Cinco de Annabel - Two Noras interview Best Selling Author Annabel Monaghan

She finished her last tour event last night and still showed up today with stories, secrets, and the kind of candor that makes us love Annabel Monaghan even more. We’re raising a glass for “Cinco De Annabel” and talking Dolly All The Time, her Good Morning America Book Club pick that delivers a swoony summer romance!

We get the behind-the-scenes version of author life, from London and Paris publishing visits to the pure excitement of sitting on the Good Morning America couch and knowing every awkward second lives forever. Then we pivot to Dolly herself: what her podcast would be, why her talents read like survival skills, and the moment Annabel realized Dolly’s caretaking had a shadow side. We dig into the emotional truth of overfunctioning, people-pleasing, and how “doing it all” can rob the people around you of the chance to show up.

The conversation also turns personal, with honest parenting insight on middle school friendships and raising teenage boys, plus a reminder that silence can be a powerful kind of support. Annabelle shares why Sancerre made it onto the page, how Newport mansions helped her build Stewart's old-fashioned energy, and the magical real-life origin story of meeting an actual reader named Dolly who sparked the novel. And yes, there’s a teaser for the next book: a slow train to Montauk, a four-hour connection, a brutal platform twist, and a jump to age 39.

If you love author interviews, romance novels, summer reads, and conversations that mix craft with real life, hit play. Subscribe, share this with a friend who needs a good book, and leave us a review telling us what you’re reading right now.

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Transcript

Cinco De Annabelle Kickoff

SPEAKER_02 0:07

Hi, thanks for joining us today. It's Nora. And Nora. We're sure glad you're here today. Yes. It's a special day.

SPEAKER_01 0:13

This is a special day. You are in for one of our most favorite episodes of the whole year. Yes. Number five. Number five. Cinco de Annabel. Cinco de Annabel, where we have the privilege of sitting down and zooming with our favorite author, minus my brother. Our favorite author who's not related to us. There you go. Best-selling author, Annabelle Monaghan, to talk about her book, Dolly all the time. Yes. Her new summer read was not only one of our favorites, but it was a good morning America book club pick. Yes, which is really exciting. And God bless her for making the time for us. She literally finished her book tour yesterday.

SPEAKER_02 0:50

I know, and sat down with us today. So cheers to her. So cheers to Annabelle. We went with Sancere. We poured ourselves a glass of San Care because that's what the Whitfields would do. Yes. So do the same, settle in and enjoy. A glass of something and enjoy our interview with Annabelle Monaghan.

Book Tour Whirlwind And TV Nerves

SPEAKER_02 1:08

And here we are for year number five with Annabelle Monaghan, best-selling author. Thank you for joining us again.

SPEAKER_01 1:15

Thank you. I'm so happy to be here. You guys are my absolute favorites. And I just I remember the first time when it was two Nora's and a Nora. And I was just so happy to talk to you. And we've done it every year. I mean, we are so lucky that our paths have crossed and that you continue to come back and let us interview you. There, you know, people when we talk to them about they're like, oh my gosh, how are you interviewing Annabelle Monaghan? How did that happen? We've known her for five years. We're friends, yes, we're besties. That's all. But how thanks for having me back. Sure. How was the tour? You were international this time. It wasn't, I mean, it has been like the kind of summer where I haven't really slowed down to think about anything. But every time I do, I'm like, what is my life right now? Like it, it's been, it's been just amazing. Yeah. And I just actually had my very last event of the summer. Like my last in-person event was last night. So it has, it has come to a conclusion. But no, I went to I went to London and I went to Paris and saw my publishers there and had a couple of events. And I don't know, it's just all it was all kind of a dream come true. I was on national TV, just being a person, you know. I was just amazing. Who did you go with? Who came with you? To to your my husband. Okay. Awesome. Yes, we turned it into kind of a romantic thing. We stayed a few extra days. Oh, yeah. So if you're going over there, you might as well. No, it's a long way to go. You don't go just for like a weekend. Yeah. So your books are translated then into French? They are translated into 25 languages.

SPEAKER_00 2:56

Oh. That's amazing.

SPEAKER_01 2:58

It's amazing. It's amazing. But Nora and same time next summer are the only two that are in French. And then the rest are coming. Like they're they're doing them one year at a time. But yeah, all I mean, a lot of different languages. Yeah. It's just French.

