The time it was about The Only Thing Worse Than Me is You

Posted June 24, 2016 by Stacee in Giveaways, Interviews | 9 Comments

I was sold on The Only Thing Worse Than Me is You by Lily Anderson as soon as I saw the comparison of MAAN meets Ten Things I Hate About You.  Add in a Doctor Who reference in the synopsis and I was ready to love the book so hard…even if it made my expectations super high.

I devoured the book and absolutely loved it.  I’m pretty sure it’s going to be one of my top 5 of 2016.  So of course when I was done, I stalked asked Lily if she would be available to do an interview and she agreed! Before we get to her answers, let’s check out the book.

26114524Trixie Watson has two very important goals for senior year: to finally save enough to buy the set of Doctor Who figurines at the local comic books store, and to place third in her class and knock Ben West–and his horrendous new mustache that he spent all summer growing–down to number four.

Trixie will do anything to get her name ranked over Ben’s, including give up sleep and comic books–well, maybe not comic books–but definitely sleep. After all, the war of Watson v. West is as vicious as the Doctor v. Daleks and Browncoats v. Alliance combined, and it goes all the way back to the infamous monkey bars incident in the first grade. Over a decade later, it’s time to declare a champion once and for all.

The war is Trixie’s for the winning, until her best friend starts dating Ben’s best friend and the two are unceremoniously dumped together and told to play nice. Finding common ground is odious and tooth-pullingly-painful, but Trixie and Ben’s cautious truce slowly transforms into a fandom-based tentative friendship. When Trixie’s best friend gets expelled for cheating and Trixie cries foul play, however, they have to choose who to believe and which side they’re on–and they might not pick the same side.

Sounds good, right?

right

1. Please give the elevator pitch for The Only Thing Worse Than Me is You.

Much Ado About Nothing set in a high school for geniuses with more Doctor Who and Star Wars jokes than you can shake a stick at.

2. Where did the idea come from?

Well, first off: I was tired of hunting for a retelling of Much Ado About Nothing. I had to write it myself instead of sulking. Secondly, I wanted to write a book in the language of fandom. I was living alone and too broke for cable, so I was constantly marathoning Firefly, Doctor Who, and Battlestar Galactica via Netflix.

So, I decided to pair the two ideas into one book: Much Ado About Nothing and geek culture.

3. Why do you love Trixie and Ben and why should we root for them?

I love Trixie and Ben because I have never written characters like them before! Trixie is Type A, snarky to a fault, and a walking Marvel comics encyclopedia. Ben is the class clown with a heart of gold and an endless love of puns. I mean, if you don’t want the nerds to win the day, I can’t help you.

4. Without spoilers, what was your favorite scene to write?

Early in the story, Trixie and her friends attend the school’s harvest festival. I loved writing all of the quirks of a Halloween-themed school carnival. When the Messina Academy hosts an event, they go all out, so I fell into a deep Pinterest and YouTube rabbit hole. Some of my favorite jokes in the book are at the harvest festival, mostly to counterbalance having to watch haunted house clips. (I am a scaredy cat and I’m not ashamed to admit it.)

5. Were there any scenes that had to be cut that you wish could have stayed?

Not much was cut from the book during editing, actually. The published version of the book is much longer than the original drafts. But in the very first version of the book, Ben lived with his mom because his dad was a Ken Jennings rival and had won a bunch of money on Jeopardy and used it to start a new life in Southern California. I’m not sure why I decided against using this as part of his plot (I guess because it hurt Ben more to just have his mom starting a family on the other side of the country), but it was really fun to write.

I also kept looking for a place for Meg to scream, “We are Sex-Bob-omb!” to reference her love of Scott Pilgrim, but it never worked out. Please know that in her heart of hearts, Meg really wanted to scream about Sex Bob-omb.

Speed [ish] round:

1. You get the call/email/letter that says you’re being published for the first time. Describe the next 5 minutes.

It’s December 15, 2014. It’s my 26th birthday and I’m having a cup of coffee before work. I have just opened a gift from my roommate–a blue TARDIS dress–and my phone rings. It’s my agent, Laura Zats. It’s pretty early in California, but she’s in Minnesota, so maybe she didn’t check the time before deciding to wish me a happy birthday. I pick up the phone.

“May I speak to Lily?” Laura asks. We’ve only spoken on the phone once before. We’re text and email people.

“It’s me!” I say. “Are you wishing me a happy birthday?”

A pause.

“Wait. It’s your birthday?”

“Um. Yeah? Why else would you…” The realization dawns on me. I’m definitely gonna cry.

“St. Martin’s Press has made an offer on your book.”

I start crying. I say the F-word a lot and then apologize a lot. My roommate looks scared and then excited as I finally say out loud, “Oh my god, my book sold.”

I call my parents and my best friends and cry at them. They all think I’m having some kind of birthday-related nervous breakdown before I can get the words “my book sold” out of my mouth.

I hang up my TARDIS dress. I go to work.

2. What three things would you take to a desert island?

– An undying kindle packed to the gills with YA, romance novels, cozy mysteries, and some books about identifying edible plant life (I’m not getting sand in my books, ya’ll).
– Hair product (my curly haired folks know that we can’t go anywhere without leave-in conditioner)
– Sunscreen (no thank you, sun damage!)

3. You can only read one book for the rest of your life. What is it?

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. I’ll miss other books, but this one is my safe place.

4. Who is your favorite book boyfriend and book BFF?

Is it cheating to choose Deadpool as my book boyfriend? I mean, he’s in comic books. It’s probably cheating and I don’t care. I love Wade Wilson too much. For book BFFs, I’d take basically any of the heroes from Marissa Meyer’s Lunar Chronicles.

5. What is the one thing about publishing you wish someone would have told you?

Make friends. Don’t fixate on networking or making big name connections. Make real connections to other writers and bloggers and readers. It makes all the difference to have friends who understand this strange business and who will support you every step of the way.

Oh and never read your Goodreads reviews.

6. You wake up and discover you are Bella in Twilight. You know how it plays out. What do you do differently? {Huge thanks to Bookish Broads for letting me use this question}

I will go to therapy to discuss my neglected childhood and my issues with my parents. I’ll forgive them, but probably not have a close relationship with either of them. They don’t really want to be parents and that’s okay. I will not become an immortal child-bride. I will have agency and autonomy and it will be hella awesome.
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14250439Lily Anderson is a school librarian and Melvil Dewey fangirl with an ever-growing collection of musical theater tattoos and Harry Potter ephemera.

She lives in Northern California, far from her mortal enemy: the snow.

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Huge thanks to Lily for not filing a restraining order taking the time. Make sure you’re checking out her website, following her on Twitter, liking her Facebook page, and adding her books to your Goodreads TBR.

Now.  Haven’t had a chance to get your greedy hands on a copy?  I’ve got you.  Giveaway is international, book will be coming from TBD, and additional rules are here.

**Good Luck!!**

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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9 responses to “The time it was about The Only Thing Worse Than Me is You

  1. Eee, lovely post sweet girl :D I adore this interview. And gah, I’m so happy you loved this book so much :D But ugh. You have made me curious about it, haha :D I had to enter the giveaway. <3 Hugs. Thank you so much for the chance :) I'm crossing my fingers. You do make it seem pretty amazing.

    Carina Olsen recently posted: Waiting on Wednesday #245

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