without any contact with Molly. Not by choice, that’s just how it was done then. I am soo soo glad we do get to talk now!! It is way more fun and open and there is no weird wall between author and narrator. She felt comfortable enough to ice bucket challenge me. I think that says a lot. We don’t discuss sweeping themes or anything. More characters. I send an email usually when I get the script saying, “Molly this is the “’let me know anything you want me to keep in mind while recording’ email”. I feel very comfortable at this point just sending her a quick question. As I go along.

MOLLY  It was so weird, she did like four of my books before we ever made contact.

MOLLY  I felt weirdly intrusive sending her an email.

AMANDA  I was very relieved.

AMANDA  It’s so odd that we wouldn’t have just been put in touch right away.

MOLLY  I was pretty timid as a baby author.

AMANDA  But now I am given author contacts immediately.

MOLLY  I was afraid to email my editor.

LEA  It seemed to be a pretty common thing back in 2010.

AMANDA  Yeah, I don’t know why that would be.

MOLLY  She usually emails me after she gets a manuscript to ask about accent, pronunciations, etc.

AMANDA  There is no better way to get an answer about character, etc. than from the person who has created the world.

LEA  We hear more from narrators and authors who are working together now but it seems to be a rather recent occurrence overall.

MOLLY  It just makes more sense.

AMANDA  Yes it does!

LEA  But audio listeners love it when we know an author and narrator communicate with one another. It seems a little more authentic. Know what I mean?

AMANDA  It feels more authentic on this end.

MOLLY  I thought it was awesome that she managed to nail the narration and feel of the manuscripts without ever talking to me.

MOLLY  For four books!

AMANDA  I am the “voice” of the writer. I like to be sure I have done everything I can to earn it.

AMANDA  I am so glad you thought that!

MOLLY  I dedicated the last werewolf book to her because of it.

AMANDA  Which made me cry when I saw it.

MOLLY  Yep.

LEA  I bet.

MOLLY  It is my mission in life to make Amanda laugh or cry.

AMANDA  Mission accomplished.

LEA  Hahahaha

MOLLY  Well, my sister’s name – also Amanda. So I’m used to messing with people named Amanda.

AMANDA  Now you can get started on the Harry Potters.

MOLLY  Right?!

MOLLY  My kids are so jaded.

MOLLY  They know way more about supernatural creatures than normal kids. My daughter took a copy of the first Naked Werewolf book to school for kindergarten show and tell.

LEA  HA!

AMANDA  Oh boy.

AMANDA  Did she read it to the class?

MOLLY  No, she did not.

MOLLY  That made for an interesting parent-teacher conference.

AMANDA  Did you send in the redacted version?

MOLLY  Nope.

MOLLY  I didn’t send it! She put it in her backpack!

AMANDA  Uh oh, I think she’s a Gigi.

MOLLY  She’s a Georgie.

AMANDA  That’s ok I guess. Minus the vampire part.

MOLLY  I love her, but she’s terrifying.

LEA  Amanda, how would you describe Molly’s writing style to others? To me, it seems to defy genres as see it fit into chick lit, contemporary romance, vampire, humorous, fantasy.

AMANDA  Molly’s writing style. Yes, all those things you said plus smart, engaging. I recommend her books to people who might not choose Paranormal Romance normally just because she does have an appeal that reaches well outside the PNR genre.

AMANDA  The humor is the thing that I think takes it all kinds of places.

MOLLY  I can’t write serious. It comes across as melodrama or “maybe you should talk to a professional”.

AMANDA  And also her ability to write real people.

LEA  Amanda, I agree with all you are saying. Humor first and then the “real people” statement. It is most descriptive to my way of thinking although I hadn’t put those words to it.

LEA  It’s what I experience even if I’m in the room with a vampire – a real person vampire.

LEA  I especially felt that when listening to My Bluegrass Baby last week.

AMANDA  yes!

MOLLY  Joss Whedon talked about Buffy being a show about kids dealing with real life problems through supernatural metaphors and that’s the approach I wanted to take. These are people you would see at the grocery store, dealing with relationship problems and real life issues, but with fangs.

LEA  Molly, how would you describe your writing style?

LEA  (or did you just do that?!)

MOLLY  Snarky and quirky with bite.

MOLLY  In two parts, I think so.

LEA  Do you think you cover more genres than contemporary romance and paranormal? Have you ever seen one of your books as being more in the Chick Lit category?

MOLLY  And One Last Thing was definitely more Chick Lit.

MOLLY  Woman finds out her husband is cheating, sends a mass email detailing his affair to everyone they know.

MOLLY  Runs to the woods to hide from their relatives and friends.

MOLLY  Finds a cranky neighbor man to love.

MOLLY  Finds her power.

