Q&A: Ellie Palmer, Author of ‘Anywhere With You’

We chat with author Ellie Palmer about Anywhere With You, which is the perfect escape for anyone who believes that sometimes the best destinations are the ones you never planned.

Hi, Ellie! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?

Absolutely! First and foremost, I’m the author of Anywhere With You and Four Weekends and a Funeral. Aside from writing, I love breakfast foods and watching television. I consider myself a reality TV historian (which basically means I’ve watched a concerning amount of it over an extraordinarily long period of time).

When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?

I’ve always loved making people laugh and sharing stories. When I was six, I mailed a joke to the Rosie O’Donnell Show. I wish I could bottle that six year old’s confidence/delusion! The show ended up including it in their children’s joke collection Kids Are Punny, so now I lovingly refer to that joke as my New Times Bestselling cat pun.

Quick lightning round! Tell us:

• The first book you ever remember reading: Anne of Green Gables. Gilbert Blythe is my book husband now and forever.
• The one that made you want to become an author: Heartburn by Nora Ephron. I remember reading it and feeling like I was in the room with Nora, eating pasta and laughing through life’s hardest moments. That novel is pure voice, and it was the first time I really understood what I wanted my writing to feel like.
• The one that you can’t stop thinking about: Where You’re Planted by Melanie Sweeney. Melanie can do no wrong in my eyes and this stunning grumpy sunshine romance is pitch perfect!

Your latest novel, Anywhere With You, is out now! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?

Banter! Friendship! Sisterhood! Road Trip! YEARNING!

What can readers expect?

Anywhere With You follows Charley, a recently divorced Type-A woman who’s certain she has life all figured out. So when she learns her impulsive, free-spirited sister is planning to elope in the northern Minnesota woods with her messy on-again-off-again high school sweetheart, Charley heads off on a madcap road trip with her polar opposite—her nomadic, very Type B childhood best friend, Ethan—in his van home. But when long suppressed feelings resurface, it becomes a question of whether she’s willing to take some risks and make some mistakes in the pursuit of love, all while trying to prevent her sister from doing the very same.

At it’s core, Anywhere With You is about those lifelong relationships you forge when you’re still learning who you are and how those relationships change (and change you) as you grow. Readers who love dual timelines, men who yearn, and hilarious side characters will enjoy this one.

Where did the inspiration for Anywhere With You come from?

I grew up watch teen soaps like The O.C. and Felicity (and more recently The Summer I Turned Pretty) and I wanted to capture those potent feelings of young love and coming of age and juxtapose them when a second coming of age in adulthood. I loved capturing the nostalgia of those T.V. shows and grounding them with an adult story of finding love post divorce.

Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?

I loved writing the flashbacks! There are so many that didn’t make it in, because I couldn’t stop writing them. One day, I’ll have to release them all in a newsletter or something. I also loved writing the secondary romance between Charley’s sister and her high school boyfriend. It was such a fun challenge to showcase their second chance romance in little glimpses throughout the story.

Did you face any challenges whilst writing? How did you overcome them?

As much as I loved writing the flashbacks, striking the right balance of past and present was tricky.

What’s next for you?

I have another rom-com coming out next summer! It’s an opposites attract, enemies to lovers, small-town, modern marriage of convenience romance. (Gee, I wonder if I can fit anymore tropes in there? Ha!)

Lastly, what books have you enjoyed reading this year? Are there any you’re looking forward to picking up?

I’ve loved so many!! This year, I’ve loved No Ordinary Love by Myah Ariel, Passion Project by London Sperry, Let’s Call a Truce by Amy Buchanan, and Fun at Parties by Jamie Harrow. I’m desperate to get my hands on Sunk in Love by Heather McBreen and next up on my TBR is Jill Tew’s latest novel An Ocean Apart (her 2024 dystopian romance The Dividing Sky is a must read!)

Will you be picking up Anywhere With You? Tell us in the comments below!