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: Ronnie Mathews
Cozy coastal streets, siblings you’ll swear you’ve met, and a carpenter with a secret dirty mouth—welcome to Sutton Bay. We sit down with author Ronnie Mathews to unpack how a lifelong reader who never planned to publish built a small-town romance series that blends tenderness, banter, and genuine stakes without losing the fun. From the first spark of a debut to the final chapter of a four-book arc, Ronnie takes us inside her creative process and the choices that make these stories feel like home.
We talk craft in the trenches: why she writes in chronological order, how she rewrites beginnings until the characters breathe, and the moment she knows a book is ready for ARC readers. She reflects on her Bookstagram roots, the value of an author peer group, and why she avoids reading in-genre while drafting to protect her voice. If you crave small-town romance with disability and neurodivergent representation, layered characters, and dialogue that snaps, this conversation is your next listen.
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Follow Ronnie Mathews on IG @author.ronniemathews
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
She writes small town romances that hit you right in the field, filled with heart charm, and just the right amount of delicious spice. Her Sutton Bay series is set in a cozy coastal New England town because who doesn't love that vibe? And the latest installment, Our Long Days, book four in the series, just dropped last month. When she's not crafting swoony stories or lost in a good book, you can find her experimenting with new recipes in the kitchen. Please welcome to the podcast, Ronnie Matthews.
Ronnie Mathews:Hi. Hi. Thank you so much for having me.
Jordan:Oh my gosh. No, thank you so much for coming on the podcast. Like, I'm so excited to interview you. So, like, thank you.
Ronnie Mathews:No, you say welcome. I'm really, really excited.
Jordan:Oh, yay. Okay, perfect. So we can dive right on in, which granted, like this the interview questions are broken up with like author, reading, and personal. But before we start into the questions, I did want to ask you what the highlight of your week has been so far.
Ronnie Mathews:Oh my God. Can I say the dinner I had like 30 minutes ago? Because it was just it was so good. Like we call it um, we call it jacket potato. It's just like a baked potato, but we call it a jacket potato, which is I think it's cuter. And it had like bacon, sour cream, onions, cheese, and it was just it hit the spot. So that's the highlight of my week.
Jordan:I love that. I love anything potatoes, like french fries, baked potatoes, mashed potatoes, I just love that all. And now I'm craving that. I I it's not even my dinner time, and now I already want that. Give it for lunch. Right? Um, okay, I love that. All right, we can dive into the questions now. Okay, so what first inspired you to be an author and to start writing romances?
Ronnie Mathews:I've been a reader for as long as I can remember, and I just you know, just kind of ideas started popping up in my head, and you kind of get that that urge, and I was like, gosh, can I can I write this? So I you know started writing a story that had been played on my mind for ages, and honestly, it it really was just a spiral effect. Like I didn't grow up wanting to be an author. Like, if you'd said to me four years ago, I'd be like, no, absolutely not. Like I would not be writing books. Um, but I think it's one of those, as soon as I started doing it, I was like, why haven't I been doing this my whole life?
Jordan:Oh my goodness. So it did just like this the first story come to mind for you, and you're just like, I need to get this down on paper.
Ronnie Mathews:Yeah, that so my debut was the first story that I ever wrote. Um, and I think I was just so passionate about it that I was like, this, I want to put this in the world, out in the world. Um, and with it came another three books and everything, you know, an entire series and yeah.
Jordan:Oh my gosh, that is so cool. I love those kind of stories because I feel like most of the time people are like, no, I kind of always wanted to be an author, which is cool. That's very cool. But I think that's kind of cool, like you fell into it.
Ronnie Mathews:Yeah. Yeah, no regrets.
Jordan:Oh, I love that. Um, what is your writing routine like? Do you need to have the perfect setup or do you just like sit down and write?
Ronnie Mathews:It's definitely more of a mentality thing. So I have to just be in the right headspace. I can write wherever. Like I'll write, I'll get my writing app up on my phone, like if I'm right waiting for the train or something like that. I'll be in bed on the sofa. I hardly ever use my desk, which is probably really bad for my back. Um, but yeah, I just need to be in the right headspace just to do my characters and the story justice, I think.
Jordan:Okay. Does that mean too then are you more of like a pantster than a plotter?
Ronnie Mathews:Yeah. I have the beginning and the end, and then the middle is just it's a free girl. And so many authors will say it, they'll say, wherever the characters are taking me. And that is so true. I try and get into their headset, and then yeah, whatever they're feeling, I just go with it.
