Q&A with Marina Adair

 

 

 

Marina Adair is the author of the new novel You've Got Male. Her many other books include the When in Rome series. She lives in Northern California.

 

Q: What inspired you to write You've Got Male, and how did you create your character Evie?

A: My editor and I discussed this idea of creating a story around a sandwich generation where a baby boomer, a millennial and a GenZ all lived under one roof. Where my heroine’s mom dates men who are too old, my heroine’s daughter dates men who are too young, and my heroine doesn't date at all.

 

But there she is, staring down 30, sleeping in her childhood bedroom, still working her teenaged job, while raising a teenager of her own and yet she’s still an amateur at the game of love, while being surrounded by two boy-crazy women.

Q: What do you think the novel says about the impact of social media on relationships today?

A: I think You’ve Got Male brings out the silliness and randomness that dating online can cause but it also points out that love is about making that right connection no matter where that connection happens. For some of us, it happens through an app and for others our person can be right next-door.

Q: How would you describe the dynamic between Evie and Jonah?

A: This is a rival to lovers story where two neighbors engage in a neighbor war that is reminiscent of the Hatfield and McCoys—and it all starts over a pomegranate tree that drops rotted fruit on Evie’s property and stains her concrete.

 

Okay, so maybe it started with a steamy one-night kiss that led to a near-miss one-night stand where Jonah slammed on the brakes. She’s forgiven him but she hasn’t forgotten the feeling of rejection.

 

But when a friend videos her explaining what her hypothetical perfect guy would be if she were looking for one—which she is not—and she admits that she’s never had a man-made orgasm, her friend posts the video and it goes viral sending her life into an episode of The Bachelorette where single men are showing up at her work with roses to prove they are her perfect person.

 

So to get America off her back she approaches her enemy of a neighbor and makes a deal—if he pretends to be her boyfriend she’ll give him a Cinderella makeover and help him declutter his crazy life. It’s a fake dating, rivals to lovers, neighbor war romcom with all the feels. And these enemies quickly become lovers.    

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

A: That love is sometimes where you least expect it. In You’ve Got Male there are all different kinds of love explored and all different kinds of soulmates, from romantic to platonic. I hope that readers take away that idea that love is love no matter what form it takes.

Q: What are you working on now?

A: The Love Experiment is what I’m working on now and starts when America’s DIY sweetheart goes on the worst, most awkward blind date ever, especially since the hero doesn’t even know he’s on a date.

 

Then a few weeks later when she shows up to the set of her new show, she discovers her new co-host is none other than her worst, most awkward blind date. They either find a way to live together in the house for six weeks and renovate it or get sued by the production company.

 

Only what neither of them know is that the cast and crew are hiding a secret that will change the direction of their relationship. It releases July 2025.

Q: Anything else we should know?

A: My next release is Love to Hate and comes out April 2025 and follows an independent bookstore owner/successful podcaster who is looking for true love and a cynical big-chain CEO who launches a bookstore war that may challenge everything they believe about love. You can preorder it now wherever books are sold.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb