Bookmarked by Reese's book Club is presented by Apple Books.

Hi.

I'm Danielle Robe.

Welcome to Bookmarked by Reese's book Club.

We have two great conversations this week.

In a little bit, we're talking to Haley Kyoko, singer, songwriter, actor and author.

Her new book, Where There's Room for Us is a queer romanticy for the ages, and it may or may not have some real life inspiration.

But before we jump in, it's the first Tuesday of the month.

You know what that means.

It's time to reveal the newest Reese's book Club pick.

Greese take it away.

Hi, Bookmarked listeners.

Hi, Danielle, I'm so excited to share that our November Reese's book Club pick is Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaughey.

Read along with us.

Okay, it's your turn to jump in, So grab Wild Dark Shore and read with us all month long.

And as you go, I need you to email me voice memos with your thoughts, your questions, your hot takes, because at the end of the month, we're going to sit down with Charlotte again and dig into all the juicy details, and I want to play her Your questions okay, miss Charlotte, welcome to the club.

Thank you.

I owe you a big congratulations.

Your book, Wild Dark Shore is the November Reese's Book Club Pick.

So for those of us picking up your book for the very first time, if you, Charlotte, had the opportunity to hand a future reader this book walking onto a plane, or after a breakup or looking to start over in some way, what would you say?

Oh, okay, I would say, be ready for a bit of a gut punch.

This is the story of a father raising his three children on a very remote and stormy island.

They're the last inhabitants until the night of a particularly bad storm washes a woman onto their shore, and she's going to change their life forever.

It's a romantic Gothic mystery, and it's an Eco thriller, and it is about how far we go for the people we love.

I really love that, Charlotte.

I have to tell you and everybody listening that it pulls you in right away, and it's very high stakes, it's very emotional.

Is there a scene or a moment that you're especially proud of writing.

I don't want to give any spoilers, but I'm proud of the ending, and the ending is a bit contentious.

You know, a lot of feedback from people who either love it or they're kind of annoyed with me, But I'm very proud of it.

And then there's lots of kind of scenes throughout that I feel, you know, sometimes you just feel like you kind of nailed that moment or you've found a way to really, I guess, get to the heart of what you're trying to say.

And then there's other scenes where you feel like you didn't.

You've got to kind of go back and rework them.

But it's always fun when you get it on the first try.

One of the moments that you feel like you got to the heart of it.

Would you be willing to read a paragraph or two for us.

Yes, I can.

I'm obviously I'm not going to read the ending, but now I will read.

If this is just a tiny moment, which is the first scene that we get, we are introduced to Dominic Salt, who's the father on this island.

You are not meant to have favorites, But my youngest is that if only by a hair and with a gun to my head, if I really really had to answer and not because we're most alike, that is my oldest and me, not because we at least alike that is my daughter and me.

Maybe it's because he's curious and kind and so smart it can make your eyes water.

Maybe it's because he whispers to the wind and hears its voice in return.

Most likely I don't know why, but it may also be because for one brief moment long ago, I wished him dead.

Wow.

So that's like quite an intense thing to say about your child, and it kind of sums up Dominic and his struggle and his conflict.

Why did you read that moment?

What do you like about it.

As a sort of opening paragraph to someone, to a character.

I think it kind of lets you in to quite a deep, a deep kind of core of conflict that dom has about himself and his relationship with his children.

He's an extraordinary father.

He sort of only exists as a father in a way.

Now that his wife has passed away, he's raising these three children alone.

It's like he's become this one part of himself and nothing else.

And there is a crux of grief and trauma there that sort of forms this relationship he has and this conflict he has around that moment when he sort of wished his child wasn't really, I think fuels this sort of guilt and grief and shame, and it's something that he has to work really hard throughout the course of the book to shed himself of.

So I think, you know, as just an opening paragraph, it just gives us this little hint of an insight into this inner turmoil that he's feeling.

It's also interesting because we don't see father's portrayed that way very often.

We see mothers who are overtaken by parenthood.

So I find it interesting that you chose a father to deliver this information.

Who did you write this book for, Charlotte?

Very good question.

I've never been asked that before.

There's always a component where it's for yourself, because it's something to that you're trying to understand or grapple with or make sense of within yourself.

You know, this is a book about fear, specifically the fear of raising children in a collapsing world, in a world that's ravaged by ecological crisis, and our responsibilities around having children and to our children, you know, how do we talk to them about this?

What does love mean in the face of loss, all these big questions I was really grappling with as I had You know, this book came to me at the same time as I had my children, and so there's a part of it that is that it's for myself in terms of trying to understand this new role of motherhood and what's happening in the world.

