Episodes

  • 88. Minisode! Podcast updates
    Nov 16 2023

    Episode 88 is a minisode! Today is me and me alone. I’m going to talk about some exciting podcast updates as we head into the end of this year.

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    Order FOREVERMORE, a romance anthology, comprised of ten interconnecting romance short stories surrounding the Moore family and a wedding in Napa California. Written by ten Filipino-American authors. Pick it up at books2read.com/forevermore

    Note: some links are affiliate links

    Contact Tif at tif@tifmarcelo.com
    Please check out her website for podcast submissions

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    7 mins
  • 87. NYT bestseller Tosca Lee and finding her way through a book
    Nov 8 2023

    Episode 87 is Tosca Lee.

    Tosca Lee is the award-winning, New York Times bestselling author of twelve novels including THE LONG MARCH HOME (with New York Times bestselling author Marcus Brotherton) THE LINE BETWEEN, THE PROGENY, THE LEGEND OF SHEBA, and ISCARIOT. Her work has been translated into seventeen languages and been optioned for TV and film. She is the recipient of two International Book Awards, Killer Nashville's Silver Falchion, ECPA Book of the Year, and the Nebraska Book Award, and has finaled for numerous others including the Library of Virginia People's Choice Award, the High Plains Book Award, a second Silver Falchion, and the Christy. When she's not writing, Tosca loves binging television shows, looking for something good to eat, cooking when she can't find it, traveling with her husband, and sleeping in.

    You can find Tosca on social media or hanging around the snack table. To learn more, please visit toscalee.com.

    In this episode we discussed the The Long March Home which she cowrote with Marcus Brotherton. We talked about how she came upon this project and her partnership with Marcus, which was a novel collectively 12 years in the making. We discussed her research, and touched on a little bit about farm, pageant, and model life, and her eclectic and amazing backlist.

    Links:
    Felipa Culala
    BIRD BY BIRD by Anne Lamont
    BEFORE THE DISAPPEARED by Lisa Gardner
    DROWNING TJ Newman

    ***
    Order FOREVERMORE, a romance anthology, comprised of ten interconnecting romance short stories surrounding the Moore family and a wedding in Napa California. Written by ten Filipino-American authors. Pick it up at books2read.com/forevermore

    Note: some links are affiliate links

    Contact Tif at tif@tifmarcelo.com
    Please check out her website for podcast submissions

    Show More Show Less
    34 mins
  • 86. USA Today bestseller Jenna Levine and her whirlwind debut year
    Nov 2 2023

    Episode 86 is Jenna Levine.

    By day, Jenna Levine works to increase access to affordable housing in the American South. By night, she writes romance novels where ridiculous things happen to beautiful people. When Jenna isn't writing she can usually be found crying over k-dramas, starting knitting projects she won't finish, or spending time with her family and small aarmy of cats.

    In this episode, we discussed her debut My Roommate is a Vampire, which was a funny and delightful book. We discussed how she wanted a zany vampire world and her love of reading and writing fanfiction. Finally, we talked about how she developed this slow burn romance, her unusual debut experience from law professor to author.

    Links discussed:
    What We Do in the Shadows
    A Demon's Guide to Wooing a Witch
    You with a View

    ***
    Order FOREVERMORE, a romance anthology, comprised of ten interconnecting romance short stories surrounding the Moore family and a wedding in Napa California. Written by ten Filipino-American authors. Pick it up at books2read.com/forevermore

    Note: some links are affiliate links

    Contact Tif at tif@tifmarcelo.com
    Please check out her website for podcast submissions

    Show More Show Less
    31 mins
  • 85 Co-authors Allie Frank and Asha Youmans and using joy and humor to approach difficult topics
    Oct 24 2023

    Episode 85 is Alli Frank and Asha Youmans

    Alli Frank has worked in education for over twenty years, from an overcrowded, cacophonous public high school to a pristine private girl’s school. She has been a teacher, curriculum leader, college counselor, assistant head, school co-founder, sometimes pastor, often mayor, and de facto parent therapist. A graduate of Cornell and Stanford University, Alli lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and two daughters. She is the co-author of Tiny Imperfections, Never Meant to Meet You and The Better Half and an essayist in Moms Don’t Have Time to: A Quarantine Anthology.

    Asha Youmans is the daughter of an educational pioneer and Children’s Hospital administrator, after graduating UC Berkeley Asha spent the next twenty years teaching elementary school. Asha continues to work in schools in the Pacific Northwest believing children keep her youthful, as do her husband and two sons. She is the co-author of Tiny Imperfections, Never Meant to Meet You and The Better Half.

    In this episode we discussed how their first three books are love letters to educators and how their most recent release THE BETTER HALF rose from the inspirations of body autonomy and the concept of arrival. We discussed how these two authors crafted their main character, taking from different inspirations and their overall mission in their writing. Finally we talked about their strengths in their teamwork, about their own meet cute, and how they make things work as co-authors.

    Links discussed:

    HOW TO NOT DROWN IN A GLASS OF WATER

    ***
    Order FOREVERMORE, a romance anthology, comprised of ten interconnecting romance short stories surrounding the Moore family and a wedding in Napa California. Written by ten Filipino-American authors. Pick it up at books2read.com/forevermore

    Note: some links are affiliate links

    Contact Tif at tif@tifmarcelo.com
    Please check out her website for podcast submissions

    Show More Show Less
    46 mins
  • 84. Author Maida Malby and taking ownership of her career
    Oct 10 2023

    Here with me today is Maida Malby.

