The XO Interview: Maureen Lee Lenker

In which Romance Novels meet Hollywood

I’m delighted to welcome Maureen Lee Lenker to XO Romance because she is involved in romance from two very different perspectives—as a reviewer and as a debut author. We can all thank Maureen for getting romance reviewed in Entertainment Weekly (and she got to do that Bridgerton cover story!). Her coverage comes from a genuine love of the genre and it shows.

But I’m really excited to talk to her about her new romance novel, It Happened One Fight. It’s a delightful enemies-to-lovers romp between two movie stars in old Hollywood. You can just tell it comes from a love in both romance and old movies and she blends them perfectly for a fun romp of a story with snappy banter and sparks flying.

We talked about how her interview with Keanu Reeves and Winona Ryder sparked the idea for the novel, women in Hollywood, and the joy of stories featuring people who are “unapologetic, ambitious, a little weird.” Cheers to that!

How did you discover romance novels? Which book was The One for you?

I’ve always loved love and most of my reading growing up was either YA romance (Meg Cabot was absolutely my gateway drug) or historical fiction with a strong romance bent. The book I was most obsessed with was Princess in Love, the third book in the Princess Diaries series, in which Mia Thermopolis sends secret admirer notes and eventually ends up with Michael! I was so obsessed with this plot that I did this too with a boy I had a crush on in 8^th grade (it did not work out as well as it did for Mia). In terms of adult romances, my first tried and true romance read was Eva Leigh’s Temptations of a Wallflower, which immediately got me hooked.

Your new book, It Happened One Fight is set in the golden age of Hollywood. Actress Joan Davis is horrified to learn that she’s been unwittingly married to her costar Dash Howard, whom she despises. They just have to star in one more movie together before they can get their divorce and move on with their lives. The book combines some truly fun tropes; enemies-to-lovers, a second chance at love, with elements of a fake relationship. It has the snappy banter and glamour of old Hollywood movies. What movies and romances inspired the book? 

I drew from a lot of movies and general history of Hollywood in the 1930s, but there were a few that really stuck out. The screwball nature and some major plot points of It Happened One Night were majorly influential. I also loved the banter of The Women and the entire Reno divorce plot in that was a big inspiration. My leads are inspired by Clark Gable and Joan Crawford, and they made a screwball called Love on the Run that is in the vein of the movies Dash and Joan have made. Furthermore, Crawford’s own experiences being dubbed box office poison in the 1930s inspired my own Joan’s challenges. Additionally, I was thinking about movies like Dark Victory, Stella Dallas, and Mildred Pierce when writing about the types of women’s pictures Joan is aching to make.

But actually, a more recent romance was the first spark of inspiration for the book. Nearly 5 years ago, I interviewed Keanu Reeves and Winona Ryder about their film Destination Wedding and this was the internet-breaking interview in which Ryder proclaimed she thought that her and Reeves had been married for real on the set of Dracula. I got to thinking what would’ve happened if two movie stars were accidentally married on set. But to make it more interesting, what if they hated each other? Then, I learned that minister Neal Dodd (who can be seen in Merrily Go to Hell) was a real man of the cloth in the 1930s who played religious figures in films. And I was off.

Despite so much overlap between romance and these old Hollywood romantic comedies, we don’t see many romance novels set in this time period. (One sort of exception besides yours is the The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo). What do you think is up with that?

Well, the number one reason is because traditional publishing still very firmly believes that the only historical romance that really sells is Regency and Victorian. And now, thanks to you and Joanna Shupe, also The Gilded Age. So, I think there probably haven’t been a lot of opportunities for books in this era to breakthrough. The other reason, though, is that the stars and films of this era are larger-than-life that it strikes me people might find it intimidating to create their own fiction within this world. I certainly did at first!

Let’s talk about your heroine, Joan Davis (perfect old Hollywood movie star name!). She is so driven to succeed and to secure her independence, but her success always seems tied to the men in her life—either Dash Howard, or the rising star she’s engaged to, even her manager. Can you talk about that tension and the inspiration for the character?

In creating Joan, I was really inspired by so many of the real stars of that era — Joan Crawford, Bette Davis, Barbara Stanwyck, Katharine Hepburn, Myrna Loy, Rosalind Russell, and more. These were women who took control of their own lives and careers and generally put their work above everything else in their lives. I find that inspiring, extraordinarily ambitious, and a little bit sad. Because as you said, the men in their lives were determined to control them, take credit for their success, or belittle them if they didn’t fall in line. Many of these women — on screen and off — said to hell with that and lived life on their own terms. But it doesn’t change the fact that they were at the mercy of the press, their studio bosses, and the terms of their contracts. I think often of Olivia de Havilland, known for playing demure, sometimes meek women, who changed California contract law when she sued Warner Bros over the way her contract worked. It was possible to fight back but it took a hell of a lot of grit and courage. I wanted Joan to reflect both the reality of the era and the plain truth that men were running the show, while also allowing her to exhibit the ambition, self-knowledge, and bravery that I know to be true of so many women of the era.

You also review romance novels—such a fun job! What have you learned about what makes a great romance novel from your reviewing? What trends are you seeing?

I’ve learned so much! A lot of is boring behind-the-scenes things like how a publishing schedule works and things of that nature. But also, I’ve learned that the best romances have strong characters with unique traits and quirks, that enemies to lovers is always a delicious trope, and the basic pacing and three-act structure of a romance novel. Trend wise, rom-coms are still dominating the scene, but they’re expanding beyond the initial contemporary wave of the last few years to include other sub-genres such as fantasy (there’s enough witch books to make a coven at this point! Not that I’m complaining). I’m also seeing a lot of books that thread the needle between romance and women’s fiction, occupying that sweet spot in between the two that seems to rocket books on to bestseller lists.

How do romance novels bring you joy?

In so many ways! Knowing that everything will turn out okay and I’ll be getting a happily-ever-after is a balm when reading. Especially in these hard times of ours. But more than that, they bring me joy by telling stories about people who are owning their truths and being loved for it. I love that romance is full of characters and authors who are unapologetic, ambitious, a little weird, and unafraid to chase what they want. It makes me feel more capable of being those things in my own life. I never fail to find courage, support, and inspiration in their pages.