But it's also it's absolutely for my children.

It is a love letter to them, you know that.

I hope they will read one day and know that this was a cry out and it was a way of me just not giving up this fight and being able to sort of say to them one day, like, I didn't give up for you.

You know.

I just heard ZD.

Smith last night in an interview say that the actual act of writing is optimistic.

The action means that you're trying for something.

So even though you're tackling a really sometimes dark and intense subject matter, your writing is optimistic.

Is that what it felt like when you were writing it.

Yeah, it's always that sort of especially when you're writing about this subject matter, you are constantly kind of walking that line between optimism and pessimism.

You're you know, day to day, I feel like that I'm kind of I'm not never quite sure which way I'm going to go, but the act of sitting down and putting pen to paper, trying to make sense of it, trying to make something beautiful out of this chaos, trying to find the little glimpse of love and light within this sort of big doc Maelstrom is it is.

It's an act of defiance and hope.

You know, even when I didn't feel that way, It's like you have to become that in order to make something that's that's worth worthwhile.

Mm hmm, well said, I want our readers this month to let their imagination run wild while they're reading your book.

I think there's so much to picture, not just the characters, but the landscapes that you paint.

And I can't help but cast when I read books nowadays.

I know you have a film and screenwriting background, so I'm really wanting to know your thoughts, which I know we'll say for the end of the month, but for all of you club members, please send us your casting choices because we may play your voicemail at the end of the month when we get back to check in with Charlotte.

Are there any questions that you have for listeners that you're dying to know.

Maybe their favorite seed story.

I love hearing that there's always it's funny.

There's a lot of these kind of little moments all of the youngest child throughout the book, he sort of, I guess, brings this new woman into their lives and kind of seduces her into their world by telling her the stories of seeds.

And everyone I know has a different favorite.

So I'd love to kind of hear which one most excited you or moved you.

And I'd love to know what you think of the ending, you know, whether it's infuriating or just right.

You know, Charlotte, I actually think that most of my favorite books have frustrating endings because they didn't expect them.

Do you have an opinion unhappy endings?

Are you a person who believes in happy endings, who likes to write them, who wants to write the unexpected?

What do you think?

I think every book has a It has an ending that is right for that book, and not all books are right to have a happy ending.

Some need them, absolutely need them.

Some books need something that is perhaps more nuanced or that gets to the heart of what the book is actually trying to say so.

For me, the ending of this book is kind of bittersweet.

I'm not going to say too much about it, of course, but I think it's you know, it's genre specific, it's character specific, it's story specific.

What the ending needs to be and I certainly don't think they all need to be happy, but we do need some sense that, like, it wasn't just totally for nothing, and that this is the most depressing thing ever.

Thank you for that.

I think everybody's going to be happy to hear that as they dive into the book this month.

My last question for you before we check back in with you at the end of the month is who was your first car when you found out you were a Reese's Book Club pick?

I well, I ran.

I think I ran to tell my partner, and he was funny because we always used to joke.

We always used to joke about one day Reese would come knocking and read my book and we would just laugh because it was so silly, and so of course I had to run and tell him this, and we were both just like, oh.

My god, do you feel like you manifested that?

Yeah?

Maybe like kind of ironically manifested it.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I think we did.

I think we totally brought that into being some crazy way and then yeah, just like my mom, my friends, everyone.

It's so fun, Charlotte.

I got to host a Reese's book Club party right before Shinaway, which is Hello Sunshine's annual event, and so many of the Reese's book Club authors were there, and it's really like this sorority and club.

They all have a group chat.

They're so supportive of one another.

So I just I'm so excited for you because I feel like, whether you know it or not yet, you have like a whole new sisterhood ahead of you.

Oh wow, that is not something I expected.

So I'm very happy and excited to hear that.

Yeah, it actually gives me chills when I think about it.

I know it's corny, but it's really special.

So huge congratulations and I can't wait to talk to you at the end of the month.

Thank you so much, Sanielle.

Really lovely to chat.

Welcome back to Bookmarked by Reese's book Club.

All right, let's travel from our climate future to our Victorian past or at least Haley kiok version of it.

You probably know Hailey from her Disney channel days her music or as a boundary breaking queer icon literal icon, but today we're diving into her world as an author.

Her debut novel, Girls Like Girls, became a New York Times bestseller, inspired by her hit song and music video of the same name.

And now she's back with a brand new novel.

Okay, it's called Where There's Room for Us, and it is out today.

It's set in the Victorian era, and it follows Ivy, an American poet with a bit of a playgirl reputation.

It also follows Freya, a British aristocrat torn between her family's expectations and an undeniable pull towards Ivy.

