Samantha 0:00
I’m so glad you’re here for creating joyful readers, your go-to show for tips, strategies, and inspiration on nurturing avid readers in secondary schools. I’m your host, Samantha, and today we’re exploring the secrets of what makes a great YA romance. I’m so excited to be joined by Kristy Boyce, the nationally best selling author of Dungeons and Drama, Hot British Boyfriend and Hot Dutch Daydream. Kristy’s stories capture the highs and lows of young love with humor, heart, and unforgettable characters. When she’s not crafting swoon worthy stories, Kristy is a senior lecturer in psychology at The Ohio State University, where she brings her expertise on human behavior into her writing. Today, we’re chatting about her books, her journey as an author, and her tips for creating YA romances that readers just can’t put down. Settle in and join me as we explore what makes YA romance so captivating with Kristy Boyce.

Samantha 0:57
Welcome to Creating joyful readers, a podcast dedicated to empowering secondary educators with the tools, strategies, and inspiration to cultivate a lifelong love of reading in their students. I’m your host, Samantha. Tune in each week as we explore the transformative power of independent reading. Delve into the latest research on literacy, dissect projects that will help your students showcase what they’ve learned in a unique way, and share curated recommendations of young adult novels that will captivate and engage your learners. Join in as we embark on a journey to create joyful lifelong readers one book at a time.

Samantha 1:34
All right, great. Hi Kristy. Welcome to Creating joyful readers.

Kristy 1:38
Thank you so much for having me. It’s wonderful to be here with you.

Samantha 1:41
Absolutely. For the past couple of months, we’ve been going through each genre and kind of doing a deep dive into why teens might love that genre. So I started having some authors on – you are my second in the genre. I had Isaac Blum last month, and he talked about contemporary – that was fantastic. And so I’m so glad that we got you in for romance. Can you tell me a little bit about your own reading journey and how you became a reader?

Samantha 2:05
Absolutely. Yeah. So I mean, I’m probably, like many writers I’ve been reading since I was a young child. Some of my first books I really loved were the Babysitters Club books. I was a child of the 80s and the 90s, and I had, like, the huge stack of them. And my name is Kristy, spelled the same as one of the main characters in Babysitter’s Club. So I that’s probably one of, like, the first things that really started me. And then from there, as I got a little older, I transitioned in more into fantasy and, you know, without going too much into the history of publishing, the way that the genres have changed over the decades is pretty large. So like, if you look back at what we would now consider to be middle grade fantasy novels, they are written with a middle grade voice. But number one, there’s romance in them in a way that I feel like middle grade it doesn’t have that in the same sort of way. And also, the characters were different, like they, yes it’s a middle grade but also they were not, you know, eight, 9, 10, 11 years old. The protagonists, they were, like, of marrying age, and they would they would fall in love, and they would get married, and they would be the princess that does the thing, or whatever. And so I think from a young age, I kind of was able to combine a lot of the things I was reading for my age, but also reading, you know, in some ways, kind of like light hearted, fun romance.

Samantha 3:15
That’s really interesting. I never knew that.

Kristy 3:17
Well, yeah. I mean, I can give a couple examples, and I’ll probably talk about this book again, and I hope that I’m pronouncing her name right, so you can please correct me if I’m wrong but Patricia C Reedy, she’s still publishing to today, but in the 90s, she published this series of middle grade fantasies that she calls The Enchanted Forest Chronicles. And the first one’s called dealing with dragons. And then it kinds of like talking to dragons and things like that. And so those are my all time favorite books, and they’re probably the books that really made me into readers. And so it’s about this kind of – it’s really a feminist book, but before that was as popular as it is, now, it’s about like a princess who doesn’t want to get married and she wants to go out on her own, and she becomes like an intern to the dragons, basically, kind of helps them out, or whatever. It’s very like funny and playful, but also she was going to get married off. And so it’s also about her falling in love with this guy who’s really wonderful, but again, in this really light hearted, sweet middle grade way. So anyway, just I’ve loved those books my whole life, and it’s funny now as an adult to look back and be like, Oh yeah, from really early ages I was playing with Barbies and doing romance things, and I just always was drawn to it in all the different genres and parts of my life so.

Samantha 4:23
What authors inspire you as a romance writer?

Kristy 4:27
Oh, man, this is a hard one,

Samantha 4:28
I know.

Kristy 4:31
Well, you know, I will go back. I’ll just, I’ll talk about this woman a lot, this author a lot. So, I mean, again, Patricia, C Reedy, she started me off. You know, nowadays I think a lot of my inspirations come from, like my other peers and this people who are just writing these amazing romances. I don’t think I can talk about YA romance right now without talking about Lynn Painter. She’s like the most famous to me. I feel like she’s the most famous YA romance writer,

Samantha 4:56
Absolutely.

