Cake with Katie No. 13: Joss Richard

Welcome back to Cake with Katie! Today we are talking with Joss Richard, the author of one of my favorite romance novels of 2025, It’s Different This Time. Her next book, Let’s Kiss and Tell, releases August 11, and I’ve had that date circled on my calendar since she announced it. We discuss the upcoming book, her unique journey to becoming a writer, and more below!

I have a confession: second-chance romance is not my favorite trope. If you’re new to the romance genre, second-chance stories are typically about couples that dated, broke up, and meet again years later when they reconnect by chance. They have shared history, baggage, and usually some big, hairy thing that caused the breakup.

I think my aversion to second-chance romance is because I love a leading man who is so completely and totally obsessed (in a healthy way! Unless it’s a B.R.A.D. 🤪) with the leading lady that it would be unfathomable for them to ever break up (outside of the obligatory third-act breakup). But then I’ll read a second-chance romance that is so full of pining, heady anticipation, and butterfly-inducing emotions that I start to think… Is second-chance romance actually the superior trope? These types of stories often feel a little messier—a little more real—so when they’re done well, they’re exquisite. Enter: Joss Richard

I picked up her debut, It’s Different This Time, last fall after receiving many enthusiastic messages from BR&B readers imploring me to read it, and I am indebted to those readers for introducing me to Joss. This second-chance romance centered around a New York City brownstone manages to transport you to the golden-yellow, tree-lined streets of an autumnal West Village as you’re plopped right in the middle of a love story you won’t want to end. I love that this book is so fall in NYC, but not in an overt way (no Pumpkin Spice Lattes in sight!).

This book was extremely well done, and I’ve been waiting with bated breath for Joss’ next since! Luckily, the wait is almost over, as Let’s Kiss and Tell releases in a few short weeks. This LA-based romance follows a sex columnist who doesn’t believe in love, her serious coworker, and their fake dating scheme.

Before writing novels, Joss worked as an editorial and social director at companies such as Hello Sunshine and Reese’s Book Club, The Walt Disney Company, Netflix, and Paramount. She has even received a Daytime Emmy Award! But enough from me—let’s ask and tell with Joss!

Katie: As always, dessert first! What’s your favorite cake of all time? Or, if you’re not a dessert person, what would one of your characters pick?

Joss: Oh, I am through and through a dessert person! I will take anything chocolate—preferably a chocolate molten lava cake or a chocolate layered cake.

Katie: What is your “&”—your bubbly to your beach reads—your must-have indulgence, comfort, or ritual to go along with your writing process?

Joss: This is a new development, but I tried Diet Coke for the first time this year (I know). It would have to be a crispy Diet Coke with a lot of ice—pebble ice, preferably. It’s gotten me through a lot of writing days recently.

Katie: You have such an impressive background in the entertainment industry. Have you been writing all along, or did inspiration strike one day and you knew you had to do something with it?

Joss: I grew up secretly writing fan fiction! I was writing The Sound of Music and Mary Poppins fan fiction at the age of 12. While I always enjoyed it, I never seriously thought of pursuing creative writing as a career. I genuinely didn’t know that was something I could do. So, I abandoned my fan fiction in high school, and it wasn’t until the pandemic that I fell back in love with romance novels and fan fiction writing. From there, I decided to take the leap and write something original. Then It’s Different This Time was born.

Katie: Tell us about Let’s Kiss and Tell. What can we expect when we pick it up on August 11?

Joss: Let’s Kiss and Tell follows Lucy, a sex columnist, and Marshall, a news writer, who both have cynical views on relationships. They decide that a fake relationship will help them both personally and professionally.

This book is fun and sexy, but at the same time, it depicts a very real, messy kind of love that exists. Naturally, having a sex columnist as the female protagonist means we’re entering a space where characters openly talk about sex. I wanted to carefully and positively portray the nuances of what sex and love can mean to people.

But outside of that, you will find boxing scenes, a Palm Springs wedding, romantic moments on a Ferris wheel, only one bed, complicated family dynamics, slutty little glasses, and the vibes of How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days and Nobody Wants This.

Katie: I am such a fan of fake dating, and I can’t wait to experience your take on it. Can you describe LKAT in three words beyond that central trope?

Joss: Fun. Sexy. Messy.

Katie: How did writing this sophomore novel differ from writing your debut? What was your favorite part of writing LKAT?

