You can find banter, scheming, longing, and more in Emma R. Alban's book, "Like In Love With You."
What was your inspiration behind your most recent book?
In thinking about what I wanted to write after the Mischief & Matchmaking duology, I found myself yearning to write a book set outside of London, but that still dealt with the chaos of the marriage market, because there’s inherently so much conflict there. MEAN GIRLS the musical, the movie had just dropped on streaming the weekend I was brainstorming, and I was inspired by the idea that the marriage market has all the same competitive, catty, complicated, intense social feelings and situations as high school, but on two levels, with infinitely higher stakes. You’ve got your scheming debutantes, but you’ve also got their even more scheming mamas.
From there, the idea of two debutantes being forced to fight over the same (lackluster) man by their feuding mamas, and falling for each other instead, came pretty swiftly. As did my tagline, “what if Cady and Regina just…kissed?” It was a romp to write from start to finish.
Getting to set the book in Bath was a delight as well. I actually got to travel there and do research over the holidays last year, which was truly wonderful. It’s such a beautiful city, with so much rich history and gorgeous architecture. And more seagulls than I was expecting!
What does Reading Rainbow mean to you?
I think it means both reading all kinds of queer books with all manner of representation, and reading those books proudly and loudly. Shouting out your favorite queer authors, gushing about the great book you just read to a friend, and celebrating how many queer voices we have in publishing right now, and how many more we need. I am so incredibly grateful to be publishing at a time when major publishers are championing queer voices, and when audiences who are so hungry for these stories can find them. But there’s still so much more progress to be made for queer readers and authors, and I hope we keep fighting and championing diverse voices so everyone can see themselves represented.
Why do you feel representation of a variety of people is so important when it comes to writing books?
Seeing yourself, seeing your friends, seeing people you’ve never met and lives you didn’t even know existed in print is hugely important. Reading broadens our worldview. It allows us to experience things we’ll never get the chance to see, and also to feel like our lives are represented on the page. I know I have read so many queer YA books in the past few years and thought, “If this had only been around when I was a kid, I would have understood myself so much better.” Representation makes us feel seen, and heard, and lets us learn about ourselves.
As a writer, I want to make sure that queer readers get to experience all the swoons, and excitement, and epic loves stories that everyone else does in Romance. That we get to see queer people make happy, joyful lives for themselves, because they always have, and they always will, and queer readers deserve the same happily ever afters that straight readers do. Everyone deserves to see themselves represented with a happily ever after, and I think everyone being allowed that kind of joyful hope is hugely important in this day and age. As is visibility and representation to say ‘we’re here!’.
Tell us a little more about the book and why you decided to write it.
In "Like In Love With You", two debutantes find themselves competing over the same (truly) lackluster man at the behest of their feuding mothers, and slowly come to realize that they would much rather be fighting for each other, instead.
I found the idea of two rival debutantes circling each other and competing, armor up, only to slowly realize that they have so much more in common with each other than their prospective suitor, really fun to conceptualize and write. Getting to hit all of those delicious rivals-to-lovers beats, with the added yearning of queer attraction and pining, in Regency gowns? I was hooked the moment Catherine and Rosalie sauntered into my head, and it was truly marvelous to get to plot out and then write their love story.
I also got to add double the mom drama in this book. I find family drama incredibly interesting, and the process of developing a character’s family life and backstory, and how that informs their actions, decisions, and emotions, is a core part of writing for me. This book allowed me to give Catherine and Rosalie vastly different home lives, and relationships with their mothers, who have pasts and hurts and conflicts of their own. Weaving a broken friendship for the mothers alongside the burgeoning relationship for Catherine and Rosalie was an exciting challenge, and I hope readers come away from the book having experienced multiple different kinds of love and friendship.
What can fans expect from your book?
"Like In Love With You" is a rivals-to-lovers sapphic romance that’s full of banter, scheming, longing, pining, found family, and the giddiness of new love, in Regency gowns in Bath, UK. This story is about deciding what future you want, with the people you want, and reaching out to take your happily ever after, in the most chaotic fashion possible. I had such a blast writing it, and I hope that readers find equal joy and fun in the story when they read it.
What's up next for you in the bookish world?
I’ll have another sapphic Historical Romance coming in 2027 (it's a sapphic bodyswap book, and I'm incredibly excited)! And more updates soon on other future projects! I adore writing these stories, and hope to keep writing queer romances for a long time to come.
