Zibby Books author alert! Bestselling British author Jane Costello joins Zibby to discuss her hilarious, relatable, and delightfully swoon-worthy rom-com meets mom-com, IT’S GETTING HOT IN HERE. Jane talks about her protagonist, Lisa Darling—a single mom navigating perimenopause, teenage drama, and an unexpected office romance. This leads to a discussion about the challenges and joys of midlife and the importance of finding love at any age. Jane also shares her journey from journalist to bestselling author, balancing motherhood with writing, and how her characters have grown alongside her readers.

Transcript:

Zibby: Welcome, Jane. Thank you so much for coming on Moms Don't Have Time to Read Books to discuss It's Getting Hot in Here, your novel, which, as you know, we are publishing in the U. S. and I am obsessed with in every way and so excited to talk to you.

Jane: Oh, I'm so excited to be here. And yeah, I, I cannot describe how excited I am about, um, the, um, forthcoming publication, which is just, um, yeah, it's just a ride already. It's just fantastic. So,.. 

Zibby: So this is really unique for us because it has come out already in the UK. So I already, we already have like a peek at what happened and it's almost like, it's like we can go back in the time machine or something and like see what's or a fast forward or whatever. So I want to hear how that's been, but first I want you to tell everybody what It's getting hot in here is about and like the backstory of it and I want the whole story. 

Jane: Okay, well, it's a romantic comedy about a woman in her 40s and my leading lady is called Lisa Darling and she's a single mom of two, uh, one of whom is.

I think it's fair to say a delightfully difficult teenager. 

Zibby: Aren't they all? 

Jane: Absolutely, absolutely. Endless material on that front I had. But yeah, she's a, she's a TV executive. Um, she's perimenopausal. She is a member of the school PTA and she's been divorced. twice, and she has the to do list from hell.

And we meet her at the start of the book when she's, um, supporting her best friend and colleague, Rose, through, um, breast cancer treatment. And Rose's replacement has sort of swept in from the Los Angeles office, and he's a guy called Zach Russo, and he's, he's sort of sent hearts aflutter across the office, but, but Lisa takes an instant dislike to him, because she A, she's convinced he wants Rose's job permanently, uh, and B, because he, he puts the brakes on a project that she's been working on for months and months, so she is very unhappy about that.

And, well, fireworks ensue, uh, a lot of chemistry, a lot of chemistry, and all of this chemistry culminates. in this steamy and ill advised clinch that she has with him after they've had, both had one too many drinks after work. And yeah, that's, that's sort of, you know, the beginning of, uh, it is a rom com, very much a rom com.

Hopefully it'll make you laugh. Um, but I think it's also a portrait of what it's like to be a midlife woman in the 21st century. Yeah. And all the, uh, all the things we have to juggle and deal with. So yeah. 

Zibby: Well, I love that you are like the poster child for women in their 40s and the fact that there is room for love and romance and that we are not just moms or we are not just taking care of the older generation.

We are not just like, you just have, you're rebranding this whole age group and you are like the perfect, most glamorous, brilliant person to do it. I love it. Like, let you be the one to do a rebrand. I appreciate it. 

Jane: Well, I really, honestly, I wanted this to be a celebration of midlife. You know, obviously we have to deal with, we have a load of things thrown at us.

And that's very much reflected in the book. She does not have an easy time of it. But I just wanted, I just felt this urge to write a book that was funny and optimistic and just a celebration of actually a time in your life when you've probably you know, you've built, we've all built up these lifelong friendships, you know, we've got a bit of experience under our belt.

And actually, yes, as you say, there's still time for love and, you know, there's a, well, I don't know what to say, but it is a bit steamy, the book as well. And I sort of deliberately did that because I thought, you know, this is, there's room for this. There's room for this and it's important that that is not just something that's associated with women who are in their 20s who, you know, really had just looking for Mr.

Right for the first time in their lives. And yeah, so very much a celebration of, um, of midlife. 

Zibby: But do you, do you think women in their 20s are as tired as we are? 

Jane: Unquestionably not. 

Zibby: I mean, Lisa's to do list, as I know I've told you, but Kathleen, who is our executive editor in Zibby's book, she started reading page one and was like, oh my God, Zibby, like, this is your, like, you have to read this immediately.

And any woman or parent or whatever will just feel so seen right away by like the endless stuff and how doing all this stuff. You know, it's like we have to do it while on ice skates or something, right? You know, it's like they're with like undulations in the rig. Like everything is against us. And yet there's more and more we have to hold.

So.

Jane: You feel like you're drowning in it sometimes. And I think, especially when you've got, I've got three kids. I know you've got four. 

