Hannah Brown Embarks on a New Love Story With Debut Romance Novel

Hannah Brown Embarks on a New Love Story With Debut Romance Novel

Hannah Brown knows a thing or two about love.

The novel, publishing Tuesday from Forever, an imprint of Hachette Books, centers on protagonists Emma Townsend and Finn Hughes who after almost dating in high school and reuniting in the following years after, don’t necessarily like each other. But when one of their mutual friends getting married goes missing after having a Runaway Bride moment, Emma and Finn are forced to go on a road trip together in search of their friend, all the while maybe or maybe not experiencing a few sparks along the way.

To go from searching for love to writing about love seemed like the appropriate time for Brown to flex her creative writing muscle. “I’m known for my time trying to find love on television. I have a lot of the people who support me that also come from that time of my life and so I wanted to make sure that I was continuing to connect with them from a mutual love of reading and romance and watching and reading about stories of people trying to figure out what love is and how to hold that and how do we create that in their life,” Brown tells The Hollywood Reporter.

Despite being a work of fiction, Brown admits there are parallels between herself and the characters – “Even though this wasn’t a story about my life, my thoughts, feelings, and emotions could be represented in characters and in their story throughout” – as well as what she’s learned about love both publicly and personally. “It’s important to take risks for love, and that’s something that I’ve really learned in my life, too. It’s fun to be able to explore with Emma,” she says.

Brown already has her hat in various things, including podcasting, reality television, competition shows and as a New York Times bestselling author for her memoir, God Bless This Mess. With the addition of romance author to her resume, she teases that “I’m just getting started.” The television personality, lifestyle expert, and podcast host inked a two-book deal and teases that her next title will continue in this world of characters.

Ahead of her novel’s release, Brown spoke with THR about writing romance for the first time, the lessons of love she wanted to imbue throughout and teases the next stories she’s ready to tell.

How did this novel come to be? Is this something you’ve always wanted to do and why was now the right time to work on something like this?

This has been a dream of mine for forever, it feels like. I’ve always been a really avid reader. I love to write, but more just for myself. I’ve gotten to do a lot of really amazing things in my life, things that I could have never dreamt of but this has been a dream of mine. I can’t exactly remember if it was high school or when I was back home in college, sitting at the kitchen counter with my mom, telling her I had a dream to write a novel one day. I think that’d be a really big dream to have, not knowing if I would ever really be able to do it but it was something that I would hope to do at some point in my life. So that it’s here is just really, really, really cool and truly, truly a dream come true.

Why did you pick the romance genre to be your first foray into writing a novel?

I love a lot of different types of genres but I’m known for my time trying to find love on television. I have a lot of the people who support me that also come from that time of my life and so I wanted to make sure that I was continuing to connect with them from a mutual love of reading and romance and watching and reading about stories of people trying to figure out what love is and how to hold that and how do we create that in their life.

There have obviously been great romance stories told. Can you talk about how you came up with the concept for this novel and what was something you wanted to explore?

Everything that I’ve done that people have resonated [with] is when I’m being really vulnerable. And so, even when it comes to creating the work of fiction, how can parts of myself and truths be a part of this? That was really important to me that even though this wasn’t a story about my life, my thoughts, feelings, and emotions could be represented into characters and in their story throughout. One of the ideas was to be able to put parts of myself into the women in the book. There’s a core girl group of best friends and each of them kind of represent a part of me. Emma is the main character of this book … and it just released [parts of] myself that I have to have it all figured out, I have to care for other people, that has to be kind of the one to have it all together. My idea was to try to explore and expand that part of myself. My hope is that people kind of go on the journey with her to process why she is the way that she is and that feel connected to her because it is drawn from a real honest, true human place and human experience that is one of my own.

We watched your journey to find love on television. What was something you have learned about love from your journey that you wanted to tell through this story?

I think sometimes when you’ve had love gone wrong or [gotten] hurt in your life, or maybe not had the example of the love that you wanted represented in your life whether that’s past relationships, or in your household, you can have stories and create ways that you’ve kind of sabotaged yourself. I know that to be true for me. I have learned that in my own journey that I’ve done that. I have taken certain experiences and created a belief about myself and other people and that has really restricted me from being able to kind of take the risk sometimes that love requires, believing that it will end up in a mistake. And sometimes it does but sometimes it’s that same risk [and] that same choice to fall or to commit that brings the best things in mind. So, that’s a big theme and story that like I learned in my own life that [the character] Emma kind of goes on the journey to explore for herself.

What did your experience of being on The Bachelor and Bachelorette tell you about what someone might not want in a love story? And how did that shape you how wrote this book, if at all?

I think just the unfortunate real-life problem of miscommunication and misunderstanding that happens a lot in relationships. A lot of that is from somebody believing or thinking somebody meant something different in the way that they responded or reacted and how that can really derail a potential relationship in some way and the importance of really getting to the truth of and understanding of why somebody did what they did. That doesn’t mean that it makes it okay, ever, but I think when you’re hurt, it does allow us to have some compassionate understanding as to why people are the way that they are and why they may be show up differently than you would hope or want them to in a relationship. It’s always a very human thing [and] doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t be in a relationship because of it but I think it is really important to understand and find a way to communicate with each other to come to an understanding of why we are the way that we are.

A romantic journey can either be a love at first sight and quick or a slow burn that’s developed over time. After being on a dating show and experiencing that heightened love at first sight and quick pace but then also experiencing real life dating, which kind of love story appealed to you more to tell with Emma and Finn?