SPEAKER_02 3:13

Wait, and then you were on TV too in the US.

SPEAKER_01 3:16

Yes. So yeah. So Dolly was the Good Morning America pick for June. And so as part of that, you go on the show and you sit on the couch and you talk about your book. And it's like the most nerve-wracking thing because it's it's television. And if you make a fool out of yourself, like it's still going to be on national television. And a lot of people watch Good Morning America. I was also on What to Watch. No, Watch What Happens Live. Oh, there you go. Sorry. Yeah, just my brain went on the Fritz. And yes, I was the guest bartender standing in the background drinking an Aperol Spritz, which was absolutely delicious. Do you have to make drinks? No, they brought me a drink. Oh. And I was like, oh, I'll pretend to drink this. And then I took a little sip and I was like, damn, that's delicious. So that was super fun. Anyways, it's just been so many things like that, with like being totally out of my comfort zone. And everybody's so nice that it's just been amazing.

If Dolly Had A Podcast

SPEAKER_01 4:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:16

All right, let's talk Dolly a minute. Can we? All right. I've been dying to know if Dolly had a podcast, what would her first topic be?

SPEAKER_01 4:26

Oh, I think that Dolly would probably want to talk about baking. She's like, yeah. And do you talk about baking? I don't know. That sounds super boring to talk about baking. She might want to talk about that. But also, I think that her like real interest is pulling money out of nowhere. So I think she would have a personal finance podcast that was like a lot of girl math, which is like, you know, if you don't buy that new t-shirt, you just earned $11 that you can put towards like that kind of thing. As a former teacher, I was like, maybe she would have a teaching podcast with one of her bad teacher friends. But I don't know. But that was cool. I mean, she could have a podcast about a handful of different things because she had so many talents and interests and gifts and skills, like changing a tire. Yeah, it's like yeah. Well, she all of her skills are kind of survival skills.

SPEAKER_00 5:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:25

She she knows all the things that you need, like she can cook. She can change a tire, she can sew money out of anywhere. She can yes, she can sew on that ancient, ancient sewing machine. Can you oh can you change a tire? Change a tire? Yeah. No, I've seen it done. Yeah. I tried actually. Yeah, I just don't think there's any reality where it's a good idea for me to be like, oh, let me just get under this thing and jack it up and then stick my arm there and hopefully it holds. Like there's just no reality where that's a good idea. And then drive on it. And that's the scary thing. Yeah. Yeah. No, the scary thing is the whole car falls on me. That's a good thing. It's a recipe. Like I've got my foot under there and it's all jacked up. But is it really jacked up? What is it? Did I do a good job? I throw the lug nuts off. I even just think like getting it out of your car that seems daunting. And no, I don't want to take away someone else's job. Other people are very good at it. We you guys, you guys are so Stuart. I mean, this is how Stuart feels. You guys in your fancy cars, your fancy clean cars. My mini my minivan. Yeah. Yeah. My car is having a situation right now.

SPEAKER_02 6:44

I volunteered to cook to make something for football as on the volunteer list, and I left an ingredient in the back seat for several days, and it it was sausage for a breakfast burrito. So I've been stuck in my ever so fancy car driving around sausage mobile.

SPEAKER_01 7:04

So it smells like rotten sausage.

unknown 7:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:08

And it's not. Okay, so now is the time. I think what you do is you sell your car online. So nobody's had a chance to sniff it. I think that's what a criminal does in this situation.

SPEAKER_02 7:23

Hands to the heavens. My dad is a car dealer.

SPEAKER_01 7:26

Oh, so I saw my dad and I was like, I told on her. I was like, Nora has a situation. A car smells like sausage. Like, this is what's going on. He goes, There's only one way to fix that. I was like, what? He's like, trade it in. So that is important. Okay. Well, good thing it's not hot outside.

SPEAKER_02 7:45

Oh, where is this interview going?

SPEAKER_01 7:50

Sorry. Sorry. Sausage? No, seafood. That's seafood. Could have been worse. Yeah. Not right, but it could have been worse. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 8:02

Let me gain some composure here.

Parenting Through Middle School Friendships

SPEAKER_02 8:04

Because as I was reading this book, I felt Annabelle the mom shining through, especially when there was that line in the book. It said, There's nothing like having a friend at 13. And those references came up a couple other times in the book as he was trying to navigate friendship. And you've raised three boys. You are a pro. What advice would you give us?

