![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Dying-to-Meet-You-Live.jpg?resize=317%2C396&ssl=1\")
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The acclaimed USA Today<\/em> and Wall Street Journal<\/em> bestselling author returns with a twisty thriller that probes how well we actually know the men in our lives.<\/strong><\/p>\n Rowan Gallagher is a devoted single mother and a talented architect with a high-profile commission restoring an historic mansion for the most powerful family in Maine. But inside, she\u2019s a mess. She knows that stalking her ex\u2019s avatar all over Portland on her phone isn’t the healthiest way to heal from their breakup. But she\u2019s out of ice cream and she’s sick of romcoms.<\/p>\n Watching his every move is both fascinating and infuriating. He’s dining out while she’s wallowing on the couch.\u00a0The last straw comes when he parks in\u00a0their\u00a0favorite spot on the waterfront. In a weak moment, she leashes the dog and sets off\u00a0to\u00a0see who else is in his car.<\/p>\n Instead of catching her ex in a kiss, Rowan becomes the first witness to his murder\u2014and the primary suspect.<\/p>\n But Rowan isn\u2019t the only one keeping secrets. As she digs for the truth, she discovers the dead man was stalking her too, gathering intimate details about her job and her past.<\/p>\n Struggling to clear her name, Rowan finds herself spiraling into the shadowy plot that killed him.<\/p>\n Will she be the next to die?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Add to Goodreads<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Q: What inspired the premise of Rowan tracking her ex through an app\u2014and did you draw from any real-life tech or trends when creating that plot point?<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n Sarina: When my son was 16 years old, I opened the location app on my phone for the first time. I just wanted to make sure he got to soccer practice safely. But then I found myself opening up this app with more frequency, even though it felt a little eerie watching his avatar biking down our dirt roads. And I started to wonder\u2026 what is the creepiest thing that could happen with this app? That\u2019s where Dying to Meet You got it\u2019s start!<\/span><\/p>\n Q: Is this a romance?<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n Sarina: It\u2019s mostly a thriller. But there are three complicated men in Rowan\u2019s life, and not one of them is exactly as he seems. On page one, Rowan\u2019s romantic life is in shambles, and she can\u2019t really see that changing. But is she right?<\/span><\/p>\n Q: Where is the book set, and why?<\/i>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Sarina: Dying to Meet You is set in one of my favorite cities: Portland Maine. I love it so much, and I go there about four times a year. Portland has a lot of history for a small city, and it still breathes that old port energy! Brick streets. Old buildings. It gives good thriller vibes, which is great for adding a layer of fog and mystery to the story.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Q: This story explores how well we know the men in our lives. Does that feel like a dark topic in 2025?<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n Sarina: Yes, but also no? In this book, some of the people who seem trustworthy just aren\u2019t, and some of the ones who seem shady turn out to be heroes. It takes time and patience to figure out who\u2019s who, just like in real life.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Q: Rowan becomes both a witness and a suspect in a murder. How did you pull that off?<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n Sarina: I spent quite a bit of time chatting about the investigation with a retired Maine police detective, and he helped me figure out how to parry the various suspects of law enforcement\u2019s investigation. Rowan is both an insider and an outsider to this process, which I found fascinating. They never let her see the big picture, which is bad news for Rowan but good news for the plot.<\/span><\/p>\n Q: Did you need to do any research to write the novel, and if so, did you learn anything that especially surprised you?<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n Sarina: I love research! For this book, I interviewed an architect and a Maine police detective. I toured two historic mansions in New England. And I did a lot of reading into the dark history of maternity homes in the United States. Those things don\u2019t sound like they go together, but in this book they absolutely do!<\/span><\/p>\n Q: How would you describe the relationship between Rowan and her daughter, Natalie?<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n Sarina: It\u2019s tense! As a parent of a teenager, I tried to keep it real. Natalie is intelligent, independent, imperfect, and occasionally rebellious, but ultimately deeply loyal to her mother. I really enjoyed writing her.<\/span><\/p>\n Q: Did you know how the novel would end before you started writing it, or did you make many changes along the way?<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n Sarina: I knew one of the major twists when I started, but the other one had to find me at the midway point. It usually works that way. The more you write, the more you know.<\/span><\/p>\n Q: What\u2019s next for you\u2014are you working on another thriller?<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n Sarina: I’m currently working on a new novel that explores generational trauma and family secrets, but in a different setting and with an entirely new badass female character. Like Dying to Meet You, it will likely blend elements of mystery, family drama, and investigation.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Dying to Meet You by Sarina Bowen is live! Amazon\u00a0 |\u00a0 Apple\u00a0 |\u00a0 Kobo\u00a0 |\u00a0 B&N\u00a0 |\u00a0 Google Play\u00a0 |\u00a0 Audio Blurb The acclaimed USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestselling author […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":76584,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","yasr_overall_rating":0,"yasr_post_is_review":"","yasr_auto_insert_disabled":"","yasr_review_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[290],"tags":[634,378],"class_list":["post-78930","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-book-news","tag-release","tag-sarina-bowen"],"yasr_visitor_votes":{"stars_attributes":{"read_only":false,"span_bottom":false},"number_of_votes":0,"sum_votes":0},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Dying-to-Meet-You.jpg?fit=200%2C300&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7gaNL-kx4","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78930","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=78930"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78930\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/76584"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=78930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=78930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=78930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Dying-to-Meet-You-Tropes.jpg?resize=300%2C375&ssl=1\")
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\nQ&A about Dying to Meet You with Sarina Bowen<\/b><\/h4>\n
For more great reads, check out our\u00a0Sarina Bowen Author Spotlight<\/a><\/strong><\/h4>\n