Jordan:Oh, okay. I I mean, I feel like that's like what a lot of people say, and I think, and I I mean, granted, I'm not an author, so and I've like never writ written anything, so like I have no idea, but I guess I can see that too. Like, because I do as a reader believe that like an author, I don't want to say it's like a duty to these characters, but it kind of is because I've definitely read stories where either the character does something or says something, and it just takes me out of the story, and I'm just like, wait, hold on. So I totally, at least from a reader point of view, can understand.
Ronnie Mathews:Yeah, yeah. I mean, I'd love to be a plotter, but I've tried my hand at it, and every time I I try and do it, I'm like, it's just it's boring. I can't do it.
Jordan:Well, and I guess too, like if you have like the beginning and the end, it's kind of like plotting, and then you just need to come up with the all the middle. Yeah, the big chunky right? The part that takes up the most space of the book. Um, okay, so then what is your favorite part of like a story when writing your books? Is it like the tension, the first kiss? Like, what is it?
Ronnie Mathews:I think it's that kind of pivotal moment between the two main characters. So, like if it's between an enemies to lovers, you know, when you can really start to see that shift from the enemies to lovers. Um, if it's like there's a lot of heavy pie in, it's like it clicks for them both. I just I love those moments for me. Like I get so caught up in them. Um and sometimes, you know, I'm having to wait till sometimes like the very beginning of the third act. So it's like a real nice treat as well, you know, depending when that big shift is.
Jordan:No, those like those hit different, especially like with a slow burn. I just I love a slow burn, like build up the tension. Like, I don't, oh they're just oh perfection. Okay, then so what is the most challenging part of writing a book? And then what is the most rewarding part?
Ronnie Mathews:Um, I probably I struggle the most with the beginning, which is funny because I've just said I I plot that out. Um, but I just find myself because that's when you're trying to really get to know those characters, get into their headspace, um, understand what makes them tick. I I find myself rewriting probably like the first five chapters a lot, and I won't continue with a story until I'm happy with that. So it's kind of yeah, it's I feel like I compared it once to like when an actor, you know, is like preparing for a role. I kind of put it similar to that. Like I want to be authentic to those characters. So until I feel like I've got them down to a T, yeah.
Jordan:Oh, okay, so you won't even like touch the rest of the book until you figure out those.
Ronnie Mathews:Um I I have to write in chronological order, and I'm so envious. Yeah, like I I have a lot of friends who are like, oh, I'll just write like a random spicy, or I'm working on chapter 30, and I'm like, I wish I could do that, but my brain is just not wired that way.
Jordan:Okay, and then so then if you're like re- have you ever just like scrapped like a whole book because you're like, no, this like doesn't work. I need to like start over, or because you write in chronological order, you can just scrap a little bit of the book because you're you haven't really written all of it, if that makes sense.
Ronnie Mathews:No, I don't think I've ever scrapped anything. I've definitely re heavily reworked a few chapters. It tends to have like the same direction, it's usually like the setting and how it comes about, like you know, if they're strangers, like how do I get them to meet each other randomly? It seems like natural and everything like that.
unknown:Okay.
Jordan:Wait, so then if that's like the most challenging part, then what's the most rewarding part?
Ronnie Mathews:Is this like the write-in process?
Jordan:Yeah, yeah. I think we'll get my question again.
Ronnie Mathews:Um I think then when I'm just about to send it to arc readers or about to publish it, because I I do like three to four read throughs. And I actually spoke to Magalie, my PA, about this last night because she asked me if I ever reread any of my books, and I said I haven't since they've published. Like I haven't touched them. Um, but that last read through like always hits like so differently for me. Because you know it's done, you know it's going to the readers, and you're like, oh my god, I did it. It's done. And I just I think that is just that self-reward and reflection and stuff is yeah, love it, can't beat it.
Jordan:Oh yeah. And then it's also like too, like your final, it's like the final product. So it's like your baby in a way. So you're like, oh, you're like ready to go out into the world now. Bye. Bye. Um, do you have a favorite female main character, like, or male main character, or like a favorite couple from like the books that are out, or maybe even something you're working on that's not?
Ronnie Mathews:I I think my favorite male main character is from book two, Graham. Um, he is quite different, he's very shy, reserved, very nervous. Um, and I was so scared to put his story out into the world because I really didn't know how people were gonna receive him. Because you know, people love the outgoing and like the golden retrievers, and you know, the broody Morley Grey men, and I was like, what kind of people are gonna like him? And I honestly think he's one of the most loved male main characters now.
Jordan:Oh my god, and the and the fact that you were like kind of nervous to put him out there, and now like everybody's like, I love him.