I think I’ve experienced both, like you’ve said, but I think a slow burn has been, in my experience, a truer type of love. Love is super complicated, and even those love at first sight, or those types of relationships that have started off so electric, it always comes from the same place that either fizzles out or goes away because the other stuff really needs to be nurtured. And we’ve got to figure out a way to communicate when the fire is fizzling out. A slow burn, I feel allows you to do both at the same time. The intensity might not be as totally consuming but it’s always there while also really being able to set a clear vision of who you are, who that person is and how you are together in a relationship.

What were the inspirations for your characters, Emma and Finn, and what did you want to explore with them?

Emma is the way for me to explore a part of myself and to really have a full-fledged character of those certain meanings, associations with that part of myself and the feelings surrounding that. Then Finn is a good guy that also didn’t know how to fully express who he is, what he wants, and what’s actually going on internally. So they’re both very complex people who have to kind of learn to give and take and to show themselves and feel safe to be seen with each other. There’s all those classic tropes in romance and you could say this is the enemies to lovers story, but sometimes enemies to lovers, to me, it’s just not believable. Don’t get me wrong, I love them but there’s no way I’m going on a road trip with somebody that I really hate. There’s always something behind why we don’t like somebody or upset with somebody. There’s a deeper feeling in that, and I wanted to explore what that was with them and if they could get to a place of really stripping themselves back down and being really honest with who they are, why they are the way they are [and] why they’ve been showing up in the ways they’ve been showing up to each other that is not allowing them to really connect. Because I think that happens a lot as we go through finding relationships in our life.

In the Bachelor world, audiences are used to seeing the romantic extravagant dates and moments but we don’t really get to see as much of the intimate moments and conversations. After having been in that environment, how did you think about creating those intimate moments between Finn and Emma for the reader to experience and what did you want to explore in those moments?

We really focus on the importance of dialogue. In the book, there’s a lot of time they’re on a road trip, so they’re in the car together a lot. Even though there are some epic moments that you can say are right out of a Bachelor date card situation, there’s a lot of time just mundane in the car, so what makes those experiences just as or even more important is the conversation and the time to be able to have without distraction; Really get down to the root of who a person is, and that was really important. It’s not the fireworks that make you fall in love with somebody. It’s really understanding who they are [and] what fireworks represent to them. It’s really understanding the meaning of what each person gives [in] certain situations and in their life and that comes without sometimes all the flowers and the fireworks and the beautiful scenery. It’s just like, how are people on a car together?

With romance novels you want there to be an emotional depth that readers can connect to but also some spice and steamy scenes. As a first-time romance author, did you feel pressure in delivering those kinds of scenes?

I don’t want to say pressure. I’m a reader myself and I understand that is something that when you’re reading romance, especially now, people love to have but I wanted to do it in a way that I still felt comfortable. I wouldn’t say it goes into smut at all. But I do think it’s important to show all aspects of a relationship and romance and so we have a little bit of a spice in there and connection that the readers get to see the full picture.

The book can end on a vague note with regards to the character Sybil. Why did you choose to end it in that way for them?

I feel like for Emma and Finn their story gets tied together with a nice bow but my hope is that the readers connect with the other characters in the book. I think Sybil is one that I hope the readers are really concerned about her and there is a book two. So my hope is that people are really invested in wanting to know more about these characters and that book two kind of answer some questions.

Speaking of book two, it was announced that you have a two-book deal. Have you started working on book two yet and do you know what it will be about?

The core four is really where this idea comes from because I feel like one of the greatest love stories in your life can be between your girlfriends and how you are connected and their own individual love stories. So that’s the idea of this book and also in book two. So these characters are in there. We’re gonna stay in their world, but really dive into the other women and what’s going on in their life.

Given this is your first romance novel and the writing process is new, what was the most difficult part of writing this that you’ll take with you as your work on your next novel?

I think just really working that creative muscle was super fun, but challenging in a different way than my previous book [God Bless This Mess] was. It takes a lot of planning [which] was the thing that I really realized. When you’re creating a whole world and different characters, and really being able to plan out how all the through lines meet in some really nice way. Keeping up with different things about characters is tough. It’s a lot of work but I had a wonderful team that helped me who have been doing this for a while. I could not have done this without my co-author, Emily Larrabbee, who’s a professional at this and really was able to challenge me to make sure this was the beautiful book that is and really encouraged me along the way. I’m just super thankful for the team that I’ve had because I really couldn’t have done it without them.

What do you hope that readers take away from this story?

I think just that love is worth the risk. I think we can really hold ourselves back because we’re scared to make a mistake in our life. But that decision that we make to either go for it or not, the outcome could lead to a mistake, but it also could lead to the next great chapter of your life. So it’s important to take risks for love, and that’s something that I’ve really learned in my life, too. It’s fun to be able to explore with Emma.

In your career thus far in the industry, you’ve been on reality tv, won Dancing with the Stars and Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test, published a memoir, host a podcast and are now a published romance author. What’s next? Anything else on your list of goals that you want to achieve?

I feel like I’m just getting started. I want to continue being in this space a lot more. I love this process of writing and sharing it with the world. It has just been really, really fun. I love continuing to have conversations with people and just find ways to really meaningfully connect. But I also have a passion for beautiful things and creating in spaces in my home and hopefully with other people. One of my big loves is interior design. I’d love to dabble in that for myself personally, but I’m really trying to make sure everything that I do is in alignment with who I am. I’m about to be 30 [and] trying to realize who am I and what brings me joy and what my purpose is, I think, has been something I’ve struggled with for so long. But [I’m] really trying to add more things that create joy in my life and hopefully be able to do that in a professional work way and somehow infuse that but it’s been a really cool process to get to get to relearn myself. Hopefully, we’ll see how I can really nurture who I am with the things that I’m doing.

Interview edited for length and clarity.

Mistakes We Never Made is available now.

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