These Chicken Caesar Smash Tacos Are, Well, Smashing

Gather round, The Idea of You fanatics: Robinne Lee’s first novel in nearly a decade is here — and considering the cult fandom surrounding her last book (and the Anne Hathaway film adaptation that followed), this one’s sure to be big, too. In Crash Into Me, photographer Cecilia Chen relocates her family from Paris to Los Angeles for her husband’s film career. Then a car accident threatens to upend her outwardly perfect life. That’s because the other woman in the crash is Anouk Ferrand, a supermodel Cecilia had a fleeting but torrid connection with on a photo shoot 20 years earlier. This book has so much of what made The Idea of You a sleeper hit — steamy scenes, heartbreak, and a complicated 40ish female protagonist with a career in the art world — but it centers on a sapphic love story that also explores race, class, power, and how they collide with marriage and motherhood. We asked "the Patron Saint of Horny Moms Everywhere" a few questions. Here's what she had to say...

Q: What’s one unpopular opinion you have?

Lee: The smell of skunk is a potent elixir. It [takes me back to] summer nights in Westchester, driving with the windows down and kissing cute boys.

Q: What’s one thing everyone needs to watch?

Lee: Chris Isaak’s “Wicked Game” music video, featuring Helena Christensen and directed by Herb Ritts. It’s a masterpiece.

Q: What should be required reading for every human being?

Lee: Taking Charge of Your Fertility by Toni Weschler and Caste by Isabel Wilkerson.

Q: What is your most prized possession?

Lee: My laptop and my childhood journals. I’m assuming my husband, kids, and dogs aren’t possessions, correct?

Q: What’s one recipe everyone should make?

Lee: Marcella Hazan’s Bolognese.

Q: What’s one thing you’re an armchair expert on?

Lee: Nineties models and boy bands.

Q: What's your favorite unapologetic indulgence?

Lee: Nineties models and boy bands.

Q: If you were stranded on a desert island and could only eat one thing, what would it be?

Lee: Salad Niçoise and tarte tatin.