Saturday, May 17, 2025
Susan Lee’s last book tour stop for The Romance Rivalry took place in San Diego last Saturday. The event had the warmest vibes right from the get go.
Readers were seated on the gorgeous covered patio at the Pacific Highlands Ranch Library.1 On my way to finding a seat, I passed by carts of pre-signed books and tables loaded with Madeleine cookies and lemonade.
Arriving in the knick of time and to a packed house, I chose a remaining back-row aisle seat. My secluded spot was perfect. I intended to take notes and definitely wouldn’t call too much attention to myself back there. (I felt sheepish about tapping out details on my phone, but it made this post possible!)
Like the stops, this tour stop was a panel-style event. The authors sat in velvety green bar-stool height chairs at the front of the patio with San Diego’s seasonal May Gray skies behind them. “Local delight” Susan Lee (as she was lovingly introduced) sat in the middle, flanked by her author-buddies. I love how they were all there to celebrate her and The Romance Rivalry. Jo Segura, Julie Soto, and Rachel Lynn Solomon were to Susan’s right. Naina Kumar and Ali Hazelwood, to her left.
The panel kicked off emotionally. Surrounded by friends and in front of a hometown crowd, Susan teared up. Happy tears of course! This was the grand finale tour stop. Susan was feeling the love of coming home. San Diego readers showed up for her so did Los Angeles readers too!.
Ali Hazelhood Opened the Humor Floodgates
The biggest jokester in this friend group seemed to be Ali Hazelwood. When Susan’s tears appeared, Ali surprised us with some levity. She conspiratorially leaned toward the audience (like she had a secret) to say, “Susan LOVES it when you take pictures of her crying!”
After this moment of humor, the friendly ribbing never ceased. These six authors let loose. They were clearly good friends who maintain some thriving, hilarious group chats.
How every author ended up sharing their Jersey Mike’s order, lol
Stilll a little teary-eyed and coming off Ali’s joke, Susan got to talking about food. She told us that her friends were only there because she made an irresistible food bribe. She promised: (1) great Korean food after and (2) and for sustenance beforehand (to everyone’s laughter) some good ol’ Jersey Mike’s.
Being in on a Jersey Mike’s inside joke with this lineup authors was not on my bingo card for this event. But that was the beauty of this panel’s energy. The audience was included in every tidbit of private humor they shared on this tour.
Jersey Mikes orders proudly became part of the author intros. When everyone introduced themselves, we were regaled with where they were from, their latest book, and their sandwich preferences. It was hilarious, really. My favorite Jersey Mikes moment: Naina Kumar, author of Flirting with Disaster, told us how she stripped her mini sub of its provolone cheese. A wide-eyed Ali Hazelhood immediately declared they can’t be friends anymore. No cheese, no friendship! Maybe you had to be there, but all the gentle ribbing in moments like this one was just so sweet and fun.
The First Question: Tropes & Chapters
Jo Segura kicked off the evening’s questions by asking Susan about the artistic choice to have a trope tied to each chapter in The Romance Rivalry. This question came packaged with humor, of course. I can’t remember if it was Jo or Julie who brought up their wide-eyed reaction to seeing a chapter titled “secret baby” in Susan’s YA novel. How was this trope possibly going to play out, hmmm, Susan? This caused a lot of laughs.
Here’s what Susan said on pairing each chapter with a trope:
With reservation, she said tropes were a way for her to semi-outline the plot of the book, but as a hardcore pantser, she would “never own up to that.” (lol)
The trope idea also came along because Susan enjoys trolling online Romance discourse (including the entertainingly bad discourse on tropes). Shaping The Romance Rivalry‘s chapters after tropes was a way for her to lean into the online discourse that she already loves.
Ali Hazelwood jumped in with a gleam in her eye. She goaded Susan into explaining the inspiration for “Chapter 18: Fated Mates,” which is an omegaverse-inspired chapter in The Romance Rivalry. Turns out, Susan drafted this chapter while she was reading Ali’s 2024 release Bride! (These two are hilarious together.)
