Mary E. Roach
Author Interview - Mary E. Roach
Author of We Are the Match
Set against the decadence and splendor of modern-day mobster Greece, WE ARE THE MATCH is a reimagining of Helen of Troy and Paris as you’ve never seen them before. Helen is the daughter of a powerful crime lord, and Paris is the woman hellbent on destroying her—if they don’t fall for each other first.
When a bomb goes off at Helen’s party, Paris volunteers to investigate—a ploy to get close enough to take revenge on the family she blames for the death of her own. Paris and Helen are thrown together in an opulent world of privilege, power, and cover-ups. As their unexpected bond deepens, the fragile balance of power of the crime lords begins to fray.
Helen wants nothing more than to abandon the violent world in which she was raised―and worse, an arranged marriage to a man she barely knows. In Paris, Helen sees the perfect tool to help her escape. And in Helen, Paris sees a desperate woman who will be the perfect revenge. When murder sends them fleeing to Troy, danger only brings Paris and Helen closer together―in love, in fury, and in the will to survive. If Helen’s father wants a war, Paris and Helen might just be ready to give him one.
Author Interview - Mary E. Roach
Author I draw inspiration from:
Kit Rocha, Katee Roberts, Brynne Weaver, Rosie Danan, and Talia Hibbert are some of my favorites! I also love all of Rosie Danan's work, but especially adore her most recent book, Fan Service. It's steamy, fast-paced, and it has everything I love in a pairing.
Talia Hibbert is a comfort read, and has some of the most richly-drawn, gorgeous character and voice I've read in any genre. She's an auto-read for me.
Author Interview - Mary E. Roach | Author I Draw Inspiration From
Favorite place to read a book:
I love reading outdoors. I mean, I love reading anywhere and everywhere (coffee shops, my back deck, on the beach, in the library, wherever), but nothing beats getting set up in my hammock near a river out in a state park where there's nobody but me and the wind. My state (Minnesota) has so many incredible state parks, many of which are more heavily trafficked now than they used to be, but some that are still incredibly quiet. I love the solitude and peace of reading out in the wilderness.
When I did a thru-hike back in 2020 of the Superior Hiking Trail, a 255 mile trail that follows the shore of Gichigami, I packed three books. It added so much weight to my pack, which I regretted for the first two days, but it was the best thing I did for myself. I read all three of them, and because it was 2020, and the trail hadn't really been maintained, there were very few other people out there at all. This was a really long way to say that I would rather be reading at Bear or Bean Lake right now, but you get the gist.
Book character I’d like to be stuck in an elevator with:
Oh, it's going to have to be somebody calm, because *I* won't be. If I had to pick someone from WE ARE THE MATCH, it would definitely be Tommy (Helen's devoted bodyguard, who has protected her since she was a kid).
He's calm, steady, and strong. So he'd definitely know how to get us out, and he wouldn't be afraid to do something dramatic, like climb an elevator shaft or pry the doors open with his bare hands or something. I would NOT pick Paris. She's competent about many things, but not this one. It's Tommy all the way.
The moment I knew I wanted to become an author:
This one is harder to answer, because I've been writing books since I knew what books were. My first "book" was when I was about six, and I'd folded construction paper up to look vaguely book-shaped, and then I wrote and illustrated a story about a protagonist who was, shockingly, named after yours truly. She had a cabin in the mountains and stayed busy lassoing bandits, and honestly, she's still aspirational for that.
But more seriously, back in 2018 I decided I wanted to take writing a book seriously, and try my hand at getting published. I applied and was accepted into a contest called Pitch Wars, which no longer operates, but was hugely instrumental in introducing me to the writing community I still hold dear today.
Hardback, paperback, ebook or audiobook:
I almost exclusively read paperback, actually! This is primarily because I usually read away from my home, and paperbacks just fit better in my backpack, but I find them easier to use than hardbacks. I don't have an e-reader, and try to stay away from screens when I'm not actively writing my own books, since the time I spend in front of a screen there is kind of non-negotiable. And I love the idea of audiobooks, and think it's a great option for so many people, but I lose focus too fast, so it just hasn't been a medium that works for me.
