About the Book:
Come for the cinnamon rolls, stay for the apocalypse.
Lydie, the daughter of Death, a retired Rider of the Apocalypse, is obsessed with ‘cosy’; cosy books, cosy job in the family café, cosy low-drama life.
But then secretive, attractive, and above all annoying, Kai, bursts into the café in a flurry of autumn leaves, with secrets that threaten to change everything.
Big, un-cosy things are coming for Lydie whether she likes it or not, and working with Kai might be the only way to protect her town. Provided she doesn’t fall for him first …
Find on Goodreads. Find on Bookshop.org UK (affiliate link).
About the Author:
Helen Comerford is a Black mixed-race British debut author and is passionate about Black British and mixed heritage representation. She centres her diverse cast of characters in narratives they have historically been excluded from and celebrates their joys, strengths and everyday teenage experiences. She is fuelled by a love of all things super-powered, feminism, and chocolate raisins.
When she’s not writing, you can find Helen hiking around the Welsh countryside with her dog, Cocoa. The Love Interest is her debut novel.
Interview:
Pitch your book in 10 words!
Cosy daughter of Death lured by crush into magical chaos.
What inspired you to bring the Four Horsemen of the apocalypse into a cosy romantasy set around a coffee shop?
There’s something about the current end of days vibes, and the pressure there seems to be on the next generation to fix everything, that made an old idea of a YA reboot of the four horsemen of the apocalypse sit at the front of my brain. I wanted teens with the power to end the world or save it. But, when I started working on it, all the plots that I came up with were really bleak (or maybe just too bleak for me!).
I’m a rom-com girl at heart and I read a lot of adult cosy romance. After THE LOVE INTEREST* it felt like a YA cosy romance might be a fun next project. I came up with Lydie and the Snug, but the plot ideas that came up with all felt too slow for a YA audience (or maybe just for me!). The moment I laid the two ideas on top of each other, it all started to make sense. A daughter of Death who rebels against her heritage by embracing everything cosy? That was a story that I wanted to write.
The Four Horsemen have been forced into retirement by Lydie’s dad and have all made lives for themselves, some leaning into their aspects more than others. How did you come up with their modern lifestyles?
The Riders are these massively powerful beings who are stopped at the top of their game, so I looked at the different types of power they might try to gather to replace what they’ve lost. Knowledge is power and Death becomes an academic. Money is power and another Rider chooses to gather that. Saying much more would lead to spoilers, but it’s basically all about power and the different forms it comes in.
It’s not just the Four Horsemen but a host of other creatures from folklore and mythology – as well as your own take on the afterlife. What research did you do while trying to choose which to bring into the village of Pont-on-Wye and how to create your own afterlife?
Magic and the magic systems was probably the thing I spent the most time on. I decided to root the world of the Naturals in pagan and folkloric nature magic, so most of the beings are “native” to British folklore – the Fae, nature spirits, dragons. I also researched Samhain (Halloween) and the roots and traditions of that. This shaped the timeline of the books as everything leads towards the dark half of the year, where the flavour of the world’s magic changes.
I’ve always been fascinated by artistic depictions of the afterlife, from Philip Pullman’s HIS DARK MATERIALS*, to What Dreams May Come, the Robin Williams film from the nineties. The afterlife has been the setting of a lot of my stories and it all seemed to come together for the version in THE CAFE AT THE END OF THE WORLD; grey-scale and multi-layered with a constantly moving exit, it was really fun to write.
New boy Kai is hot and sweet – a deadly combination for a mysterious stranger! What tips do you have for writers crafting ideal love interests readers are guaranteed to fall for while trying to make them feel like real people?
Give them flaws. I can’t connect with characters that are too perfect. Kai for example, is a very serious soul who might be sweet, but has some very awkward moments. If you can, also try and give them conflicting interests to the main character which will lead to some delicious tension – Lydie is determined to keep her identity a secret, Kai is on a mission to find the truth…
Lydie’s best friend, Jane, is another child of a Horseman and the pair are inseparable despite the tension between their parents. Why do you think ride-or-die best friends are still so popular despite the dominance of romantasy and its focus on the romantic relationship?
Friendships are the most fun to read and write. I think they’re easy to empathise with – a lot of us will have had that one friend you know will always have your back. Lydie and Jane’s relationship is established and solid from the start of the story, so you get to have fun watching them bounce off each other – it’s a safe place in the sea of magical madness happening around them. I also think it’s vital that writers for young people present healthy friendships alongside romance – falling in love is intoxicating, but a few precious friendships are forever.
The Snug, Lydie’s family cafe, has so many yummy baked goods on sale. What’s your go to baked sweet treat?
It’s actually a bit of lemon drizzle cake, but I didn’t include that on the Snug’s menu, instead opting for, less well known, pineapple drizzle slices because Lydie’s mum is obsessed with the flavour.
Please recommend a UKYA book you think readers will love.
BETWEEN GHOSTS AND GODS* by Ann Sei Linn – this comes out in September and is billed as – Chinese mythology meets dark fantasy with a horror twist. It’s one of those brilliant stories where on first look pretty much everyone is a villain and that doesn’t really change. I loved the main character, Kasu, and her demon cat, Rua. I really enjoyed the relationship between Kasu and Arun and the world building was insane.
Thank you!
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