    Filipino-American author Maida Malby cooks up foodie, multicultural, and contemporary destination romance stories filled with heat, sizzle, spice, and a whole lotta love.

    She is a member of select writing groups and romance book clubs. Her To-Be-Read Mountain and book reviews are featured here on her blog Carpe Diem Chronicles. Readers can also find her on Lone Star Literary Life via her regular Texas Reads Roundup Romance column.

    When not writing, reading, or reviewing books, Maida discusses current affairs with her husband, records her son’s Travels and Eats videos, cooks the dishes she features in her stories, procrastibakes more often than she should, and watches golf and food shows on TV.

    In this episode, we talked about FOREVERMORE: a romance anthology, out today, which is the follow on to PASKO NA, MY LOVE, the anthology she edited and spearheaded last year. We also talked about Filipino-American joy, the Filipino grandmother as a unifying character in recent popular media and Filipino culture, her role as editor and publisher of the anthology, and her wise words about success in the business of publishing.

    ***
    Order FOREVERMORE, a romance anthology, comprised of ten interconnecting romance short stories surrounding the Moore family and a wedding in Napa California. Written by ten Filipino-American authors. Pick it up at books2read.com/forevermore

    Note: some links are affiliate links

    Contact Tif at tif@tifmarcelo.com
    Please check out her website for podcast submissions

    Show More Show Less
    48 mins
  • 83. Author Mansi Shah, her nomadic identity, and her novels about belonging
    Oct 3 2023

    Episode 83 of the Stories to Love podcast features Mansi Shah.

    Mansi Shah writes contemporary fiction novels with a focus on her Indian heritage and family relationships. She currently lives in Los Angeles, but she was born in Toronto, Canada, raised in the midwestern United States, and studied at universities in America, Australia, and England. When she’s not writing, she’s traveling and exploring different cultures near and far (having traveled to around 70 countries and counting), experimenting on a new culinary creation, or working on her tennis game or swim strokes.


    In this episode we discussed her most recent release, The Direction of the Wind, where we talked about how Mansi wanted to write about mental health and how her chapter 1’s remain the same. We also talked about how she tackled its dual timeline narrative, and the novel’s deeply flawed characters.

    Links:

    The Center by Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi

    You Are Always Mine by Christine Pride and Jo Piazza

    ***
    Order FOREVERMORE, a romance anthology, comprised of ten interconnecting romance short stories surrounding the Moore family and a wedding in Napa California. Written by ten Filipino-American authors. Pick it up at books2read.com/forevermore

    Note: some links are affiliate links

    Contact Tif at tif@tifmarcelo.com
    Please check out her website for podcast submissions

    Show More Show Less
    34 mins
  • 82. Minisode: Happy 3 years to the podcast! And 3 things I learned.
    Sep 27 2023

    Hi everyone, this is Tif on the Stories to Love Podcast and this is episode 82. Today is a minisode to celebrate the last three years as an independently published podcast! With it, I’m going to share 3 big things I learned doing this podcast.

    I want to thank all of who have subscribed to this podcast! If you haven’t, I’d love it if you’d click to follow so you can get notifications of every new episode. And, if have found this podcast helpful and fun, please leave a rating and review—it really helps to boost discoverability. You can even share this episode with a friend.

    For more information about me, Tif, and submitting to the podcast, please head on to my website, at TifMarcelo.com


    ***
    Order FOREVERMORE, a romance anthology, comprised of ten interconnecting romance short stories surrounding the Moore family and a wedding in Napa California. Written by ten Filipino-American authors. Pick it up at books2read.com/forevermore

    Note: some links are affiliate links

    Contact Tif at tif@tifmarcelo.com
    Please check out her website for podcast submissions

    Show More Show Less
    20 mins
  • 81. USA Today Bestseller Priscilla Oliveras on relationships and friendships on and off the page
    Aug 16 2023

    Episode 81 is Priscilla Oliveras.


    Priscilla Oliveras is a USA Today bestselling author and 2018 RWA® RITA® double finalist who writes contemporary romance with a Latinx flavor. Proud of her Puerto Rican-Mexican heritage, she strives to bring authenticity to her novels by sharing her Latinx culture with readers. Her books have earned Starred Reviews from Publishers Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, and Booklist along with praise from O, The Oprah Magazine, Washington Post, New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, Frolic, and more. She earned her MFA in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University where she currently serves as adjunct faculty while also teaching the online class “Romance Writing” for ed2go. A long-time romance enthusiast, Priscilla’s also a sports fan, beach lover, and Zumba aficionado, who often practices the art of napping in her backyard hammock.


    In this episode we discussed Her Perfect Affair which is the second book in her debut series, Matched to Perfection, and is a re release. We discussed the struggle to give characters conflict, and how a character’s Internal struggles manifest in their outside world. We talked about her journey as an MFA Student, as a writing instructor, and an author. Finally we talked about how she managed the re release of Her Perfect Affair.


    Links discussed:
    Farrah Rochon's ALMOST THERE
    Sonali Dev's THE VIBRANT YEARS
    Alexis Daria's TAKE THE LEAD
    Mia Sosa's THE WEDDING CRASHER
    GEORGIE ALL ALONG by Kate Clayborn

    ***
    Order FOREVERMORE, a romance anthology, comprised of ten interconnecting romance short stories surrounding the Moore family and a wedding in Napa California. Written by ten Filipino-American authors. Pick it up at books2read.com/forevermore

    Note: some links are affiliate links

    Contact Tif at tif@tifmarcelo.com
    Please check out her website for podcast submissions

    Show More Show Less
    42 mins