Sioux Falls author’s tire shop romance will premiere soon as movie

Watching her romance novel “Wait With Me” being turned into a movie proved to be a painful experience for Amy Daws.

Delightfully painful.

“I got to stay on set the whole three weeks of filming, and my face hurt from smiling so much,” the Sioux Falls author said. “It was cool to see the cast and crew take it so seriously. Spicy romance can be looked at negatively, but they took this story and saw it for what it is: great entertainment, great escape. They make a product that they can be proud of.”

“Wait With Me” the movie will begin airing on Passionflix, a streaming app that can be viewed on Roku TV sets or a Fire TV Stick, on March 30. Passionflix has dedicated its platform to turning romance novels into movies, Daws said. It has produced 15 of its own movies and also streams classic romances like “Pride & Prejudice.”

Her first experience seeing one of her books turned into a movie couldn’t have gone better, Daws said.

“Passionflix’s primary goal is to keep the movie true to the book, and they involved me in so many parts of the process,” she said. “I got to help with the screenplay and the cast of the movie. They were asking for my feedback. It’s cool how much they honored the author’s perspective.”

Daws traveled to Atlanta to watch the movie being filmed. Georgia’s capital is considered the East Coast Hollywood, Daws said, where productions such as the Marvel movies have been made.

The movie will premiere in Denver on March 29. Denver was chosen because “Wait With Me” was set in Colorado, so it was a fun, natural fit, Daws said. In addition, she will attend a book signing in Denver that weekend, and actors from the movie also will attend.

“Wait With Me” the movie features Andrew Biernat as Miles and Rapid City-area native Madison Lawlor as Kate, the romance author who turns the customer-care center at a local tire shop into her personal office for writing. As the Passionflix recap recounts, “When she’s discovered by one of the mechanics that works there, she suddenly finds herself with a new kind of inspiration.”

That’s Daws’ story — mostly, sort of, kind of. It’s true that the customer-care center at the Tires, Tires, Tires store on South Minnesota Avenue became the place where inspiration flowed after a period when Daws feared she might have lost it forever.

As she explained in a story that ran in SiouxFalls.Business in 2018, when Tires, Tires, Tires became the scene for the cover shoot for “Wait With Me,” she had taken her car in for an oil change during this dry spell.

Something about the atmosphere inspired her — greased her writing wheels so to speak. Daws wrote and wrote and wrote. Then, she borrowed the car of a friend and took it in for an oil change. Then another. And another. As Daws put it, she essentially offered a free oil-change shuttle service.

The staff at Tires, Tires, Tires didn’t mind. When a friend of Daws teased her by writing up a fake invoice for all the coffee and cookies she had consumed. Daws posted it on social media. Manager Gary Michaels then reached out to tell Daws she was welcome at any time and dubbed her the Tires, Tires, Tires writer-in-residence.

From that experience, the plot for “Wait With Me” was born. Daws wrote about Kate Smith, a romance novelist who overcomes her writer’s block in a “Tire Depot” waiting room. There, she meets mechanic Miles Hudson, who becomes intrigued by the “quirky redhead” who sneaks in and out of the employee entrance. Rather than turn her in, “doing a test-drive of her new book sounds like a much better option,” the Amazon summary for the book says.

Cue the steam.

So much steam that “Wait With Me” became the first in a series of five books. The others include “Take a Number” and “Last on the List.” In total, Daws now has had 22 books published, all but one falling in the romance category.

The first was much different. Daws wrote a book about her struggles with recurrent pregnancy loss and the emotions that accompanied it. Then, she changed to a totally different genre.

“I went from writing about a trauma to fun, steamy romance novels,” Daws said. “The bad really did get me to a good place.”

Some people think being a romance author is a seedy profession, something that should be embarrassing to talk about it, Daws said. She feels no embarrassment whatsoever.

“I write entertainment that people enjoy,” Daws said. “It’s so much more than writing spicy books and sex scenes. It’s sharing a love story that people will think about long after. And sharing growth in a character makes a happy ending so fulfilling.”

That’s one of the keys to her success, Daws said. She makes sure her heroines show personal and career growth and have goals outside finding love. That’s true to real life, she said.