Ronnie Mathews:Yeah, yeah. Like he wears glasses, he wears like knitted sweaters, he's got a Daxon, like he's just that's so cute. Yeah, but he's got like secret closet, dirty mouth. Do you know what I mean? So I love that.
Jordan:And it hits yeah, oh, it definitely does. Wait, then do you have like a favorite female main character?
Ronnie Mathews:I think it's gonna be my most recent, and I don't know if that's because I'm I've written her most recently. Um, so Florence from Our Long Days. Um she she's chaotic, and I I say that with pride. She's an ADHD girly, she's messy and she owns it, and the you know, she doesn't try and put them off as quirks, like she learns to just love that aspect of her. Um she also she butchers like common sayings, so and that was inspired by one of my best friends. So the saying doggy dog world, she says like doggy dog world and stuff like that, and she's just yeah I love that. Yeah, it's like you can't help but love her, yeah. Like there's nothing to dislike about her. Um, yeah, I think it yeah, she's like my soul sister, she's great.
Jordan:Oh, I love that. And okay, so then what advice do you have to give like an aspiring author?
Ronnie Mathews:The the advice I usually give is for your debut, because you're only gonna get to do one debut, every book after is, you know, write what you want to write, write what you want to read. Um, you can look at the market and see what's really popular at the minute, you know, like cowboy romances are really popular at the minute, and I, you know, I love them. But if that's not what's like your heart is telling you to write, because and like I said, it you only get one chance to to debut that book, and I think it should be like a passion project, something really close to your heart. And that's what I did. Um, and I think that just makes your debut extra special. Um, I suppose this is probably very difficult because I still do it to this day, is like that comparison game is really, really tough, especially when you're starting out. Um, but I think finding a really good and supportive little network of authors in the community really helps you get through that. So that that advice. I like that just they're instrumental like to this journey.
Jordan:So like your like your author group.
Ronnie Mathews:Yeah, yeah.
Jordan:Oh and that I I like that too, because I feel not saying that it's like weird because I feel like also being an author can be like a very solitary type of like job or hobby or however you're like doing this, but there's also like a lot of authors out there that can relate to you. So I think that's kind of like I feel like that's a really good piece of advice that I never would have considered just because I think like even just talking, because it's it could be something as simple as like I'm stuck right here, or I have I have to get like another 5,000 words before like my like due date of like getting this to the editor. And I don't think a lot of people outside of writing can really relate to that in a way because we like for myself, I don't I don't write anything, so like I wouldn't know how that deals.
Ronnie Mathews:It's so daunt, and I I remember like the process of uploading your manuscript for Amazon. Oh my god, like scrambles your brain. And the fact that I had like this little group of authors, and I could be like a screenshot of my like, what do I do? And they were just there like rallying together and everything, like helping out and you know, making sure that I actually uploaded the right book ready for my debut release and stuff. So yeah, it's little things like that.
Jordan:Oh, yeah, and then also just being able to share share like the those moments with somebody too. Like you can share like the success of like uploading your like new book on Amazon, and that's so exciting. And so then and then they get it too. So it's like sharing that excitement with everybody, which I think is like so fun. Yeah, no, a hundred percent. Okay, so now we can dive into your Sutton Bay series. Now, you just released our longest days. Can you tell me a little more about this book and then the series as a whole?
Ronnie Mathews:Yeah. So Our Long Days is the fourth and final book. Like, so there's four interconnected standalone series, and um, it follows four siblings. Um, so book four is the youngest sister, Florence, and her oldest brother's best friend. Now, like Florence kind of just crash-landed back in her little hometown of Sutton Bay, and she was diagnosed with ADHD a couple of years ago. She went travelling, neglected it a little bit, but now she's like ready to kind of understand her spicy brain. Um, she's wanting to get a job, land on her feet, get a bit of independence, and as life goes, nothing goes away. Like no one's hiring her. It's a small town. Um, being back home with three older brothers and her mum, um, and the stresses of adulthood kind of are really starting to play with the ADHD, you know, her symptoms are getting stronger and everything like that. And she's always had a crush on Dexter, um, her older brother's best friend, and she's never done anything with it. He's 11 years older, and long story short, she ends up back at his house after a New Year's Eve party, and they're both just looking for like a night of escape. So there's like a mutual agreement, like it's one night, it's not gonna mean anything. They both just need that distraction from life. Um, but then obviously, life just keeps bringing them together, they keep bumping into each other. There's a lot of awkwardness, there's a lot of tension. Um, she ends up working for him as his personal assistant. Um, so a lot of like forced proximity. And um, Dexter, so Florence is kind of tackling that ADHD. Dexter, um, he's hard of hearing and he has many ears disease. So with that comes like quite intense vertigo um attacks, uh, temporary loss of hearing. So he wears one hearing aid and stuff, and so they're and he's quite neglectful of that. Um, he works in trade, he's a carpenter, and I think I know a lot of men that kind of are very prideful about their health, they don't want to kind of acknowledge it. And they both go on a journey together of you know, accepting one another, they're not trying to change each other, you know. This you are who you are. Um, but then they go on those individual journeys as well. Um, quite a lot of angst, you know, there's like the push and pull. Like, am I good enough for you? Am I the best person for you? Um, but it's it's the close up with the whole series. So it was an emotional one, like we got to see all the previous couples. Um, yeah, I think that's that's it in a nutshell, as much as without any spoilers.
