Sugar Sand Land is a romance novel in which a famous influencer and a scandal-shadowed country star fall in love and must choose between the stories the world tells about them and their private truths. What drew you to writing a romance about people whose lives are shaped by public image?​

I’m both a sociologist and a romance novelist, and I think that dual perspective shapes the stories I tell. In the age of social media, just about everyone has a public image, whether you’re famous or not—a curated image—and I’m fascinated with how that impacts our lives. I’ve always been interested in the gap between appearance and reality. That gap is heightened in a world ruled by Instagram images, TikTok reels, mass media stories, and the whims of “influencers.” But how do you get at the gap between appearance and reality, and identity more broadly? I’m obsessed with romance, and so a love story was my way into the topic. By creating a love story between celebrities, I was able to show the reality of their lives and include media stories and public commentary in the form of social media posts. That allowed me to explore the gap between what people think is true and what actually is true. At the end of the day, relationships are always central to my novels, so I very much see this as a romance first and foremost. But it’s also about identity in today’s society.

How did you balance the glamorous, high-profile elements of celebrity culture with the deeper themes of grief, loneliness, and emotional healing?​

I’ve always thought about writing a romance novel like baking a soufflé. You want the light, airy bits, but when you dig your spoon in further, it’s rich and decadent. So in this novel I really tried to create balance between the fun celebrity elements and the deeper themes. I was able to do this by keeping the love story at the center. The romance between Emerson and Renn is genuine and deep. They spark. It’s sexy, but it’s also tender. By staying focused on their relationship, I was able to balance the different elements and emotions in the book.

Emerson and Renn feel like opposites in their relationship to fame. Was that contrast the starting point for the novel, or did it emerge as you wrote?​

It was the starting point. I always begin with characters. I created Emerson Blue first—reality star, influencer, and basically the most famous person on the planet who has used social media masterfully to create her persona. The world thinks she’s an open book, but Emerson has secrets. As a counterpoint, I created Renn Walker, a fallen star who lives in seclusion and is so uninterested in social media he doesn’t even own a computer. The whole world has made assumptions about him despite his silence, but assumptions aren’t always right. To me, the contrast felt integral to both their love story and how they change each other, but also to exploring the larger topic of identity and what’s public and what’s private in contemporary culture.

What did you hope readers would take away from this story about love surviving both public myth and private pain?​

We all need to think about what to make public and what to keep private in our lives. We should never compare ourselves to people on social media. It’s a highlight reel. It’s like comparing your insides to someone’s airbrushed outsides. People don’t always share their pain publicly. Many people carry invisible scars. There’s no number of “likes” on social media that serves as a substitute for real love. Above all, it’s a story about authenticity and love. Love helps us become more of ourselves, not less. Our real selves.

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