Spill the Smut
Where the books are spicy, the conversations are juicy, and the stories rarely fade to black. Each week, I dive headfirst into the delicious world of smut with the people who live and breathe it—authors, creators, and bookish babes who aren’t afraid to spill all the steamy tea. Through interviews and unfiltered chats, I'll explore everything from fan-favorites to behind-the-scenes secrets of the bookish world. This is your weekly escape into the world of steam, swoon and unapologetically bookish.
So get comfy. Pour a drink. And get ready to spill the smut.
Spill the Smut
Interview with Author: R. Phillips
Breaking Hearts with Shakespeare
"The Casualty of Us" draws inspiration from Shakespeare's Hamlet, following the journey of Ophelia, a philosophy major beginning her freshman year of college just three months after surviving a kidnapping. What sets this narrative apart is its thoughtful structure—divided into two theatrical acts spanning 18 months of character development.
The novel masterfully weaves multiple storylines: the mystery of Ophelia's unsolved kidnapping, her healing journey, the protective brother-sister relationship, and the developing romance.
For fans of emotionally complex college romances with characters who feel startlingly real despite their larger-than-life qualities, "The Casualty of Us" delivers on every level. The first book in the Philosophies of Heart duet is available now on Kindle Unlimited, with book two coming soon.
Don't miss this chance to experience R Phillips' remarkable talent for creating unforgettable characters and relationships that linger long after the final page.
Follow R. Phillips on IG: @rphillipswrites x TT: @rphillipswrites and her website https://www.rphillipswrites.com/
Cover Art by: moi
Intro/Outro Music: positive vibes by nanaacom on Capcut
Contact Email: spillthesmutpodcast@gmail.com
Podcast IG: @spillthesmut TT: @spillthesmutpodcast
Jordan IG: @sipsoffiction TT: @sipsoffiction
If you've been around the romance world for a minute, you probably know her from a Twisted Tale trilogy, her swoony modern day retelling of Helen of Troy that had us all picking sides. Were you Team Coop or Team Jace? No wrong answer, but also there's a right one. Well, she's back to wreck our hearts all over again with the Casualty of Us, book one in her Philosophies of Heart duet, which dropped on September 17th. So yes, you can binge it right now and, don't worry, the wait for book two won't be long. Please welcome to the podcast. R Phillips.
R. Phillips:Hi, hi, thank you so much for having me.
Jordan:Oh my gosh. No, thank you so much for coming on.
R. Phillips:I am so excited for this episode and I'm just so excited, I'm so excited to be here. So thank you.
Jordan:Okay, so we'll just dive right on. Dive right on in. Wow, I can't talk Before we get into the questions. I do want to ask you what has been the highlight of your week so far.
R. Phillips:Yeah, I had. I had ARCS go out for the casualty of us a little bit ago, so I had some of my first you know reviews and got tagged in some of my first step for that and it was all really, really amazing. So that's definitely been the highlight of my first steps for that and it was all really, really amazing. So that's definitely been the highlight of my week. I couldn't have asked for you know, better reviews and better stuff to be tagged, and so that's so. Arc reviews are what I allow myself to look at.
Jordan:Oh, I feel like that's, that's smart Cause I was going to say, but I guess too, like you know your ARC readers, like the AR arc readers, are people that are like excited for the book and you know that's your audience, because I feel like I'd I'd be so stressed, especially for like arc readers to like see those reviews just be like I know, I know, but like it's a thought, I feel like it's such a fine line between, like, self-care and feedback.
R. Phillips:Yeah, yeah. So I feel like the ARC reviews kind of give me let me have that like best of both a little bit, you know, and so I enjoy reading those. Okay, fair.
Jordan:Okay, so we'll dive right on in to the questions. So it's broken up into three parts. I have like author, reading and personal. So the first question under author is what first inspired you to be an author and to start writing romance?
R. Phillips:books was such a big reason, like I was the kid that was getting in trouble in school, for you know, sneaking away from class and not like leaving school, but like I would be in the library reading. My mom would be getting calls from the principal. I had yet again had to call to the library to read instead of going to math. So I, you know, books were always, you know, my love, my escape, everything. And I think I started writing my first, like actual, like idea, like book, like on a computer, like chapters, at like 15.