Jordan:I know, right? Um, but I want to ask, like, how was it like writing those two things with Florence being like ADHD and having to incorporate that into the story, as well as having Dexter and having his like hearing loss, and how how was that to go about writing it? And was it stressful to have to write it like maybe the right way? Was that how was that?
Ronnie Mathews:So with the ADHD, I was diagnosed at 30 years old. Um, so very much like a lot of what Florence goes through is what I go through, what I went through before I started to understand it. So very much my lived experience, as well as kind of input from um some of my early readers who are also neurodivergent. Um, with Dexter's story, um, a lot of research, and I had a great um group of sensitivity readers that are either or both hard of hearing or are diagnosed with many years disease, um, just to make sure that the justice to his kind of um story and diagnosis is done. Um that's probably the scariest part was Dexter's. Um there's a lot of kind of nuances that come with hearing loss, you know, um, especially like partial hearing loss. It's you know, different kind of um, you know, you pick up different things. Um, so it's making sure that that was right um for the people in that community.
Jordan:Yeah, so yeah, and then also, but it's kind of nice too because then people can like relate to it in a way. And I think and then too, if for like Florence, it was it almost in a way, um, I don't want to say healing, I'm not trying to like say that it was healing, but was it nice to be able to put what you went through down on paper for her?
Ronnie Mathews:Yeah, no, I said I've said to a few readers, um, like it's it was therapeutic, it was really nice. Um, and I think that's it. Sometimes as an author, if you can write something that you've experienced, it's like a little diary for you, and you're like, oh, there it's out in the world, but no one knows it's me.
Jordan:Which is kind of like it can be nice, but then it also can be kind of scary too, because then I feel like you're putting essentially part of you down, even though like maybe people don't know, but you're still like, ooh, yeah, like you I think you always get that offers, you know, there's people have a thing about like black cats, like the grumpy women, and or I can I see people like on threads, like authors, and they're like, you know, you say you hate this character, but that character's me.
Ronnie Mathews:Like, you hate me. So, you know, if you don't like Florence, you hate me then as well.
Jordan:So no. Okay, so then how did you come up with the idea for the Sutton Bay series? Did it ever evolve from when the idea first came to you to like when the book's released for like each book?
Ronnie Mathews:Uh the first book, those two words, I definitely changed direction a little bit um with kind of how the couple were reunited. It's a second chance. But because it's an interconnected standalone following like four siblings in a small community, I had to know what the main characters for the future books were like. Um, not you know, through and through like every tiny detail, but introducing them into the books as side characters. Um, so I think pretty much from those two words, I mostly knew the direction. There were some tweaks along the way. Um, but yeah, you meet you meet all of the majority of the characters in book one, with the exception of two people. So oh my goodness.
Jordan:Wait, but then is that even just like the all not like the couples, but like because like I know too, like in there it's like four siblings, so I'm assuming we met like all the siblings, but then even their like spouses?
Ronnie Mathews:Yeah. Oh yeah, like was that stressful to like make sure okay, fair I also I'll and I'm never I've said this repeatedly, uh, there's a lot of overlap between each book, so there's timeline overlaps by like a few months each time. I'm never doing that again. Like it was really fun, and I've had people be like, Oh, that's really cute, like by seeing the book from the previous book, and I'm like, I'm so glad you like it, because I'm never doing it again. Like, because you have to make sure that those details are accurate from the previous book, and I think when I was writing, yeah, it was when I was writing our long days, and I wrote a scene, and one of my beta readers was like, But Ronnie, in the epilogue, it says this, and I was like, Wow! Like, I had to like change the whole scene because I'd forgotten about the epilogue.