Does any of this sound familiar?

Okay, I'm just gonna give you the tea because we're all friends here.

Haley shared that the couple at the center of the story, Ivy and Freya, was really inspired by her and her real life girlfriend now fiance, Becha Tilly.

And if there's any bachelor fans out there, you know Becka Tilly.

One of the many things Haley does well is make creative reinvention look effortless.

But we all know nobody's life is effortless and Hailey's path has been anything but simple.

Hers is a story of risk and reinvention and radical imagination, forged at a time when few blueprints existed.

She has truly built a world on her own terms, and it's been fueled by a lot of self trust, queer joy, and the belief that rules are meant to be rewritten.

So if you want to hear about what it really takes to create the life and the art that you want to see in the world, you're in the right place.

Let's turn the page with Hailey, Kioko, Hailey, Lesbian Jesus.

Welcome to Bookmarks.

Thank you so much for having me, Daniel, I'm so happy to be here.

No, I'm so happy to have you here.

All of the producers are so happy to have you here.

You have a lot of fans in the house.

I kind I feel like I'm in the presence of queer pop divinity.

So thank you for blessing us.

Thank you so much.

I breathe rainbow.

It it just shoots out.

You can't see it, but you can hear it.

So while I do feel like we are not worthy, we are very excited.

How did Lesbie and Jesus come about?

Uh?

You know, it was really funny.

I was on tour in twenty eighteen.

It was my debut album, Expectations, and I would do all these q and as and me and greets before the shows, and people would just start calling me lesbian Jesus.

And I thought it was like I felt like I was out of the loop, like as a millennial.

So I was like, oh, people are calling people lesbian Jesus, like this is a thing that I need to like catch on too.

And then I remember like going online and then being with one of my friends and being like, no, like they call you lesbian Jesus.

You don't just call everyone lesbian Jesus.

And I was like what.

So it was it was kind of cute because because I always wanted to have a nickname growing up, and my name is just Haley and that's just what people called me.

And I never excelled in sports where I had like a cool nickname, and so it feels like it's healing my inner child's having like a nickname, even if it is lesbian Jesus.

You're such a writer through and through.

I was going over your catalog of work, and you write songs, you write comics, you write films, and this is just your latest piece of prose.

It's a book called Where There's Room for Us, and I love that it's set in the Victorian era.

And we're going to talk all about the book, but I need to do something with you first.

I need to do a little exercise with you.

Transport yourself into the Victorian era for one day.

What are you wearing, what are you doing?

Who are you flirting with?

What are you snacking on?

Wow, that's tough, because, like my the dream scenario is in the book.

Like I was like, I'm falling in love with a girl and We're going to the tea room and we're walking the bridge and you know where all these things and so like my inspiration of like just fantasy went into Where There's Room for Us because I also think, like you know, I'm obsessed with pride and prejudice.

And when I would watch that film, like I thought, I was like mister Darcy, like that was me.

And so I would try to imagine myself in these situations and I would always go, well, I would I want to be there because I'm Asian, I'm gay, I probably want to be thriving.

You know, all these scenarios and so, I mean, we'll get into the book later, but that's why I ended up kind of being inspired doing like a queer hyperreality version of it, because when you ask me that question, like what am I doing there?

Like the reality is is I don't know.

I don't know if I exist in that space, you know.

Well, to your point, something I found so interesting is it's a love story about queer people and it's sidestepping this sort of like queer tortured trope that we see in so many books and films.

She just wants to be gay and to be happy.

Were you inspired by Bridgerton at all?

Like where this alt universe exists?

Almost My original inspiration was Brandy Cinderella.

I don't know if you ever saw that real it's the best.

Yeah, And like the Prince was Asian, you know, so I just for me that was like the beginning of that.

But I also feel like Bridgerton has shown the world that people want to watch period pieces and support that and those are kind of hard to get made.

But yeah, I just like when I love Bridgerton, but I just always want it like really gay, and I want to go like further into it and I also am really inspired by like sisterhood and sister dynamics, and I have an older sister and a younger rather and just like sibling dynamics in general, and so those were kind of like the starting off branches of growing.

This the world that I've always.

Wanted to be in.

Before reading your book, I didn't necessarily think of the Victorian era as especially sexy.

Yeah, there's a lot of layers.

There's the clothes, the heat, there's I don't know.

If we're necessarily comfortable.

There just feels like there's like a lot of rules and pretense and ways to do things before you actually do the actual thing for sure.

Sure, is there anything that you found doing research and writing that you feel like is surprisingly hot about the Victorian era?