R. Phillips:And then that's how, by the wayside, because you know you're 15 and those things do, but, um, it was always my dream, or my passion you know, and I kind of got into my later 20s and and I hit a point where I was like, well, I'm either going to do this now or I'm going to have to go do something else that I don't love as much, and I was just like I'm just going to, you know, try it and see what happens and try to make it happen. So that's kind of how it all went down, but it has always been my dream and my love. Words, writing stories, all of it's kind of how, how it all went down, but it has always been my, my dream and my, my love, words, writing stories, all of it. I love how a story can move someone so deeply.
Jordan:I like that. So then, did you always know it would be a romance book, or did you think at one point it could have been something else?
R. Phillips:I think I I don't think I ever like throughout, like my teens and like my 20s, was like you know, I think I'm going to be a romance author but all of like the all of the stories and the ideas that I had, they all had like romance in the plot, like we always had, like the dark haired, you know, brooding love interest.
Jordan:You're not wrong and especially too, like even other stories, like, there's a like. Most stories have some level of romance in it. It's not necessarily like a super steamy book or romance focused, but there is some level of romance in it.
R. Phillips:Yeah, whether it's, you know, fantasy or dystopian or whatever. But and then I started reading more romance the older I got, and then I was like you know what? I think we're going to give this a shot, but it really it all kind of came from the fact, too, that I really wanted to write a love triangle too.
Jordan:Oh, I mean, it is a very good love triangle.
R. Phillips:Yeah.
Jordan:Yeah, well, I won't say anything, I don't want to give anything away, but like it is a very good love triangle, okay. So then how do you create chemistry between your characters Especially? I mean, like this could be for Casualty of Us, or the Twisted Tale, yeah.
R. Phillips:Well, I think well and like I said, I had tried and started, you know multiple, probably four book ideas before I actually wrote Entangled and I actually have a full, complete book that I actually wrote Entangled and I actually have a full complete book that I wrote before Entangled but I never published that. It was like a mom sports romance basically. Um but, and that was a lot of learning through that because throughout that book, like before Entangled too, I realized when I got to the end of it I was a lot of learning through that. Throughout that book, like before Entangled 2, I realized when I got to the end of it I was like none of these people smell like anything. There's a lot of learning that goes into it.
R. Phillips:But as far as like creating chemistry and stuff, every character I write is very much built for each other, like they are made from the ground up for each other, like even their, even their trauma in a way, or their backstory, you know, like it's, it's almost complimentary. I kind of fit those, those puzzle pieces of each other.
R. Phillips:You know what I mean. So chemistry is never really something I've been like, sat back and been like I wonder how I'm gonna make chemistry in this scene. It's just always just kind of fair usually okay, and that's fair.
Jordan:But then what about these like love triangles? Because you clearly have like I mean we won't anything, so this way that's spoiler free. But I'm thinking of the love triangle because I mean, a twisted tail is a love triangle, so. But like the thing is is like I feel like you built chemistry between two people, so it's.
R. Phillips:But if you're saying they compliment her in very different ways, though.
Jordan:Okay, fair.
R. Phillips:But though, okay, fair, but you're saying they're getting her at very different times in her life in which she needs very different things well, okay, all right, I'm seeing it. I'm seeing it now yeah, it's very much like I go very deep into these people.
Jordan:No, but I think that's good because it just it really shows, it like shows and it comes across in your writing of, like you really did and I do see where you're coming from but I really felt like for both of these characters, in the way of like her picking both of these characters, you, the way you write it, you can, just you, I mean, like it's that first, it's that first moment too.
R. Phillips:I really do feel like the first moment sets like a huge precedent for like their relationship and their chemistry, from like their honor. Um, it's like in a twisted tale. For example, we have, you know, ellen jace and and this isn't really spoiler, it's not, you know, it's just their first meeting, but we have them in that bar and we have that song happen and it almost makes her curious, against her will and, like you know, it unleashes a whole plethora of things that like with this guy she was almost like hoping, would like help her, like mother, what she was trying to heal, and stuff you know, and all that. But so it's all.
R. Phillips:There's a lot there's a lot that goes, goes into even like just those first little meetings and then.
Jordan:So, then, what makes a romance hero or heroine unforgettable to you?
R. Phillips:I think you have to feel. For me, I think they have to feel, and what I like when I read it, they need to feel very real.