MOLLY  That is a terrible synopsis.

AMANDA  For a very fun book.

LEA  I remember! Loved that email action and the thought of a heroine capable of such.

MOLLY  I made her say some really filthy stuff in that book as well.

LEA  Amanda??!

AMANDA  I am turning red right now.

MOLLY  I think I actually used some non-Mom-approved male euphemisms.

MOLLY  (Not approved by my Mom)

AMANDA  The engineer in the booth and I have been through it.

MOLLY  They were naked a lot in that book.

MOLLY  Yay!

AMANDA  Yep!

MOLLY  Oh! I forgot about the sales toy party in that books!

MOLLY  HAHAHAHAHA!

LEA  Oh, yeah…

AMANDA  See I don’t think you think of me and my embarrassment in the recording booth. And it’s a good thing!

MOLLY  I did laugh when I wrote that, thinking, “Poor Amanda.” And then I did it anyway.

LEA  LOL!!!

MOLLY  It was important to the character’s growth!!

AMANDA  Keep it coming! The redder I turn the better it’s probably gonna be.

LEA  Of course.

MOLLY  Oh, just you wait for Single Undead Mom’s Club.

AMANDA  Whoo hoo!

MOLLY  Sex in a death barth.

MOLLY  barn

AMANDA  What’s a death barth barn?

MOLLY  Death barn, stupid typos.

MOLLY  They get caught in a rainstorm, take shelter in a barn, and it’s full of all these rusty old farm implements. The heroine is convinced it’s a corn cult headquarters.

LEA  When is this coming??

AMANDA  Yeah when!!!???

MOLLY  This October.

MOLLY  You have the summer to prepare, Ronconi.

AMANDA  Gonna visit some death barth barns this summer.

MOLLY  Come to Kentucky!!

MOLLY  I can show you around Paducah. “Half Moon Hollow with more normal people.’

AMANDA  All right! I’m in. Never been to Paducah!

MOLLY  Hmmm, should you come to town during the BBQ festival or the quilt festival? Choices…

AMANDA  Or both. Lea, wanna go to KY?

LEA  I do, I do!!

MOLLY  This event must be recorded for posterity.

LEA  That leads us right into the next question…

LEA  Do either of you have any current or future projects you want to share with us? Romance or not. Books or not. Just life if you want.

AMANDA  Just finished recording the audiobook for Mozart in the Jungle by Blair Tindall. Which is what the Amazon original series is based on. Not romance but very fascinating look at the seedier side of classical music. And then I am off to Italy. And then, Kentucky, to check out some barns and quilts.

MOLLY  That’s fantastic that you’re doing Mozart! I’m so proud. That series is huge right now.

AMANDA  I had to look up a LOT of music terms. I am much more cultured now. It IS exciting.

AMANDA  It was really neat to be asked to do it.

MOLLY  Single Undead Mom’s Club comes out this fall. A flashback story featuring Dick and Andrea – Fangs for the Memories – is also being released soon. I’m writing more Half-Moon Hollow stories as we speak. And I’m actually moving into the erotic romance genre with a writing partner for a project this summer. It’s a Russian mobster werewolf story and I hope to release more details soon.

LEA  We’ll be waiting to hear more!

MOLLY  Well, moving into isn’t the right phrase – I think. “Expanding into”. I will still write paranormal romance. It’s my first love.

LEA  I’m repeating myself a bit with this comment but it has been SO MUCH FUN having you ladies with us today.

MOLLY  Thank you for having us!

AMANDA  It has been a treat. Thank you, Lea

LEA  Thank you for joining us!

 

BUT that wasn’t our real ending to the discussion. Take a look at our “behind the scenes” goodbye!

 

LEA  …I’m not editing any of that!

AMANDA  Oh boy

MOLLY  See I embarrass myself, too. Not just you.

AMANDA  I feel much better.

LEA  So, did you all do the ice bucket challenge together? Want to make sure. It was partially referred to.

MOLLY  I challenged her after some people challenged me.

LEA  Okay.

AMANDA  Yep

MOLLY  And she did it, but wasn’t it cool outside when you did it?

AMANDA  Just the ice was cold.

MOLLY  I did it on a day so hot that I got steam burns on my behind when the liquid hit the pavement.

LEA  HA!

AMANDA  Yikes

LEA  This has been terrific!! (I knew it would be fun) Anything else before we sign off?

MOLLY  Nope.Thanks so much!!

AMANDA  Thank you ladies!!!! It was fun.

 

Time to Enter

It’s time for you to enter to win two downloadable Molly Harper audiobooks of your choice.

GIVEAWAY ENDED

 

If you haven’t tried a Molly Harper audiobook, it’s time you do!

Happy Harper Listening!

 

Lea Hensley