Kristy 4:57
Yeah. So I love her. Stephanie Perkins. She, right now, has been doing more YA thrillers, although I saw she has a new adult romance coming out, but she she was like, I don’t know if I should say ahead of her time, but she wrote Anna and the French Kiss, and that just became this huge YA romance. And that was when I was kind of getting into this genre as a reader, and kind of starting to dip my toe into the idea of writing. And so she was incredibly inspirational. And in fact, my first two books are more travel romances, like her romances are. So there’s one set in England, one set in Amsterdam, obviously Anna and the French Kiss. So she’s doing she’s in France for that first one. Yeah. So she has always been a huge inspiration. I always kind of look over at her books and – yeah and then I also love Regency romances so I sometimes I get inspired by those types of romances more just for I just love, you know, I mean, everybody, right, like Jane Austen, all those things like this is very fun. I don’t think I’m going to write those books. I’m always so impressed with people who can do that. But I think just the undercurrent of the romance and those I always am inspired by.

Samantha 6:00
Awesome. What do you think makes young adult romance a powerful vehicle for inspiring joy and engagement and readers among teens?

Kristy 6:08
This is a hard one, so I was thinking about this whole podcast and the idea of the young readers. And one of the things I love about writing in general, for young readers is kind of where they’re at in life, which is that I feel like they still have a lot of hope and optimism what the future brings in a way that, you know, us adults are cynical and, you know, maybe a little hard, a little in terms of relationships, maybe it’s a little harder to trust people or to believe in, you know, true love and things like that. But I think it’s fun. I really love writing for young readers, because I get to kind of maybe be one of those first tastes of what a relationship can be, what romance could be, and maybe it’s a little bit idealistic, but I feel okay about that, because I want to set positive expectations for them about what they what they should expect in a relationship. So I hope that these types of books that I’m writing are giving them this ability to have that hope and that optimism and kind of tap into that a little bit to maybe show what they can look forward to possibly in the future, and also keep some of that humor in there as well.

Samantha 7:10
Yeah, I absolutely love that idea, especially for young readers who maybe didn’t have a great example of what a relationship should look like to go ahead and be able to see it in a book and find it in a book, that’s an amazing idea.

Kristy 7:21
Yeah,

Samantha 7:22
What elements of the romance story resonate most with young readers? And how do you work to incorporate those elements into your work?

Kristy 7:28
I don’t know. I mean, I think hopefully part of it is for me, at least when I’m writing all my books. Yes, they’re romance novels, but I also really want there to be this big focus on self acceptance and loving yourself for who you are, and being okay with finding the people who also will love you for those same things. So I don’t know, I it’s a little bit hard because I’m not a young reader, so I can’t, I don’t want to speak for them and say this is what resonates with them, but I do hope that in some way, they kind of can find a book that has characters that are similar to them. Maybe it’s somebody who plays D and D, or is into musical theater, or whatever it is, and be like, Oh, it’s okay to like these things. It’s okay to want to do this and not have to do the stereotypes of what other people are saying and maybe that resonates with them and kind of pulls them into it a little bit, makes them kind of feel seen a little bit. So I hope that that’s part of it. You know, in terms of the romance. Fun fact, I’m married to my high school sweetheart. So as a side note, I will say I’ve met, actually a kind of weirdly large amount of YA romance writers who are also married to their high school sweethearts.

Samantha 8:32
Oh, that’s interesting.

Kristy 8:34
It has been very interesting. As I like, I’ll be on panels with people, and they’ll say, like, Oh, I’m married to my high school sweetheart. I’m like, wait, you are too. What? Like, I didn’t know it was this popular. My best friend is as well. So I still kind of think about my high school relationship, obviously, because it’s my current relationship, and like, the humor that we had, and the fact that, yes, we were in a relationship, but we were also best friends, like, we know, we just had a good time just talking and laughing and doing things. And so I always like to put that in there, and I hope that that is kind of resonating with the readers as well.

Samantha 9:04
I do see that a lot in both of the novels as well. That was a huge part of it. How do you believe young adult romance novels can help teens navigate their own relationships and emotions? I think you touched on this a little bit. But do you have anything additional?

Kristy 9:18
Yeah, I’m happy to talk more about that. To me, that’s actually something that I feel really strongly about, is I really want these romances, particularly because I know not only are teens, well teens, but like sometimes young teens, sometimes maybe a 12 year old or a 13 year old is possibly picking up this book and reading it. And so I just really want to give them good examples of what you would hope to have in a relationship. And one of the things that I try to have as a core of all of my books is this idea that you don’t need to change yourself for somebody else. You don’t need to be this kind of faker version of yourself to be happy or to make them happy, and that in actuality, you can go after what you want. You can go after your dreams, and if you have the right person in your life or the right people friends as well, they’ll support you, and they’ll kind of help you to become a better version of yourself, but still a true version. So I always kind of want to get that across in my books, as well as just kind of showing what hopefully that, you know, there’s going to be mutual respect, and there’s going to be that light heartedness and that humor and that friendship as a basis of the relationship. And so I, like you were saying, I hope that that kind of gives all teens an idea. I mean, again, it doesn’t, obviously, it doesn’t always work out that way. But just to, I don’t know, to have a high expectations, to hope for, you know, a really positive, good relationship, and not to give in to some of the more toxic things that you sometimes see.