R. Phillips:You know, like they need to feel very real and yet very like I'm not sure if enviable is the right word, you know, but like, we all like our books to be a little bit larger than life in some way. Or it is a story, you know, we want to get lost in it, and so I think we want to feel that same way for our characters. You know we want to feel that they're real and that we can identify with them and that we, you know, we can put ourselves in their shoes or however you want to. You know, go about reading, but they also have to be a little bit larger than life in some way too, whether that's, you know, very protective or very brave or very, you know, like, so that we can see, almost like, the best parts of ourselves, for you know what you know this amazing person is and what people should be through these characters do sometimes okay, fair.
Jordan:Now, if if you're saying like they're I mean, I don't know if this would actually really make sense in a way but if you're saying that they're larger than life, they're essentially their own person, do you feel that they write the story or do you already have the story in your head and you're filling their plots?
R. Phillips:in. I always have an outline, I always have the plot line for the story and everything, and that very rarely changes. When it comes to the big things you know you may wiggle around with, like how we get point a from point a to point b, but like the a and b are not changing um, but um, they do, like very much become their own people. Like there are points where I'm like, oh, are we doing this?
Jordan:and I'm like, oh, okay, we're doing this it's happening, we're happy we're doing it, it's happening yeah, yeah, it's, there's totally those too.
R. Phillips:Because they are like they are full blown like people to me, like they have backgrounds and they make choices because of their backgrounds and their motivations and everything you know. So they are like full blown people to me and sometimes I'm even like I don't think we should make those choices, but OK.
Jordan:This is the choice you're making. I mean, I've never, like ever, written anything, but I know a lot of people, or like a lot of authors, talk about how that there's like characters write the story, their characters like take off on the page and they just oh well, yeah, for sure.
R. Phillips:They just oh well, yeah, for sure. Like there's little moments where it'll be like I love grinding, you know, like the little cute little moments where it's just like they're just laying on the couch or something like that. You know, like there's a lot of cute little moments like that in the casualty and it's like their cute little witty banter and stuff like that. Like that is like very much I don't know where that, that that comes from them. I don't know where it comes from, but because I'm like I'm not that cute and witty.
Jordan:I love it. I love it, um, okay. So then, what would you say is the most challenging part of writing a romance book and what is the most rewarding part of writing a romance book?
R. Phillips:and what is the most rewarding part of writing a romance book? I think the most challenging part to me is always like the very like start, like the groundwork laying. You know, when we're like having to explain everything because I know I already know what's coming and I'm, you know, not a very patient person person, so I'm like, but that's also how I make myself get through it, because I know I want to get to the good stuff. I'm like, oh, but this moment's coming, let's just get there. And then you know, but we have to go through and it's necessary, and all of it requires the same, you know, level of care and detail, and I love getting to like the big. Those are great okay.
Jordan:So then would you say that's like the challenging and rewarding part is the big moments are the rewarding part and the challenging is like the hard stuff's always laying the ground work.
R. Phillips:um, just because I want to get to the big stuff, the big stuff is definitely rewarding to write those big moments our first kiss, our first I love you, and all that I would say. Another aspect that is really hard too, that I always the fight scenes when they're fighting.
R. Phillips:It's the fight scenes. When they're fighting, that's always. You just have to really, you know, watch everything that's going on, you know, and you're digging deep into like people's feelings and stuff like that. So that's another really hard one, right, it's the fight scenes. But I also love another really rewarding aspect of it is, um, laying all those little easter eggs and then seeing them kind of like, um, when you get that kind of event unveiling or, you know, climax in the plot and all those little easter eggs finally like makes sense. I love setting little easter eggs into all my books. That's a huge thing that I love to do.
Jordan:I know and that's like I feel like, that's like the fun part and then like seeing if people like realize it especially too, because, like, because I think too, like with Easter eggs, I feel like sometimes, like the first read through, you don't necessarily pick up on it, but then if you were to do like a reread, you're like, oh my gosh, hey, oh 100%, 100%.
R. Phillips:I even think about it sometimes, Like with the casualty. I thought about it a lot because I was like I don't know if anyone's going to pick this up the first go around, but I was like but they will definitely pick it up on the reread.
Jordan:But that's always like so fun.
R. Phillips:Oh yeah, Because it's just one of those stories, too, where they're just there everywhere.
Jordan:Exactly Okay. So what advice would you give an aspiring author?
