When winter rolls around, there’s nothing like a little romance to heat things up. For the characters of Lyla Lee’s latest rom-com, The Cuffing Game, there’s no shortage of that warmth in the thrilling simmer of an unfolding slow burn. With fresh twists on reality TV and the modern dating scene, Lee crafts an electrifying landscape of love and humor in the pages of her new release that will keep readers on their toes. She sat down with Bookstr for all the insider information on how The Cuffing Game came to be.
About Lyla Lee
Lyla Lee is the bestselling author of YA books about K-pop, K-dramas, and reality TV, as well as the Mindy Kim series for younger readers. Her books have been translated into multiple languages around the world. Originally from South Korea, she’s lived in various cities throughout the United States, worked various jobs in Hollywood, and studied Psychology and Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California. She now lives in Dallas, Texas.
Thank you, Lyla, for joining us. Let’s get started!
Can you give a summary of The Cuffing Game and what readers should prepare themselves for as they read the novel?
My favorite way to summarize The Cuffing Game is that it’s a K-drama remix of Pride and Prejudice and Love Island. If that sounds fun and chaotic, it’s because it is! I think some people go into it thinking it’s like a direct P&P adaptation… but it’s not. At their core, Mia and Noah are Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy, yes. But they’re those characters if they were born in completely different environments (Texas, USA and Seoul, South Korea) & grew up with the influence of social media and Hollywood.
One of the hallmarks of your writing is your relatable, complex characters. What went into crafting the main characters of the story?
I have to give credit where credit is due, and the fact is that I wouldn’t be able to create the characters I do with the amazing and talented musical artists whose songs become the “beating hearts” of my characters. I always start my writing process by creating a playlist.
And for The Cuffing Game, I only truly understood Mia when I listened to all-american bitch by Olivia Rodrigo on repeat, while girls like me don’t cry by thủy and Lovesick by Laufey mark key moments of the book. For Noah, So I Danced by DPR IAN brought me to the core of Noah’s character, while Instagram by DEAN and Filter by BTS also provided important character beats.
The chemistry in the book crackles right off the page. How do you approach writing romantic tension?
I always try to put myself in my character’s shoes and see the other character through their eyes. Then I think, “Okay, what are some of the things they like about that other person?” And then, “All right, what drives them crazy (in both good and bad ways) about that person?” And I focus on those things when I write about the two characters’ interactions with each other.
The Cuffing Game explores themes like vulnerability, expectation in modern dating, and emotional authenticity. What message did you hope readers would take away?
Pretty similar to Pride and Prejudice, The Cuffing Game is a story about perspective and societal pressure. Both Mia and Noah act the way they do because of their limited and flawed perceptions of each other in the beginning of the book, but then their feelings blossom as they see and understand each other more, like what happens with Elizabeth and Darcy in P&P.
In the different couples (or “cuffles” as they are called in the book), too, everyone is influenced by their perception of the other person, rather than how that person really is. So if there’s anything I wish to foster more of in readers it is a sense of empathy and understanding for others. That willingness to look beyond your own perspective to see (or at least try to see) things from other people’s perspectives, and to keep in mind that 1.) there’s almost always more than meets the eye and 2.) social media is fake af, haha.
How important is it to you to write love stories that reflect diverse identities and experiences?
So important that I’ve made it one of my life missions. I am a firm believer in the importance of diversity in love stories, but especially love stories for young people.
When I first started writing my own books as a teen, I made my books as non-diverse as possible. Why? Because during that time (this was the 2000s), I didn’t see many stories about people who looked like me or honestly, most of the diverse population of my school, so my teen self just assumed that’s the way things should be in books, that no one would read stories about people who looked like me or had similar experiences to me. It makes my heart ache just thinking about it.
Thankfully, things are different now, and we have books about many different people. Everyone deserves a love story. And everyone deserves a happy ending, no matter their race, class, gender, sexuality, etc.
Which K-drama or rom-com movie do you think your characters would binge together on a snow day?
Such a fun question! Honestly, Noah is more of an action movie guy, and Mia loves K-drama rom-coms, but on a snowy day, especially during the holidays, I think they’d both get a real kick out of binging The Princess Switch (all three movies) together. And being the film nerds they are, they’d spend 99% of the time trying to figure out all the tricks and visual effects used to “clone” Vanessa Hudgens.
If The Cuffing Game had a soundtrack, what are 3 songs that would definitely be on it?
CUFF IT by Beyonce (the inspiration of the title!)
Yes or Yes by TWICE (fun, dating show vibes)
F*** Up the Friendship by Leah Kate (one of the key themes of one of the main cuffles!)
All our gratitude to Lyla Lee for chatting with us about her craft! Make sure to stay up to date with her on her Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook, as well as her website.
Get even more expert insights on the art of romance novels from author Maria V. Snyder here!
Find all titles as swoony as The Cuffing Game on our Bookshop Love is in the Air: Contemporary Romance Shelf