Jordan:So no, but okay, so then since this is like the last book, how was it like writing the last book? Was it like now that the series is over? You're like, was it sad?
Ronnie Mathews:So sad. I I cry every time I write a book, but I think I cried the most, like with this one saying goodbye to the characters, you know, then I'd be gone, but yeah.
Jordan:I'll go back to the uh yeah. I was just gonna say, would you ever write more books like in this series? Like, or is like a spin-off series, would you ever do that? Or is this like you're like, no, this is like it?
Ronnie Mathews:So I've just um worked with eight other authors, and we've just done a small town anthology, and I have written a short story that's set in the same universe, not the same small town, but it's one of the characters from Sutton Bay, it's her sister. So there is a bit of a spin-off there, yeah.
Jordan:It's fun. I like that. That's cool. Okay, so each book in the series has some pretty amazing tropes in them. Um, I know I see some of my favorites. Which one was the most fun to write? And then also on this note, what is a trope that you don't think you would ever write?
Ronnie Mathews:If there was one. When I wrote um All We Need, it's dislike to love. And I just had so much fun writing the banter between them. Like, it was just such a blast. I think I had the most fun writing that book. Um like he just loved to annoy her. She was the black fat. She was like, no nonsense. Yeah, it was a lot of fun, and they continued like that. Like, I did like a an epilogue for them, and it was like seven years down the line. They were still like that. Like, he's just an idiot, and she's just like, please shut up.
Jordan:That's so fun. The when the banter hits, it you're just like, oh, it hits. Yeah, it's a lot of fun. I like that. Okay, but then now is there a trope that you would never write, or is there also or is there like a trope that you haven't written but you really want to?
Ronnie Mathews:So I don't think I could ever write a love triangle. Um, I claim to really not enjoy reading them, but have found myself reading many love triangles, and then I just get really angry at myself because you know you end up falling for the wrong person. So I don't think I could actually, yeah, I don't think I could navigate that as an author. So I'll just gonna leave that to the professionals. Um there are so many tropes that I want to write. I actually did like a threads post today of like four tropes that I can't wait to write.
Jordan:So what are the four tropes that you have?
Ronnie Mathews:Um accidental pregnancy, uh rivals to lovers, single mum, and oh, marriage in crisis.
Jordan:I feel like you don't I don't really see very many of like those, like marriage in crisis. I feel like it's usually like second chance, or it's uh uh uh like a I don't know what it would be, but like they got divorced. Yeah. And then either I guess maybe that is second chance and they're like giving it another shot. Maybe it's more like that. I don't know, but you don't really see marriage in crisis, I feel like.
Ronnie Mathews:No, I think we see more of it. Um, I I've spoken to a few people like this and authors who are like really want to write it, but also kind of nervous. I think it's gonna get so like raw. Like I'm married, like my marriage, I you know, absolutely love my husband. Um, I think it's getting to that head space. I think it is gonna hit really kind of not close to home because I'm going through a marriage in crisis, but you're just like, oh gosh, like you've really got to get into the angst and the heartbreak. Like, why are you struggling? How can we put you guys back together? Um, but I really love stuff like that. Like, I just it sounds awful, but I just I want to write books that make people cry.
Jordan:No, I like that. It's also like relatable because I feel like, and even though like I know too, it's like a marriage and crisis, but like that can also relate to like people that are like in relationships, whether they're like just like boyfriend, girlfriend, or like a couple, or like maybe they just got engaged. Like, I feel like it it can be related to those two. So it's like, and I I love a story where I can like relate to the characters, which I'm I know a lot of people hate cheating, but like I love the cheating trope because I think it's it's relatable. People get cheated on, people cheat, people get cheated on. So it's like I not that like people that read cheating trope condone cheating, but it's like you can relate, and I think that's what's really nice. So it's like I think with the marriage and like trouble, it's like you can relate, you can like I don't know, like I think that's what's really cool about it.
Ronnie Mathews:It's it's messy and real, you know. Like I really enjoy writing flawed characters that come to recognize their flaws um and learn from those mistakes, you know. There's gonna be like thered up breakups in my book, so they're gonna be messy. There's gonna be miscommunication because my argument is that is such a natural thing. Like we probably miscommunicate on a daily basis. Um, you know, and I get it in romance books, it can be really frustrating dependent on kind of the context and the scenario, but yeah, I just I'm gonna make it messy. So sorry, any future readers.
