Etta Easton's visit to NASA and wondering why someone would stay in a fake Mars environment so long by themselves is what inspired her to write "The Love Simulation."
What was your inspiration behind your most recent book?
I was inspired to write "The Love Simulation" after a visit to NASA a couple of years ago. While on a tour, our guide pointed out some small portables people volunteer to live in for months at a time, allowing scientists to study how humans will deal with long-term isolation when we finally make it to Mars. Now, the idea of a little confinement away from the news and the responsibilities of being an adult sounds nice in theory, but I couldn’t do it more than a week. However, that visit did get me thinking — why would someone stay in a fake Mars environment for so long, and what would happen if they weren’t alone?
What does Reading Rainbow mean to you?
Reading Rainbow means being unapologetic in reading broadly. We live in an amazing time where we can experience different perspectives and cultures, all at the turn of a page. We just need to be intentional about opening ourselves up to these different worlds.
Why do you feel representation of a variety of people is so important when it comes to writing books?
Representation is important to me because it reflects the world we live in. I’m lucky enough to have been raised in a big city where I grew up seeing people who looked and talked liked me, as well as those who are the total opposite of me! There is beauty in having people of different races, cultures, and identities being allowed to come together and just live, and I want my books to reflect that.
Tell us a little more about the book and why you decided to write it.
"The Love Simulation" is about our heroine, Brianna, who’s on a mission to save her school’s library, and in true romance fashion, she finds love along the way. I wanted to write something lighthearted and fun, so Brianna, our sexy hero Roman, and the rest of the cast get put through the ringer in the fake Mars environment they find themselves in while trying to win money. Brianna also finds herself on a journey. As the youngest in her family, she constantly feels like she’s playing catch up to her older siblings, and her time in the simulation causes her to deal with those feelings of inadequacy head on. If you’ve ever felt like everyone else has it all together, this book is for you.
What can fans expect from your book?
I’m a product of '90s movies like "The Nutty Professor" and "Coming To America." I’m thinking of ways to revisit those stories with a modern twist that will still bring the humor, wackiness and heart that make them great classics.
What's up next for you in the bookish world?
I have ideas for more romance stories I want to explore with beloved tropes like "friends to lovers" and "enemies to lovers" with fun STEM backdrops!
