Audrey Goldberg Ruoff has always been inspired by oddly specific special interests, and was therefore inspired to write "Hopelessly Teavoted."
What was your inspiration behind your most recent book?
I’m always inspired by oddly specific special interests. Growing up, I loved the wholehearted acceptance of otherness in the Addams Family, and I also love the pining and the simultaneous brightness and darkness of the show "Pushing Daisies." Both of those things feel creepy and also funny, and sparkly but also spooky. I wanted to write a romcom with that kind of juxtaposition, something that embraced the beautiful, the painful, and the punny. I also love witchy romance, and live for a paranormal love story set in our world.
What does Reading Rainbow mean to you?
Reading Rainbow means reading with the intention of including as many sexual and gender identities as possible. It also means that we are thoughtful about privilege that exists within queer communities. I love to read a bisexual and pansexual book and see myself in it, and Pride means that I should also read about queer identities different from my own. In today’s political climate, I want to make a point especially to listen to and read trans voices and stories. I love "A Lady for a Duke" by Alexis Hall, "Cemetery Boys" by Aiden Thomas, and "Felix Ever After" by Kacen Callender. The first is an adult romance, and the second two are YA.
Why do you feel representation of a variety of people is so important when it comes to writing books?
I’m going to quote the brilliant Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop here and say that books should be mirrors, windows, and doors. We need to read things about people like us and about people different from us, because that helps us to practice empathy. This has to be both intentional and intersectional; it’s healthy to read about different sexual and gender identities and about different racial and ethnic identities, different abilities, different economic levels, and different nationalities. Simply put, our lives are better when we read diversely, and that’s something that takes effort. I do an audit (just for me) of what I read each year, and ask myself whose voice is included and whose voice is missing, and then I adjust what I pick up at the library and the bookstore accordingly.
Tell us a little more about the book and why you decided to write it.
I wrote "Hopelessly Teavoted" because I was feeling a lot of grief, but also taking comfort in the people and things that I loved. I taught high school English for 15 years, and I’m headed back to the classroom this year to start a new adventure, teaching middle school. In all my time in public education, there has been so much joy amidst so much grief, and I liked the idea of a main character who, even with actual magic, leaves pursuit of another career to become a teacher. It just felt right after so many years of rolling my eyes at people cracking jokes about teachers and public education. It’s a romance book for people who know what it is to grieve, and to struggle with depression, but it’s also for those who want to believe that education is the thing that can save us from the gaping maw of ignorance and misinformation.
What can fans expect from your book?
"Hopelessly Teavoted" is brewed with love, puns, and more pining than you can believe. It’s high heat, but in a strange and unusual way, because I myself, like Lydia Deetz, am strange and unusual. Right at the point when the characters are about to finally come clean about their feelings, a magical mishap forces them to be very creative about acting on those feelings. I think most importantly, it’s for everyone who has ever feared at once that they are too much and also not enough. I hope it helps fix the world even just a tiny bit, so I would be happy if just one person read it and felt happy. I hope that this book finds readers who need it.
What's up next for you in the bookish world?
"Hopelessly Teavoted" has a stand-alone companion novel coming in fall 2026! "Vengefully Matched" is a sapphic rivals-to-lovers fake dating romcom that channels Death Becomes Her by way of Sabrina Carpenter’s “Taste” music video. "Hopelessly Teavoted" follows Azrael Hart, and "Vengefully Matched" is the story of his sister, Priscilla, snarky prankster extraordinaire. Think Aubrey Plaza, Jenna Ortega, and everything hot and sulky and sharp about Wednesday Addams meets a sunshiny, perky blonde woman who despises her, and then needs to fake date her, but finds herself catching real feelings. It’s super-hot and super gay.