R. Phillips:I feel like it's been said so many times, but just focus on the writing. Nothing, you know, is more important than the writing in my opinion. You know, marketing is great and all that, and you can post all day, every day, and I should post more than I do, but for me, you know, just focus on the writing and don't don't ever lose sight of that. And also, I would also say that comes for authors in particular. You know, I feel like we can be a lot of us can be more introverted, you know, and so when it does come to the marketing side of things, then, you know it, it can be a struggle because we're not naturally, you know, a lot of us are more introverted and more intellectualizers, you know, um, and that's not naturally our disposition, Um, but I got a, or someone gave me a great piece of advice a long time ago, which is, you know, have no shame when it comes to promoting your own, and I feel like that's also very important is, you know, don't be scared to.
R. Phillips:You know, post something or look stupid or something like that. You know what I mean. So it's a two-sided, a two-sided thing for sure, but I think, if you can focus on the writing and also remember to not, you know, be scared to post and stuff like that at the same time. Those two things will get you far. I think. My opinion.
Jordan:I don't know. No, I like that, I like that and I feel like too. Especially, I think the focus on the writing is like really important and I know too like authors like to market and stuff. But I think at least with like bookstagrammers and booktalkers, at least it makes it a little easier that you don't have to post if you don't want to it a little easier that you don't have to.
R. Phillips:Yeah, absolutely, and I think you know like for me, if someone tells me to read a book, like a good review is going to get you a lot farther than like a post. A lot of the time, because people like trust other people's opinions, you know, or friends or whatever you know um, a lot more than they just want to take a chance on some random video. A lot of the time too.
Jordan:So reviews are everything exactly, exactly okay. So I'm so excited for these, like next questions um, okay, so a twisted tale trilogy is a modern day retelling of Helen of Troy, and then the Philosophies of Heart duet is inspired by Hamlet. Is there another mythology or play that you always wanted to write about?
R. Phillips:I mean I love yeah, I love the classics, like I'm not anything mythology, any kind of classical literature. I'm not ruling anything out. I have always wanted to do like a Romeo and Juliet. I would love to do like a Romeo and Juliet Classic, a classic yeah, like really really classic. Yeah, and I've had an idea for that for a few years, but that's down the line, so we'll see about that. And then Pride and Prejudice again another classic, and then Pandora. But you know there's always ideas percolating and stuff. So I'm not ruling anything out. But I do love playing around with elements of you know that we see, like with the casualty of us in Hamlet and stuff like that, incorporating some of those elements into the story.
Jordan:I think that's really cool, and so I had to ask if there were any others.
R. Phillips:Yeah, no, I do too. I was obsessed with Greek mythology as a kid.
Jordan:Yeah, I love Greek mythology. So when I first like read Entangled oh my gosh at this point was like years ago and knowing it was like Helen of Troy. Like re-imagining kind of thing is so cool, and I feel like what's really cool about that one is a lot of people don't pick that one. Like you see a lot of books that are Hades and Persephone honestly all Hades and Persephone. So it was really cool to see something that wasn't Hades and Persephone yeah, yeah, I totally get it.
R. Phillips:Um, and I do, I, I like, I like picking kind of more, not ones that we've seen a whole lot too, like you know, with the casualty of us and Hamlet as well.
Jordan:So that is true too. Okay, so I know we're here to talk about your new release and I will ask about that next, but I have to ask about your A Twisted Tale trilogy. How did this story come about? And then, did you always think or did you always think like before, like writing it that people would be obsessed with this story or stories?
R. Phillips:No, I mean, it was entangled with my first book, so I had no clue, no baseline, no, nothing. I know nothing. And even now, like the concept of people loving my stuff any of my books I'm like really.
Jordan:Are you sure?
R. Phillips:Are you positive, like, yes Me, my books are still very, you know, surreal, probably because I am more of like an introvert. I'm like, you know, I have my dog and my book and my tea and I'm good, that's all you need, yeah, but as far as like how it came about, um, when I was like, okay, I'm gonna, I'm gonna try this, I'm gonna do it, um, I was like I'm gonna do a romance book. Um, I knew I wanted to write a love triangle, because I had never, at like that point, read a love triangle that I felt like genuinely, very equally born in. You know, I felt like for me, like I me personally, I'd always, you know, had an easy, easy time picking the right one, where I was like I wonder if I can make people feel genuinely torn. So, yeah, I wanted the readers to not be able to decide, and I feel like they definitely decide.
