Standardized Becca asked Eve Dangerfield:

Act Your Age was so surprising and so brilliant; your writing took my breath away. I haven't been able to shut up about it—on Goodreads, on the bus, on the phone with cousins I barely know. But I saw that the book's reader response was what you called "the most interesting of [your] career". "Interesting" is an interesting word. Can you say more about that?

Eve Dangerfield Hey SB! Killer question. So I know reader reviews are always a reflection of the person's own views and opinions filtered through your art, but the way people interpreted Ty and Kate and their dynamic was so diverse I felt like I'd written a million different Act Your Ages, one for everybody who read it.
There were people who thought Kate was strong, that she was weak, that she was exaggerating her ADHD symptoms, that it was impossible for her to be so naive, that she was talking about being naive but was actually secretly in control. And Ty! There were people who thought he was pure evil and people who thought he was just an accurate portrayal of a forty-five-year-old Gen Xer. People who thought he was taking advantage of Kate and people who appreciated seeing a male lead struggle with 'real' insecurities and display (and overcome) the wishy-washyness that IRL men so often engage in.
And then there's the DDLG roleplay... Some people thought it was hot. Some people were repulsed by it. Some people were repulsed in a way that said they were clearly turned on and resentful that they had to know that about themselves. Some people thought it didn't go far enough, that they wanted more legit roleplay i.e. he's actually her stepfather. Basically any and all reactions people could have about Act Your Age, they had. It was amazing and bizarre and it also helped me take my hands further off the wheel as a creative. As in 'I write what I like because I like it, since people can and will interpret it any old way they want.' Which I think is a good thing.

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