The last book I read:
I just finished a non-fiction book called HOW FAR THE LIGHT REACHES, by Sabrina Imbler. It's a gorgeous book, part meditation on various sea species and part memoir. I couldn't put it down once I'd started reading, and I hope they write more in the future, because it's stunning.
Author Interview - Mary E. Roach | The Last Book I Read
Pen & paper or computer:
My process varies as I go, but both pen & paper and my laptop play a role. I generally write on my laptop, but if I get stuck, I have a really extra rotation of various pens (and only use certain pens with certain projects). I have a set of notebooks I bought myself back in 2018, something I bought because I wanted to sort of symbolically invest in my writing, long before anyone else knew about it or thought it could be something. I've marked dates as I got into Pitch Wars, found an agent, received offers from publishers, and published my books. So I use those notebooks still, whenever I get stuck. It's both a grounding technique and a much-needed break from screens.
Book character I think I’d be best friends with:
I recently read the new Hunger Games prequel, Sunrise on the Reaping (Suzanne Collins). I've always felt a kinship with Haymitch, but after reading that, I thought
Author Interview - Mary E. Roach | Book Character I’d be Best Friends With
If I weren’t an author, I’d be a:
Retired.
No, seriously. I do not dream of labor. I want to have a pollinator garden and fresh strawberries and swim in the ocean every day and see my family and friends. I want to drink chai and sit in my garden. That's the dream.
Place I’d most like to travel:
Everywhere. That's the short answer. If I haven't been yet, I'd like to go. For most of my life, I've had major financial barriers to traveling, but I've been really fortunate to build my writing career to a place where I'm able to visit more places around the world.
I haven't actually had the privilege of visiting Greece yet, but I would love to experience the food, culture, and more. I can't call it a book research trip anymore, since WE ARE THE MATCH is out of my hands now, but I'm sure I can come up with another excuse.
Do you ever think about how there are flavors you've never experienced, music you've never heard, so much you've never seen and can't even imagine? Even with so much available to see and hear on the Internet, I think that remains true. So I'd like to go and see more of the world, wherever that takes me.
My signature drink:
I love chai! I'm not a coffee drinker, so whenever I visit a new coffee shop or cafe, I try their chai. I've recently discovered a local place that has authentic chai, and they never have a moment's peace, because I'm always haunting the place, waiting for my next tea.
I also love a good mocktail! When I'm drafting, I love a fruity drink, and when I'm revising, it's chai all the way.
Favorite artist:
I've recently really enjoyed music by Sail North, an artist with a lot of covers and original sea shanties. I'm a sucker for a good sea shanty, and my obsession did not begin or end in 2020 (though I enjoyed the popularity of Wellerman along with the rest of y'all).
My music tastes are very broad, and I can't think of a genre that I *don't* listen to at some point. What I listen to very much is influenced by what I'm writing at the time, but Sail North tends to haunt my playlists regardless. So that's a favorite for now!
If we're talking about visual art, and hauntings, *Olive Trees* by Vincent Van Gogh hangs in my local art institute, the Minneapolis Institute of Art. Maybe it's cliche, but nobody paints sunshine yellow quite like him.
Number one on my bucket list:
I have a bucket list a mile long, but I would like to climb more mountains. At one point, I'd had a goal of climbing the seven summits (the highest points on each continent). It's an expensive and daunting goal, and has become more inaccessible for various reasons (one of the summits is in Russia, which makes that more complex with the current geopolitical state of course, and Everest has been deeply exploited and mistreated by tourists, who have left an immense amount of waste behind). So this is still something I aspire to over the course of my life, but only if I could do that in a way that didn't harm the place I visited.
I would also like to visit every ocean in my lifetime! I have a lot of travel hopes and dreams.
I'm also a runner, and there's a few long-distance races I'm interested in trying. I've run a marathon, but I've been eyeing a few races that are a little bit longer.
I think a shorter answer to this question would be what *isn't* on my bucket list (eating brussels sprouts, being mansplained to, or waiting in long lines, if you were wondering).
