Sarah Echevarre Smith: Romancing the Heritage
/
Susan Echevarre Smith (Photo by Daniel Muller)
Authors Randy Ribay and Mia P. Manansala broke the glass ceiling with their Filipino American protagonists in the YA and cozy mystery genres, respectively. Now, slowly getting noticed is Sarah Echevarre Smith, who is making a name for herself in the adult romance genre.
Born in Stockton, California, and raised in Nebraska surrounded by family and relatives, she stumbled upon her tita’s stash of romance novels and has been hooked on them ever since. Sarah’s first book, Faker, came out in 2019 and published under the name Sarah Smith. With main character Emmie, Sarah presents some of her own “bullying experiences” at work due to her race. She has written of her minority experience here in America, but her publisher asked that her Filipino heritage “[be made] more present.” On her third book’s release she published under her full name: Sarah Echevarre Smith. Not only was it an affirmation of her Filipino identity, but it was also a loving tribute to her mother, who passed away when Sarah was in the middle of writing her second book.
Aside from story plots usually found in most romantic comedies (or rom-coms), Sarah’s books offer the little things that remind one of “home.” There are references to Filipino food like lumpia and longganisa, and also descriptions of little quirks like keeping extra fast food napkins in the console and having snacks handy in a purse.
Keeping strong family ties is another strong Filipino value that permeates her books. Though Sarah’s characters are fiercely independent ladies, family members are never too far from the scene. Whether the mom is physically right there helping out at the food truck business in Simmer Down, or a sister who is a Skype call away is listening to her vent in Faker, the topic of family support is front and center in all of her stories.
Before you start passing out copies of Sarah’s books to your aunties and ninangs (godmothers), you may want to take into consideration that Publisher’s Weekly actually categorized her books under Romance/Erotica.
Sarah’s romance writing style combines the tropes that are typically found in rom-coms with very descriptive sex scenes that would make your lola blush. Think of her books as When Harry Met Sally on Viagra. Sarah strongly believes that her books definitely fall under the Romance category. She further explains, “As far as erotica goes, my books are definitely steamy but not erotica. I love the erotica genre; I just don’t want to mislead anyone and make them think my books are erotica!”
She writes in Frolic, a popular website that discusses all things modern romance, that she is “not a fan of books with G-rated love scenes” and would want these to have more “heft.” And “heft” she delivers in all of her novels so far. In Simmer Down, Sarah describes her main character and food truck owner, Nikki DiMarco, making out with her business-competition-turned-fantasy-man, Callum James, in a vivid dream. In On Location, TV series producer Alia Dunn exchanges dirty texts with her field coordinator, Drew, while in Faker, copywriter Emmie Echevarre fogs up the car windows as she makes out with co-worker, Tate Rasmussen.
In fact, Sarah was initially unable to open up to all her relatives about her books because she was nervous about their reactions. Now that the cat is out of the bag, she is surprised by the continued support and love that she has received. Even though some relatives decided to skip reading the steamy parts, they still push her books to other people. Now that’s family for you!
Borderline erotica or not, Sarah’s coupling scenes emphasize the importance of consent. Sarah claims that the issue of “consent” in older romance novels tended to be “dubcon” (dubious consent). In her modern romance stories, she makes sure her characters “participate in enthusiastic consent before sex acts”. In her first book, Faker, Emmie gets kissed by her co-worker Tate Rasmussen:
“When he pulls his mouth closer to mine, I don’t flinch. When he presses our lips together, I let him. He kisses me, and it’s the lightest, softest, most gentle kiss in the world.”
There are no blushing brides in Sarah’s stories, but readers may be bushing instead.
“Aside from story plots usually found in most romantic comedies (or rom-coms), Sarah’s books offer the little things that remind one of ‘home.’”
Sarah has come into her own as a writer by finding the genre that she is most passionate about and a writing style that best depicts her characters as the strong, independent women they can be.
Her next book, The Boy with the Bookstore, is set to be released on September 6, 2022. If you have a sweet tooth for ube lattes and you can’t resist an eye-candy of a bookstore owner, then you won’t want to miss this. Joelle Prima and Max Boyson have to learn to work together in a confined space as their regular stores are getting a makeover. Will this close encounter sweeten their relationship or leave a bitter taste in their mouths?
Sarah’s next book, The Boy with the Bookstore
To stay up to date on the latest on Sarah, follow her on Twitter and Instagram @authorsarahs with new books set for release in January and February 2023!
Lynn Alejandrino-Topel is a teacher and mother based in Maryland. When not busy reading books, she blogs about food and places to visit in the DC-Maryland area. Find her on Pinterest: @themamatravels