Samantha 10:38
Yes, higher your standards.

Kristy 10:40
Yes, I that’s what I was saying, high standards and high expectations. Absolutely.

Samantha 10:46
The thing that I just was listening to as you were talking was you said that it might be even younger teens or younger kids picking up your books, and I, as I was reading, the thing that drew me to your books the most was that you were able to create this tension in the relationship, and the entire thing was completely clean. And as we’re looking at YA and the changing landscape of ya, that becomes a little bit harder to find a lot of them are toeing the line, or some of them are, you know, completely going over the line. But I do think, and I have specifically recommended your books for middle school and even down to, you know, maybe six or seventh grade, because they are, they’re completely clean. So thank you for that, and keep on fighting the good fight there. I feel like a lot of us who are reading and reviewing and trying to find books for educators, I feel like that’s definitely something we’ve been dealing with, you know, in in a big way, because teens are finding themselves with books that maybe show really toxic relationships between people during a time when they’re not able to discern whether that’s toxic or not.

Kristy 11:54
Yes, that’s how they feel about it is. It’s, it’s all fun and great to be an adult and get to read about all kinds of relationships and you can, you know, be like, Oh, this protagonist, like, why are they doing this? This is so wrong. But when you’re a teen, you don’t necessarily know, and you’re like, Oh, this is how relationships should be. This is the stalking relationship or whatever. And I was like, not good,

Samantha 12:17
yeah. No, that’s, that’s not normal. And in fact, I’m pretty sure that’s a crime in most states. So yeah, it’s, it’s very interesting to you know, I I’ve only been out of the classroom for two years, so I definitely saw it starting, especially with the popularity of Colleen Hoover and how so many teenagers are very into her books. But I hear a lot of teachers grappling with that right now. And so I love when I find something that’s good that I can recommend without abandon, without saying, like, this is absolutely, you know, good. You’re going to get the same butterflies, because that’s what they’re looking for. They want to feel those little butterflies in their stomach, but still keeping a closed door, which I think is so important in YA.

Kristy 12:58
I can see, yeah, I know different authors are going to do different things, but for me, I don’t even think that it was something that was like, I’m going to do, I’m going to make a political statement and do this. It’s just the way that I write and what makes sense to me so but I am glad to kind of be in that space. I’ve actually, I’ll be honest, I’ve been very surprised by the variety of ages of people who are reading this book, and drama in particular, that I was mostly hearing from older, well, by older readers, I mean, you know, people my age. I’m in my 40s, like, you know, bookstagrammers in the 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s. And then I started hearing from moms. And moms are reaching out and saying, I’m doing buddy reads like I just got a picture of a mom and like a young girl, and they’re gonna read this next book together. And it’s

Samantha 13:40
I love that

Kristy 13:41
I wasn’t expecting it, and it was, it’s so special to me. And I’m like, my gosh, I wasn’t, I wasn’t really going for that, necessarily. But I love that like, this mom, like, seems to objectively love the book, and also is like, this is cool, and I want to read it with my daughter. So that’s been a really wonderful kind of gift that’s come from these books.

Samantha 13:58
Yes, I absolutely love that. It’s definitely one that I have found that people my age are loving. I think there’s a special sauce, and I don’t know what it is. I wish I could, like, bottle it and sell it. I mean, you know, dungeons and drama just had the special sauce. It was very nostalgic and swoony, and we’re all kicking our feet and squealing. And so I do think it does span generations where people who are my age can really enjoy it, and then also young people can really enjoy it too. But I do see a lot of bookstagrammers as well, just loving this book this year. So it’s been fantastic to watch.

Kristy 14:33
Thank you.

Samantha 14:34
What role do you see humor and light heartedness playing in your romance novels? I think you touched on this a little bit. But how does it create a joyful reading experience?

Kristy 14:43
So to me, I almost can’t imagine writing a romance novel, at least a contemporary romance novel that doesn’t have humor and lightness. I think it’s just part of my voice. It’s part of how I think of romance. Yes, there could be tragic romance, and there could be all the other kinds that we were talking about, but I guess I feel like again, particularly for young readers, I want my characters to have relationships that are fun, like that are joyful, that you can these people are my friends, and I’m gonna hang out with them and have a good time and laugh with them and then also fall for them. But you know that I feel like that humor needs to be there, so it’s just something that I really try to put into all of my books. I don’t consider myself to be a comedian, but I just want it to be something that’s, I don’t know, just kind of cute little things or bantery things. So it’s, to me, it’s, it’s just interconnected in a way that I don’t think I could pull those two things out and write one without writing the other, and so, and I hope that maybe that kind of helps to span those generations a little bit, to kind of pull people in with that, the kind of the lighter sections of the book.

