109: ALEXANDRA BROWN CHANG: An elite debutante ball gets an outsider in By Invitation Only

This week on Literaryhype Podcast, Alexandra Brown Chang joins me to talk all about her debut novel, By Invitation Only. This book follows two girls as they compete at an elite debutante ball in Paris and all the shenanigans that unfold with one of them not being of the high society world. It's perfect for fans of The Summer I Turned Pretty, Gossip Girl, and Princess Diaries.  It was one of my favorite reads of 2025, so I hope you enjoy it too.

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Transcript

00;00;03;11 - 00;00;23;20
Unknown
Hi and welcome to Literary Hype. I am Stephanie, your literary hype woman. Back with another debut author for Literary Hype Podcast. Today I'm talking to Alexandra Brown Chang about her debut novel By Invitation only. So if you love Emily in Paris, if you love The Princess Diaries, if you love like Lin paint her books, then you're probably going to like this.

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Unknown
This is a debutante ball in Paris, and a girl who's probably not the first pick that you would think of to go to this very fancy, very elite debutante ball. Well, she's going and it's a it's a bit of a learning curve for her.

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Unknown
Without any further ado, here's my conversation with Alexandra Brown.

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Unknown
Chang.

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Unknown
Well, welcome to literary hype. It's so exciting to get to

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Unknown
have you on to talk about your debut book by invitation only.

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Unknown
Thank you so much for having

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Unknown
me. I'm so excited to be here. I'm a big fan of your account and channel.

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Unknown
Oh, thanks.

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Unknown
You were here at Yale Fest for your debut book.

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Unknown
It's called by invitation only. Yes. For anybody who hasn't seen this in the stores or on their social media. What is this book about? It's a young adult rom com that takes place at a debutante ball in Paris. So it's a dash of Gossip Girl, Emily in Paris, Princess diaries,

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Unknown
What's that like to have such big titles compared to your book? Oh my God, I was I was so flattered. Gossip girl is one of my favorite, young adult

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Unknown
teenage TV shows of all time.

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Unknown
so any sort of comparison with

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that title was just an absolute honor. I also read all the books growing up there, so many of them, and I absolutely devoured all of them. So it's it's just been really exciting.

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Unknown
At the beginning of this book, there is a playlist. So talk a little bit about

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Unknown
why you decided to have a playlist and your process for picking songs.

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Unknown
It was something that I wanted to include so the readers could have a bit of an immersive element going into the book.

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Unknown
And I think it's fun to be able to get into the headspace of the two main characters, Piper and Chapman, and those songs are really representative of their emotional journeys from start to finish throughout the book. So it's a fun playlist at the beginning, and then by the end of the book, you kind of understand the significance of each song, which I think is really fun.

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Unknown
Do you have a favorite on the list?

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Unknown
Oh gosh, that's so hard. I would probably say the way it was by The Killers. I love their music, but I think it's one of their lesser known songs and it's my favorite one.

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Unknown
which song goes best with each character?

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Unknown
of our main, our main POVs?

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Unknown
I would have to say Uptown Girl by Billy Joel for to happen for sure.

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Unknown
And then maybe Bad Reputation by Joan Jett for Piper. Okay. That's a that's a fun day. Yeah.

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Unknown
So let's dive a little deeper into these characters with their P.O.V.. This is a dual POV story. Why did you decide that it needed to be two perspectives?

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Unknown
That's such a fun question. I love when people ask me that because

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Unknown
it was kind of a process. Initially, I was not 100% sold on the dual POV, but then I realized as I was outlining the book, that I just loved both of these characters so much, and their voices felt really distinct to me.

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Unknown
So eventually it just felt natural to alternate between the two of them. And I love that structure as a reader. So I was really excited to try it out as a writer as well. Did you have a favorite perspective to write?

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Unknown
That's that's impossible to say. I feel like that's asking me to pick a favorite, which I feel like I can't do.

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Unknown
But I loved

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Unknown
both of them. Genuinely, just because they're so different. I will say, I think writing from Chaplin's perspective was a little bit more challenging, just because from the get go, she's

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Unknown
not, you know, immediately likable. She's kind of the archetypal mean girl from the get go. So I really wanted to make her character development great by the end and have people fall in love with her character.

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Unknown
So that was, more of like a writing exercise, I would say.

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Unknown
Yeah. Because she does start out like, so like, come on, girl, like you're so out of touch. Yeah, absolutely. But she

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Unknown
does go on this great journey. Were there any parts of yourself that you infused into either of these girls? I would say definitely, parts of myself also, some of my friends and family, a lot of the best traits of both Piper and Shapen were inspired by actual friends of mine.

