About this episode

Sarah Wendell interviews Alisha Rai about her new book and the enemies to lovers trope in romance novels.

My guest this week is podcast community favorite Alisha Rai! We start off catching up on our history of podcasting together, our life changes, and the challenges of making children wear coats. Then it’s enemies to lovers time! Her new book,  Enemies to Lovers  is out now, and we both brought the good trowels. We dig into the trope to examine how it works, what the essential elements are, and what can easily go wrong. Along the way we touch on: How much we miss buddy road trip comedies The weight of being an elder daughter And her perspective on the threat of AI to authors Video is available  on our YouTube channel! Special thanks to the sponsor for this episode: Sotto Voce Scents! Listeners get 15% off with code SMART15! Sotto Voce Scents creates candles inspired by romance novels, like their bestsellers, "Scoundrelwood" and "Rosemary Me." Look for "Only One Bed" and the "Grumpy/Sunshine" duo coming this spring! Music: purple-planet.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

People in this episode

Guest: Alisha Rai

Topics covered

• romance novels
• podcasting
• literature
• writing
• AI in authorship

Keywords

• enemies to lovers
• podcasting history
• children wearing coats
• buddy road trip comedies
• elder daughter
• AI threat to authors

Sponsors

Sotto Voce Scents

Mentioned in this episode

Products: SMART15, Sotto Voce Scents, Scoundrelwood, Rosemary Me, Only One Bed, Grumpy/Sunshine duo

Books & works: Enemies to Lovers with Alisha Rai, Enemies to Lovers, Scoundrelwood, Rosemary Me, Only One Bed, Grumpy/Sunshine

More episodes of Smart Podcast, Trashy Books: A Romance Novel Podcast

• 714. The Edge of Space-Time with Dr. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein · April 17, 2026 · 1h 18m
• 712. Like, Follow, Subscribe: The Cost of A Childhood Online with Fortesa Latifi · April 3, 2026 · 1h 6m
• 711. RT Rewind: July 2000 Ads & Features · March 27, 2026 · 1h 23m
• 710. Writing Characters with Chronic Illness (Plus Restaurant Recs!!) with Riss M. Neilson · March 20, 2026 · 1h 4m
• 709. RT Rewind: July 2000 Reviews · March 13, 2026 · 1h 6m
• 708. From the Vault: Sociology, Romance, and Community with Drs. Jen Lois and Joanna Gregson · March 6, 2026 · 58 min

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Smart Podcast, Trashy Books: A Romance Novel Podcast podcast page.