Bestselling author Ali Rosen returns to the podcast, this time to discuss ALTERNATE ENDINGS, a smart, witty, breathless second-chance romance about a single mother juggling homelife and career who starts traveling to Ireland for work… and reconnects with a high school love who is now the CTO of her company. Ali discusses the complexities of motherhood, divorce and custody, female friendships, writing a (slightly) older heroine, and the book’s breathtaking Irish setting. In the end, she reveals what her next book is about!

Transcript:

Zibby: Welcome, Ali. Thank you so much for coming on Moms Don't Have Time to Read Books again. Now to discuss alternate endings. Congratulations.

Ali: Thank you for having me again. So appreciate it. 

Zibby: I feel like you just, rescue me for a second chance, just came out. What are these six months apart?

What's going on? 

Ali: It's insane. I did not write them six months apart, but yeah, that, you know, you are also with Amazon Publishing. So when they have a plan for you, this was their plan for me to put them right together. 

Zibby: So, wow. Is it literally six months? 

Ali: It's literally six months. Yeah. The last one was, It's November 1st and this is May 7th, so, but the next one will be a year, a year between them again.

No one will have to hear from me again for a year. 

Zibby: But a year is still soon. 

Ali: Very soon. Yeah. Well, I think, you know, the romance, I mean, it's, it's amazing, like the romance reading community is so voracious. 

Zibby: Yep. 

Ali: That they. love having multiple books, you know, so they read one book and they say, well, where's the next one?

So I think having two books out was the goal. Um, and so hopefully people like it. 

Zibby: Yeah. But I loved this book. It's so great. I found the characters so relatable and so very, very real the way you write about marriage, divorce, custody, kids, career, like all the things Beatrice's voice. I was just like, nodding, nodding, yes this, yes this, like, totally get it, facetiming at work, you know, with the kids, and being like, oh, sorry, everybody, for hearing my mom voice, you know, like, the whole thing, like, all of it.

Ali: The duality of being women who want a lot of things, I mean, which is kind of what your podcast is all about. I mean, it really gets into that of ambitious mothers who want to be, you know, have multitudes. I mean, and which I think we all do no matter what path you're on. And so I think I'm hoping that alternate endings speaks to that for women who are just trying to succeed at all the things that they want to do, which yeah.

I think we can do, but it's hard. 

Zibby: And that like love and, you know, passion and all that stuff is still a part of moms, you know, it doesn't go away, you know, you still anyway. 

Ali: So no, no, it does not. And I think that that's something that, you know, I really, I was very thrilled that my editors and my publisher were going to let me write a slightly older heroine because I think, and I think romance is seeing that more now.

Where it's sort of this romance, women's fiction hybrid and women are allowed to not be in their 20s and be able, which again, I love romances with women of all ages, but I think it was especially refreshing for me to get to write a mother having a romance, which I think sometimes. we don't get to see as much.

Or it's like, she had a baby when she was 18, and now she's 24, and look at this single mom. And it's like, okay, well, there's also, you know, women who are older too, so. 

Zibby: And I also loved her relationship with her, her sister in law, Beatrice's, what's her name, Nita? 

Ali: Yeah, Mona. 

Zibby: Mona, Mona. And how sometimes even if the relationship doesn't work out, you can still like, love the family so, so much.

Ali: And I think that's, It's so important is that family comes in so many different forms. And I, I think, you know, we're seeing a lot of books with found family in friendships, but I think it's also, you know, I have such amazing relationships with my in laws with, you know, people. Fourth cousins, twice removed, who just happen to be family, I mean, I think we sometimes, I love sort of showcasing, especially that, you know, Mona and Beatrice's son are kind of the same personality, and I don't know, I mean, having kids, one of the most delightful pieces of it has been seeing where your kids sort of take pieces from everyone else.

whatever member of your family they happen to get it from, you know, so it's not just the parents. So I, I kind of loved her living with these like two zany people who just happened to be the same, you know, this aunt and son combo. 

Zibby: One of my kids reminds me so much of my former sister in law. And I'm like, well, this is the coolest thing ever, you know, cause I, I'm like, this is awesome.

I've like created another. One of my best friends, just like you said in the book. There were so many things in the book where I was like, yes this, I don't know, it just hit so home, close to home for me. So I didn't even ask you, why don't you tell the listeners what the book is about?

Ali: So, Alternate Endings is the story of Beatrice, who, as we discussed, is getting divorced.