Zibby: I have four. 

Jane: What? Okay. Okay. Oh my gosh. Hats off. 

Zibby: That extra kid. He gets us a hats off. 

Jane: It's just endless, isn't it, you know, and so you have this, you have these to do lists that's full of really important stuff, but then there's so many items on there that are things like buy socks or, you know, organize such and such for a, I dunno, an art project next week or, and it's just endless the amount of things, you know, schools are very demanding I think these days and, uh, you know, when you're juggling that with a career and all kinds of other things, especially As you know, I've been a single parent for a long time in my life, and it's really tough when you're on your own doing all that.

It really is. But somehow we manage and still celebrate our friendships, and we still manage to have fun throughout the whole thing. So that's what I really wanted the book to, you know, I wanted it to be. 

Zibby: Well that, that absolutely comes through. Yes. Absolutely. Wait, so how old are your kids now? 

Jane: So my eldest is 19, uh, and then I've got a 16 year old and an 11 year old as well, all boys.

So mine is a busy, let's say, very noisy household.

Zibby: This is none of my business, but were you divorced twice like Lisa? Divorced twice? 

Jane: No, no, no, no, absolutely not. I was divorced once, but I deliberately made that. I just wanted her to be divorced twice because the thing about Lisa there is, she is really, really good at certain parts of her life. She's fantastic at work.

She's an absolute killer in those meetings. You know, she takes no nonsense from anybody, but in parts of her personal life the wheels have just come off and she's made some, she's just made some bad decisions really. And I think certainly in her marriages, she's, you can see she's sort of a romantic, you know, she's, she's, she fell in love really young and got married quickly and it ended equally quickly.

Then was, um, convinced that, you know, the guy she married and had kids with would, you know, be the one. And he made the decision to leave, you know. And she feels almost embarrassed about the twice divorce thing, you know. As if it's something people in Hollywood do, but not, you know, not in real life. And, yeah, and I think that's very much kind of made her reluctant to ever.

And she's sort of convinced herself, you know, this is the time in my life. I'm not I'm never having my fingers burned ever, ever again. But yeah, so the wheels come off in certain parts of her life, certainly with the dealing with the teenager. You know, you can see she is a really good mom at heart, but teenagers can be challenging.

And he, I made sure that I did not hold back on that front. I did not want to roast him to any of that. And he Despite the fact that you sort of know he's a good kid, deep down. Well, that's what I wanted him to say. Yes, you get that. He's a good kid, and he's gonna come out the other side of it. But it's not fun.

It really isn't fun, that sort of thing. So yeah, she's sort of, she's a kind of multifaceted character, I would say. 

Zibby: I know. It's like, the fact that when kids become teenagers, It's like Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Like the people, the sweet, loving, cuddly things you can always count on become like completely different animals.

You know, it's like we once tried to rescue this puppy and I was like, oh my gosh, I've like literally brought a wild animal into my home. You know, like. Like, why did I do this? But that was a choice. You know, like, this is just one more thing that happens. And I mean, I love my teenagers. They're amazing. But you know, it's, it's the unpredictability of, of all of it.

It's like nothing, nothing, like even the people you live with completely can change. It's like, what next? Yeah, absolutely. And the mortality, like you have with her friend, like that in the in the middle of all this, we're also being like, Oh yeah, right. And we're all going to die. And like, wait, maybe my best friend is dying.

And like, I have to hold that too. I mean, that's like, it's a lot. 

Jane: Yeah. But I think we all sort of, you know, by the time you've reached a certain, I mean, this is a book that couldn't have been written about a woman in her twenties, you know, it's very much a woman in midlife. And you, you sort of, you know, by the time you've built up so many friendships, like you do.

When you've reached this age, you know, we know people who terrible things have happened to whether it's, you know, not necessarily illness, but, you know, we've been through a lot of stuff and supported friends, hopefully. And, you know, so I just really wanted it to be a reflection of that. 

Zibby: I feel like if anyone is going to come up with a clever name for midlife, it should be you, Jane.

So if you could help us, you know, you're, you're on the front lines of the rebrand and I love that. Midlife is just such an unsexy name for this time. Let's find a new name. Could you do that on the side? 

Jane: Although it's better than middle aged. To me, I used to think middle aged just sounded, I don't know. If you told me I'd be writing a book about a middle aged woman, it just sounds so unglamorous.

I know. And yet I'm afraid that's what we are. I know. I know. But I don't feel that I, the really thing, silly thing is, and I'm sure we all feel the same, I'm, you know, our bodies have changed, we've got a lot of history under our belt, but I feel fundamentally the same as I did when I was, 25. Um, you know, my personality and core is exactly the same.

