Q&A with Holly James

 

 

 

Holly James is the author of the new novel Name Your Price. Her other novels include Nothing But the Truth. She lives in California.

 

Q: What inspired you to write Name Your Price, and how did you create your characters Olivia and Chuck?

 

A: Many years ago, when I was in grad school, working a very long day in the lab, I jokingly asked my lab mate how much I’d have to pay him to do something really unpleasant—and, despite me joking, he actually considered! This planted the seed for the idea that there’s a price on anything, no matter how much you don’t want to do it.

 

Fast-forward several years to when I’m writing romance, I wanted to turn that hook into a funny book. I tried to think of the most unpleasant but funny thing that could happen to two people, and I realized getting back together with your ex fit the bill.

 

It took me many (many!) drafts to figure out how the gameshow competition would actually play out but locking Olivia and Chuck in a house together for a chance at a million dollars turned out to be so much fun.

 

Olivia came to me first since the story is from her POV. I wanted her to be smart and ambitious but down on her luck, and obviously in need of money because she had to be desperate enough to say yes to being locked up with her ex! Her being Hollywood royalty-by-proxy organically developed as I was drafting, and I love the side-plot about her parents.

 

Chuck got sweeter the more drafts I wrote. He started out pretty cocky and self-absorbed, but then I realized he’s just a big sweetheart so desperately in love with Olivia that he’d go on TV to win her back.

 

Peeling back the layers of their personalities and motivations—and their relationship—was one of the most challenging and rewarding writing experiences I’ve ever had.

Q: The writer Lacie Waldon said of the book, “Name Your Price is a fun, sexy romp that asks, 'What happens when chemistry doesn’t equal compatibility?'” What do you think of that description, and how would you describe the relationship between your characters?

 

A: I love this! I knew Olivia and Chuck were going to be fire and gasoline from the start. When we were designing the book’s cover, I requested that they look like they can’t stand each other but also that they can’t stand not touching each other, and the artist nailed it!

 

Writing their feisty dynamic was so much fun. They obviously have very intense chemistry, but I wanted to go deeper than that. They even admit on the page early on that their physical connection is what drives them together, and I wanted them to grow and realize over the course of the story that they have much more than that.

 

I revised their character arcs so many times to figure them out! But I think they finally got to a place of understanding themselves and each other by the end. 

 

Q: How was the novel’s title chosen, and what does it signify for you?

 

A: I knew the story was going to be about a gameshow from the start, so the name of the show, Name Your Price, was the perfect title! It reflects the question that was floating around in my head as the hook of this book from the start: “How much would I have to pay you to ___?”

 

Q: What do you hope readers take away from the story?

 

A: I hope they laugh! This book’s premise is the most “fun” one I’ve written in the sense that it’s kind of ridiculous but fully embraces that ridiculousness. I hope readers laugh, swoon, root for our lovers, and most of all just have a good time.   

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I am awaiting copyedits for my 2025 rom-com Last Night Was Fun, which is about a pair of bitter office rivals competing for the same promotion who strike up an anonymous texting relationship and fall for each other when one of them is given a fake number after a bad date that happens to belong to the other.

 

It’s full of banter and texting with You’ve Got Mail vibes, and the big “It’s been you this whole time?!” reveal scene is one of my favorite that I’ve ever written. Also, it’s sports-adjacent because they both work for a professional baseball team. It will be out next summer!

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: Yes! I also have a book coming out in another genre in March 2025. It’s called The Big Fix and is a commercial fiction/action-rom-dramedy about a bookish college professor who ends up on the run with a celebrity fixer when she’s mistaken for his girlfriend after witnessing a crime. It is the most fun I’ve ever had writing, and I can’t wait for it to hit shelves next year!

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with Holly James.