She's trying to deal with custody of her kid with her soon to be ex husband while she's also dealing with a job that she loves, but with a boss who's a little bit flighty, and her boss has decided, her boss is Irish, and has decided to move. She's getting divorced. She's moving back to Ireland, and so Bea is going to have to travel to Ireland every other week, which completely upends her already very precarious custody scenario.

And as this is all unfolding, the boy that she loved in high school is now the, you know, new CTO of her company. And so they sort of embark on this, you know, um, Friends with benefits, what happens in Ireland stays in Ireland scenario, . And of course nothing ever stays. And you know, it, it's really the story of two very type A people who, you know, want to keep control of their life and, you know, find that letting somebody in can still have control.

You know, so it's, it's a beautiful love story of kind of two people that maybe we don't get to see as much of who are a little quieter. And, you know, I think we often see these like. You know, really happy or really grumpy or, you know, all, you know, sort of these tropes of people and, and what I wanted to portray is that sometimes, you know, serious people need love too.

And so it's, it's really her journey, but kind of by allowing herself to open up and also come into her power as an executive and really sort of seeing her value in all the parts of her life, which I think is something we all struggle with. So, you know, I just, I, I just adore. I adore her and I adore this book and her friendships and it's, you know, it's really about taking a village, but also being able to kind of say what you want in all parts of your life, which I think.

Zibby: Friendships were great, by the way, that they have like a group talk from the bathtub. I mean. Yeah, amazing. 

Ali: I want it again. I mean, it's, it's a bunch of moms trying to find time. I mean, moms don't have time to read books. Moms also don't have times necessarily to catch up with their friends. I loved, you posted recently about your old friends and not necessarily having the time to see them, but they're still the people that you turn to.

And so I wanted to create a scenario for them of like, when would these moms be able to chat? Because it's not going to be. That every single week they're getting together and throwing a dinner at their houses. I mean, it's not. So yeah, they, they have FaceTime calls in the bath. When you talk to your friends.

I mean, that's the thing. A lot of my friendship, you know, takes place over like group text, you know? I mean, it's, which of course isn't quite as dynamic in a book setting. But I mean, I think we all have these relationships that feel so core to our identities. And yet you might say to yourself, well, I haven't even seen, you know, we live, I live in downtown New York and they live in Brooklyn and somehow I haven't seen them in three months.

How did that happen? But it But you're talking every day, you know, either a call on the way, you know, you're walking to something or you're texting. It's like you're involved in each other's lives in a way that doesn't require being physically together all the time. And I, I think it's important to showcase friendships in that way too, because, you know, we have this sort of idea.

I feel like it's that sitcom idea of like the neighbors across the hall who wander into your house and I mean that would be really nice but most of the time it's, it's just the, the feeling of these people have my back and if I needed them in a moment, they would be there, but we don't need to see each other every minute because we're involved, you know, technology allows us to be involved.

Zibby: Yeah, so true. Well, I love that whole aspect of it, and the friend who shows up right when she needs, I mean, cause that's it, right? Like, our friends, they'll be there when things drop out, and you'll be there for them, and, yeah. 

Ali: Um, I mean, I recently had, you know, a kidney stone, which was super fun, and I had a friend, my son needed to get to chess at 7.

30 in the morning, and I had had to stay overnight, I mean, I texted a friend, and I just said, can you go to the house and get Guy and take him to his study? thing. I mean, and she said no problem. And she was there. I didn't have to think about it for a second. I mean, that's. That is what female friendship is to me, is like knowing that you can say that and they will be there in a second.

But yeah, you don't have to be with them every minute of the day. 

Zibby: I think we actually don't give our friends enough opportunities to be there for each other. Like, I like being there for my friends. If they need me, like I like to show them in my act, you know, in any way and I just feel like we're all so siloed off.

I don't know, even though, you know, I, I think it works on every side of it when we ask for help and accept help. And you know what I'm trying to say? 

Ali: Yeah. Which we're not, we're not good at. I mean, that's, it's been the most beautiful part of having difficult things happen is seeing where people insist on stepping up because we don't say you know, I need help.

That's the hardest thing to say, even though, even though. You would be the first to offer it and you know that they would be the first to accept it. 

Zibby: We wait for like big medical things to it, right? So you're like that's the last time I was like all hands on deck like I'm blah blah blah.

Yeah, but really it could just be a Tuesday 

Ali: Right, it could just be like I'm sad and I need you to bring me some babka And your friends will I mean that's that's That's the beauty of it, you know, so, yeah, I want to portray that too. 

Zibby: Okay, wait. So, thank you for taking us to your castle in Ireland. I really appreciate that.