Samantha 15:40
I think it’s almost become a hallmark of the genre. Would you agree with that?

Kristy 15:44
I would it is interesting. I will say that, you know, I get a biased view, because what I’m seeing is people who are tagging me and things on Instagram. And I don’t know what the reader world in general is saying, but I would say that, like a lot of bookstagrammers have in the last couple of years, kind of complained that people are putting out rom coms, what they call a rom com but there’s really no com to it. There’s no comedy. It’s just the romance, or maybe, you know, like a Colleen Hoover, where they’re like, they’re putting it with other books that they call rom coms. But it’s really not at all light hearted.

Samantha 16:16
It’s definitely contemporary.

Kristy 16:18
Right. Exactly. And so I think there’s been a bit of, like, some gray area about how we call these books, and so I think now there’s this push to, like, Okay, if it’s going to be a rom com, it needs to actually have some humor in it, some smiling moments, or what have you. So again, I wouldn’t want to put it as comedy first or anything. I don’t, I don’t think I’m that funny, but I like to just put those light hearted little sections. And I agree with you that I think it really is part of what it means to be a YA romance at this point.

Samantha 16:45
Yeah, I think that’s one of the reasons Lynn painter grew in popularity so quickly, was there was a lack of that in some of these YA novels. And she slid right in there. And she’s hilarious. I mean, I laugh out loud at her books, and I think during times when maybe the world feels a little bit heavy, these books are just, you know, bringing joy to so many people, young, old, you know, doesn’t matter. So I love your answer to that.

Kristy 17:11
You know, the world can get pretty tough sometimes, and that’s going to be true whether you are 40 years old or whether you’re, you know, 15, 16, 17, and so that’s something else that that’s another reason why I like to put that light heartedness in. I do feel like we need a variety of different kinds of books. And sometimes we need to read those more serious books, or, you know, books that are going to be taking on those tough topics. But sometimes we also need the book that’s just going to let us escape for a little bit and feel that joy and remember what the world can be like. So that’s, that’s kind of what I’m going for with these books.

Samantha 17:40
Yes, absolutely. And I feel like, especially on my platform, I’m always pushing the fact that those books are just as worthwhile as all of the other books, because we need those. We need to feel that joy and that happiness, and kids need to see that reading is joyful, it’s happy. You know, we can, it can be a lot of fun to do all of this. So that’s kind of like where I’m at. You know, we have these books that are, you know, Canon literature and super important, but then we need to show them that there’s fun too. You know,

Kristy 18:10
yes, this should be a thing that you want to do the way you want to watch TV or scroll on Tiktok. It actually can be like a fun, cool hobby to have to read. So I yeah, hopefully that’s going to happen.

Samantha 18:20
Yes, absolutely. Can you discuss how your character’s journey towards love and self discovery can inspire readers to find joy in their own lives?

Kristy 18:26
Sure. Well, I was thinking about the second part of this question, the finding joy in their own lives. And I’m going to go back to something I said before with the self acceptance part that. And maybe I’m just speaking for myself, but I remember being in high school and feeling like what I was doing or what I was interested in it was not what was cool. It was not what everybody else was doing and feeling kind of like out of it. And so I want readers, no matter what it is that maybe they don’t care about D and D, that’s totally fine, but maybe just a more general idea that you can like what you like, and you can find somebody else who will accept you for who you are, and be in a romantic relationship if you want to be you know, you can find that romance, hopefully with somebody who will accept you for those likes, or maybe like those things too, and you guys can do it together. And so I hope that when they read these books, they see, oh, it’s at least possible that there’s characters, there’s people out there who are living their lives the way they want to, liking the things that they like, and finding people who accept them for who they are. And hopefully that will kind of inspire them in their own friendships, and, you know, possibly again, romantic relationships, if they’re interested in getting into one of those.

Samantha 19:27
Yes, and I do think that speaks to the first part of the question, too, because, you know, finding yourself and being yourself is part of learning how to be in a relationship. And I love what you know your your general thesis here that you don’t have to change who you are. You have to find people who fit the you that you are. And I think that’s such a powerful message for teens to hear

Kristy 19:47
Absolutely. Thank you so much.

Samantha 19:49
How do you address more serious or difficult topics in your novels while still maintaining an overall sense of joy or hope?

Kristy 19:56
So I do feel like it’s important to have not every single moment of the books be light and fluffy, and because that’s not what life is. So I try to touch on some things, like maybe having divorced parents or having, like, with my new book, it’s going to be a grandmother who’s kind of struggling a little bit with her own health and how the family is navigating that. So for me, I just kind of think about it in terms of balance, not to get too detailed into how I write it, but I do think about, kind of the balance of the chapters, and within each chapter, how much time and like priority am I putting towards one versus another. And then I kind of also think about the romance interconnecting with that, that, for instance, you know, not necessarily that this boy is going to come into your life and fix everything for you and change your entire life, but that the person can support you. And so we can bring up these ideas, these other kind of separate, you know, situations or struggles that the main character is going through, but then having somebody be in a relationship with them and be like, hey, I’m here for you. You can talk to me. I can support you. I’m not going to try to change you or again, kind of be that white knight that just comes in and fixes it, because that doesn’t work out, but I can be that that support group for you, so hopefully, in that way, I can kind of put in a touch of those smarter parts. But again, the priority for me still is a little bit more of the light hearted, humorous aspects to the book.