And I think that's one of the things that sort of takes you by surprise, doesn't it? 

Zibby: I literally said that in a meeting yesterday. We were talking about like marketing to midlife women and I'm like, but we can't say that. I was like, because I feel like I'm 28. No one identifies, even if you know it logically, like I don't, I don't know.

It just doesn't sound right, but. 

Jane: It doesn't. It doesn't. It sounds like, sounds like that's, that'll happen when I'm finally a grown up. You know, no, no, that's not going to happen yet. 

Zibby: Okay. On the side, come up with a better name or term. Okay. I'll do that. 

Jane: I'll work 

Zibby: on that. Okay. Thank you. But you have been writing throughout, right?

This is not your first. You've written like a zillion books, and you've been writing for years, and have two different pen names because you have so many books you can't even fit it into one name. I mean, it's like shameful to the rest of us. And you've like taken the reader through, you know, in the same vein as like a, you know, Sophie Kinsella, Marion Keys, like, you know, you're, you're, you're, you're, Your characters are growing with us as we're all aging and you, like, nail each time zone.

Time frame, rather. So just tell me more about how you got started writing and, you know, like, your outlook on all that when you were younger, how it's shifted, and some of the successes that you had back then and, you know, all of that. 

Jane: Okay, oh my gosh, that was a big question, but yeah, yeah. Okay. Well, like all authors, I loved reading, you know, I just love reading as a, as a little girl.

And I always say that stemmed from the fact that when I was growing up, my mom had been involved in a car accident before I was born. So she was in a wheelchair, fully wheelchair bound. And so, She and I, when I was a little girl, really were sort of housebound together, um, and we would read all day long, and I just loved it, you know, I just became a massive reader from when I was really, really young, and, you know, love, I really enjoyed writing.

You know what it's like, when you're sort of young, you think saying I want to be an author feels like saying I want to be a pop star. It feels, I was far too sensible to, to sort of ever imagine that that was within my grasp, you know. So, I did what I thought was the next best thing and I became a journalist.

And I I really enjoyed journalism, worked in newspapers. I was the editor of the local newspaper in Liverpool. And it was while I was on maternity leave with my eldest son, who's now 19, um, that I thought, you know, I've really, I've got to, now's the time, you know. Eternity Leave didn't quite leave the amount of free time that I ever imagined it would, to be honest, but I just knew I had to, you know, take the opportunity there and really actually do something about this ambition.

So I, I wrote the first. three chapters. Oh, well, I got the idea for my first book, which was called Bridesmaids. It was before the film, by the way, original idea. Um, and I got the idea 19 years ago as I was sitting in a, in a pew at a friend's wedding, I saw her and her, you know, bridesmaids walked down the island.

I thought, has anybody ever written a rom com called Bridesmaids? And I'm going to, I decided then I was going to go home. And if nobody had, I thought. I've got to do this. So anyway, sure enough, I wrote the first three chapters and a synopsis, sent it off to a, an agent, and he took me on, basically. And that was it.

And that was the start of what would then become a career, a sort of decade long career at the time, writing romantic comedy, you know, as Jane Costello. I was a top 10 bestseller in, in the UK. Um, unlike it's getting hot in here. They were very much, um, you know, women in their 20s, finding Mr. Right for the first time with lots of humor in it, which, you know, as you've probably guessed is one of my trademarks.

Um, and then I, I sort of reached, I got to my ninth book and I was In my 40s, myself, and I thought I can't, I can't realistically write something relatable about that ship has sailed, uh, about a woman who's in, um, her 20s. And it was then that my career took this sort of different direction. Um, and I wrote my first book as Katherine Isaac and that book was called You, Me, Everything.

That has been published in the U. S. The other, the others haven't. But yeah, that did really well and sort of sold all over the world and, and it was a slightly different direction, um, in the sense. that it was very much still a love story but it dealt with some sort of tougher themes I suppose. That book was about a woman who takes her 10 year old son on a road trip to the south of France to spend the summer with his estranged father and the reason she's doing that is because she's discovered there is Huntington's disease in the family and so there's, it's not a book about a disease, it's a love story but obviously We're dealing with themes like that.

It's not a rom com. Hence the fact that we have the different name and Really it was only sort of last year that I just felt this urge Having kind of, you know reached my late 40s myself to to go back to writing the rom coms because All those years when I was writing as Catherine Isaac every book event I went to in the UK people were coming up to me saying when are you gonna write another Jane Costello?

for another one and, you know, and I sort of battered it away for ages until I sort of hit on this idea that I just don't write it about a woman in her 20s anymore. I now write it about a woman in her 40s and the result is it's getting hot in here. That felt like a really long answer to your question.

