Raise your hand if booking an escape sounds pretty effing great right now? Enter: best-selling author, Emma Lord, author of our Winter ‘21 YA Pick, You Have a Match.
With its sunshine-drenched, s’mores-filled setting plus family secrets, parental pressure, and slow-burn romance, this book is a literal vacation from adulting. Because we’re so on board with all of that, we invited Emma to pop by for an AMA where we lifted the cover on the spark that ignited “You Have a Match,” and discovered she has a secret show-tune addiction.
Read on to get to know Emma’s inner theatre-geek and dig into the details of the doughnut spot she can’t keep to her-shelf.
Emma—what gave you the idea for You Have a Match? —Michelle N.
The last company I worked at I was a viral news editor, so I ran across tons of stories about half-siblings finding each other — my brain latched onto the idea of full-blooded siblings finding each other and couldn’t let go!
I love how important family is in both this book and Tweet Cute – so many YA books have plots that necessitate parents being absent so the teens can have adventures! Was it especially important for you to involve parents and families in these stories? —Kate G.
Thank you for this question because I really did go into these with the goal of doing just that! I think it’s definitely important to acknowledge just how much finding yourself is still tied with understanding your family, and since these stories are often about self-discovery, I wanted to make sure that came through.
How did you come up with the characters in your story? —Madie B.
I based them a little bit off my own sisters ❤️ Savvy is a lot like my sister Maddie, Abby a bit like my sister Lily. The rest of the characters all just popped up on their own (especially Finn 😂)
Is Camp Reynolds based on Camp Orkila? —Zoe N.
HAHAHA yes when I was in sixth grade our class did a few days there! But the island is also loosely based on Vashon, which was much easier for us to get to by ferry when I was a kid ❤️
Loved the Green Lake mention in the book. What’s another lowkey Seattle locale you love? —Zoe N.
I WOULD DIE FOR TOP POT DOUGHNUTS!!! They can have my firstborn. Nay, my entire brood. I also just love all the running trails. Beautiful running weather and views everywhere you go.
How did you decide to incorporate Romeo & Juliet into the story, especially the choice to focus on Benvolio? —Emily H.
OOOH good q—when I was around their age we had to do an essay on a character in the book that wasn’t Romeo or Julie, and somehow I was the ONLY one who chose our boy Ben!!! He needed to have his own moment so I gave him one here 😂
If you were to create a soundtrack for this book, what song or songs would be on the playlist? —Amber H.
Omg I looooove playlists. I think definitely “now I’m in it” by HAIM and “Out of the Woods” by Taylor Swift
I loved your inclusion of Filipino culture in You Have a Match being half myself! How did you decide on Leo and Mickey being Filipino, along with the foods they make? Also, favorite Filipino food? 🇵🇭❤️ —Zoe N.
Most of that decision was based on friends of mine who could tell me about their experiences! And omg I definitely have to say turon, parially because I am 90% dessert. I could have written a full chapter on that if the plot had allowed it
Just started YHAM and just wanted to say I *love* the nod to Big League Burder – does this mean we have a Tweet Cute Cinematic Universe?! —Julia K.
Omg I am planning to sneak so many Big League Burger references and other Easter eggs into books…. I’m THOROUGHLY outta control
Please tell me a movie is in the works too?! It is such great movie material! —Nicole L.
GOSH that would be so cool!! I’d love for something to happen with it someday, mostly just because it would be cool to see the characters come to life! (And also have an excuse to crash the set and hit up all my favorite bakeries in Seattle 😂
I couldn’t stop thinking how this book would be a great movie too! Did you have any dream fan castings for your characters? —Izzy S.
Omg I actually don’t have any in mind—if anything ever happened with it, I’d love for it to be newer performers like a lot of YA adaptations lately! I love how many rockstars YA adaptations have brought into the spotlight!
If you were to create a soundtrack for this book, what song or songs would be on the playlist? —Amber H.
Omg I looooove playlists. I think definitely “now I’m in it” by HAIM and “Out of the Woods” by Taylor Swift
Have you written anything else besides this and Tweet Cute? I’ve read and loved them both! —Allison S.
OMG THANK YOU for reading and yep yep! I have a book set in NYC with big Mamma Mia vibes out next year and another book after that (tis still under wraps BUT I can say it’s a YA set in the first year of college!)
Since TWEET CUTE focused on Twitter wars and You Have a Match focused on Savvy’s Instagram empire, what social media app is next? Snapchat? TikTok? …Clubhouse? —Kadeen G.
HAHAHA be careful Kadeen or I WILL pen the clubhouse book nobody asked for — but book 3 is arguably a tiktok book and book 4 is a Spotify book if you SQUINT
HI Emma! I loved You Have a Match and am currently waiting to read Tweet Cute. When can we expect your next book? —Melissa A.
Omg thank you for reading!! Book 3 is currently slated for Jan 2022, I’m so pumped.
Advice for a reading slump? —Lauren A
Ooh a friend of mine recently had great advice for this and told me to try reading a comic or a manga just for a change of pace, and it definitely helped for me!!
What was your inspiration for Tweet Cute? Loved it so much I immediately picked up You Have a Match! —Diana P.
OH GOSH I’m so glad you enjoyed. Tweet Cute was actually inspired by a tweet. I joked that it’d be funny if two warring social media managers fell in love and a bunch of people were like “this should be a book” and I had to run back to my own tweet to call “dibs”
Have you ever saved one of your tweets to use in a book instead? —Zoe N.
OH WOW. I wish I had that kinda patience 😂 my brain thinks of a tweet and is like “well I must post this immediately” like a lil chaos gremlin
Where do you get your bookish snack inspo from? —Diana P.
HEHEHE from the inside of my little ‘90s kid snack brain. I grew up in a golden era of kid’s snacks and in a family that looooooves dessert, so we’re coming up with weird combos by the hour.
How was your “published author” journey? —Alexa F.
GOSH, a total rollercoaster! I think I wrote five full manuscripts before my debut Tweet Cute sold. Luckily I just enjoy writing so much that I was going to be doing it anyway whether the books sold or not 😂. Still pinching myself every day to see my words in print!!
I loved both of your books. Do you prefer to read YA as well as write them? Do you have any recommendations for other YA books to read? —Lisa I.
GOSH I love reading YA! I read a lot of romcoms too. Two books I read recently and loved are Amelia Unadbridged by Ashley Schumacher and Counting Down With You by Tashie Bhuiyan, which comes out in early May!
Emma, I see you’re a huge Spider-Man fan and I want to know what you thought about the stunt Tom, Zendaya and Jacob just put us through! —Kat S.
😂😂😂 THEYRE GONNA GIVE ME A HEART ATTACK BEFORE 2021 IS THROUGH!!!! But I love them for it. 😭
I have to ask as a fellow theater geek—what’s your favorite song to belt?! —Julie P.
HAHAHAHA oh TOO MANY!!! The other day my family went on a walk and I had the house alone and I truly just belted all of Cathy’s songs in the Last Five Years so loudly the dog hid 😂😂😂