Jordan:No, I I like it. I like it. I think too, like I miscommunication, I'm usually one that doesn't love them, but it can be done right. And I know like I've I've read one book that the miscompu miscommunication trope was not done right, but it was basically the female main character would just tell the male main character that she'd like them, and then when he say really, she'd be like, No, I take it back. And I'm like, But it just kept happening again and again and again, and I'm like, this cannot be the plot of the book. Like, please stop. But like I but like when a character just doesn't want to say their feelings for being because of being scared or not or not, they're not reciprocated in any way, they like they feel like they won't be like that makes sense because I feel like being able to actually say how you feel can be a very scary thing, and so characters going through that, like that makes sense, like that sort of miscommunication makes sense. Don't say something and take it back. That does not make sense.
Ronnie Mathews:Yeah, that's a fair point. Yeah, that's a fair point, and I think like dependent on the stakes as well, like what's driving them to not, you know, their history and stuff like that. And that's where you kind of get like those layers from the characters, um, and the angst, I think.
Jordan:So yep, I agree, I agree. Um, okay, so then the last question in author is with your newest release, our long days, if it was made into a movie, who would you cast as the MMC and then the FMC FMC?
Ronnie Mathews:I struggled with this so much. Like I was prepping for these questions this afternoon. Um there is so they're like, they're not even a celebrity, right? He is like a farmer, he's like a rancher. Um he's called the jacked rancher. I don't know if you like have ever followed him. He like wears he's got like a like a dad bard, like tattoos, like he has goats and stuff like that. He wears like dungarees. I'll have to I'll send you his profile after this, but it's the jacked rancher. And I get like I always share his um videos to my stories. I'm like, it's Dex. So yeah, that is because he was like the inspo for what Dexter looked like in my head. Oh, because he's got like a dad bod and everything. That was like really hot. Like, yeah, you don't get a lot of like characters with dad bods and stuff like that.
Jordan:You you really don't. They're all like ripped, and then they're just like, and I'm like, yeah, okay.
Ronnie Mathews:Yeah. And then um, I always imagine Florence Pugh, and it's just ironic that her name is Florence. Um, and I can yeah, I can see her nailing like all of Florence's kind of um funny little quirks and just outbursts and little angry moments. So yeah, Florence Pew for Florence.
Jordan:It's so fitting. It's it just it has to work. Um okay, so now we have reading. What is your favorite book? And it could be a series too, but like a book you would recommend to anyone and everyone.
Ronnie Mathews:So this is like a comfort read. I've read it probably six times. Um it's Consider Me by Becca Mack. Um I read it. I read it on um on Wattpad. Like way back then. Um and then like read it all of the.
Jordan:I don't know that was on Wattpad.
Ronnie Mathews:But that's on my I'm pretty sure that was on Wattpad. I'll have to like stand corrected if it's not because some of the other books that I read were on there. Um, but it was very early on, it's the first book. And it's just such a comfort read. It's funny, um, it's emotional as well. And yeah, I just love it.
Jordan:Oh okay. Well, uh so I actually have another question. So then would you consider this be to be the book that you that got you into reading, or what is the book that got you into reading? I love this question too.
Ronnie Mathews:I I don't I don't have a book that's such a a rubbish answer. I'm so sorry. Like I really don't have a book that ever inspired me.
Jordan:I think just because have you just always been reading?
Ronnie Mathews:Yeah, and I think I've just r read so many incredible books. Um, that I think that within itself was just the inspiration, but I can never just kind of pinpoint one where that day I was like, okay, I'm gonna do it. I wish I did.
Jordan:No, I mean, like that's like that's pretty cool though, because like I I was not a reader, especially like all throughout like school and stuff. I hated reading. So then it was like I think in college where I picked up the hunger games and I'm like, oh my god, I'm obsessed. And then I just didn't stop from there. So it's like, but I so like I have that, but I I know a lot of people have just like always been reading, but that wasn't me. So then it had I had an answer.
Ronnie Mathews:Yeah, I also went through like that whole dystopian like oh, like it was crazy, like divergent and everything like that.
Jordan:Yep, yep, yep, yep. Um, okay, so then what is the spiciest line in one of your books? And then it can also be like the spiciest line in your like new release, too.
Ronnie Mathews:Okay, I've highlighted it everyone and I'm just gonna laugh when I say it out loud. Like, why can't I have and like I I write these scenes with the straightest of faces, and then saying it, it's like red cheeks and yeah. Um so this is Dexter to Florence, so this is from our long days. Um, and he says, Good, you'll let me in though, won't you? Let me fill all your greedy holes. You can decide where the toy and my cock go.
Jordan:Ah, I love that.
Ronnie Mathews:As you please.