R. Phillips:Most people pick the side anyway, anyways, and that is totally okay um, but a lot of people were equally torn. So that was that was the intention there. And then I was like Helen of Troy would be amazing to incorporate, because we have the Greek mythology there and it just allows you to do really a lot of really fun things with the story. Um, and that was how it it all kind of began. It was just one of those ideas that just kept me up, kept me up late at night jotting down like notes and dials, stuff like that well that.
Jordan:I mean that's kind of cool. I do want to go back to like a choice and I know too, like you were saying, people definitely picked a side, and that is accurate, because I did too. But what I really enjoyed about the love triangle is I feel like I had read so many love triangles that the author really showed who the person was supposed to pick. So, like, even though it was a love triangle, it was obvious that, yeah, you weren't supposed to like this one or like, obviously the main female character is going to go with this person, and I didn't necessarily love that like I love yeah, we did not know who I was gonna pick.
Jordan:Yeah exactly and that's what I liked about it is like you're, you pick, like you can pick, but you don't know who she's going to pick and you can equally like.
R. Phillips:Even though I picked side, I did equally love them both, but I was still like Well, that's the thing, because it's like you can't dislike either one of them and you can't even dislike all, because of like the order of events and how everything went down and it's just like. It was just so, it was just so hard, it was so heart-wrenching it was.
Jordan:It was very accurate, but I feel like that's like, it's like nice, because also, too, it's like you could have basically had her pick both of them, and I think that's such a cop-out, I think that's such a cop-out with the love triangle.
R. Phillips:So it's like it would be different if I had like set out with the intention to write a reverse parent or like a thruffle or whatever you know like. But that was not the intention, nor was it like the goal or anything like that we were. You know, it was a love triangle and it was a love triangle and it was a love triangle.
Jordan:It was and it was and it was. It was a tough one. It was a tough one, but like that's what made it so good and so captivating, and it's like what got people.
R. Phillips:I like a little bit of pain with my brain. I just do. I want to feel the angst and the pain and all that.
Jordan:Yes, yes, those are, those are always like the best ones. And then I usually need like something super light and fluffy afterwards to like get over, like the.
R. Phillips:I finished writing fractured and I literally binged to like the first 10.
Jordan:I find planet barbarians, but I see, wait, I love it. I mean, sometimes you just need some blue aliens after some, like heartbreak, actual heartbreak but like actually, though, like actually okay. So then now we'll go on to your new release, the casualtyualty of Us, book one in the philosophy Philosophy.
R. Phillips:Philosophy's of the heart to it. Yeah, Thank you. I'm so sorry.
Jordan:It really is, especially after the Casualty of Us. Okay, but anyways, it released on September 17th. What did you do to celebrate?
R. Phillips:I had a wine night with my best friend, which is typical, typically what we do, and I passed over every little detail, you know, and all of that. But it's good, it's fun, it's tradition. So we did that and it was a blast.
Jordan:And that's perfect.
R. Phillips:You got to have like the tradition of wine have like the tradition of wine on, and she's the first one who always gets to read my books for anyone, anyone else. So she, you know she's been my best friend since we were 11, so, like we, won't age like you guys and as, like you guys, just keep writing more books.
Jordan:you'll just keep being your like number one supporter. Yes, ok. So then how did you come up with the idea for the Casualty of Us? Did it just like come to you or have you been thinking about it? I know, like with the themes of like Hamlet and you've like wanted to like write something like that, but specifically the story of the Hamlet, and you've like wanted to like write something like that, but specifically the story of the specialty of us.
R. Phillips:I was working on getting something else out and I it just came to me. It just it was one of those things, um, I, it kind of all started with Ophelia, me thinking about her and what I wanted to do with like her character, um and Hamlet, and how that character would kind of, you know, come about in this day and age not exactly a retelling, but just like some of those elements and if she had been named after her, you, the original Ophelia from Hamlet and all that stuff. And then I knew that I wanted to incorporate some sibling dynamics and some family dynamics and all that stuff because I really it was so important to me with the story for that for readers to really feel these people's growth and see that growth throughout. So Casualty of Us covers roughly 18 months of these people's lives Freshman and a big chunk of sophomore year of college and it is formatted into two acts that stay true to kind of the Hamlet aspect of it, which is one of my favorite parts kind of about this story in general is how I kind of broke it up into acts.