SPEAKER_01 8:33

Oh my gosh. Teenage boys. Teenage boys. You know, I have a lot of advice I could give you, but more than anything, just know that your heart is currently living outside of your body. And no matter what is happening in your life, if you have a 13-year-old kid who is in like that kind of a situation, like feeling on the outskirts or not feeling particularly good about himself or herself. And there you have to realize at that point there's nothing you can do, right? Because their social life is their social life. So it used to be like you could make cookies and everything would be fine. But you get your kids to that point and it's like them against the world and in the world. And it's like there's nothing else that matters when anything like that hits. But the advice is like, you just gotta not freak out. You've just got to be like, oh. And then and then they say what happened. If it's a boy, they don't talk as much about what happened. I think girls say a lot about what happened. And you just you just have to like be there while they're like going through it, and you're like basically dying inside and then know that it all works out. Everyone gets out of middle school, right? Yeah. I listened to Amy Poe's podcast, could hang all the time. And she was just talking about because she has two teenage boys, and she was saying, she's like, with my sons, she's like, I try I have to fight all of my instincts to talk. She's like, because when they talk to me, she's like, I just try to listen and then kind of repeat back what they say.

SPEAKER_02 10:11

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:12

She's so good.

SPEAKER_02 10:13

And I was like, I can't imagine how that's good.

SPEAKER_01 10:16

Especially with boys. I'm not gonna generalize about gender, actually. Like, this is just what I this is my experience. It takes them more to open up. So they need like more awkward silence to pass before they can finally get out the thing that they need to say. And as women, or like let's just specifically as me, it is my instinct also to just be like, uh-huh, okay. Like just fill the space. And I sometimes still, like my children are adults, they'll call me and I'm like, we haven't gotten to the thing yet, have we? And I in my head, I'm like, I'm gonna count to five.

unknown 10:55

Oh.

SPEAKER_01 10:56

Just to like let the silence, because just filling the space with talking is actually changing the subject.

SPEAKER_00 11:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:05

And if it's hard for you to get the thing out, like you need just the space.

SPEAKER_00 11:10

The silence.

SPEAKER_01 11:12

Because I'm a space filler as well.

SPEAKER_02 11:14

Because I feel like I need to I like when you say things like I'm so sorry I talk so much on the podcast. It was like, no, that is the goal of our podcast.

SPEAKER_01 11:21

Yes. No, I you don't want the silence, it isn't good for the podcast. No, I mean I'm not an expert in it out. It's just 30 minutes of silence. It's a station.

Writing Dolly And The Cost Of Overcaring

SPEAKER_01 11:34

When you were writing this book, was there a moment when you wrote something for Dolly that just totally surprised you? That you're like, I didn't expect it to go this way, or I didn't expect her to be like this or make that decision. Yes. I mean, a lot of times, actually. And, you know, I I think probably say this to you every year. Like, I wrote this book a lot of times. But I, you know, I had her in my head as this caretaker, as this person who just like does everything for everyone. And she's just a really like an admirable person. Like, if you knew Dolly, you'd be like, you're the best. But two-thirds of the way into the book, I was like, for the love of God, Dolly, like just ask for some help. Like, let your sister bring a pie to Thanksgiving, for God's sakes. Like, what like it started to actually get on my nerves. And I was surprised that Doll, like I was surprised to see, and for Dolly to see that there's a little bit of a dark side to overcaring. Because it it robs everybody around you from the opportunity to also participate. You know, if you're if you're super competent, like you're the most, you know, I don't know, are you guys this person in your family, like the go-to person? You both are? Okay. If you're that person, you know it. And you just you're in your life, you're just gonna become better and better at doing things. And so it's kind of a hassle to ask someone else to help because you already know how to do everything. Like they're gonna do it wrong. So you just get in this trap of like, you're exhausted, you're doing everything, and everyone around you kind of atrophies. It's like not really fair to the people around you. You've never, they've never learned they can't help because they've never had the chance. Right, exactly. And so I was surprised that Dolly got to that. And I was surprised just to kind of be like, Dolly, enough already. Like, let's just let's like put some of this stuff down, which is kind of what the book's about. Yeah. It was kind of interesting that I think that she and Stuart both were kind of guilty of the same thing, kind of like not guilty. That was my fun thought about the book before I started writing. I was like struggling with like him so professional and her, I mean, still her professional life, but they were just blinders on, like survive, win. Yes. Yes, and they like you know, a lot of times in books like this, it's opposites attract and they learn something from each other and like they both kind of balance each other out. I just thought it would be interesting to write a love story about two people that literally had the same issue. Like if Dolly and Stuart went to therapy separately, they would have the same conversation. Like they just have the same problem. And so I don't know, I just thought that would be fun to write and to see how that all worked out. Well, it was definitely fun to read. It was, you know, what we thought would be fun is if Nora and Dolly were friends. Yeah, I think Nora and Dolly could be friends. Yes, yes. They would be I'm worried about Leo and Stuart. Do you think they could be friends? Well, think about us as women. We often often drag our husbands along. We could have a mutual like respect for the others, you know, like craft, work. Yeah, maybe so. Yeah, yeah, they could. And I think Stuart's the kind of guy he could just like and kind of blend in. Stuart kind of blends more than you thought he would. Like he makes an effort to just like be cool. He was great at the baseball game, yes, and he was never kind of like too good for it or like too fancy. Like, you know, he was yeah, he was not snobby, like he was wealthy, but he wasn't snobby. You know who else wasn't snobby? Oh, your favorite busy. Tell me what you like about busy.