I mean, I think what makes it sexy and hot is like it's like a no phone era.

It's there's like you have.

To wait for months for a letter to.

Arrive, and like there's just something super romantic about that time of just like what are they thinking and not knowing what they're thinking and not knowing what they're up to, when in twenty twenty five we know what everyone's up to all the time and if we don't know, we want to know immediately, and so I think just removing that aspect of it and being set in the Victorian era just makes it automatically romantic.

Okay, wait, correct me if I'm wrong.

But did you meet Becca your partner on the Internet?

No?

I didn't.

Where'd you guys meet?

So our origin story is I had my album release party in twenty eighteen for Expectations, and I had invited like all these people, and so she was like a plus one at the party and she walked in and I was like, oh my gosh, that's my Bachelor.

But I like like foolishly pretended like I didn't know who she was from The Bachelor.

Listen, everyone's guilty of this, Like you just pretend that you don't know, but of course.

You know always.

But I met her and she was I was very interested in her, but she was trying to hook me up with her younger sister, and so I had drinks like set up with her younger sister a couple days later, and the sister bailed and so back I told me she felt bad for me, so she went instead and we like had this date at the Chateau Mormon and we were like there for like hours, we just like hit it.

Off, and that's our origin story.

So for me, I've never really been able to write about our story, and.

So I was like, wow, it would be so cool to.

Have, you know, my next book be inspired by our meet cute and like this idea of like her trying to hook me up with her younger sister, but then we end up falling love instead, and so that was kind of like the seed that kind of grew this this entire idea and following kind of our love story within that.

I love the idea that this romanticy is based off off of some real life events.

Yes, why choose the Victorian era, Like it's not really known for freedom of expression?

Why set a queer love story there?

No?

I know, I love hard things.

I just like I've always wanted to see myself in something like Pride and Prejudice or for Jerton.

So I'm just like obsessed with that era because it's so romantic and sexy.

And my main focus in life is to create hopeful queer content, whether it's through music, whether it's through novels or films like that is just my dying wish just to make as much content as possible.

And when I was developing it, I realized I was like, I don't know if I can have a hopeful ending.

I was like, if this is reality, I don't know if I thrive in this space.

And so that's when I was like, oh, maybe it's a queer hyperreality.

Like what does a world look like if you could be queer in the eighteen hundred, like freely and like meeting up at the bridge at night and like having these lavish parties and like, but you're also a woman, and there's so many like hypocritical things that we navigate as women, just in twenty twenty five.

And so I was like, Okay, what if I get rid of one discrimination, but two gay men can inherit land and continue the family line, but two women can't.

And so it kind of created this interesting dynamic where I kind of set it up where becus character Freya is put in a situation where she has the pressure to marry a man and continue the family line, and she meets my character Yeah, and it's like what does that look like?

And how does that unfolds?

And I feel like everyone can relate to I don't know when you're when you're dating, and then when you find your person, Like every family has expectations of like who you're gonna be and who you're going to date and who you're gonna love, no matter what.

Your background is.

I just was really.

Excited and inspired about taking our met cute, putting it in the Victorian era and then letting it unfold and being like, is it still hard?

Is it still hard to be yourself even if if you have certain rights, but you don't have all you know?

And what does that look like?

So you're kind of known for working things out in your writing, like you've explored your sexuality and girls like girls.

I know your EP Satrine was inspired by your experience with post concussion syndrome catharsist.

Feels like it's a driving force for you.

And in hearing what you just said about expectations and replacing one prejudice for another, I think it's a better term.

Was there anything that you were working out in the book.

Yeah?

I mean I think just as an artist in general, you're inspired by things that you've experienced and then you kind of put them, You kind of put your experience in a box and then you're like, how do I navigate within this box and within these rules and what would happen and how would I feel?

And so it kind of challenges you to really go deeper into just the human experience.

And so that's what's so exciting about writing.

And you know, I love writing music, but being able to really go extremely deep into, you know, ninety thousand words of how you feel and what it would be like to be in that space is really freeing.

And it's been something that I didn't realize I was missing in my life, and it's been one of the most rewarding mediums I've dipped my toes in.

So I'm curious as to why, because my instinct would be that music is so emotional that it would give you that, But did why writing this book?

Well, listen, I love writing music.

I love performing music.

I think music is incredible.

But you know, when you're writing a song, there's a time limit, there's like the challenge is different, right, It's like, when you're writing a song, it's like, how do I tell my story with the most minimal amounts of words and how do I make that impact like immediately?

And so that is like an extreme challenge within itself and then the challenge with the novel.