R. Phillips:So we have act one which is the younger year and that covers freshman year. And then we have act two, which is the virtue of you and me, and that covers sophomore year, and so that was so fun, just, you know, kind of building these people and diving deep into their lives and figuring out, you know how, which aspects of Hamlet I wanted to incorporate and why. Um, we have a big mystery aspect to this, because the prologue drops us in um to her being kidnapped, drops us in to her being kidnapped, and then chapter one starts three months later as she's starting her freshman year of college.
Jordan:Oh, okay.
R. Phillips:And kidnappers have not been caught at that point either. So we have a full mystery aspect to this too and kind of playing around with the idea of Ophelia's flowers from Hamlet and certain aspects of the story and everything. And then we have, you know, hayes, who is my perfect little't. I don't know how to describe him besides, just like he's like this perfect little damaged golden retriever that you're just like, you just need to be saved. Wait, that's so cute he's, he is like, but he, he definitely has his like lines, because Ophelia is such a strong character but she is also I have never written a more complex character. She is a studying company, she is, you know, so strong, and yet she has this kind of like, um, underlying kind of note of vulnerability very much because she is recovering from a trauma too.
R. Phillips:So we see her, you know, we see her in the thick of that process. You know her freshman year of college and we see her navigating these relationships with her family and these relationships with you know, these new people in her life and friends. And this guy, and you know, know he's her brother's roommate and you know, and so he's not going anywhere and all those like wonderful, wonderful things. So it's, but it is, it's. It is an angsty college romance but it is. We see this. We see her really kind of heal and grow into herself, as she is like showing us these sides of incredibly intelligent. You know, she's incredibly driven, she's all these things. Meanwhile, we're getting to know Hayes and you know his backstory and where he comes from and he's, you know, the rock star son, all that stuff, so.
Jordan:So then, did you find it difficult, since you were saying how this is like one of your more complex, like this is like the most complex character you've ever written, did you find that difficult to get? All I see are like whiskers, and I was like, oh, she's such a baby, that's so cute.
Jordan:No, I loved it. I loved it. I was just like wait whiskers, but okay, so sorry. So you said how this is like the most complex character you've ever written written. What did you find that challenging? To make sure that you got everything that you needed for their characters to be like put down on paper for sure.
R. Phillips:For sure, like, because we get three povs in the casualty of us. She is the main um, she's, you know, probably 75%, and then we get K's and then we get her brother Ollie's POV as well occasionally. But being being on Ophelia's side is an interesting place, For sure. My, my sister even was like she was like I've never seen you Like, so like. And sister even was like she was like I've never seen you like, so like.
Jordan:and then I was like it's like what it requires to write as her um, did you feel like you had to enter like a certain headspace to be okay?
R. Phillips:a hundred percent, um, and I feel like that's true for all of my books and for all of my characters, but some of them require more than others, and Ophelia definitely has required the most of any of them so far, but she is, oh sorry. All right, go ahead.
Jordan:Well, I was just going to say then how was it? Because there's multiple point of views and I know you mentioned, like Ophelia has more point of views, but then how was it right, like switching to another point of view, like haze or her brother, like how, how was that?
R. Phillips:all. And here's the thing. You know, it's not. It's not that she was harder for me to write. She was actually incredibly easy most of the time. It's just it just requires more space in a way. I don't know. I don't know it's. It's a hard thing to explain. I I think she just required me to be more immersed in the story. I think In like in my head, you know what I mean, yeah, but then you get to like a haze chapter and he's, it's like that break Break on each of us, Because he's, you know, he's just sitting around and he's like yearning, Yearning.
R. Phillips:Okay, okay, you know, he's just sitting around and he's like yearning, yearning, okay, okay, so that it's like, and then it's also a break for like the reader you can't like not love a golden retriever.
R. Phillips:They're just so lovable and that's not to say hey, because hayes is like super deep too and he has just as much kind of you know backstory and everything going on. He's just a naturally lighter person, and so the writing is naturally lighter from his point of view. You know what I mean. And Ophelia is a naturally darker person, and so it's just, you know, the writing is just naturally that way for her, and so it's just you know the writing is just naturally that way for her.
Jordan:Oh okay, so then the last question in the author section is if the Casualty of Us was made into a movie, who would you cast for Hayes and?
R. Phillips:then who would you cast for?
Jordan:Ophelia, and then we might as well also include Ollie.