Samantha 21:16
Yeah. Side note, I loved that grandmother character. I found her so funny. I mean, I laughed the entire time on her. She was hilarious.

Kristy 21:24
It was very fun to write grandma. My editor was like, she’s kind of become the main character so in this revision, we need to pull it back, and this is for teens. And I was like, oh, man, I

Samantha 21:36
feel like they’ll like it too. I’m sure they have like they can relate. You know, there’s somebody in their life who’s meddling and, you know, trying to create little opportunities.

Kristy 21:45
Right, right, right.

Samantha 21:46
What messages or themes do you hope young readers take away from your novels that might encourage them to explore more literature?

Kristy 21:53
Well, you know, my thought keeps being this idea of the hope and the optimism, and I hope, like, like you were saying, I’m just going to kind of quote you. Why not – Just this idea that reading can be fun. Reading doesn’t have to be a chore. It doesn’t have to be homework all the time. It can be this really joyful thing that brings you a lot of dopamine. It makes your brain. So I hope that when they read these books, because of the themes, the romance and the light heartedness and the kind of found family friendships that are in there, they realize, oh, wait, this could be something that other books have. There could be whole genres based on this.

Samantha 22:29
Yes,

Kristy 22:30
Maybe, yeah. So maybe, maybe this ends up being one of the first tastes they get of that. And then it opens them up to saying, Oh, this could actually be something that I really like to do. Maybe me and my friends can go to the bookstore and grab a coffee, and we can get books and read and talk about them and start a little book club or something. So, yeah, I don’t know. I just hope that the books, in some way, kind of inspire them to realize what a joy it can be to read, maybe even to write, who knows, yeah, try their hand at it, and kind of inspire them to keep on going and find other joyful books that resonate with them.

Samantha 23:00
The other thing I was going to say, just circling back for a second here, I think that your most recent book, it also showed kind of a what not to do, almost especially with the friendships. I’m sorry I’m terrible at names. I’ll read a book and completely forget everybody’s character name. I will remember what happened once I started talking. But I read a lot and I forget so the main character had kind of a fraught friendship with her ex best friend, and I love how you navigated that. I thought that was a really great way to show young readers you don’t have to keep people in your life that aren’t serving you anymore. I think that’s a really big lesson for teens,

Kristy 23:40
Yeah, and I mean, I think it’s a lesson that I’ve had to learn. I think a lot of us have to deal with this at one point or another. And then, you know, I did make a choice in the book. I’m gonna spoil it a little bit. So I guess, for anybody listening who hasn’t read it, I apologize, but the spoiling part of it is just that, you know, she does have this fraught relationship. Was a best friend, kind of friendship gone wrong, and by the end, it’s not resolved like it’s, I mean, if you really think about it, like she’s resolved it in herself, and the fact that she’s gonna move on, she’s gonna she’s created new friends, she’s kind of coming to peace with that. But it’s not like she either makes friends with this person again, or even really gets to, like, tell them off. And, you know, I wonder this book has just come out. We’ll see what readers have to say, I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s some readers who are like, Oh, I really want her to have this moment of like, where she got to see them face to face and told them everything and how horrible they were. And I thought about writing that scene, and I was like, You know what? Sometimes in real life, that doesn’t happen. Sometimes, you know, it’s just these two people go apart and you’re upset and you’re bitter and you never really got to say the thing you want to say, but that’s, you know, I don’t know

Samantha 24:44
That’s life. Sometimes you do not get to say the things you want to say.

Kristy 24:47
Yeah, it is life. And so sometimes there’s almost a bit of a I don’t want to say fantasy. But, you know, I know that that my the books that I write, they might be a little idealistic in terms of the wonderful romantic relationships and things, but I do want to keep a little bit of realism in as well. So yeah, I really agree with what you’re saying, and I just wanted to kind of have a little bit of that friendship of, kind of, how do you navigate that and that sometimes it’s going to work out and sometimes it’s not, and it’s okay to not stay friends with every single person that you are friends with right now.

Samantha 25:18
Yes, that segues to our next question really nicely, so I wrote the question is, how has reader feedback influenced your writing? But I think even more than that, does reader feedback influence your writing?