SPEAKER_02 15:18

Oh her, she was just there to support in not like an overly supportive way for Dolly.

SPEAKER_01 15:27

She wasn't judgy, but she was con she was kind of like a little funk Jiminy Cricket confidence builder.

SPEAKER_02 15:34

What this is, yeah, good.

SPEAKER_01 15:37

She feels like an imp to me. Like a like it's funny you said Jiminy Cricket. Like she feels like a like a fairy. Yes. Or uh just just like a life force. She's a little bit of a floating off the ground. Yeah. Yeah. We didn't see that much of Busy, but I liked her too.

SPEAKER_02 15:54

You do that with all your or with a lot of your supporting characters, where I find myself wanting to know more about them.

SPEAKER_01 16:01

Are they ever gonna I'm so glad?

SPEAKER_00 16:03

I know.

SPEAKER_01 16:04

I could write busy again. Because I don't feel like we dove into busy. I feel like we just really barely touched the surface. Yeah, I feel like I feel like we're gonna be able to do it.

SPEAKER_02 16:14

I love that she drink it in fashion. But I thought she I thought she was gonna drink bubbles.

SPEAKER_01 16:21

Yeah. Yeah. You know, no, no, I drink bubbles. I know a lot of women who drink like dark liquor. Yes, and I am not one of those women, but I just I do. I know a lot of women and they like the big ice cube. Oh, that I like the thing, and maybe there's something smoky that a bartender melted in it, and it's all really complicated. And I'm like, Can I have a glass of wine? Yeah, I don't think I can't I can't handle those kinds of drinks, but I like to watch them being made. Yeah, I like to sniff them.

SPEAKER_02 16:51

We do, yeah, spirit the spirit of Dolly all the time.

Why Sancerre Shows Up On Page

SPEAKER_02 16:55

Have a bottle of sans ser on ice. And we do well, we do for after we performed. Well, I love you guys so much. You could join us. But we wondered like, where did the idea for that white wine come from when she drank the sans serre? Because I feel like a summer white would be like, I don't know, like a Chardonnay or a Pinot Grigio, but that was kind of off the grid.

SPEAKER_01 17:20

Well, let me tell you, because when I go out and I look at a menu, I there's like I don't usually drink a Chardonnay. So I'm always looking for a Sauvignon Blanc or a Pinot Grigio. And a Sansa is very close to a Sauvignon Blanc, but it's always like eight dollars more per glass. Why is it more expensive? Yeah, I think it's because it's only from France. I'm like, why is it so expensive? And so I don't know. We were just doing expensive things in this book. That's why we were drinking the sanser. Uh and I do love a sans serre.

unknown 17:55

Good.

SPEAKER_01 17:56

I know, yeah, but I well, I don't drink wine very often. I usually stick to beer, but I do that is a treat.

SPEAKER_02 18:01

That's what one thing we don't have in common because I'm all about the Chardonnay. I love Chardonnay.