Joss: This book was an entirely different beast. I wrote It’s Different This Time with no intention of anybody reading it. I wrote it just for me, and then when I decided to pursue getting published, I genuinely thought IDTT would just be a writing sample.

I started writing Let’s Kiss and Tell right when ARCs of IDTT were coming out and went into edits the week IDTT was released. It was really tough to separate myself from these two books. I would be attending book events talking about June and Adam and hearing readers say how much they connect with them, and then I had to go home and write about two entirely different characters. So, that was a learning curve for me!

What I loved about writing Let’s Kiss and Tell was that I was able to really test myself as a writer. Because of the timing, I had to teach myself to write a story that I enjoy. I had to remind myself not to write for anyone else. I truly love Lucy and Marsh. I love their love, and I love what they gave me.

Katie: It’s Different This Time felt like a love letter to NYC in the fall, and LKAT garners some of its heat from LA in the summer. Tell us about how you intentionally use setting in your stories.

Joss: I kind of shit on LA in It’s Different This Time. The depiction of the city made the most sense for that book and what June was going through. [In LKAT,] I wanted to write something from a different perspective and from two people LA has been good to. It was so fun writing a book set in a city where I live because I dropped a lot of easter eggs most people may not even notice.

I try to always have the setting be a character in itself. Depending on where your book takes place, it can seriously reflect the tone of the story. I view New York in the fall as sweeping and romantic. I view LA in the summer as hot, sexy, and exciting.

Katie: If we’re hosting a bookclub for LKAT, what drink do we have to serve?

Joss: Strawberry daiquiris, espresso martinis, or iced oat lattes.

Katie: What are you reading this summer? Do you have a favorite so far?

Joss: Oh gosh, I’m constantly reading, and there are so many good summer romances that have recently come out—and I love them all!

• Embrace by Bal Khabra

• Leave and Come Back by Lavanya Lakshmi

• Not That Kind of Proposal by Victoria Lavine

• Married with Benefits by Ellie Palmer

• Yes, Chef by Grace Reilly

• Full Throttle by J.K. MacLaren

Katie: What’s the last romance novel you read that gave you butterflies?

Joss: Every Version of You by Natalie Messier. What a beautiful debut.

Lauren: There was something so natural and unforced about the friends-to-lovers, second-chance romance in It’s Different This Time. What drew you to these tropes?

Joss: What’s so interesting is that those tropes came so naturally to me. June and Adam’s story was in me for a long time—before I even really knew their relationship could be defined in a trope. I was always fascinated by and drawn to the idea of two roommates who didn’t get it right the first time. What would happen if, years later, they were placed in the same setting and similar circumstances, but with a little more life experience. Would things be different?

Lindsay: How did you make the jump from entertainment exec to author? Were you worried at all about how people in the entertainment business would perceive you? What was your writing process like? Coming from someone who is exploring a similar path!

Joss: Oh, 1,00000% yes. I was afraid to tell anyone that I was writing because I didn’t want people to think I was chasing a pipe dream. I was worried about so many things: my writing being a conflict of interest, how I would be perceived, and whether people would think I wasn’t serious about my job if I had another passion I was pursuing. I was also worried people wouldn’t be supportive. It was a really tough spot.

I would write IDTT from 5 a.m. to 7 a.m. before work. I’m not saying that’s what anyone needs to do, but that’s what worked for me and my schedule. At a certain point, I realized that those two hours were the highlight of my day. That’s when I knew I’d found something I needed to chase. Ultimately, I wholeheartedly believe in career pivots. Life is short, but also so long to be doing the same thing forever. Everyone’s financial situation and support system is different, but if you have a passion for something else, there is nothing wrong with pursuing it in a way that makes sense for you. I’m cheering you on!

What a treat it was to have Joss join us for Cake with Katie. I am so excited to read Let’s Kiss and Tell and thrilled to see what’s next for Joss! LKAT is out on August 11, and you can preorder it here.

You can find Joss on Instagram here, read her Substack here, or meet her in person at one of her upcoming book tour stops listed here. Leave a comment by next Wednesday, July 29, and I’ll pick two of you to win a copy of LKAT when it releases!

Subscribe here, so the next Cake with Katie newsletter goes right to your inbox!

xoxo, Katie

Editor: Elizabeth Czapski