But the plus side is that you could talk about someone's jacket for like three pages, like you know, like you can just go into this that you just don't have that time within a song.

And so they both of the mediums have certain parameters and challenges within creation.

But I just think that I had more to say and so being able to have the freedom, you know, I talk about this a lot, like I started directing my music video is very early on in my career.

And you know, when you're directing a.

Music video, you're budgeting things out.

You have to pay for everything on screen, every single thing you have to pay for.

But when you're writing a book, it's like you could put a dragon in there, you could have an explosion, you could have like you eighty foot castle or whatever.

It is like, yeah, you're literally doing yeah.

And so I think, like I started my career and very like here's your parameters, and how do you create in these parameters?

And then this was kind of the first medium where I was like, there are no parameters, how.

Do you create that way?

Which is also just as challenging where you're like, okay, where does one begin.

I can do anything where do we want to take it?

And so that's been really exciting for me.

I'm so curious about your process and the difference between writing and writing a book.

When you say where do you begin when you're writing a song, do you begin with a feeling?

It depends.

I love sitting in silence, So a lot of my best melody ideas come from being on a plane or being in the car and I'll like sing to myself and just like voice note.

But for me, it's melody.

So I'm very melody driven, like plucking a melody out on the synth.

Like one of my songs found my friends, the Bomb Bomb Bomb Bomb.

I just like plucked that all on the synth and then we just hooked up the mic and I just started like scatting over that melody.

And so for me, it's very melody driven.

But then sometimes it's like, ugh, I have this thing that I've been going through, and you have kind of like in your notes on your phone of like these ideas of songs that you're wanting to create, and obviously the more that you're writing, the more you're.

Just able to do it.

But yeah, music is it comes naturally to me.

I think the thing that connects all the things that I do is just sorytelling.

It's like I think for me, I always grew up feeling like I wasn't enough or I didn't belong.

I didn't feel like I was worthy, I didn't feel I didn't feel main character energy, And so my whole life is just like can I be a pop star?

Can a pop star look like this?

Can I write a book?

Can I direct a film?

Is there space for me?

When you know under five percent of films are directed by women, Like you know, just all these challenges, and I think for me, I'm just so attracted to things that I've never done before, and can I do it?

It's kind of the question, and what's the feeling that you're after?

What are you chasing?

Like when you do do one of these things that feel near impossible.

I think it's I think it just goes back to like the inner child of like feeling enough, feeling like I belong.

But it's like self, it's like self love, it's self validation of like, oh, even if no one connects to this, this is something that I've accomplished that speaks true to me, that I believe in and It's something that I was able to do from A to Z and so I think it's just kind of healing, healing that that part.

And I think all of us have a specific whole in our heart that we're trying to patch up and mend or just grow and nurture, and through art is a really great way.

To do that.

If you start with melody when you're writing songs, where do you begin when you're writing a novel?

Uh?

I think for me, I'm really trying to go back to my truth.

And with Girls Like Girls, it was an interesting experience because the music video I had already created and then I was inspired to tell my story.

And then it was like for Girls Like Girls, a challenge was how do I tell my story through pre created characters in a scenario that wasn't my scenario?

So I was like, how do I how do I insert my story through that?

So that was like the extreme hardship within my first debut novel.

And then with Where There's Room for Us, the hardship was where, like, where are the rules.

And where are the boundaries within this this this kind of like hyper reality world that I'm creating.

And so when I begin, it's kind of like, well, what is the truth?

What am I trying to say?

You know?

So I started with, well, I really want to include something that kind of mirrors the meatcute that I had with Becca at the Chateau Ormont, So I created this tea room and all these things.

So I kind of just bullet point out all the things that I want to include, and then from there you're kind of connecting the dots of like what am I what is the arc?

What am I trying to actually say?

Like what are the messages and the meanings and things that I'm really trying to get across that will resonate with myself because if it resonates me, it will resonate with others.

And so I just start kind of I'm very type A, so I just kind of start going down the line and then eventually you have this like huge, huge ow line and then from there you're like, okay, now now we begin, Now we begin.

But it was challenging.

It was challenging because.

I was like, where where are the rules?

And like and where if you're queer but we're not equal, how does that fit in?

And how do you know?

It was just like so many things to kind of navigate and figure out.

Well, the character of Ivy is a writer, she's half Japanese, and she's kind of wild and Freya definitely resembles your girlfriend Becca.

So I'm curious where the line was for you between fantasy and reality.

I think for me it's kind of like I I kind of outline the core truths.

You know, it was like and back when I met we come from two different worlds, we come from two different backgrounds, and yeah, and it's like that that was kind of it.

You know, like an Ivy kind of mirrors.

