Alexa Martin is the award winning author of Better than Fiction, Mom Jeans and Other Mistakes, and the Playbook series. Her novels have been chosen by NPR and Amazon for the best books of the year and her work has been featured in Cosmopolitan, Entertainment Weekly, and NPR.  Her first book Intercepted was optioned for tv/film with Starz and G-Unit Production. She lives in Dallas with her husband, four children, and German Shepherd. The Playbook series was inspired by the eight years she spent as a NFL wife and her deep love of all things pop culture, sparkles, leggings, and wine. When she’s not dreaming up her next romance hero, you can find her catching up on whatever Real Housewives franchise is currently airing or filling up her Etsy cart with items she doesn’t need.

Next Door Nemesis

Next-Door Nemesis by Alexa Martin

When you’re already hitting rock bottom, the last thing you need is a complain from the HOA. For Collins Carter, that was the last straw after having to move in with her retired dad. As for Nathanial, everything was going great until Collins moved back and disrupted his tidy, organized life. Now they are both running for president of the homeowners association and the race is getting ugly. The only thing more irritating than the smear campaigns are the feelings both of them are catching.

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Who doesn’t love a good HOA feud? What inspired Next-Door Nemesis for you?

Exactly, who doesn’t love a little hometown, low-stakes, petty drama? HOA feuds are the best! I was actually inspired when a good friend joined her HOA and they were not happy. She wasn’t on board with the way they had been handling things, so when she joined, they saw her as an instant threat. She is the kindest person in the world, but they were so rude to her. But what really got me invested was when they created a secret Facebook group and started having meetings without her. It was all so wild and unbelievable that I felt like I was watching a sitcom! I knew I had to write an HOA book and I’m so glad my publisher let me.

Next-Door Nemesis has all the hallmarks of an enemies-to-lovers read. What is it about this sub-genre that drew you to it?

I love banter. It’s my favorite to read and it’s my favorite to write. No books have better back and forth than enemies to lovers books. It’s so fun to read between the lines of the characters saying how much they can’t stand each other when we really know they just want to kiss. There is always so much tension and it keeps me so invested.

What are some of your other favorite enemies-to-lovers books?

The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren, You, Again by Kate Goldbeck, The Worst Best Man by Mia Sosa, Things We Never Got Over by Lucy Score, and Dating Dr. Dil by Nisha Sharma.

Instead of the “How do you write books as a mom of four?” question, we want to ask, what is the best part about being a mom and a writer? How do your kids feel about their mom being an author? Are there aspects of motherhood that influence your books?

The best part of being a mom and a writer is feeling fulfilled in multiple aspects of my life. I was a stay at home mom for years before I started writing and I’m so grateful I was able to spend that time with my babies, but I felt like there was something missing. Once I started writing, it was something I was able to do for just me. I was able to explore my creativity and sit quietly with my thoughts. I think it’s made me a better mom. Depending on the day, my kids think it’s pretty cool. Especially my oldest daughter. She’s a bookworm like her mom, so she loves coming to the bookstore with me and seeing my books on the shelves. I think that as much as my characters have personalities of their own, I can’t help but letting part of me slide in. And since being a mom is the most important thing in my life, it definitely influences my writing.

You were ahead of the game with your Playbook series, as “sports romances” continue to grow in popularity, do you have any plans to dive back into that sub-genre?

I feel like it’s been a lifetime since I was a football wife, but since then, I’ve been a football coach’s wife and a football mom. Now that I live in Texas, I’d love to write a small-town romance with Friday Night Lights vibes between a high school football coach and the one  that got away. Maybe someday! I also left the Playbook series on a bit of a cliffhanger with my girl Vonnie. I’d love to revisit her story one day and give her the HEA she deserves!

What books have shaped you and your career?

Too many to count! One of the first authors I read who really shaped the way I looked at voice in story is Kristen Ashley. I felt like she was talking to me and her style feels so personal. It gave me the freedom to play with sentence structure. The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory was huge for me… and not only because it was a Black woman named Alexa. For me, she was one of the first voices I really saw doing rom-coms with WOC. This might be controversial, but I would never have started writing romance if I hadn’t read Fifty Shades of Grey. That book was the gateway drug that turned me into an avid romance reader and eventual author!

Can you share what’s next for you?

I’m currently working on another romance for Berkley that I’m really excited about, but it’s still a little hush hush. I will say it has another really fun setting that was inspired by one of the characters in Next-Door Nemesis. Things have been really heavy for everyone for quite some time now, so I’m really focused on creating stories that are light and fun.