From slow burns to love triangles and everything in between, author Jasmine Guillory is certainly no stranger to romance tropes.

She’s even been known to create some of her own. Indeed, Guillory’s wildly successful 2018 novel The Proposal follows Nikole, who—after her boyfriend of five months unexpectedly, undesirably and very publicly proposes to her—is swept away by a mystery bystander, Carlos. Inevitably, the two fall in love in a high-stakes twist on your typical strangers-to-lovers story. 

Guillory has written seven books since, spanning a variety of interesting characters put in thrilling, and often complicated, romantic situations. But there’s one trope that she often finds herself returning to.

“Oh my gosh, I love fake dating so much,” Guillory told E! News in an exclusive interview at the 30th Annual Los Angeles Times Festival of Books. “I would write another fake dating book in a heartbeat, but I feel like I can’t keep going back to that well too much. But I love reading it and I love writing it. I think it’s so fun.”