SPEAKER_01 18:06

I love Chardonnay. No, I like Chardonnay too. I like Chardonnay too, but I always kind of go to it. My husband loves Chardonnay, and so he does have a shardie party every year. That's so cute. And me and Nora's husband drink beer at the shardie party. You guys have a perfect life.

unknown 18:23

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_01 18:24

We feel the same about you. It's pretty good. I love my life. I was curious about Stuart and if there was a real life inspiration, whether it was like a movie or TV character or somebody you know, because he kind of rem Have you seen the movie Sabrina? Uh yeah. Okay, so he kind of reminded me of Linus Larrabee, like Harrison Ford's character or Humphrey Bogart played him in the original. Like that's kind of how I was imagining him like that. But was there any kind of um I was kind of thinking, I mean, not until after like the whole book was done, but I was kind of thinking more like Cary Grant.

SPEAKER_00 19:01

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:02

But it's funny that we're all thinking of like old-timey people. I mean, because he's an old-fashioned person. He's definitely like he lives in an old-fashioned house. He kind of drives an old car. So I didn't really he was more inspired by my trip to Newport when I was trying to research this book. And I was traveling through all the mansions. You know, you go on the mansion tours and you see all the beautiful things. And I was thinking about all the families that used to live there that don't live there anymore. And wondering if there was just like one person who everybody blamed for whatever happened. Like, oh, we all used to live here, but then Stuart was in charge, you know, and it all went to hell. I just I started thinking about like just the way families are and how like it usually just everything falls on one person. That like old money visit. Yeah. Yeah.

Newport Mansions And Building Stuart

SPEAKER_01 19:55

Yeah. And so that was kind of the inspiration for the story. Like I I was in Newport and I started thinking about Stuart. And he he came to me before Dolly did.

SPEAKER_02 20:05

Oh, he came first?

SPEAKER_01 20:07

He did. And then we, you know, we walked, we walked out of the mansions and stuff into town, and everybody's trying to sell you a lobster roll, like every time you turn around. And there's lots of t-shirt shops where you can buy replicas of the actual China that the Vanderbilts used to use. And I was thinking about, you know, the townspeople and the you know, the summer people and just all of that. And I looked up this street and I'm like, that's where the fishmonger probably lives. And then I, you know, I found

Meeting The Real Life Dolly

SPEAKER_01 20:39

Dolly there.

SPEAKER_02 20:39

In Dolly, did I read somewhere that her name came from someone you met on a book tour?

SPEAKER_01 20:46

Oh my gosh, Nora. This is just like the best thing that's ever happened to me in my life. Did she look like this, Dolly? Well, here's what's weird. So okay, so I I met her two years ago in well, I met her two years ago when Summer Romance was out. And I was signing the book, and you know, and they they have a post-it on the book so that you know how to spell the name. And I looked at the word Dolly, and I looked up at her face, and she had the most beautiful smile that I'd ever seen in my life. And I just had this like, whoosh, like a like a warm feeling, not a hot flash, but it's like a warm feeling where I was like, I want to write a book about Dolly. And then that was the end of that. So, like the next year, I was on book tour and I was like, I thought I met her in Texas. And so I'm in Dallas, and I'm like, is Dolly here? Did Dolly here last year? And I couldn't find her. So I go on Good Morning America in June. As one does. And as one does, because you know, like I'm totally camera ready all the time. And we were talking about this, and they were like, We've got to find Dolly. So the next day, Dolly reaches out to Good Morning America and to me and says, I'm Dolly. And she met me in Tampa that year. E right. Uh like Tampa, Dallas. What's the difference? And I clicked on, she reached out over Instagram and I clicked on her name and I saw her face. I was like, yeah, that's Dolly. And anyway, so then we were in touch and I found her. And then last night I did my last event of the year in Long Island. And she came from Tampa to New York to be at my event. And it it was just like magic. She brought me a blanket that was all like decorated with my book covers. She is the sweetest, sweetest person. And it just was like such a like, it was just perfect. It was amazing. Did you expect her there yesterday? Well, I knew she was coming. I knew she was coming. I mean, I could not literally could not believe it. It's like not a small thing to travel that far. I'm like, my husband's from Long Island. I'm like, oh gosh, how we're gonna go. It's hard. I Northport Long Island. Okay. Northport books. Anyways, the whole thing, it was just it was so special. And I do that. Like when I'm signing books, because it's kind of hard to find names. I look for a name that is just like gives me a little jolt. Jolt. You know, like I've already used Nora. Yeah, but not using it again. Sorry, guys. No, that's okay. So that was really fun.