No, honestly, I just want to like put my feet 

Zibby: up on the desk and kick back and listen to more stories. No, I'm like, please. I'll take a breath now. No, don't take a breath. Keep entertaining me. I love this story. I mean, it's a, it's this true success story and it's, it shows you can make a career of writing and it can be a dream, but also a reality.

And I find that you switched names very interesting and also a bit confusing. Like, how do you feel about that now? Like, cause I feel like Jane Costello, like, don't you, doesn't, isn't she allowed to have range? You know? 

Jane: Yeah. To be honest, I, with Heinz, I mean, it was, there, there have been a few times where, you know, certainly it took some getting used to at the time because Did they call you Catherine on book tour?

Yes. And I started looking blankly and then go, Oh, yes, me. Your name is Jane Costello, right? Your real name? Yes. My surname is, I'm Jane, but my surname is Catherine. Sorry, my middle name is Catherine and my son's name is Isaac. So that, that was totally Yeah. But yes, I mean, you know, yes, it could have been done either way, I guess, is the answer.

But it all worked out. Yeah, it all worked out fine. But yeah, it does get confusing. It's certainly in the UK where I'm very much known as Jane Costello, I would say. I'd say, you know, that was the kind of big, bigger name that I had. But yeah, I mean, like I say, Yumi, everything was, you know, did, did really well.

And there was a movie in the offing at one point until we have the small matter of a pandemic, which is a bit of a shame. But but yeah, it was. Yeah, it was a really interesting time in my career. And yeah. 

Zibby: were the Jane Costello books to refer to you now as like an object, but whatever. Why were those never in the US?

Like, I feel like I would have eaten those up in my 20s. 

Jane: Well, I had, I, I didn't have a, the same agent at the time. It was like, you know, I don't know whether it was just one of those. publishing things. I don't know. But I think at the, I, yeah, I mean, they did so well here. Yeah. Um, but I think at the time, you know, you know what publishing's like.

It goes in fashions, doesn't it? And at the time everyone was, although it was They were doing really well in the UK. I think it was all about 50 shades of gray. Every was like the big thing. Do you know what I mean? And everybody was after that sort of thing. And then it was vampires after. So, but yeah, so it's just one of those weird, but I don't believe my agent ever at the time ever offered it out to anybody in the, in the U S.

So it was just, uh, we just very much focused on, on the UK, really. It was one of those things. And it was only, you know, when I sort of moved, moved agents and then wrote you me everything that that really did, I mean, that was sold into 26 countries. So it was, I know. I know. So it, so that was just like the most amazing time for me because although I'd had, you know, I'd been published in the odd country, nothing like that, you know, so it did sort of open up this whole other chapter, but it's, it's, it was for no other reason than weird publishing, you know, reasons basically, rather than it necessarily being a book that wouldn't work over there, I would say.

Zibby: Well, I mean, we're now going to benefit from that. I am so honored to be bringing it over and, um, your voice is so amazing. I love how you write. So what are you working on now? Because I have a glimmer and you put a little bit in, you know, talk about that next book. 

Jane: Well, I'm so enjoying it. I've never written a sequel or a follow up or anything like that.

to, to any of my books before, because I always sort of thought, well, once you've got, you know, if you're writing in a romance genre, once you've got them together, I don't want to pull them apart again and undo things in a sort of unnatural way. So I've always resisted that, but somebody came up with, somebody mentioned, now I've never seen Bridgerton, but apparently the sort of way they do it is they focus on one, it's all, all the, it's all set in the same world.

but they focus on one character in one episode and then a different character in another episode and then another one. And so this, we've sort of put on to something really and this, so this is what I'm doing. And so I'm writing a follow up, it's not quite a sequel because it's sort of different characters but set in the same world.

Um, and it's called Forty Love and as you might have guessed it's a sort of, it's about Tennis, but it's, if anybody who is not even slightly interested in tennis, I would hope would be interested in it because it's a love story and it's about somebody sort of rediscovering, you know, their love of sports and camaraderie and finding this whole outlet in their life that they never imagined they'd have at the, in their, in their forties.

Well, I 

Zibby: just love this. And the fact that I tried to publish a book called Forty Love, it's just so perfect that now you're coming along and doing it and you're going to do a much better job. And my book was pretty terrible. Oh, I can't believe that. No, it's fine. It's fine. I tried to make it a little more literary.

