Author Interview: May Cobb

Author Interview: May Cobb – My Summer Darlings by May Cobb is a fantastic summer escape to an East Texas town filled with secrets and drama. It’s fun and the perfect summer suspense read. This post may contain links to purchase books & you can read our affiliate disclosure here. 

About May Cobb:

I grew up in the piney woods of East Texas where MY SUMMER DARLINGS, THE HUNTING WIVES and BIG WOODS are set. After college, I moved to San Francisco where I studied Victorian Literature for my Master’s, and gravitated towards that era’s detective novels, known as “sensation novels”, such as Wilke Collins’ THE WOMAN IN WHITE. I then lived in Los Angeles for a few years where I worked for filmmaker/writer Ron Shelton and his wife, the actress Lolita Davidovich.

I currently live in Austin, Texas, with my husband and son where we enjoy traipsing around the area’s many beautiful parks. I also enjoy napping, staring into space, making to-do lists for my to-do lists, shoveling cookies down my throat when I’m writing a particularly difficult scene (and even when I’m not), wearing my PJ’s as often as I can get away with and collapsing into bed at the end of a day with a great book.

I’m currently finishing a book about the late, jazz great, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, a project which has been in the works for twenty years. Kirk was a human phenomenon—a multi-instrumentalist who was best known for his miraculous ability to play three saxophones simultaneously. During his brief life, he defied staggering odds—from blindness, to prejudice, to a paralyzing stroke—in order to play the music that came to him through dreams. His story is what made me want to become a writer.

Synopsis for My Summer Darlings by May Cobb

Jen Hansen, Kittie Spears, and Cynthia Nichols have been friends since childhood. They are now approaching forty and their lives have changed, but their insular East Texas town has not. They stay sane by drinking wine in the afternoons, dishing about other women in the neighborhood, and bonding over the heartache of their own encroaching middle age and raising ungrateful teens.
 
Then Will Harding comes to town, moving into one of the neighborhood’s grandest homes. Mysterious and charming, he seems like the answer to each woman’s prayers. He’s a source of fascination for Jen, Kittie, and Cynthia, but none of them are ready for the way Will disrupts their lives.
 
As Will grows closer with each of the women, their fascination twists into obsession, threatening their friendships and their families. When he abruptly pulls away, each woman scrambles to discover the source of his affection. But what they’ll uncover is far more sinister and deadly than any of them could have ever imagined.

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Author Interview: May Cobb

May Cobb, I’m so excited to talk to you today about My Summer Darlings, out now! Thank you for joining me for this author interview!

Thanks so much for having me!

Can you tell me a little about the inspiration behind My Summer Darlings?

Yes! The idea first came to me when I was thinking about films as inspiration for books. And the movie, The Witches of Eastwick came to mind. I loved that set up of a mysterious, handsome stranger moving to town and upending the lives of three longtime best friends.

My Summer Darlings takes place in an East Texas town. I spent most of my childhood summers in Southeast Texas. Can you tell us more about this setting?

Oh wow how cool! (But actually how hot, weather wise😊). Yes, all of novels thus far have been set in a small town in North East Texas based on the town I’m from, Longview. I just love the eerie, lush forest as a backdrop for a noir story and also love the elements of decadent wealth to be found their due to the history of oil in that area.

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Jen, Kittie, and Cynthia are fascinated when Will comes to town. Can you tell us a bit more about each of these women?

Jen, Kittie, and Cynthia are each at similar, but different crossroads in their lives. Jen is recently divorced, heartbroken, and in financial straits; Kittie is headstrong and vivacious but she’s also a socialite who fears her best days, and beauty, are behind her, while Cynthia is more of a repressed housewife. What bonds them is that they are all approaching middle age while raising surly teenagers.

Can you tell readers what themes to expect from My Summer Darlings?

Obsession, murder, seduction, motherhood, marriage, infidelity, and the expectations society has on women to stay firmly in their roles.

Do you have any favorite scenes in My Summer Darlings?

Gosh I’m a sucker for party scenes and like the pool party scene at Kittie’s which is kind of the calm before the storm. 

Author Interview: May Cobb: Let’s Chat About Writing

I would love to know if you’re a plotter or a pantser. What seems to work best when you’re working on a new manuscript?

Definitely a panster! I do have a general idea of the plot, though, but I very much let the story and characters guide me while drafting.

Do you have any favorite snacks, music or rituals for your writing? For instance, are you blasting music or need complete silence? 

I need to be in silence and I love a cup of hot tea and also dark chocolate!

Do you have any advice for fellow writers?

Don’t ever, ever, ever give up. EVER.

Reading Recs, TV Casting & More

What started your foray into reading? 

I love the soapy dramas such as Desperate Housewives and also the erotic thrillers of the 90s – Basic Instinct, Fatal Attraction – and that sort of fueled wanting to tie romance with darker elements.

My Summer Darlings is one of my top Summer 2022 reads! What are some books on your summer TBR?

Thank you so very much! I am really looking forward to Gabino Iglesias’s THE DEVIL TAKES YOU HOME, I can’t wait to read Mindy Carlson’s HER DYING DAY, and I’m dying to jump into Laure Van Rensburg’s NOBODY BUT US.

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I always love talking about TV and movies. If you were to cast an adaptation for My Summer Darlings, do you have anyone in mind for your characters?

Reese for Kittie and Alexander Skaarsgard for Will!

Do you have any favorite TV shows or movie franchises?

Again, I loved Desperate Housewives, and am currently watching Yellowjackets which I’m really enjoying.

Who is the ideal reader for My Summer Darlings?

Honestly, somebody who’s looking for an escape!

Thank you again for taking the time to speak with me, May! How can readers best connect with you?

Thank you so much for these fabulous questions! I’m active on instagram and my handle is may_cobb! Also my website is www.maycobb.com