191: Book launch day for Kiss Me (plus a reading from this chick lit novel!)

In celebration of book launch day for Kiss Me (Book 8 in the Polyamorous Passions “why choose” chick lit series), author Sagan Morrow shares 5 of her favourite things about this novel… plus reads a scene from the story! 

Kiss Me is a heartwarming short novel featuring found family, an extra dose of angst, the why choose trope, a couple steamier scenes, and a people-pleasing burlesque performer who is learning how to put herself first. 

The Polyamorous Passions contemporary romance series follows the lives of three best friends as they each embark on their own journeys into consensual non-monogamy. Books 1—3 focused on Emma, Books 4—6 focused on Helen, and Books 7—9 focus on Scarlett. 

Each novella can be enjoyed as a stand-alone… but because they all build on one another, you'll get the most out of reading them all! 

Resources mentioned in this episode: 

• Find Kiss Me at your favourite e-bookstore: https://books2read.com/polypassions8 
• Kiss Me (Book 8 in the Polyamorous Passions series), PLUS the rest of this chick lit series, AND Small Town Stilettos: SaganMorrow.com/books 
• Connect with Sagan on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/saganlives 
• Connect with Sagan on Threads: https://www.threads.net/@saganlives 
• Tune into ALL episodes of the Author Diary Entries podcast at https://saganmorrow.com/podcast 

Transcript

You’re listening to the Author Diary Entries podcast. I’m your host, Sagan Morrow, and this is episode #191. 

TODAY is book release day for Kiss Me: It’s Book 8 in the Polyamorous Passions series, and the second story in Scarlett’s trilogy within that series!

Kiss Me is a character-driven, heartwarming short novel featuring the miscommunication trope, a VERY healthy dose of angst, found family, cute banter, a couple steamier scenes, the why choose trope, and a people-pleasing burlesque performer who is learning how to put herself first. 

It features a fair amount of exposition (in a good way!), so you can enjoyably read this story on its own — BUT, since it IS the 8th book in my Polyamorous Passions series and each book does build on the previous one, I’d still recommend reading the whole series for a catch up on what’s going on.

Here’s a little peek at what you can expect from the novel: 

• References to Zoolander, The Princess Bride, and 80s dance movies. 
• Server giving THE WRONG PERSON a glass of champagne with an engagement ring in it. 
• Ongoing miscommunication and secrets!! 
• Puns!
• Unrequited (OR IS IT) crush. 
• 2 besties bossily creating a Pros & Cons list for Scarlett so they can make a major life decision for her.
• Bad attempts at coming up with a stage name. 
• Slutty mimosas. 
• Getting rescued after freezing on stage. 
• Confessions of love. 
• Foiled into being hired for a bachelorette party. 
• …and truly, SO MUCH ANGST.

You can grab your copy of Kiss Me at your favourite e-bookstore, or visit SaganMorrow.com/books (link is in the show notes).

In celebration of release day today, I wanted to share with you some of my personal favourite parts about the novel, and also do a reading from Chapter 6. This is kind of a “spoiler-lite” episode, so if you’re the kind of person who doesn’t like ANY spoilers, then go read the novel first and then come back and listen to this episode.

Let’s dive in — We’ll begin with 5 of my personal favourite parts about this novel…

#1 The opening scene is a bit of a bait and switch, and sets the stage for the ending!

Here’s what I’d suggest: Read the opening scene. Pause and ask yourself, “Is that how I expected this opening scene to wrap up?”

Then, read the rest of the novel (until the last chapter, BEFORE the epilogue!). Pause and ask yourself: “Is that how I expected this story to end?”

Then, go back to that opening scene, and compare it to how the story wraps up. I think you’ll have some fun looking at it like that!

#2 The reference to the title in the book.

Watch for a nod to the title, Kiss Me, in two different places: a scene in Chapter 9, and another scene in Chapter 14!

What I love about the title is that it references this whole ongoing theme that’s been building up for Scarlett’s story — across the ENTIRE series to date — about things left unspoken, vs fully expressing oneself and vocalizing her feelings, her wants, her needs… 

AND, those two scenes that reference the title also reflect Scarlett’s passivity with letting things happen to her or waiting for other people to make a move, compared to HER being the one to take action on what she wants.

#3: The relationship between the main character, Scarlett, and the owner of the Dusky Panther, Zach. 

I adore Zach and his dynamic with Scarlett. Theirs is a platonic yet deeply important relationship — it’s an interesting contrast to Helen and her boss previously in the series, in which Helen experiences a will-they-won’t-they moment; there’s a sort of tension and curiosity of the spark of a possibility of romance. With Scarlett and Zach, on the other hand, it’s purely platonic.

There’s also a familial aspect with Zach that’s very different from Scarlett’s relationship with Emma and Helen: Emma and Helen are family to her, but they do not — CANnot — understand the importance of her being her own boss and having her own business. Zach DOES understand that. 

There’s a sweet sibling-like relationship that develops between Scarlett and Zach. And by the way… this also sets the stage for the next book I’ll be writing, which is the sequel to Small Town Stilettos — because Zach’s ACTUAL sister is going to be the main character in that book! We meet her at the very end of this book.

#4 The overlapping themes across the entire novel.

There is a lot of foreshadowing and callbacks in Kiss Me, and the three main plots — the romantic relationship between Scarlett and Pete, the business relationship between Scarlett and Zach, and the unrequited crush Scarlett has for Wes — all mirror one another with similar themes around exclusivity, trust, insecurities, expressing oneself vs holding things inside, etc. 