You know, she's half Japanese, she's a writer, she's trying so I try to have like some like even with the lesbian Jesus thing.

It's like she's like famous in the Sapphic.

World, like I was trying to find like little.

Things, but also you know there is it's fiction, so you know something like there's no way I could ride a horse ever in a million trillion years.

Like there's things that Ivy is and dues that aren't me that aren't me.

Thank you, I can do anything, Thank you so much.

It starts with the core, just like the core themes, and then from there I kind of build it out.

And then that's when you know the fiction and fantasy kind of you know, evolves within the personalities because I am not Ivy and Becca is not Freya.

But in this hyperreality world, if we were to meet in this space at this tea room, what would that look like?

Did she read chapter by chapter or did she read it at the end.

Well, so I told her the idea and then we like talked it out and then and then she's read the whole book and loved it.

But you know what the funny part is is that she doesn't love like regency uh period pieces, and so she was like, of course you're going to do this in a period and a regency era.

So I just but she loved it, and she she got through it for sure, and it was but it was funny because I was like, oh, yeah, you don't because every time I watch Pride and Prejudices, I have to like watch it solo, like you know, every partner has their things.

Like she loves to watch really sad.

Stuff, Like anytime I'm out of town, she's like I would call her and she's like sobbing on the couch because she just watched like a penguin die or like some kind of something, and then you know, and then when you're together, you have your certain.

Things that you watch.

I will say I'm actually usually not a period piece person either.

Okay, okay, So how was your experience?

So I really liked the book, and I think that it sort of transcends that stereotype because there's so many other fine elements in it.

Yes, okay, yeah, right, I want to see this made into a.

Film me too, that's my dream, or like a TV show.

Yeah, it would be really I think it would be so fun.

Thank you.

Yeah.

I just I love the world and especially the bridge where everyone meets, and I think there's so many cool possibilities.

So you know, hopefully we can manifest that for the future and I can direct that.

That would be awesome.

Okay.

So you've had so many eras you've had pop star, actor, director, author, and with each one it feels like your style evolves too.

We've seen the bucket hats, we've seen bold suits, we've seen dreamy pastels.

Wow.

Wow.

Thanks.

Which aside from fashion, even though I really love your fashion, I shouldn't even have even brought it into this equation.

How have you figured out what's you in each of these eras?

How has your voice evolved with fashion?

You know, you want to feel your best and you want to feel confident.

So sometimes I look back at photos and outfits that just look absolutely outrageous, But like, in that moment, at that time, I felt so good and that's all that matters, saying Haley, you know, like we live and learn, but in that moment, I felt amazing, and like that's what counts.

But what I wear that today?

Maybe I'm not sure.

What have you discovered about yourself as you've grown through all of these coming of age moments?

Like when you have you ever looked at a ten year old photo of you?

Yeah?

You know how people like look at those photos and are like, what would you tell yourself?

Mm hmm.

I guess that's what I'm curious about.

For me, I would just tell her like it's well, it's gonna be okay.

But also that like being yourself is like the most powerful thing you can do, and I think so many people in life spend so many years trying to not be themselves.

Like that's that's the arc, right.

Like your born society and culture tell you tells you that you need to be a certain way, and so every year you're stripping that away, and every year you're you're changing yourself to really fit in.

And then you hit a point where you almost do like a full circle.

And I think that's where that I'm kind of in that curve where I'm kind of going back to who I have always been.

And that's like a really hard thing to do because you're dismantling so many lies and things that have been said to yourself from yourself.

And I think the whole journey in life is just going back to who you've always been and like acknowledging that and then celebrating that.

And I think that's the most like freeing thing that we can do as people for ourselves.

I felt you get a little emotional when you talked about being yourself is like the most powerful thing that you can do.

Why did that make you emotional?

I always get emotional.

I always get emotional just talking about just well.

I get emotional if, like someone says a nice thing to me, So it's not a surprise, but it's I think it's emotional because so many people in this world do not believe that they can be themselves and thrive and have a good life and feel safe to be themselves, you know, especially in this political climate and just this world that we live in.

It's just that's such a simple thing, and yet it's like one of the hardest things to do.

You know, it's revolutionary to be yourself.

I think it is.

And also people talk about joy is revolutionary.

Yeah, yeah, I love that too.

Yeah.

Well, I think embracing queer joy is something you talked about at the beginning of our conversation, and it's also in your acknowledgments you write my dream is to create hopeful narratives and expand queer representation through music, films, and novels for the rest of my life.

Thank you for supporting me in every medium and for giving me the confidence to share my truth.

I love you all so much.