Kristy 25:30
Yes and no. So on the one hand, I don’t want to be closed off to it. You know, if somebody is giving me feedback, I do want to hear that. Because I am writing for readers. I want it to be something that they enjoy and that they want to pick up at the same time. Just for myself, I feel like I can get a little bit in my head about things where it’s like, Oh, there’s one individual person who didn’t like this thing, and so now that means everybody hates it, and I can’t ever do it. And, you know, I can get a little like, worried about it. So I try to balance that a little bit. I will just give you an example. And this doesn’t necessarily speak to what our podcast is about, but these latest two books are about D and D. Dungeons and drama has less D and D on the page. And I had gotten some feedback that they loved in the especially people who play D and D right now, they love the book, but they’re like, oh, you know, if I could change one thing, I wish I could see more D and D. I wanted to see more about their campaign. So that’s something that I did take some feedback on, and I purposely tried to add a little bit more into dating and dragons. I tried to balance it so that if you’re not a D and D player, you don’t get lost in it. It also made sense to me plot wise, because for this particular new cast of characters, it’s so important, and they’re doing this live stream. But so yes, just to answer your question, in general, I do sometimes we’ll take in the feedback. You know, I’ll be honest, I haven’t gotten a whole lot of feedback about the romance aspect, other than kicking, squealing, loving Nathan things like that. Yeah, too much negative feedback. Was like, Oh God, change everything. So I guess I’m just like, Okay, people seem to be resonating with this. I hope that I can kind of keep, keep writing books that are similar in vibes. I guess,

Samantha 26:59
yes, for sure, I did think the characters were different enough to still hold their own. You know, from dungeons of drama to dating and dragons were definitely you could tell the difference between the two. But I wanted to say, as someone who’s read it, that so I haven’t played D and D since high school. It was a long time, and it took me back. It was so nostalgic for me, because it’s been years, and I forgot pretty much everything, and it’s pretty fancy now, like they’re doing some really fancy stuff.

Kristy 27:26
yes, they just released new manuals. It’s a whole thing. It’s always evolving.

Samantha 27:30
So as I’m reading, I do think you did a great job of for the non D and D people. There’s definitely a lot more D and D in that second book, but it’s definitely, you know, plot oriented and everything. But I do think you did a great job of explaining sort of what things are and what’s going on, you know, as you’re going through because I’m like, oh my goodness, I completely forget this. But my best friend has a high schooler, and he just started playing. So I think that’s funny, that this game has sort of, you know, transcended generations, you know, my my dad played, and so now it’s, I mean, we’re talking 50 years down, you know, from from his generation to high schoolers now, and that’s a really cool thing that people can, you know, kind of bond over, and maybe, you know, talk about.

Kristy 28:13
It’s very popular now. It’s only gaining in popularity. And I hear so many D and D high school groups or libraries that are running D and D and D groups and things like that. And I’ll be honest, when I started writing these books, I wasn’t doing it because I was like, oh, I’m gonna get on the D and D train. It was because of my own nostalgia, because I played D and D. That’s how I met my husband was playing D and D with him and his group, and I was like, oh, I want to write a book that’s kind of, you know, the theater that I did and the D and D that I did. So it was kind of selfishly just about me and then it worked out. It’s resonated with a lot of people. So that’s been great.

Samantha 28:46
That’s awesome. What advice would you give to aspiring authors who want to write romance that not only entertains but also inspires a love for reading and young adult?

Kristy 28:55
So my usual advice for, well, I mean, I’ll give my general advice for for anybody who wants to write, which is to read a lot, and to just keep writing and try to write without judgment. I was thinking about myself with this when I because I was writing, I don’t even know, from like, fifth or sixth grade, I was writing my own novels. And so just as a little aside, like for my own journey, I had one book that I worked on, and I worked on that from probably seventh grade through college, a little bit into grad school, and I never even finished the book. I never wrote the ending of it. I just would start it again and again, or I tweak it, or I do this or that, and sure maybe I could look back at and be like, Oh, what a waste of time. But really, my advice for aspiring writers is do whatever you want to do without judgment, without feeling like you need to share it with anybody if you don’t want to do what feels right for you. I was the kind of writer where I was very nervous, and if I would have, like, entered a competition or given it to a friend, and they would have said it’s okay, or, you know, it’s like, I kind of didn’t like this, I think that would have really thrown me off and maybe made me feel like I couldn’t write. So for me, I needed to have kind of a lot of years of just doing it on my own and just reading the books that I love and writing what I want, and then eventually, as an adult, I had the courage to start sharing it. So I guess I just want to say no judgment for whatever you want to do as a young writer, do what makes sense to you. I do think it’s always great to just keep reading no matter what, because you’re gonna learn so much just from reading other books that you love. And then hopefully, if you’re reading those books you love in some sort of way that will kind of inspire you, and you’ll you’ll start to write books that other people will love and that will kind of create that joyful reading and writing community. So I’m just a very like, non judgmental, do whatever works for you, just keep writing. That’s really what the big thing is.

Samantha 30:42
Yeah, and there’s so many ways to write. I’m a hobby writer. I don’t write like, you know, professionally or anything. But I also wrote from a very young age, and, you know, I wrote with my best friend, and we still write together to this day.