R. Phillips:Sorry, oh, okay. Okay, we also include Ollie. Sorry, oh, okay, we'll include Ollie too. Well, they're twins, so they are. You know, they are very close. That is a huge relationship in her life. And when the kidnapping happened again prologue, so I'm not giving anything away too much away here but the kidnappers tried to take them both at the same time, but then ollie got her knocked out, so ollie got left and she got kidnapped. So we have a whole play of like, kind of like overprotective big brother dynamics going on too, and all that as well.
Jordan:Ooh, yeah.
R. Phillips:But anyway, if it was a movie though, I guess I'm so bad with saying names, so correct me if I pronounce any of these wrong, but Ophelia is hands down. Without a doubt. I think it's Christine Frosseth, the girl from the Buccaneers. I think she's in the Buccaneers, not the Buccaneers. Yeah, the Buccaneers. Yeah, you'll have to look her up, definitely her. I saw her in a preview for it once and I was like she's definitely Ophelia, this person. Yep, that's her.
Jordan:But with like dark hair. Oh okay, I've never seen oh Looking for Alaska.
R. Phillips:Yeah, because, christine, she's like Ophelia's a character, she's like very much riding the line a lot of the time, like you know, like she's an intellectualizer, she is, you know, the philosophy major she is, you know, she's getting deep in her head most of the time. But yeah, that's the christian process for her for sure oh, I like it. I like it hayes would be um. You know, the guy from Gin, ginny in Georgia I think it's Ginny in Georgia.
Jordan:The Marcus, the team, her Marcus, felix Mallard yes, the dark hair he's like the one that like yeah long dark hair. Marcus, yeah, okay, yeah okay, I, I know that one, I know that one he's just so hard.
R. Phillips:He's so hard to cast. But if I had to pick someone, like day, it'd probably, it'd probably be him um, and then? Ollie. Ollie would be um, oh, the maxton hall, guys, the maxton hall, it's like the. You died as sarah brown. Yeah, the like the main, yeah, the main character from maxson hall. He would make a perfect holly, yeah oh, okay, okay, I like that.
Jordan:That's a.
R. Phillips:That's a great cast yeah so I I like it I like it yeah, he's a football player too, he's, he's our you know, quarterback.
Jordan:So it's perfect.
R. Phillips:Oh, yeah, yeah, he's, you know. We have Ophelia, who's like philosophy major baby, sister twin, you know. And then Ollie, who's, you know, quarterback. Hayes is my little rock star baby, oh.
Jordan:I like it. I like it. I feel like I haven't even read the Casualty of Us yet, but I feel like Hayes is Marcus, marcus's Hayes, it's just, it is what it is.
R. Phillips:Yeah, he's like tragically perfect. He's fantastic. I love Hayes, he's. Yeah, he might be my favorite, if you can't tell.
Jordan:I love it. I love it. Okay, so now we're into reading. What is your favorite book? A book you would recommend to anyone and everyone.
R. Phillips:I feel like anyone and everyone Probably Looking for Alaska. I was a big Looking for Alaska fan growing up. I saved my babysitting money to buy like my first side edition when I was like in high school. It was my favorite book Looking for Alaska, so I still love it. So, yeah, probably that one.
Jordan:Oh, I like it. I never read that one, but I read the Fault in Our Stars.
R. Phillips:Yeah, I never read that one, but actually I don't know. I read like Paper Towels by him too. But yeah, no, looking for Alaska was one of my top books, still to this day. I love it.
Jordan:Okay, now what is the spiciest line in one of your books and it could be like the spiciest line in another book or, and then also spiciest line in the casualty of us um, I would say spiciest line from a twisted tale.
R. Phillips:I would actually um, probably, when Coop says um, I want to see how fucking stunning you are when you're coming on. My call is this the mirror scene. Yeah, the mirror scene in Fractured, that was a good one that like lives in my head rent free.
Jordan:That scene Like I don't ever remember like fully, like exactly what was, like said during it. But like that scene so it makes me so happy you picked it Because I'm like I know.
R. Phillips:It's in my brain. I loved the Paris scene. It was so good, I know. It's so good I love writing the spicy stuff. It's so fun. It's so fun. I, with the casualty of us, it's. You know you're definitely going to get more spice in book two than you are with book one, because it's a slow burn, you know.
Jordan:And so slow burns are perfect, not with everything.
R. Phillips:With this one, just like the little, the little moments, like the little touches too, and then you have, like just this build and it was everything. I enjoyed it so much writing it. Um, so, from the casualty of us, I don't know, there's two. There's a moment when he says mine. In the context of it, I think you have to read it to understand like the con there. Well, there's two moments when she says mine. Second one though, second one's better.