Take, thanks for taking a skeet shooting and all the things I've never done and the places I've never been. Why there? How did that happen? 

Ali: So, I mean, I fell in love with Ireland the first time I visited and a few years ago we went on vacation, there's, you know, you can visit Brigid's Castle, it is a, it is a real place, it is based on a hotel called Ashford Castle.

Zibby: We're planning a trip this summer and I'm like, maybe I'll go to the castle in this book. 

Ali: Go to Ashford Castle. It was it was just and especially with kids. I mean, it was it just felt magical, but it also felt like a home. I mean, and that was sort of the thing. It's it's very rare. I find to go to a hotel that really feels homey and it just stuck in my brain of like, wouldn't it be so funny?

I mean, we all know these extra, you know, New York women that have worked their whole lives and are a little bit extra. And I just was like, I feel like I know this type of woman who would just be like, you know what? I'm done with New York. I'm going and I'm going to buy this, like this castle. And Ireland, you know, funnily enough, when we were there, I mean, Ireland, there's a line in the book about, you know, they built like so many castles.

I mean, there's like, there's more castles in Ireland than anywhere else on earth. So people really do buy them, renovate them and have them as private homes. So it's not. I mean, it's unrealistic in a certain sense, but it's, it's not a thing that could not be done. So yeah, Brigid's sort of miniature castle in Ireland is, is really my dream version of if somebody took over Ashford Castle for themselves.

But yeah, I mean, I just, I loved the idea of having this woman get, you know, time to herself in kind of a magical place that sort of yanks her out of her everyday life. And then sort of through all the beautiful places, I mean, the skeet shooting and the going fishing and I mean, the, you know, seeing baby sheep being born.

I mean, these are kind of all things as a tourist that you can do in Ireland. So I just, you know, I, I think Ireland is just one of the most beautiful places on earth and the vibrancy of it, the green of it. I went to college in Scotland, so I always sort of felt like Scotland and Ireland, they're, they're gonna, they're so similar, you know, and then you go to Ireland and you're like, Oh my God, I mean, Scotland is very green, but Ireland is like technicolor green.

I mean, it's just, it's, it's such a beautiful place. So it, it, it felt like. Just such a delightful place to set a book and kind of create this magical but realistic place for this woman, you know, because again, it's It's not a story with magic. It's meant to be grounded in reality. She's meant to be very grounded in reality.

But I wanted to give her a real place that could feel a little magical. And that's sort of what that part of Ireland did for me. 

Zibby: But then you show her on the plane. Do you know, like, you're not just like, it's not a movie where you're like, one second you're here, and then you're in this new place. It's like, no, now I have to like, go to baggage claim.

And, you know, not baggage claim, because like, why check? But you know what I mean. 

Ali: Yeah, and running into this guy, you know, it's like, and that's I mean, it's the logistical piece of it, I think is so funny because I mean, I listen, I love an escapist rom com, you know, I think a lot of people watched Irish wish and they were like, Oh, that's really fun.

But I mean, I don't think Lindsay Lohan had any scenes in the airport, you know, in that. Yeah, you know, whatever movie I mean, but you know, there's a logistical component to if you travel, I mean, as you are seeing on your book tour right now, I mean, if you are constantly traveling, that piece of it is exhausting.

So it's, it's balancing the magic with just her day to day of like, you know, What's happening with her son and I mean, one of my favorite scenes is like she lands in Ireland and her sister in law is like still awake from the night before because the time difference and it's just like, you know, and her sister in law is single and out on a date and she's just like, Oh my God, you know, my what is my life right now?

But, you know, so it's, it's the logistical mess of it. And, you know, some non magical things happen in Ireland too. I mean, she certainly, but it's, yeah, it's giving her a setting where things can be beautiful. If you, you know, and, and the New York scenery of it all. I mean, it's set in the East Village. It's kind of this dream of a townhouse.

A dream or a nightmare because she shares a townhouse with her ex husband. You know, like she lives above and he lives below. But yeah, trying to find the magic. Because listen, like right now, walking around New York, you have all, I mean, it's spring, there's all the flowers. I mean, it is magical, but it's also the day to day drudgery too.

So it's finding that balance. 

Zibby: No, I love that. 

I was surprised that there wasn't more food. I was expecting, you know, with your career and your previous book and all the rest, I'm like, okay, okay, I'm going to try not to be too hungry when I start reading this book. But there was an absence of that. Tell me about that.

It must have been a conscious decision. 