Next, a trope question for everyone:
This next question went to everyone: What were their favorite tropes (1) to read, (2) to write, and (3) to try TO WRITE. Yes, the writing vs. participating clarification needed to be jokingly made!
- Jo Segura said: Enemies to Lovers, Fake Dating, and Friends to Lovers
- Julie Soto: Enemies to Lovers, Enemies to Lovers, and Arranged Marriage
- Rachel Lynn Solomon: Enemies to Lovers/Rivals to Lovers, Friends to Lovers, and Fake Dating
- Susan Lee: Friends to Lovers, Second Chance Romance (she gave a Kennedy Ryan shout out!), and Enemies to Lovers
- Naina Kumar: One Bed, Enemies to Lovers, and Fated Mates
(Ali Hazelwood did not answer this question)
Questions from the audience:
Before the panel started, everyone in attendance got a chance to submit questions on 3×5 cards.
First Audience Question: Susan’s famous keyboards!
The first question was about Susan’s famous book-inspired custom keyboards. Susan described herself as having an obsessive personality. At one point, she hyper-fixated on the streaming site for gamers, Twitch, and how women were subverting this male-dominated space with their beautiful, aesthetic on-screen gaming set ups. Susan is not a gamer herself, but as a writer, she is definitely an avid keyboard user. She wanted to try making and designing custom keyboards like the women gamers she saw on Twitch.
Will there be a K-pop romance?
An audience member wanted to know if Susan would ever channel her love for K-pop into writing a K-pop love story. In short, no. This isn’t in Susan’s plans.
What is Susan’s favorite thing about the tour stops?
This was a sweet answer. Susan liked sharing her friends with all her readers and goofing off with her friends after each event.
Susan’s Impromptu Question: What is everyone’s current media obsession?
This was a fun one!
- Ali Hazelwood: mafia romances
- Naina Kumar: The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives
- Rachel Lynn Solomon: seeing what Americans do (she lives abroad now and gets mild culture shock coming back to the US)
- Jo Segura: no current obsession
- Julie Soto: Interview with a Vampire (she wants all of us to watch this!)
Last Question: What’s on your bingo card for every book tour?
I believe this was also an audience-generated question, but I can’t remember!
Jo Segura said her bingo card needs to have mentioning Rodrigo Santoro on it.
Rachel Lynn Solomon facetiously said hers needs to have saying she doesn’t understand something in America because she lives in Europe now.
Julie Soto said her card needs to have that she will bring up Interview with a Vampire at every single stop on tour.
Susan said keyboards, K-pop, and making fun of Ali Hazelwood for recommending a kickstarter bra2.
Naina had two squares for her bingo card: she will always tell audiences what musical she’s currently obsessed with, and she will always mention her dog.
Ali Hazelwood said her bingo card will forever include going to the bathroom to cry after Julie does an impression of her and after Susan says something about the kickstarter bra.
That’s all from the event!
I hope you enjoyed this glimpse into the tour stop. I always want to know what happens at these events, so I’m turning that desire into a book blogging goal for the year. I will be doing lots more event write-ups!
HUGE THANK YOU TO MEET CUTE ROMANCE BOOKSHOP AND LIBRARY SHOP
Meet Cute Romance Bookshop and Library Shop put on this event. They organized a really efficient (and fair!) shopping and author signing experience. The event, from securing tickets to getting seats, snacks, and signatures, was really, really well done!
- Easily one of the most beautiful library branches I have been to in San Diego County so far. ↩︎
- Ali Hazelwood dropped a bra kickstarter in their group chat. Ali loves this bra. Susan bought one, found out it required a YouTube tutorial to put it on, and then gave her cone boobs. They all love needling Ali for this bra recommendation now. ↩︎
Annotate With Sara 