Jordan:Oh, I like it. It's so it's so funny because it's like I think when reading, I can read on my Kindle and I can read like anywhere, like out in public. But if I listen to like the audiobook out in public, my face is just a bright red that everybody knows what I'm listening to.
Ronnie Mathews:So that was me and the car. I'm listening to deep end on audio, and I was driving home from work and I was stuck in traffic, and I was like, everyone can hear me. Like the windows were up, the volume was, and I was like, no, the car next to me knows what's happening right now.
Jordan:I turn down the volume in my car just like when I get like if I'm at a stop sign, it could be like the most mundane scene too, but I turn down the volume because I'm like, they're gonna know. They're gonna know. Um okay, so what is your favorite quote? And it could be like from a book or like a poem, like your favorite quote.
Ronnie Mathews:Yeah, it's gonna be from those two words. Um I just I just I love this line so much. I love a second chance. Um so it's teeth, lips, tongues. We give it everything because this kiss isn't hello, it's a homecoming. And like I just love that one of my favorite lines ever. Like, I constantly think about that line.
Jordan:And like you came up with that. That is so cool.
Ronnie Mathews:Well, I just went through all my popular highlights for our long days, and I was like doing a post for it. Um and I'm not trying to like play my own trumpet or anything. Sometimes I I and I feel like other authors can relate to this. I like look at a line and I'm like, why in the hell did I write that? Like, did I write that? Like, I don't even remember writing that. And people are like highlighting it. I'm like, fair enough, you like it.
Jordan:Okay, so then are you okay? Now I have a question. Now, are you ever shocked about the highlights people do in your books? Like, are you like, wow, like people are obsessed with that line?
Ronnie Mathews:Yeah, like there's definitely lines that I go, that's gonna be a popular highlight. And then always they surprise me. And I just think they're those types of like like one-liners that are gonna fly under the radar, like no one's gonna bet an eyelid for. And then for some reason, they just hit like people, and yeah. And I it's really exciting when you have a new release and you wait for those popular highlights. Cause I just love yeah, yeah.
Jordan:Cause I was gonna say too, like, I love reading on my Kindle, and then you get like the highlights, like you I have it. Well, I don't know if you can turn them off or not, but I have it so you can see like what everybody else is highlighting, and so I love seeing those, but then sometimes I'm like, I don't know why people highlighted this, but 3,222 people did, and I'm like, maybe I should too.
Ronnie Mathews:Join the club, right?
Jordan:Okay, so if you could have a dinner party with any three offer offer authors, living or dead, who would you invite and why?
Ronnie Mathews:Okay, it's gonna be have to be Katie Van Brunt. She's my bestie, and we've only met once, like she lives all the way in Hawaii. Um, we met once last year, we met in London, um, and we need a reunion. So her um I think Becca Mack, because yeah, she's the author of one of my favourite books. Um do you know what? Jane Austen, because I don't read classics, right? The only classic that I have ever read, I'll say written, I'm not Jane Austen. Um surprise is Pride and Prejudice. Like it's the only classic I've ever read. And I think I think she'd have a hoot in the spicy romance author community. She totally would. Yeah.
Jordan:And okay, but like I I feel like I need to say this. So I've only read Pride and Prejudice too, but I didn't like it. I wanted to like it so badly. I do think Jane Austen is was like ahead of her time, and I love what she wrote in the sense of like it being ahead of her time, but I just I didn't like it, and I wanted to like it so badly, and I just seen the films though. Okay, yes, I finally saw it like maybe like two years ago, but I saw Succession first, so he was not he it was Tom Womsgan, he's not Mr. Darcy, he's Tom Womsgan. I'm sorry. I like so now I couldn't take Mr. Darcy seriously because all I'm picturing is Tom Womsgan.
Ronnie Mathews:That's don't don't ruin it.
Jordan:I know. I like wish I would have seen that movie first because I other than that loved it, but I'm just like I can't.
Ronnie Mathews:I'll forgive you.
Jordan:I know, I know. I should have, I I just I messed up, I messed up. And we just we can't go back. There's no going back. Okay, so now we have the last two questions, which is like personal, but what is a fun fact about you that your readers and the listeners might be surprised to learn?
Ronnie Mathews:So before I was an author, I was a bookstogrammer. Um, yeah, I don't do it anymore. Like I pretty much turned off that page once I got into authoring because I couldn't handle two pages of like content. Um but yeah, I was a bookstogrammer. Um it was called Words to Escape. Um, and yeah, like I miss it sometimes, but it I've made I made so many friends, um, authors and readers that I still connect with to this day.