Kristy 30:54
Oh, I love it,

Samantha 30:55
yeah, yeah. But we, we actually used to do a lot of online role playing, yeah. It was very low stakes, very you know, nobody really, you could be any level of writer that you want. And I think, you know, a lot of kids are doing different types of writing, different whatever, and thinking that they’re not writers. But really, you are doing it. You’re doing the thing

Kristy 31:17
Absolutely

Samantha 31:18
So finding ways to that you can do it where it brings joy and happiness and connects with people, as you were saying earlier, is the way to do it, for sure.

Kristy 31:26
And I feel like we have to just throw in there the fan fiction that, oh yes, you know, I feel like that’s kind of what we’re speaking to, in some ways, is just you might feel like you’re not a writer if it’s not your own plot or your own characters, but you can grow so much as a writer if you already have a starting point, you have a character, you have a general plot line, then you take it in a different direction. And this whole community of other writers and readers that you’re going to meet in the fan fiction arena can be huge and very powerful. And I think a lot of actually incredibly popular published authors started in fan fiction nowadays. So yeah, I think again, you find the thing that works for you, that brings you joy, and that’s that’s going to be the best thing for you, rather than trying to force something

Samantha 32:05
Yes, and I think it’s great for educators to hear this as well, and just to kind of hear the message, and if they can pass that on to some students who, you know, maybe don’t think that their fan fiction is actual writing, or, you know, their little Wattpad story, or their ao three story isn’t really like, you know, I mean, look Allie Hazelwood. I mean, she’s blown up over so it’s, and you look at some of these stories now that are getting pulled because they were, you know, they were fan fiction. They got so big that they’re now being pulled and turned into an industry like, not just these little an industry. So it can be done.

Kristy 32:40
Absolutely. Yeah, it’s this amazing starting point. So yeah, I think we’re definitely on the same page. Just keep writing, do whatever makes sense to you. And I do think if it’s possible to kind of build a community, just because it is, it can be a bit of a solitary thing. So if you have the courage to, like maybe share a little bit, or just to even talk about the idea of writing with somebody, it can be really fun and like a bonding experience. But again, if you if you want to kind of keep it to yourself, I totally get that too, because that’s the kind of person I was.

Samantha 33:06
Yeah, but you’re still doing it, you’re still doing the thing, and it’s still bringing you joy.

Kristy 33:10
Absolutely

Samantha 33:11
Are you able to tell us a little bit about what you’re working on right now?

Kristy 33:14
I can tell a little bit. I wish I could say more. It hasn’t been announced yet, but you know, for anybody who was a fan of the D and D books, what I can say is, I’m writing another one. So,

Samantha 33:23
yeah,

Kristy 33:24
so this was the way publishing works is they’ll give you kind of a one book contract or a two book contract. So dungeons and drama was a one book contract, and then dating and dragons, which just came out, that was a two book contract. So I have a second book in that contract that I’m fulfilling right now, and it’s an additional it’s, I’m just going to say similar vibes. So it’s going to be at a Ohio High School. It’s going to have D and D, it’s going to have the same kind of found family and friends and and fun, happy, joyful relationships. It will be a new cast of characters. That’s something that my publisher has asked me to do, just so that people can pick the books up out of order to, you know, stand alone. They can read it and just enjoy it as it is. But I like to sometimes put an Easter egg, of, you know, a little like a little throwback to another book. So I’m going to try to add one or two of those, but I’m in the the writing process. I have to send it to my editor soon. So that book, probably that book won’t come out till 2026 because dating and dragons is technically my 2025 book, right? Even though, like, it literally just came out first, or whatever. So we have a little while to wait, but in 2026 I’ll have another D and D romance coming out.

Samantha 34:28
That’s amazing. So can you tell us a little bit about where people can find you if they’re interested in your books, or maybe even chatting about having you for a school visit? I don’t know if you do those.

Kristy 34:37
I do. Yeah, I’m dipping my toe into it. So I have my first school visit scheduled for February, and I’m super excited to get to meet students. I’m going to get to have, like, lunches with them and hang out with them, and it’ll be really fun. So yeah, so I’m definitely open to that. So I am on Instagram. I don’t I mean, I haven’t bridged out to a lot of different social medias. I’m kind of focusing on one right now. So the main place to probably follow me on social media is Instagram right now, and it’s under Kristy L Boyce. My full name is Kristy Lynn Boyce, so just the L for the middle initial, and that’s where I put updates and things like that. I have a website. So Kristy Boyce author.com is where you can find me, and that’s standard website, but that does have my contact information, I have an email address, and so if you’re interested in just you know anything about my books, or if you want to talk about school visits or what have you, you could certainly email me there.

Samantha 35:29
Great. So we have our lightning round. Now, this has been a fun thing I’ve been doing with my guests, and I’ve enjoyed this so much. What is a book that made you a joyful reader?

Kristy 35:38
Well, I’m going to be a bit of a broken record, but I I’m going to go back to my dealing with dragons book. It started a lot. So, like, I read all the books the whole series. I also drew all the covers in great detail, and I still have them.