I think this story in particular would be a GREAT one to discuss in a book club. I’d be really curious to know whether you can see where the story’s going to go, if any of the characters surprise you, and if you guessed how the ending might unfold in advance. 

#5 The inner monologue and banter between characters.

I’ve mentioned before on this Author Diary Entries podcast about how much I love writing dialogue (and how the Polyamorous Passions series was something I initially, briefly, thought of writing as a TV series rather than books). Writing the back-and-forth banter between characters AND the main character’s inner monologue is so much fun, and I would say that’s really where the comedy comes into my stories. 

→ I actually find THAT aspect of writing a novel to be fascinating: You can change the entire tone of a book based purely on the inner monologue of a character. It can transform a heavy or dramatic scene into a light or more humorous one.

With that in mind, I want to share a reading from a scene that gives you some of Scarlett’s inner monologue…

This is from Chapter 6—about ⅓ of the way through the novel. It’s a LITTLE bit spoiler-y, but also a major part of the plot, so… If you don’t like ANY spoilers, then stop listening to this episode right now and go read the book first! Grab your copy at SaganMorrow.com/books, or find it on Kobo, Kindle, Nook, etc. It’s available on all major e-bookstore platforms. 

Okay, here we go: A reading from Kiss Me, Book 8 in the Polyamorous Passions series.

***

“A spot at my dream venue unexpectedly opened up, so we’re taking it! We’re getting married in eight weeks, can you believe it?”

“Eight weeks. Wow. That’s… that’s something!” 

Scarlett must have turned into a robot. That was the only logical conclusion for how she was able to have this conversation with Reese right now; it was the only thing that made sense anymore. 

She had become a mechanical robot.

“...so I wanted to talk to you about the bachelorette party,” Reese went on, biting her lip as she looked at Scarlett with hope in her eyes.

“I’m sorry, what did you say?” Scarlett responded shrilly.

So much for Robot Scarlett.

She looked urgently in Pete’s direction, but he—ever popular—had been swarmed by other dancers who wanted to talk to him about something he’d brought up during the last Q&A. No help was coming from that direction.

“Well, everything is sped up now that my dream venue is available! So I’m planning out everything right now, including the bachelorette party. And I want you to be there.”

She wants me to hang out with all her friends at her bachelorette party? She wants me to watch her open a bunch of raunchy gifts that she’ll use with Wes? And I’ll need to GIVE her a raunchy gift? This can’t possibly get any worse.

Robot Scarlett transformed into Deer In Headlights Scarlett as she shook her head with fervour. “Oh, no. You’re so sweet to ask, but no, no,” she laughed, doing everything in her power to keep the hysteria and horror from entering her voice, “bachelorette parties aren’t really my—”

“It’s just, I love the dances you do! You know how much I admire your style,” Reese said in earnest, ignoring Scarlett’s protests as she reached out and squeezed Scarlett’s hand. “I’d love to hire you to teach me and my wedding party your dance moves.”

I was wrong. 

This is worse. 

It just got 10x worse.

“Oh, I don’t know if—”

“Please? Oh, please, Scarlett. Lady Salty Sweetness,” Reese teased, winking at her. “Please do it. I really want this for my bachelorette. You’re not going to make me beg, are you?”

Nope nope nope! Performing at your crush’s fiancée’s bachelorette party is 100% absolutely, definitely, never ever happening.

Stall for time. Quick, think of something. Say anything. 

Scarlett opened her mouth. Nothing came out.

Literally anything will do.

Scarlett cleared her throat. 

That doesn’t count. Use your words! Say something! 

“Reese…”

Quick, before she corners you! The number one thing that must not happen, CANNOT HAPPEN, is to agree to this ridiculous idea. Appease her! It’s already as bad as it can get, so hurry up and rip off the Band-Aid. If there’s ever a time to get over people-pleasing, NOW is your moment.

“I’d love to, but—”

“You’ll do it! Oh, I knew you’d do it! Thank you, Scarlett, thank you! Oh, I’m so excited! To learn from you is the dream,” Reese said, eyes sparkling as she gave Scarlett a full-body squeeze and pressed an unexpected kiss to her cheek. “I’ll text you the details?”

Okay, so it just got exponentially worse. 

AGAIN. 

You walked right into that one. Of course she was going to cut you off before you could say, “BUT HELL WILL FREEZE OVER BEFORE I GET INVOLVED WITH YOUR BACHELORETTE PARTY!” 

Maybe try again? You haven’t really agreed yet. There’s still a chance of getting out of this! Just stop her before she walks away—

“Sure,” Scarlett heard herself say helplessly, and then Reese was off, waving goodbye before she disappeared into the crowd.

WOW. That was the opposite of the correct response.

“You’ve done it now, Mitchell,” she muttered to herself out loud. “What on earth were you thinking?”

***

End scene! There you go, that’s a little sneak peek of Kiss Me, Book 8 in the Polyamorous Passions series.

Grab your copy at SaganMorrow.com/books, or visit you favourite e-bookstore — it’s available for you to read on Kobo, Kindle, Nook, etc. I can’t wait for you to dive in to this story! Happy reading.

That’s a wrap on today’s episode! 

As always, you can access the show notes and transcript of this episode at SaganMorrow.com/podcast. And if you are enjoying the Author Diary Entries podcast, please take 2 minutes to rate and review it on your favourite podcast platform — or give it a share on social media so your friends and community can tune in. 

Thanks so much — I appreciate you!