What does queer joy look like for you in your life right now?

I mean, I think just being outside, hanging out with friends.

Like basics, like basic.

Things like cooking, like learning of recipe and cooking a really amazing meal.

Because I think for queer people in general, and so many oppressed people, were just exhausted, and so I think refueling ourselves and filling our cup up is like radical and like the very important, because if we're able to show up, then other people are able to show up too.

And so for me, it's that like, you know, being present and doing what I can to be true to myself.

And for me, that's telling, you know, sharing stories and world building and creating content that can hopefully make someone smile or cry in a comforting way.

And that's my part, you know, that's the way I'm able to connect with people and find ways to to ignite hope.

You mentioned your dad earlier that he would hand out flyers with you.

Yeah, so he was always supportive.

Oh yeah, Like he wears the Kyogo hat all over Los Angeles County.

So like, if you see a tall white man with a Kyoko hat on, that's my dad.

He's like, yeah, he's He's on the front lines sharing the Kyoko joy.

And queer content.

If if someone were to like lay out all of your work next to each other, the album covers the films, all of it, what's the connective tissue?

What is something that would make them say that's.

Haley's women point.

That's very very easy question.

That's a great question.

I would actually like to lay that out that would be cool.

I think women and like warm tones.

It would aesthetically warm, yeah, like I.

Love orange and yellows and like very inviting.

Tones.

So I tend to everything that I do, whether it's music video and then directing the movie for Girls Like Girls, just like just everything is warm because I want people to feel safe when they're watching things or digesting things.

So I would say those two things.

So your first novel, Girls Like Girls, was inspired by your song that we keep talking about in the music video.

Obviously, Yeah, when are we getting a visual for this new book because I can already picture it.

Hopefully it's successful.

I mean, for me, for Girls Like Girls, it became a New York Times bestseller and then I was finally able to get the film greenlit because of that success.

And so you know, if everyone supports where there's room for us and it becomes this you know, successful thing, then I think it would be easier to be like, hey, Hollywood, make this into a TV show and listen, all of the queer TV shows unfortunately get canceled after like one or two seasons, So we deserve something that's thriving for at least two seasons, like come on, so I'd like to manifest that because a visual for where there's room for us would be the dream, Like that's the dream.

Yeah, and I feel like you are lead costume designer even though you have other titles on set.

Oh my god, that's so funny.

My girlfriend would say otherwise, she styles me a lot.

She's got better fashion taste than I do.

But I appreciate that.

That's really funny.

She does have good style, Yeah, she does.

Okay, before we come to our actually, I have a question about Becca and your relationship.

Do you feel like that love healed you in any way?

Oh?

Yeah, I mean I think every relationship either just heals you in a way of like that's not what I want or this is what I want.

And I the love that Back and I have is just has gone beyond what I thought love was because I think it's you know, because we come from such different backgrounds, We've had to navigate so many things and have had to like really communicate and find if we don't know how to communicate, we learn how to communicate.

And it's just really cool to find a partner that is willing to do the work, because when two people don't want to show up in a relationship, then you know it either is dysfunctional or it falls apart.

And with Beck and I.

It's just like we've always wanted to do our part and like show up and that's like the coolest, coolest, coolest kind of love to have because it feels like we can navigate anything and also like laugh and have fun, Like we have so much fun and I get it's funny.

Like we both were like we were kind of like hesitant to call each other best friends because I was always like I want to.

I was like, I want a partner.

I don't want a best friend.

I have a best friend.

Like you know, and but it's been interesting to kind of do this whole full circle.

I mean, we were we've been together for over seven years now.

And she is my best friend, but we both were kind of just like I don't know, I don't there was something about it that we didn't want to admit.

But going through you know, seven years of love, like she is my best friend and partner and it's just and again going back to like my younger self, I mean my dream was.

To have a love like this.

I didn't even know that the kind of love existed for me, and so I think it was.

It's been so healing to just be like, holy shit, Haley, like you got you got the girl, you know, and like it's it's amazing and it's healthy and it's continues to evolve and grow.

And so that's been like really cool because most of my career was re writing about all of my toxic relationships and situationships like I would be in like love triangles and I'd be gasolic, like I.

Just would be in so many things.

And so it's exciting to get to like start a chapter of where like where does my art go when like that part is healed and that's you know, where there's room for us, which has been really cool.

First of all, I love that you're such a crier.

I am also I'm I'm like, yeah, I'm like just water works.

Two four seven.

Something happened when I turned to my six.

The faucet turned on and I just couldn't turn it off ever again.

So I feel you so deeply.

And thank you.

For sharing so much of your heart.