Ali: Yeah. And I mean, you know, it's interesting in conversations with my editor, you know, I've been like, okay, I want to do another food book, but it's, it's also, you know, I don't want to just write chefs and recipe writers and women like that. So I. Yeah, there's food in the book and there's still recipes in the back of the book, but you know, she doesn't have a connection to food in the same way that Stella and Recipe for Second Chances did.

So there's definitely food described, you know, the Irish food. I think people don't realize the food in Ireland is really unbelievable, especially like the seafood and the dairy. I mean, just fantastic. But you know, she works at a tech company. She's not a major foodie. And, you know, she has one of her friends.

Cooks for her a fair amount. And so, you know, we see food. 

Zibby: Food is there. I'm not saying it's absent I just thought it would be like a major. It would be everywhere. Yeah, it would be everywhere. 

Ali: Yeah, I think you know, I have to give it another book I mean, I I am noodling on a book about a chef that you know absconds back to Italy That's my that's in my head But yeah, you have to blame my editor for that because she doesn't want me to get pigeonholed.

Zibby: Interesting.

Ali: Someday we'll write about food again, but. 

Zibby: Is your so I know you're also at little you're at little a right now. 

Ali: I'm at Montlake. Yeah, also. 

Zibby: But car is Carmen your editor or not? You have a different editor.

Ali: My editor is Lauren Plude and I adore her and I I trust her and you know It's it's a funny thing when you're a writer and you want to write what you want to write But you also have to recognize It's a market is what it is and setting you up as an author and I felt very grateful and I don't know if you felt this way with your Amazon team, but, you know, they have a vision of wanting to have a long term career, you know, and that's my hope is people love these books and that I can.

Deliver that to people, you know, hopefully on an annual basis. And Well.

Zibby: I am gonna read anything you write. I, I love, I No, it's, I'm serious. I'm like, their, your voice it, your subject matter. You know, the way you, I don't know. I just, I love it. I, I And, and where you're gonna take me. What if somebody just lived a life where like all they did was go on, like, follow the characters that an author writes, you know, what would that life be like?

Ali: Oh, my God. Well, I mean, if you like Ilan Hildebrand, I guess you just live on Nantucket. 

Zibby: Yeah. 

Ali: You know, there's, I mean, there's some authors that, yeah, just speak to a specific place. And I love that so much. But I also, I feel like it's so special to be able to travel in books. And I think, especially in the romance and women's fiction space, I think that's, you You know, we're not getting a historical story.

We're not getting, you know, we're not learning sort of through that. So I think learning through place and seeing other cultures and yeah, and just dreaming of travel. I mean, as you said, it's like you read it and you're like, oh, I Ireland would be a fun place to go this summer, you know? So yeah, I mean, my, I'll have another, a third book coming out next year and that.

Is a little bit London. So, and then, yeah, hopefully they'll, hopefully they'll let me go back to Italy. That's really my, that's my next. 

Zibby: So wait, hold on. I'm getting confused now. So you have alternate endings, which obviously is out now coming up when this airs and everything. So then your next book is what?

It's not the one in Italy. That's the fourth book. 

Ali: No, that's, 

that's my theoretical fourth book. Let me write it. No, that there will be a third book coming out in spring of 2025. And that book is. is London. It's a little bit, I want to say like, dear prudence slash you've got male mistaken identities, a therapist in therapy, uh, between New York and London.

So that one. 

Zibby: Do you have a title? 

Ali: We don't have a title yet. We have some ideas for titles, but of course that I feel like that becomes a marketing question. And I, you know, I, I'm really bad at titles. Cause I always want to do something like that to me is funny. I'm like, Oh, this is like, you know, this song, and it's a funny pun on that.

And everyone's like, Nobody knows that Ani DiFranco song that you did, it's really funny, so I'm also grateful to the Amazon marketing team for making sure that my titles stay, so no, that one not yet, but yeah, the goal, you know, the goal is just to keep, I mean, I just find as a writer, it's such a, like, what a joy to be able to sort of escape into these worlds and get to travel again.

You know, through your writing. I mean, especially like you're sitting in the doldrums of New York in January and you're like, I'm gonna go to the, you know, green summer in Ireland. I mean, it's, it's why we read. I mean, and it, and it's, I think why a lot of people write. I, I love getting to see the world through reading and I'm lucky enough to get to travel a lot in my regular life because that's, that's Both my husband and I just prioritize that over all things.

And so, you know, I want to give people that escape too. I mean, it's. It's, it's why, it's why I read, you know, to sort of get to live in someone else's world for a little bit. 

Zibby: Does your husband read your work? 