Longer Books And Reading As Self Care

SPEAKER_01 23:21

We have been so lucky that we've been able to talk with you these last five years. When you think back to our first interview, what do you think has changed, if anything, the most about your writing? And what do you think has stayed the same? That's a really interesting question. I don't think anybody's ever asked me that before. I I would think that my writing is probably pretty similar. My books are getting longer. Yeah, that's it. You know, and what I think that is, honestly, is when I was writing Nora Goes Off Script, first of all, I never thought anybody was gonna read it. But also, like, I don't like wasting people's time. So I'm just gonna get in and out really quick. Like, I'm not gonna linger on a scene. I'm just gonna tell you what happened, and then I'm gonna be like, sorry, I bothered you and get out of there. Like so, but now I'm like, you're probably gonna read this. Let's just take our time. You know, and so right, right. I think Dolly's like a hundred pages longer than Nora was. I didn't want it to end.

SPEAKER_02 24:23

I wanted to read more about what like I wanted like part two.

SPEAKER_01 24:27

I know, like, the third son and all the I was actually, I was very lucky with my whole family went on a Disney cruise this summer, but I was reading when she was on the boat when I was on a boat, and I was like, oh, how fun.

SPEAKER_00 24:41

It's just very exciting.

SPEAKER_02 24:43

I mean, I had nothing to do with sailing, but there's something about these books, and I'm like, I just want this and a glass of wine or an iced tea, depending on the time of day. I'm like, there's a good figure it out. I got my book.

SPEAKER_01 24:54

You know, not to take this too far or to take the books too seriously, but like sitting down and reading a book is a form of self-care. Like it is it is a form of like taking a break from all the other people that you're taking care of, which are like innumerable. And even when your children are grown, you're still gonna be taking care of a lot of people, like your community, each other. Like there's so much. It's but reading a book is something you do it all by yourself, and you're just like taking a break for yourself. So I'm glad that it feels that way.

SPEAKER_02 25:28

It feels like a treat. I these I I usually buy an extra copy and put one in my little book library out front.

SPEAKER_00 25:34

Oh thank you.

SPEAKER_02 25:36

Sometimes they come back, sometimes they don't. But I just feel like it's a little gift to the community.

SPEAKER_01 25:40

And my sister already read your book before we went on vacation. She read it before you. Yeah. And every day she's like, Are you done yet? Are you done? Have you gotten to Boston yet? It was like, I know. She was like, hurry up so we can talk about this.

SPEAKER_02 25:54

Well, that happened to us.

SPEAKER_01 25:55

Yes, because I know finished it before I finished it before you before we go. Let's do

Next Novel Tease And Rapid Fire

SPEAKER_01 26:00

rapid five. Wait, we have to ask, is there another book coming? Okay, maybe. Yes, yes. It is not finished. But it is okay. I'm still working on my elevator pitch. Okay. But okay, it is a story. It starts out, it's about a young woman. She's a senior in college, and she's working in New York City. So she gets on the slow train from Manhattan to Montauk to go visit her very best friend. And on that train, she falls madly in love with this adorable guy who sits down next to her. And so it's like a four-hour train ride. They have all these conversations. They get to Montauk, they get off the train, they're on the platform, and there's her best friend who runs into his arms because this is the guy she had planned the whole weekend around seeing.

SPEAKER_00 26:49

Oh no.

SPEAKER_01 26:50

So, chapter two, now we're all 39 years old. And it's a story about where we are now and you know, basically what happened after that. Oh, this is gonna be terrific. Oh my god, I love your enthusiasm. It's just the enthusiasm I need to finish it. So thank you. I mean, oh my god, that's incredible. Cause then it's like, oh my gosh, I know that lines up. Bring it to Chicago. It's kind of like a mystery. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Bring it on a book tour to Chicago. We'll be oh yeah, there were no Chicago stuff. Yeah, what's up with that? I don't know. It's it's also, I mean, it's not at all random. Like my publisher picks where I'm gonna go. Some of it is logistics. And some of it, like you'll have two cities that can only see you on a Tuesday, so you can only go to one of them. But I yeah, so there's some places that I always go that I didn't go this year, and some places like I haven't been to Chicago in a couple of years. So, anyways, and we were like Z could travel and then trying to family's got kids. I'm telling you. They're the worst. I really wanted to go to London. I know you didn't. I used to live there, so I was like, Did you go to London?

unknown 28:03

Like, we can't.