Jordan:Um so yeah, I was a that's so fun. That was so fun. You were well now. Did you ever did you just convert that page to your author page or did you start like a whole new one for your author?
Ronnie Mathews:I started a whole new one. Um I I think so I had like 30,000 followers on the Bookstagram page. And I was very, I was worried about kind of like people being like, oh, but we're not here to see you as an author. We're here to see you as like reviewer and you know, like a blogger kind of thing. So I just I made a new one. And I'm really glad I did because it's kind of like started afresh, like the whole branding as an author as well. I was kind of able to kind of yeah, kind of grow that following.
Jordan:That's that's a good point, like I guess. But like I feel like too, like it's nice to like just like start like fresh and now and then I don't know if you I know too, you kind of you stop that, but like if you ever wanted to go back into that, you could like yeah, I'm pretty sure it's like dormant somewhere on like Instagram somewhere.
Ronnie Mathews:Um, I do miss it sometimes. Um, but it's quite nice because I used to like sign up to way too many arcs. Um, yeah, like I can still see the people do that to this day, and I was like, that was me once. Um, so it's quite fun to really just be a mood reader and and read what because it's almost like a real treat now to read.
Jordan:Oh well, and that's what I was gonna ask next, which is like now we're going back. Can you read when you're writing your books, or do you have to wait until you're like done writing?
Ronnie Mathews:No, I can read. I just can't, I haven't read a small town romance in a long time. I can't read in genre. So that makes sense. I I read a lot of like mafia dark romance, um like complete opposite.
Jordan:Um like a full 180, but then you know to like it's like not going to be anywhere like your books.
Ronnie Mathews:Yeah, and I think that's a thing. I always I'm always worried that kind of unconsciously I'm gonna be influenced by someone else's book as well. Um, and like I still read certain books because it's really good for research as well. Um, for certain like, you know, if you know that you gotta write a trope and stuff, but yeah, it's like a nice little treat now.
Jordan:Cause I was just gonna ask too, like, I would be like not that you would purposely try to do it, but like copy someone else's like idea, not like idea, but you know what I mean? Like not meaning to either.
Ronnie Mathews:But yeah, I mean, yeah, because it could just be like in the back of your mind and you don't realize because you know, if you read so many books, you forget like where that line or where that moment came from.
Jordan:So exactly, and too, like, or like you're like, oh, maybe that was from my head. Like I just thought of that, but you didn't. Yeah.
Ronnie Mathews:That's a big no-no.
Jordan:So yeah, yeah, no, exactly. And that would be like scary. Um, okay, so the last question I have for you is what is one future goal that you would like to achieve, either long term or short term?
Ronnie Mathews:Um, I think long term and is is definitely to kind of see my books in bookstores kind of across the globe, you know, to get a traditionally published deal at some point. Um, yeah. And that's definitely a long term in the next few years. Um, I love being an indie author. I really do like that whole freedom and like I work full-time. Um, so it's nice to manage my own schedule and everything like that. But yeah, definitely as I as I come to grips more with being an author, that's where I'd like to see myself.
Jordan:Would you ever want authoring to be your full-time job, or do you like having your full-time job and then being an author as like more of like your side job or like a hobby that you do when you can like fit it in?
Ronnie Mathews:I really like my job, but I definitely like to probably maybe go part-time because it's yeah, it's a lot of hours, like coming home and then doing the author gig. So yeah, part-time, you know, and you never know, like, especially with traditionally published authors, like it's very demanding within itself. So just gotta see where what happens.
Jordan:See where the like wind takes you. Okay, well, thank you so much for letting like me interview you. Oh, I did want to give you the floor if you wanted to like plug yourself like any handles where people can find your books.
Ronnie Mathews:Yeah. So I'm most active on Instagram, author.ronnie Matthews. Um wholesome Bay series is available now on Kindle Limited, paperback. You can get signed copies as well from Scribbles bookstore um for those in the US, and then there's going to be signed copies as well in Happy Ever bookstore in in the UK, too. Um, and yeah, I mentioned earlier, me and eight other authors have just released a free fall small town romance anthology. So all you have to do is sign up to our newsletters and you get uh nine short, spicy stories. So, and it might be a little hint to my next series. So that's all I'm gonna say.
Jordan:Ooh, that's like a good. So I was just gonna say too, like, I'm wondering if like you were thinking of another series. And you are. Yeah, that's so exciting. Okay. Well, thank you so much for coming on the podcast, Ronnie. Like, I had the best time interviewing you. So, like, thank you.
Ronnie Mathews:No, it was so much fun. Thank you so much for having me.