What Writers Read: Kate Clayborn
The Other Side of Disappearing is for fans of angsty, character-driven contemporary romance.
Hello readers!
I am a longtime Kate Clayborn fan, with my all-time favorite being her delightful story Love Lettering. Her stories are always full of heart with complex and sometimes quirky characters, and the plots always seem completely original compared to many titles in the genre. Her newest book The Other Side of Disappearing releases TODAY and it takes us all over the country with a pair of sisters and a podcast crew trying to discover just what happened to the girls’ mother years ago. And yes, there’s a romance in there too!
I hope you enjoy meeting Kate ~ let’s jump right in!
Give us a brief elevator pitch for your book
The Other Side of Disappearing is for fans of angsty, character-driven contemporary romance: This is the story of Jess Greene, who has spent the last decade raising her younger sister after their mother abandoned them both, running off with a notorious confidence man. Jess has always been fiercely, almost desperately private, wary of anyone who might take an interest in her mother's curious, scandalous story. But Jess's carefully protected world is turned upside down when her sister--now a headstrong teenager--reaches out to a well-known true crime podcast in hopes of getting to the bottom of their mother's whereabouts. What happens next is a tense, delicate road trip, with Jess and her sister accompanied by a tenacious, invasive podcast host... and a very handsome, very conflicted producer. As they all unravel the mystery of a couple on the run, they also unravel each other's secrets, most especially Jess and producer Adam, who have an instant and complicated connection that blossoms into something truly special.
A rich and I hope absorbing love story that's spiced the whole way through with mystery, tackling themes of privacy, motherhood, and the things we'll do for love, The Other Side of Disappearing is a book that I am so hugely proud of, and that I'm so, so excited for people to read.
What was the most interesting / challenging / rewarding (pick one!) part of writing The Other Side of Disappearing?
I think the challenging part and the rewarding part were the same: I wanted to write a romance that had a secondary mystery, but I wanted that mystery to function as a thematic exploration of love itself: what does it mean to truly love someone, what does it mean to truly commit to someone, to know them. This really meant thinking of love in various complex forms: love between parents and children, between siblings, between friends, between the different versions of yourself that you hold within you--and, of course, between romantic partners. Weaving this all together was really complicated, and some days I really kicked myself for trying something so new for me. But when it all came together, I was just so thrilled. I'm happy about the specific stories I told for these characters, but also about the general story I told about love--as a romance author, that's always what I'm most devoted to exploring.
What are the three most recent books that you have loved?
The first book I read this year was Kennedy Ryan's This Could Be Us, which is a big book: big plot, big feelings, big journeys for the main character, Soledad. I was interested in how Ryan explored the story of a woman rebuilding her life when the reality she thought she knew turned out to be...not the reality at all. I think Kennedy is a really beautiful writer, and I savored so many passages of this one.
I also recently read an ARC of Jess K. Hardy's Lips Like Sugar, and I loved it as much as I loved the first in this series (Come As You Are): Hardy writes heroes and heroines who are in the middle of their lives, wrestling with raising teenagers, caring for aging parents, dealing with various long-term career struggles. Watching her couples navigate romance (and yes, lots of sex!) against this backdrop is really refreshing.
Most recently I finished the second book in Heather Fawcett's Emily Wilde series -- this one is called Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherlands and it is as exquisite and absorbing as the first: incredible world-building, clever and consistent characterization, plot twists and turns, and a gentle but delicious romance that has absolutely captivated me. Can't wait for the next one!
A huge thanks to Kate for joining me here today, and please make sure to get your hands on a copy of The Other Side of Disappearing in the very near future!
Previous editions of What Writers Read:
Thanks for reading,
I love to hear from readers, so please do reach out to me with questions or feedback at mindfullibrarian@substack.com . If we aren’t already connected on Goodreads, I would love to see you there as well!
Thrilled to see this in my inbox today! I'm just over halfway though The Other Side of Disappearing and loving it! I've only read Georgie, All Along but now I'll be adding Love Lettering to my shortlist ◡̈