SPEAKER_01 28:05

Couldn't. I know. I really wanted to let this next year. Try again next year. Try again next year. Lucky you. All right, now can we do rapid fire? Yes. All right, can we do a quick run? I'm ready. All right. I think I'm ready. Oh yeah. All right.

SPEAKER_02 28:19

How about one word to describe Stuart?

SPEAKER_01 28:23

Boxy.

SPEAKER_00 28:24

Yeah, I like it.

SPEAKER_01 28:25

One word. I think he's a box.

SPEAKER_00 28:27

I think so too. I do too.

SPEAKER_01 28:29

He's about one word to describe Dolly. Capable. Yes. Capable. I didn't have that one down.

SPEAKER_02 28:36

That inc that encapsulates her.

SPEAKER_01 28:38

That's perfect.

SPEAKER_02 28:38

That's Dolly.

SPEAKER_01 28:39

We're the worst at rapid fire. I know. Sorry, sorry, sorry. Oh, I do both. Oh. It depends on the time of the day. Yeah. On a beach chair or on a boat? A beach chair. All right. While writing playlist or silence? Silence. Silence. Yes. You know what happens to me? I'm the worst at rapid fire too. If I'm listening to music, like when I listen to music, I get really involved in the lyrics. And so then all of a sudden it's like the lyrics are competing with what I'm writing. I just can't, I can't hear words and type words at the same time.

SPEAKER_02 29:22

Did you make the playlist that matched the book?

SPEAKER_00 29:26

No.

SPEAKER_01 29:26

Is there one?

SPEAKER_02 29:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:28

On Spotify. And but only only in mine, not in Norris. Well, I Oh, in the back of the book? Yeah. The tar if I guess the Target book has a playlist. Yeah. Yeah, I didn't do that. I threw in, sorry, that was like a year ago, so I totally forgot. I threw in like four or five of those songs, and then my pub team all participated. One of the questions we were going to ask you is, you know, if you were to make a soundtrack for the book, and then Nora was like, wait, we can't ask that. There's already there already is a soundtrack. Yeah. You know what song I was listening to in the car a couple days ago, and I was like, this is so perfect for Dolly all the time. Is do you know the Dolly Parton song, Here You Come Again?

SPEAKER_00 30:09

I don't think I do.

SPEAKER_01 30:10

Listen to it. It's it was it, I think it was on the radio when I was a little kid. So like you guys weren't born, but it is, I think it's her very best song. And it's just all about like you're like you've gotten your life together, and then he just shows up again. Like looking like such a fox, and you just have no, like you can't resist. Yeah, I can't. And if you haven't read read it, I love when she was like, You need to sit over there, like you're sitting too close. Which over the when Stuart came to apologize and she was like, Oh yeah, he's like, Can I sit down? Like, over there. No. She's got boundaries. He's like, I know myself. No, I can't be this close.

SPEAKER_02 30:49

Oh, this is a treat, as always. Thank you. Thank you for doing it.

SPEAKER_01 30:54

I'll see you next year.

SPEAKER_02 30:55

Same time next summer. Same time.

SPEAKER_01 30:57

Oh, let's do it. Let's say let's say it every time.

unknown 31:01

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 31:02

Okay. Well, thank you for having me. I hope you guys have a great rest of the summer. And now you're gonna hang up on me. All right, goodbye. Thank you so much. Bye. Thank you. You guys are the best. Enjoy.

SPEAKER_02 31:17

Oh,

Post Interview Highs Lows And Sign Off

SPEAKER_02 31:18

per usual. She did not disappoint. Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_01 31:21

So much fun. So much fun. So many wonderful little nuggets of information and little glimpses into her writing and the book. And how about her next book? Oh my gosh, guys, I'm in.

SPEAKER_02 31:35

I'm all in. Oh, I cannot wait for that. That's gonna be really fun. I finished these books and I'm like, oh, I wish there was one more chapter. I wish this we have to end. And then we talk to her and it reaffirms why I love the book so much. Yeah. And then I wait for a whole nother year for the book. For the next one.