Ali: He has no interest in it. He's a nonfiction person. And it's, it's really funny because a lot of, you know, Recipe for Second Chances sort of came from this idea of the way that my husband and I met.

It's not our story, but. Little pieces of it are in there. And so he's always like, you know, he's like, people love Samuel. So they love me. I'm like, you didn't even read it. Not, but no, I mean, it's funny because I, you know, like the people that I am closest to are not fiction readers. So it's really funny.

Like my sister and my husband, I mean, my mom read it. Which I was like, you know, she's like, I'm really excited about alternate endings. I'm like, oh, great. It's sexier than the last one. Can't wait for you to read it. But yeah, it's funny. You know, I'm, I'm, as somebody who loves to read, I, I really hate when I feel obligated to read something.

So I'm just, I'm very big on saying like, support me, you know, show up at things and be a cheerleader, but yeah, nobody, we don't, I mean, we don't have time. Right. So like, Like read what you enjoy. I mean, this idea of reading out of obligation, I mean, which is how a lot of people end up not reading is like, Oh, I should be reading this Pulitzer Prize winning book instead of this romance book.

I mean, it's like, I don't want to do it. So I'm yeah, I wouldn't make anyone read anything. And also like, I'm very lucky there is a large audience for the type of Books I'm writing. So I don't need my husband to buy my book. 

Zibby: Sounds good. I know. I can't tell you how many times I've had conversations with people who are like, have you read like such and such a book that's on the bestseller list or won some prize or whatever.

And they're like, you know, I've tried to get into it like four times and I'm like, stop trying to get into it. Like, it's okay. It's not for you. That's fine. Like, you know what? If there are a million books out there, like just, it's okay. Put that one down. 

Ali: And that's what you do that I think is so brilliant is we've kind of we've gotten into this like vortex of these are the books and you know this shows up online and that's what people are reading and you want to post that you're reading it too and I mean there are just so many books I mean if you have you know particular types of books that you like the quality and quantity of books that exist Transcribed It's so much more than what you see on, you know, the top of a bestseller list.

I mean, so it's, it's fascinating to me when people sort of read, I mean, reading is such an internal, you know, solitary pleasure. It's like, why are you reading for something? If you want to know about the book, okay, you know, get the CliffsNotes, but I mean, for actual spending your own time reading, I mean, read what you, you know, what you enjoy.

And every time I do that, every time I'm like, Oh, everyone told me I have to read this book. And it's not probably not for me, but I'm, I'm always like, why, you know, why didn't I just pick up, you know, another, like Lynn Painter book and laugh my off while I'm just living my life. You know, if that's what I want to read.

You know, so I don't, yeah, it's, but I, you know, reading has some hold on people where it's supposed to be like big and important. Like they'll turn on Real Housewives, but then they'll make themselves read like what the nominee for the Booker Prize. And it's like, Yeah. It's all entertainment. Yeah. You know, enjoy it.

Zibby: Just get rid of all the shits. You know? Plus all the other books need your reading anyway. 

Ali: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, well, it's, I mean, it's, yeah, we, you know, this is, I mean, the giant topic of, of all readers. But yeah. 

Zibby: But it is so important. And that is why it's good to have a podcast where we can talk about lots of books and have people listen.

So who, people who are listening. Let this be a lesson to you. Put down the books that you just can't get into. It's okay. 

Ali: I mean, just right. And I feel like your podcast is so great with that, where it's like you can listen to, you know, you have so many authors on, you can listen to the episodes where it's like, Oh, I'm interested in that book.

Oh, that one, maybe not. I mean, and I think that's, you know, reading should absolutely be about your choice, you know? So I think that's, it's just such a. A beautiful thing that you do by giving a platform to so many different types of authors and then letting people decide what they want to read rather than just, you know, we have X column inches in a, you know, newspaper to say this is this is what you should be reading.

I mean, it's I agree. I know. 

Zibby: All right. Well, Ali, thank you so much. Alternate ending. So exciting. And congratulations. Really, really great. 

Ali: Thank you for having me on again. And thank you. I mean, congratulations on blank. It's just, I, I just have to say, I adored it so much. It was kind of the same thing. I found myself laughing at so many moments of like, uh, Yes, and I'm just I'm in awe of your book touring and I'm just so happy to see so many people reading it and loving it because I was so lucky to read it early and I just it's it's such a delight to see when people find a great book.

Zibby: So congratulations. Thank you so much. 

All right. Hope to see you again. 

Ali: Bye. I know onto your next. Good luck with your travel. 

Zibby: Thank you. I'll wait for the plane. Okay.