A warm welcome to author Kate McMurray joining us today to talk about her new release “What’s the Use of Wondering?”.
Welcome Kate 🙂
Confined Spaces
What’s the Use of Wondering? is an enemies-to-lovers story. Logan and Peter get off on the wrong foot when they first meet and instantly dislike each other.
What’s the worst thing you can do to a couple of college guys who hate each other? Make them roommates, of course!
What I really like about the enemies-to-lovers trope is that all that simmering hatred for the other person gets all tangled up in passion and lust. Hate can be just as strong an emotion as lust, and if both characters stew in that passion for long enough, it can explode. I always love the scene in an enemies-to-lovers book when everything comes to a head and the characters are shouting at each other… and then they start kissing.
Even after Logan and Peter work out some of their differences, they still get to each other and can’t help but argue when they could be doing other things. Here’s one of my favorite moments in the book:
“Do you not want me?”
Peter dropped what he’d been holding—a sock that had gotten free from his meticulously kept dresser—and said, “No, of course I want you. I don’t—what are you so mad about?”
Was I mad? I hadn’t thought so, but maybe my tone made it sound that way. “Nothing,” I said, exasperated. “Why are you cleaning up right now?”
It was his turn to let out a frustrated rumble. He looked down at the sock he’d dropped. Then he looked up at me. “I can never tell what you want from me. And I needed something to do with my hands. I felt awkward, okay? I’m not used to that. I don’t normally feel this way. Just around you, I guess.”
“I make you feel awkward?”
“I put my foot in my mouth around you all the time. You… I don’t know. You kind of muddle me up.”
“I do?”
“Yeah. It’s weird. I was hard half the car ride here, and we weren’t even talking about sex. Being near you gets me all hot, and I never feel like I’m quite in control, so I just wanted a moment or two to cool off when we got back, which I can’t even get because you’re still standing right there.”
I riled him up? Jesus. “Do you even know the effect you have on me? Do you know how fucking hot you are?”
“Why are we arguing about this?” He was only a tick or two below yelling now.
“I don’t know. Why are you cleaning your half of the room when we should be kissing?”
In What’s the Use of Wondering? Logan and Peter get to each other, annoy each other, and then try to avoid each other as well as two guys who share a dorm room can. But Logan thinks Peter is pretty foxy, and once he starts to realize he has the wrong impression of Peter, Logan starts to feel like an idiot. Which doesn’t really do much to abate his resentment of Peter, but it does push him a step closer to making a move.
Blurb:
What’s the Use of Wondering?
WMU: Book Two Violinist Logan has spent most of his life training for a career in music. But as the pressure mounts during his junior year, he questions whether playing in an orchestra is the future he wants, or one chosen by his parents. His new roommate—that annoying jerk Peter from last year’s production of Guys and Dolls—complicates matters. Crammed into a dorm room with the overconfident but undeniably hot accounting major, Logan can’t stop snarling. Then Peter sprains his ankle building sets, and Logan grudgingly agrees to play chauffeur. But instead of putting further strain on their relationship, spending time together reveals some common ground—and mutual frustration. Logan discovers he isn’t the only one who doesn’t know what he wants from life, and the animosity between him and Peter changes keys. But just as the possibility of a happier future appears, Logan gets a dream offer that will take him away from Western Massachusetts University—and Peter. Now he has to decide: will he live the solitary life laid out for him, or hold on to Peter and forge his own path?
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Kate McMurray writes smart romantic fiction. She likes creating stories that are brainy, funny, and of course sexy, with regular guy characters and urban sensibilities. She advocates for romance stories by and for everyone. When she’s not writing, she edits textbooks, watches baseball, plays violin, crafts things out of yarn, and wears a lot of cute dresses. She’s active in Romance Writers of America, serving for two years on the board of Rainbow Romance Writers, the LGBT romance chapter, and three—including two as president—on the board of the New York City chapter. She lives in Brooklyn, NY, with two cats and too many books.
Twitter: @katemcmwriter
Facebook: facebook.com/katemcmurraywriter
Website: www.katemcmurray.com