“In a romance novel, if all you’re seeking is love, it’s going to leave you feel like you’re missing something.”

Readers also have praised Daws for the female friendships she offers in her books.

“A lot of characters in my stories have found families in their friends,” she said. “Some of my characters have a not-so-good relationship with her own family, and the friendships she has in the books make them feel secure in their lives. And I write romantic comedy, a lot of banter and dialogue as characters establish a close relationship. I write two females that seem to love and support each other in a relatable way. I guess I kind of hit that nail on the head really well.”

Social media such as TikTok and the generosity of fans in promoting her book have had a big impact on her career’s success, Daws said. Recently, a content creator posted a rave review of a 3-year-old book, and it hit No. 1 in the Kindle store.

“Social media is an independently published author’s bread-and-butter,” Daws said. “TikTok changed the landscape in terms of book sales. It’s a lot of fun creating video content. While I was on the set filming behind the scenes, I had a video get over 6 million views while on set.”

Daws hasn’t seen the final cut of the movie yet, but she said the actors cast as Kate and Miles fit the vision she had of her characters. Biernat, who plays Miles, has appeared on more than 500 romance novel covers, including “One Minute Please,” another title in Daws’ “Wait with Me” series.

Manager Gary Michaels still chuckles when he recalls the photo shoot for the “Wait with Me” cover, which involved South Dakota native Austin Loes.

“The best part is when they shot the book cover rubbing grease and dirt on this poor young man. It was a blast. I’m just a little upset they didn’t use local men,” he joked. “The joke was she should fly me in (to Atlanta), and I’d be an extra, and I’d wear a Tires, Tires, Tires ball cap.”

Michaels did send Tires, Tires, Tires beer koozies with Daws to distribute among the cast and crew. He has been invited to a private showing of the movie April 15 at the State Theatre, and he’s looking forward to seeing his friend’s work on the big screen. Daws and her husband, Kevin, and Michaels and his wife, Mary, have developed a friendship that has flourished outside the Tires, Tires, Tires walls.

“We love Amy,” Michaels said, speaking for everyone at Tires, Tires, Tires. “She’s welcome to write here anytime.”

The pandemic kept Daws out of Tires, Tires, Tires for months, and now it’s the movie that distracts her too much to write as much as usual.

“The movie taken over my life, and words are not flowing the way they should be. It’s very easy to get involved in the buzz of the film,” she said. “I’m enjoying the ride. I’ve taken the time I desire to enjoy this process. The words will be there when I’m done.”

Daws doesn’t mind because this is a unique time in her life. That’s why she decided to rent the State for a private party. Family and friends have been so supportive that she wants them around her to savor the experience.

She’s entertaining an offer on a different book that could be filmed, but nothing is official. Daws and her husband are the parents of a “miracle baby,” 10-year-old Lorelei. “She was the happy ending to that sad memoir,” Daws said.

About Passionflix

A monthly subscription to Passionflix is $5.99. Passionflix does not offer a free trial if you sign up via its website. If you sign up via Prime Video Channels, there is a seven-day free trial. Passionflix also has an option that permits subscribers to receive invitations to set visits and movie premieres.

Themes for original and library movies include Chutzpah & Hoohah, Love & Laughter, Thrill Me, Mr. Darcy and Company, Magic & Mistletoe and Wine & Cheese Lounge. Each Passionflix original movie is rated from one to five flames. Rating categories include Oh So Vanilla, Mildly Titillating, Passion & Romance, Toe-Curling Yumminess and NSFW.

Movies that include nudity fall into the last two categories. CEO Tosca Musk is committed to depicting love scenes as written in the source material but with an emphasis on the woman’s gaze. She also has a strict policy about no nudity — male or female — below the waist.

Using the more familiar rating system, Daws said the movie will fall between an R and PG-13.

“Passionflix doesn’t want to shy away from the steamy parts” rather than fade-to-black scenes, Daws said. “My books are not anywhere near ’Fifty Shades of Grey’ but more in the adult romance category. There’s some cursing and some intimate scenes.”