R. Phillips:It's really good. Then in that second one too, I think he says um, I'm on my cock, baby. I want to feel you all left up around me when I tell you off. I think he says that and that one, that one, was really good too. So both of those are great hate lines.
Jordan:I love it, I love it and I'm here for it.
R. Phillips:I'm here for it, okay, so if you could have, they just they have like this wonderful balance in their relationship. That is fantastic, Even when it comes to the spice and stuff too.
Jordan:That's really good and I also like that too, because I I like in the sense too that you say it's a slow burn and I know it's a duet, so you're saying there's more spicy scenes in the second book. I actually really like that and prefer that, especially if you say it's a slow burn. If you're saying it's a slow burn and there's like spice within the first book and it's a duet, I don't think that's a slow burn.
R. Phillips:Yeah, yeah, I, duet, I don't think that's a slow burn. Yeah, yeah, I. Um, you know you're definitely getting more, more I. You're having a lot of build with them in this first book because, like we don't even get a first, it's until they get to the end of freshman year. We get our first kiss at the end of freshman year and then we see them kind of like, start to build this relationship in year two. And then for me it was like I'm going to say you know, we're going to have like one, we'll give you one big space at the end of book one and then you're going to wait and that's like perfect.
R. Phillips:I feel like that's perfect, Cause it's like I think we're going to mess around and like, do other stuff, you know, like. So we are built, we're building a whole relationship here, and she is someone, she is a character that very much needed that relationship to be built too. I think Hayes would have probably married her day, but she needed a little time she needed time for it all to settle, for sure.
Jordan:I like that. Okay. So then the last question in reading is if you could have a dinner party with any three authors, living or dead, who would you invite and why?
R. Phillips:Jane Austen, for sure, because I feel like she just made like a yearning. I mean just all and nobody can you know Jane Austen for sure. Um, john Green, because he wrote Looking for Alaska, and it's my favorite, um. And then Margaret Atwood, because she wrote the Handmaid's Tale. And who would not want to sit down with Margaret Atwood? So?
Jordan:I like that. I like that.
R. Phillips:Granted, I've never read the Handmaid's Tale, but I feel like it's a you know, a well-rounded bunch there.
Jordan:It is it very much is Okay. So we're on the last two questions. In personal, If your life had a romance novel title, what would it be? Oh gosh, uh, guess again wait, good luck, so just we'll go with guess again, just guess again, maybe like a subtitle, like a guess again something, something.
R. Phillips:Guess again, keep them coming I like that guess again. Keep them coming or not, actually at this point kind of don't keep them coming you know, slow it down, slow it down, stop, stop, no more okay the last question is what is one future goal that you would like to achieve, either long term or short term?
R. Phillips:I think you know, career-wise, every author you know wants like a New York Times bestseller. That just, I'm sorry, my dog is. Every author wants a um, new York Times bestseller, um. But you know also, as long as my stories are like it, as long as my I have a rule right and as long as my I have a rule right and as long as, like, you're writing that story for one person, as long as that story moves one person, you've done your job and that, I think, is a really good mentality to keep in mind a lot of the time. So you know, again, I'd love to make a New York Times bestseller list, but we'll see, we'll see what the future holds. And then, personally, I want love to make a New York Times bestseller list, but we'll see, we'll see what the future holds. And then, personally, I want to take up meditation this year like actual meditation.
Jordan:Oh, I did the Calm app for a little bit. I didn't really stick with it. Yeah, I will do it sometimes, but I want to like actually, like officially, it's like actually implemented yeah, I guess, yep, that's, that was me, and then I hated it and I never continued, so here we are okay, well, that is all the questions I had for you.
Jordan:Thank you so much. I want to give you the floor. Did you want to? Oh my God, no, thank you, um, but I don't know, if you want to like, where people can find you.
R. Phillips:Yeah, Um. Well, you know you can read the casualty of us on Kindle unlimited today, Um, so you can run and check that out. Um, you can read the Casualty of Us on Kindle Unlimited today, so you can run and check that out. And you can also find all of my books on Amazon and Goodreads. And you can follow me on Instagram and TikTok at rphillipswrites to stay on top of the latest updates for future books.
Jordan:Thank you so much for coming on. Thank you.
R. Phillips:I'm so grateful. Thank you, of course.