I didn't make it funny in retrospect, whatever. And I tried to write it as a memoir, but I had to leave a lot out. So whatever. It wasn't meant to be for me, but clearly like the universe has put Forty Love in my life. Because of all the people, now it's you writing, it's perfect. It's just totally perfect.

Jane: Wait, so it's a character from It's Getting Hot In Here? Well, it's a new character, but it's actually Jeff's sister. So Jeff. And she becomes one of the friends, basically. Oh, that's awesome. And, yeah, it's, I'm loving it. I'm loving it. But I am determined to, to write it for anybody, even if they're not even remotely interested in tennis, because I just think, I mean, I'm, I love tennis myself.

I think you Am I right in saying you are, yes, you have some tennis connections yourself. But yes, um, but I, you know, I'm not, it's not a tennis book. It's just, that's sort of one of the key themes, if you know what I mean. It's a book about, um, yeah, it's another celebration of a midlife woman. 

Zibby: I love it. Oh my gosh.

I cannot wait to read that. I'm like chomping, chomping at the bit. The little section I read is so good. I mean, you're so good. It's just really amazing. Just a question on process, like how are you doing all of these? Like you obviously have the whole story arc down, the pacing, the timing, like how much is done ahead and how much is in the moment and like what are any secrets that we can all benefit from?

Jane: Okay, well I've become, I've always been a planner, and I think I've become even more of a planner over the years because I just find that if I don't plan things out properly, then it just, I just end up sort of undoing things and it's all really messy. And to be honest, even when you plan a book, it's messy and difficult, you know, because you get loads of ideas and you realize that some things don't work and, but yeah, I spend a long time, I would say, trying to make sure that every storyline makes sense.

is building excitement, is making the pages turn, is saying something interesting, and yeah, I do make sure I do that whole thing before I sit down and write chapter one, because it's just, you know, that's just my way of doing it. I'm sort of in awe of authors who can just sit down at a computer and see where they're, you it takes them, but I, I've tried it and it just definitely wouldn't work for me.

And in terms of the process, uh, in terms of my sort of, you know, routine, I've become sort of quite strict with myself over the years, I would say. So I, my mornings are only for writing and nothing else. I don't answer emails. I don't do social media. If anyone phones, it goes unanswered. It's. This is, you know, this is what I do.

And I write in sort of hour long chunks. So I, I use a focus app and I just refuse to move from my screen, um, no matter what, um, do it for an hour and then take a little break and then do another hour. And I do that four times. And once I've done that. I sort of allow myself to take a breath and, you know, move on to all the other stuff of which you'll, you'll know this multiple days when I first started, there was basically Twitter and Facebook and that was it.

But it's become this whole, you know, authors have got to be far more switched on and do a bit of everything these days. Yes. So relentless. Yes. 

Zibby: It is. And you do that five days a week, like Monday to Friday. 

Jane: Yes. Yeah. And I'll be honest, you know, the, the, the writing is my favorite bit, you know, social media is great.

You know, it's lovely to be able to connect with readers and I have a newsletter as well, where, which I enjoy writing. But, you know, when, when, when the right, certainly when the writing's going well, you know, we'll, we'll have off days. And your book Blank, by the way, just brought me out. Oh my God, I loved it so much.

I, oh God, we all know that pain of not being able to come up with an idea. We all know that. Yeah, it just, gosh, it described that feeling so well. But yeah, it's uh, so, but I just, that's partly why I find the planning really, really helps me because there really is nothing worse when you just feel like you're, you don't have the answer.

And despite the fact that this will be, the book I'm writing at the moment is my 16th novel. I still have that. stupid thing at the beginning of writing a book where I go this will be the one where I forget how to do it or this will be the terrible one this this is bound to be the one that won't work or you know certainly at the beginning you'll know if the beginning of writing starting a book is really hard isn't it yes and it feels a bit clunky and the characters don't feel very real and you sort of take a bit of warming up I would say but then once that happens and you're away Magic happens where it catches fire.

There's, there's nothing better. 

Zibby: Totally agree. Oh my gosh. Well, we are so honored to be publishing. It's getting hot in here. I am so excited. I want to just like Listen to you talk all day. Um, get soak up all your advice and experience. And anyway, thank you Jane. Thank you for everything. And I can't wait to read everything.

I can't wait for people to discover your book and laugh and see themselves and escape themselves and all the things that a good book does. So, thank you so much. 

Jane: Oh, Zibby, thank you. This has been brilliant. And, um, yeah, I can't, just can't wait till it comes out. Thank you so much. 

Zibby: Okay. Thank you.