We’ve been asked to explain how we met so here ya go! But really — we initially met because we were in the same online writing group (@womensfictionwriters) and Alison likes to say she did some “light online stalking” of Bradeigh when we both participated in a workshop and shared snippets of our writing. Later, we had the opportunity to exchange pages for critique and quickly fell in love with each other’s writing styles AND critique styles, which is super important. We kept exchanging pages until one day Bradeigh called Alison her “critique partner” — which is like going steady for writers. Since then we’ve become such good friends, chatting and texting all day every day. But it was in the spring of 2020 (when the world was locked down and we had nothing to do) when we first had the idea to write a book together. That book was a double romance a la “The Holiday” (with Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet) about two women who do a house swap...but then the pandemic hits and they get stuck in their new locations for longer than expected. They each end up having a forced proximity romance, there’s an “only one bed” trope (of course!) and it was super cute. Unfortunately, publishers said it was “too soon” for a pandemic-themed book, but they LOVED the brief description we included about another book idea: a twist on The Parent Trap meets HGTV, with a parent trying to get two half-sisters back together by leaving them a beach house as a joint inheritance. So we quickly wrote 5 chapters plus an outline and our amazing editor at @berkleypub swooped in and bought it. And that’s how it all happened! We love writing together and hope to keep bringing you more books with sisterhood and female friendship, romance, and summer vibes. What other questions do you have for us? Happy to answer! #thebeachtrap #romcom #beachbook #summerreading #lovereading #steamybooks #womenauthors #authorlife #berkleypublishing #amreading #booksaremylife