Listening In is a series of author interviews, featuring authors whose works have been transformed into audiobooks! Kalie Holford’s YA debut, The Last Love Song. This novel is “a queer YA Mamma Mia! with a dash of Maureen Johnson” and “celebrates the music of an uncertain heart.” The Last Love Song is narrated by Taylor Meskimen and Amanda Dolan.

Please tell us more about The Last Love Song! Why should we listen to it?

The Last Love Song follows Mia, the eighteen-year-old daughter of the late country star, Tori Rose, on a scavenger hunt left for her in her mother’s old diary. With the help of her kind-of-sort-of girlfriend, Mia sets out to finally learn more about the woman the world and her town only know through song and figure out how their journeys are meant to diverge and intertwine.

The audiobook is narrated by Taylor Meskimen (as Mia) and Amanda Dolan (as Tori), and they are truly the most perfect narrators for this story. They breathe life into these characters who have been living in my head for years, and there’s a beautiful heart and lyrical nature to the way they encompass the story. I’m such an audiobook fan myself, and the release of The Last Love Song’s is one of the things I’m most excited for this April.

Could you please tell us about your career as an author? What first drew you to writing?

I started pursuing a career as an author when twelve and stubbornly determined that I didn’t need to wait to achieve my dreams. I grew up the daughter of an author, and my mum has always pushed me to chart my own course in the industry, but I think some of the initial draw before I fell so deeply in love with it myself was having something to connect with her over. We made a deal back then that I could come to a writing conference alongside her if I wrote a book, and so I did.

After years of honing my craft and querying, I found The Book for me, and it happened to be The Last Love Song, which is undoubtedly the book of my heart.

We’d love to hear about your writing process. Please elaborate!

When I was first writing The Last Love Song, I had a chapter-by-chapter plan on virtual cue cards and ended up reconfiguring the entire ending sitting on my sister’s bedroom floor. My process is different for every book, honestly. I usually write large chunks at a time, taking breaks between them to think about where I want to go next. I do most of my planning virtually when I’m drafting, but when it’s time to revise, I pull out my stack of cue cards to color-code and spread out across my floor. I discover each book a little bit uniquely.

Did your own experiences as a teenager influence the characters or story in this book?

Yes, absolutely! Mia’s very different from me, but some of my fears and anxieties and the lessons I’ve learned from my own teen experience definitely wove their way into her story. I was actually working on The Last Love Song my entire graduation year (I’m a COVID grad), and I may not have gotten to go to prom, but I wrote my prom dress into The Last Love Song!

What drew you to YA Romance? When did you know this was the genre you wanted to write?

YA Romance taught me how to fall in love—romantically, platonically, and with myself. I started writing The Last Love Song when I was seventeen years old, and I wrote my very first YA Romance just before that. One of my critique partners told me I’d found my calling, and I haven’t really looked back. I would love to explore other genres too, but I think this one will always be special to me.

Where is your favourite place to write?

I write everywhere. I write on the couch, at the table, on the floor, in my bed—I have a really hard time sitting still when I’m working. One of my favorites is definitely in bed with the lights off, the window open, and my twinkle lights on.

Describe your writing style in five words or less.

Writing love songs as prose.

Any advice for emerging writers?

Find your people! Publishing is so unpredictable, and I don’t think I’d get through it half as intact if I didn’t have a network of wonderful, incredible writer friends who have my back. Try looking at the #writingcommunity hashtag if you’re searching!

You have a strong TikTok presence, what are your thoughts on how BookTok has influenced the publishing industry and readers in general? 

I love watching BookTok videos. I’ve got social anxiety, and sometimes it’s hard for me to interact and film, but I think there’s a really great book community and a palpable excitement about storytelling that I enjoy.

Why Mamma Mia!? 

My nana introduced me to Mamma Mia, and it was love at first watch. It’s such a magical, musical story about love, and the mother-daughter relationship that drives it is so special. I love the way the story is structured around the songs, and somehow it’s the most wonderful viewing experience every time I see it, no matter how many times.

What do you do when you experience writer’s block or reader’s block?

This is a hard one because I feel bad when I step away from my shelves and keyboard, but sometimes I take a break if I need it. I’ll listen to songs, doodle in a sketchbook, watch some favorite shows, and try to remind myself that as much as I love books with my entire heart, I exist outside of them too.

What has been the most exciting part of having your novels transformed into audiobooks?

Listening to the narrator auditions and getting to pick the perfect Mia and Tori was pretty incredible, and hearing the story read aloud and brought to life in the form I do most of my reading in is surreal. 

The audiobook for The Last Love Song is dual narrated, was that something that you pictured while writing it? Were you part of the process to choose the narrators? 

When I was writing it, I honestly didn’t know if it would be a book in any form, but as soon as I found out there was going to be an audiobook, my dream became to have two distinct voices for Mia and Tori. My lovely publisher let me have input, and I truly adore the narrators we landed on so much!

Please recommend an audiobook you absolutely adored!

I love SO many audiobooks. Two that I read this year and absolutely adored beyond words are I Hope This Doesn’t Find You by Ann Liang and So Let Them Burn by Kamilah Cole [narrated by Keylor Leigh and Kamali Minter]. Not only are they the most incredible stories, but the narrators do such an amazing job. I completely fell into the story.

What are you reading (or listening to) right now?

I always have a few books on the go, and right now I’m reading The Breakup Artists by Adriana Mather (my wonderful publisher sent me an ARC), Good Different by Meg Eden Kuyatt (novels in verse are one of my many literary soft spots), and Caught in a Bad Fauxmance by Elle Gonzalez Rose (SO much fun).