Samantha 35:52
Oh, I love that

Kristy 35:53
on my wall the county fair to get, like, little ribbons. And it was like the thing that really just made me love reading and also writing. So I will always go back to those books. I have them also in multiple versions. Have library versions and the paperback and the new edition. It’s like a whole thing.

Samantha 36:10
So, so amazing. What is the last five star book you read?

Kristy 36:13
The last five star book I read is a book called Pretty in Pink. It’s by Erica George, and it’s a YA Regency romance. So any educators, I don’t, you know, I think teens, but I think also older readers can read it. It is. It’s just so romantic, and it’s so swoony, and it’s, if anybody likes bridgerton, it’s bridgerton, but like the clean teen YA version of bridgerton, I just loved it.

Samantha 36:36
Somebody put it on my I do this challenge on Instagram, where people recommend books for you to read, and so you kind of, you know, read a certain amount of them per year, and somebody put that on my on my list this year, so I’m excited to see it. I also had a little funny little moment the other day where I’m reading this book, and I turned the page and I saw that you blurbed it, and I was like, Oh, look, there she is. It was royal airs Academy,

Kristy 37:02
yes, Lindsay,

Samantha 37:03
oh, boom, my brain, I I’m going to be yelling about that book for I’m done. I’m done. That book blew me away. I was like, this is fantastic.

Kristy 37:14
I’m going to DM her as soon as I get off this podcast. Because we’re friends. We went to England, actually together. I do a writing retreat there. And so she was so excited, because it has some, some of the feels, because it’s, this is a book that said it like a boarding school,

Samantha 37:26
yeah?

Kristy 37:26
So she was like taking her arc around, and she was like taking photos of it, and

Samantha 37:29
I love it.

Kristy 37:30
She did such a good job. And the four different points of view that she does, it’s amazing. So, yeah,

Samantha 37:35
I think people are gonna love, I think that book is gonna blow up because it has that, like American Royals feel. And I was a huge, I mean, American Royals fan, but I almost, I, and I hate to say this, because I think people are going to come for me. I almost want to say that I think she did it better, because there was, like this urgency to it, you know, the entire time, whereas you’re following the characters in American Royal but there wasn’t that underlying thing. And she just, she nailed it. And I’m so excited.

Kristy 38:04
So I blurbed both of the books. And so I could really just go through every single book i blurbed and how much I love it lightning round. So I just chose the first one that came to my mind. But yeah, Lindsay’s book is amazing.

Samantha 38:13
I just wanted to mention that in there, because I was like, if anyone’s listening, please go pick up that book. I’m not. I think it comes out this month.

Kristy 38:20
January 7th, I think it comes out on Tuesday, so, yeah,

Samantha 38:24
okay. Well, you guys need to go read that one, because, whoo, you’re going to probably hear me talk about it on Instagram too. So here we go. Um, last one, are you a physical book, e reader or audio book?

Kristy 38:34
Okay, so I’m going to kind of cheat and say all of them. But my, I still, you know, I’m a, I’m an old school 90s girl and so I love my physical books. It just feels the most, I guess, real to me. So I do this. Love holding a book and reading it, but as a mother, sometimes it’s nice to have books that are just the e readers that I can kind of easily grab. I actually this will kind of, some people will come for me for this, I actually read my e books on my phone, I know, but I have the Kindle app, but I make the font pretty big, and then that way it’s kind of always with me. And anytime I just have to kill some time, I can pull it out and start reading. So that has been really great. And I do love an audio book. So I’m not listening to as many right now, but there’s just something. It’s an art form in and of itself. Yeah? So here’s your audio book. Yeah. I just, I do love that so but I guess if I have to choose one, I’m going to say physical

Samantha 39:23
Well, thank you so much for being here. I’m going to put all of her links in the show notes, so anybody who’s out there listening, if you haven’t had a chance to grab those links, I will put that in there, and they can follow you on Instagram, maybe check out your website. Thank you so much for being here with us today.

Kristy 39:37
Thank you so much. It’s been such a pleasure, and thanks to everybody listening.

Samantha 39:41
That brings us to the end of this episode of Creating joyful readers, I want to extend a heartfelt thank you to Kirsty Boyce for sharing her time and expertise with us today. Her insights into crafting authentic ya romances, developing memorable characters and blending real life experiences into fiction truly reminds us of the magic that happens when passion meets storytelling. I hope you feel inspired to bring these ideas into your own reading and teaching practice until next time happy reading.

Samantha 40:11
Thanks for tuning in to creating joyful readers. I hope you found inspiration and practical strategies to ignite a passion for reading in your students. Remember, every book we introduce, and every reading experience we foster can transform lives and help students become lifelong readers. Follow me on social media at Samantha in secondary for more tips book recommendations and to connect with a community of educators dedicated to making reading a joyful journey. Until next time, happy reading.