I could tell that was that came through you, that wasn't even like from you in terms of in terms of writing about the love and the meet cute in the book.

Are there any easter eggs that we can look out for while reading that maybe we wouldn't know unless you know, like we heard you talk about it, that were things that actually happened between you and Becca.

Yeah.

I mean the main thing is that tear room thing.

I always try to like put some of my song titles in there and find ways to like I named the horse Satrin, like just finding like little things.

So all my fans who've been there from the beginning, they know, they know, and I know, but maybe new fans may not have.

And so there's like little easter eggs like that throughout.

And I don't want to spoil the end of the book, but the end of the book has like a really nice just kind of like bow to to just our journey, which has been really cool.

We're going to do something that is called speed read.

So here's how it works.

We put sixty seconds on the clock and we're going to see just how many rapid fire literary questions you can get through.

Okay, it's so intense, Haley, I just literally.

Just got acid reflex.

I'm not prepared.

I saw you swallow.

Okay, I'm slow, Okay, let's do it.

Okay, ready, set.

What is one literary trope you would ban forever.

Just like queer trauma in general, or like the gay best friend.

That's one dimensional, that's just like the sidekick?

Yes, yes, okay.

What's one trope that you'll defend with your life?

Falling in love with an emotionally unavailable person?

Okay, I feel personally attacked.

What's the book that you wish you had written?

Well, I mean Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugoes like the best book of all times?

Thanks so much?

Taylor Jinge's read.

I made my grandma read that recently.

Okay, it's his favorite book to recommend.

Oh.

I love Rick Rubin's book The Creative Act, A Way of Being Like, I continue to reread it over and over again, like I can't stop.

That is such a good one.

What is the best book you've never read?

Pachinko by Men Ginley.

I've been really wanting to read it and it's supposed to be phenomenal and I have yet to read it, but it's on my list.

Who would narrate your memoir audiobook?

Oh?

Easy, Sandra Bullock.

Oh that was not exactly aloud.

That's so great.

What book shaped the way you see the world?

Oh my god, the four Agreements?

It changed my life.

Like I live by the agreements?

I do too, and I try and reread it once in a while.

Yeah, I do, I do.

There's also the fifth Agreement.

There's like many.

There's some extras that you could add on to your your bookshelf.

I didn't know.

Okay, I have a final question of the day here at bookmarked.

What have you bookmarked this week?

Oh my gosh.

Actually, I just save something on Instagram and I'm going to read it to you.

Your intuition, your nervous system, and your values can help you make decisions.

Trust the three guides inside of you, one in doubt, close your eyes and feel your truth.

By Young Pueblo.

Thank you so much, Thank you, Young Piblo, and thank you.

Now I must stay.

The light in me sees the light in you.

There's something magical happening on TikTok.

A whole world of people who don't just read books bring stories to life.

It's where I first heard about bet read by Emily Henry.

Post after post pulled me in until I finally picked it up myself.

And wow, it's one of those stories that stays with you long after the last page.

Here, stories don't end when you close the book.

They live on through reviews, read alongs, and fandom castings.

It's a place for quiet discoveries, for the stories that find you when you're not even looking.

TikTok turns reading into connection, where curiosity fuels conversation and learning feels alive.

Because when we share what moves us, challenges us and makes us feel seen, the story keeps going.

So what's the story that's found you?

Start your hero's journey at TikTok dot com, slash explore more and if you want a little bit more from us, come hang with us on socials.

We're at Reese's Book Club on Instagram serving up books, vibes and behind the scenes magic.

And I'm at Danielle Robe Roba y come say hi and DM me.

And if you want to go nineties on us, call us.

Okay, our phone line is open, so call now at one five zero one two nine, one three three seven nine.

That's one five oh one two nine, one three three seven nine.

Share your literary hot takes, book recommendations, questions about the monthly pick, or let us know what you think about the episode you just heard, and who knows, you might just hear yourself in our next episode, So don't be shy, give us a ring, and of course, make sure to follow Bookmarked by Reese's book Club on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your shows.

Until then, see you in the next chapter.

Bookmarked is a production of Hello Sunshine and iHeart podcast.

It's executive produced by Reese Witherspoon and me Danielle Robe.

Production is by Acast Creative Studios.

Our producers are Matty Foley, Brittany Martinez, Sarah Schleid, and Production assistant is Avery Loftus.

Jenny Kaplan and Emily Rudder are the executive producers for a Cast Creative Studios.

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Olga Kaminwa, Kristin Perla and Ashley Rappacort are associate producers for Reese's book Club.

Ali Perry and Lauren Hansen are the executive producers for iHeart Podcasts.