SPEAKER_00 31:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:53

And it's it's amazing in the book because they put a little excerpt from It's a Love Story. And I did find myself reading it again. You did. I was like, oh, I'll read these again.

SPEAKER_02 32:04

You know, I love to re-home my books. I put them all out in my book box. But these Annabelle Monahan books, I like to hold on to. Partially because I've written all over them, but partially because they're really special.

SPEAKER_01 32:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 32:21

Yeah. So I'll tap this one away with the rest of the collection.

SPEAKER_01 32:25

With our box set. With it is a box set.

SPEAKER_02 32:28

It's pretty impressive. I am gonna listen to the Spotify playlist.

SPEAKER_01 32:32

Yeah, that's cool. And if you bought your book from Target, there's a special Spotify playlist. Some of the songs I haven't heard of. Get you in the mood. How about it? Hello. Hello. All right. Well, should we high on that note? Should we high in low? Let's go for it.

unknown 32:45

All right.

SPEAKER_02 32:46

I already spelled my low.

SPEAKER_01 32:47

Oh, you're in low? Yeah. Yeah, the sausage. Oh. In the car? Oh, yeah. Smelling like a dead body? Again, week two, still sausage.

SPEAKER_02 32:55

No, no, no. I spelled it on the interview.

SPEAKER_01 32:57

Oh, right, right, right. Did you not talk about that last week? No, because it didn't happen until Monday. Oh.

SPEAKER_02 33:03

Well, it happened. Oh, right. It happened Sunday, but I didn't discover it until Tuesday. I'm really sorry about that. I am too. That is a shame. We're calling it the Wiener Mobile.

SPEAKER_01 33:14

It's a memory now.

SPEAKER_02 33:16

It's a wonderful summer memory. But my high is besides that slam dunk of an interview, was that I was at school the other day and someone stopped me. A fan stopped me. A fan, a friend who I didn't know listened.

SPEAKER_00 33:33

Oh.

SPEAKER_02 33:34

And told me that she loves to start her week off with us. That's really nice.

SPEAKER_01 33:38

So Deb Baker, thanks for listening. That is really nice. Thank you. I look forward to meeting you at NAS one of these days.

SPEAKER_02 33:44

Oh, isn't that awesome? That is really nice. To feel that we kind of are a bright spot in somebody else's day. Right. We try to keep it fun and positive, and I feel like that's what we're all about.

SPEAKER_01 33:52

So the fact that somebody picks up what we're putting down feels good, right? So no hello. Like that's two weeks in a row?

unknown 34:02

Yeah, no.

SPEAKER_01 34:03

Live and large. Well, it was the pooping morning doves last week, but came out our poop happens. But um, my high is I've had some wonderful, lovely nights out with my mom or afternoons. We went and saw SUFs, the musical last Saturday afternoon, and it was mind-blowing and amazing and incredible. And it was like a history lesson. Like it was like a heavy, incredible musical where I was like, I really should know more about women's suffrage, and I really should appreciate more of these women who fought for 70 years to get us the right to vote.

SPEAKER_02 34:40

When you say you need to learn more, it makes me real nervous about how much I need to learn.

SPEAKER_01 34:49

I was like, I don't know some of these names. How do I not know these names? But did your mom know? No, she and I were both like I had heard of some that she hadn't heard of, she heard of some that I so we both were kind of like, oh boy, we're both. You both make that face. So that was incredible. And then last night she brought me to the Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park, and it was the Grant Park Symphony Orchestra playing a selection of Broadway songs. Oh, so and these four incredible soloists, so that was amazing. So I've had some really lovely concerts and performances, which I love. And Harry Koenig, right? We had Harry Connock. Rose actually, when I said, Oh, I'm going to a concert with grandma, she goes, Another one. I was like, Yeah, sorry, not sorry. Summer of Nora. Yeah, right. Hey. Exactly what I saw. You did, yeah. And of course, chatting with Annabelle, how lucky are we?

SPEAKER_02 35:45

We are. And having this glass of wine with you right now. In the middle of the afternoon. I'm just kidding. At 7 p.m. on a Saturday M on a Saturday night. All right. Thank you for joining us. Thanks for joining us and tell a friend. Come back next week. Bye. Bye.