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Unknown
In particular, for Piper, I was really inspired, by my younger sister. She's 15. She's just so tenacious and goes after everything that she wants while still being respectful of other people, and I think that's really rare. A lot of times people who are super driven will just kind of be okay with running other people over to get there, and she's not like that at all, and neither is Piper, so I wanted to include that.

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Unknown
Piper is such a high performer, and like, there's a part in the book where she talks about, like, feeling like a

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Unknown
failure. Even though she's done all of these huge things, she still feels like a failure.

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Unknown
And I feel like that's really important for the teenage audience who is in that mode of striving. So talk a little bit about how much what you want teens to take away from this story.

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Unknown
Definitely. I would say what I would hope that people take away the most is that there are the most unexpected friendships and love stories and just amazing moments that can come out of situations that you don't necessarily anticipate. Neither Piper nor Chaffin really had any idea what they were getting into when they went to the temple, and they both came out with unexpected friendships and romances and really wonderful memories.

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Unknown
So I would just say have as many experiences as you can.

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Unknown
And with the debutante ball, like one of them does, call it out like it's archaic and and misogynistic a little bit and all that. Why set a story in our modern time with a debutante ball?

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Unknown
I was really fascinated by the fact that debutante balls still not only happened in 2025, but that they seem to be thriving in an interesting way.

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Unknown
Just because in many ways they are

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Unknown
archaic and outdated. And the premise is certainly and purpose has changed over time.

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Unknown
But particularly I wanted to set it at this debutante ball in Paris, which is inspired by an actual debutante ball that takes place there every year. Because it's as much a fashion story is anything else.

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Unknown
And I just thought it was such an opulent, over-the-top setting that would kind of serve as a great background for a very grounded friendship and romance story.

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Unknown
Did you like slip into any if as part of your research process? Yes. For sure. I was actually debutante drop out,

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Unknown
so I didn't quite make it to my own debutante ball, but I did preparation for several months, and that experience really stuck with me and kind of filled in the missing gaps in the story.

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Unknown
Were there any moments from your experience at trying and trying to be. Oh, that made it into it

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Unknown
with like a little fictional twist? Yes. Yes, I would say definitely. They were all fictionalized, for the most part, but a lot of it was inspired by my actual experience and by

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Unknown
friends of mine.

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Unknown
One of them, for sure.

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Unknown
That one thing that I had to do was a portrait setting, and I felt like that was the final straw for me. This to have your home full. I don't think that I need. I definitely don't need, like, portrait of Myself. And that was one part of the debutante ball that I just found. So kind of outrageous and crazy that I just wanted to include some wild moments like that in the book.

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Unknown
That is why. Like, how long did you have to sit for that? It was a multi-day process. There were several different versions that you can do to photograph paintings. So there were there were a lot of options. Did you do painting? I did a photo. Yeah. It's probably, probably the bit that the photos do happen in the book.

00;07;08;24 - 00;07;17;05
Unknown
Yes. Photo shoot. Yeah. The photo shoot in the book has such a crazy shenanigan happening. Were there any shenanigans at your photo shoot?

00;07;17;08 - 00;07;22;23
Unknown
I can't say that there were as many as my. At mine. But I have some. I, you know, thankfully not.

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Unknown
But I have heard some really fascinating stories from friends who have attended the debutante ball in Paris.

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Unknown
How that group photo shoot goes. And it went viral even last year on TikTok. The photoshoot that they did for Vanity Fair.

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Unknown
a beautiful part of the book is Piper's relationships with her parents. And her mom is no longer with them. And during this book, let's talk a little bit about crafting their relationships. Definitely. That was something that I really wanted to include and emphasize, Piper's relationship with her dad.

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Unknown
Just

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Unknown
because I'm very close with my own dad, I feel so lucky that we have a really wonderful relationship.

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Unknown
And in terms of her relationship with her late mother, that's a really big catalyst for her to go do this debutante ball and go to Paris and kind of fulfilled the dreams that her mother never got to live.

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Unknown
And so that was really important to Piper's backstory and character development throughout the book.

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Unknown
there's a reference to alexandrite in this book.

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Unknown
Yeah. And I got so excited because that's my engagement ring stone. Is it? Yes.

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Unknown
Oh, well, I think it's beautiful. What is it that you love about alexandrite? Oh, I don't know. I mean,

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Unknown
honestly, I'm a big gem nerd. And I have to say, one of, Piper's traits and traits as well, that they're both really interested in geology, although that leans more.

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Unknown
Chalfant is inspired by an actual friend of mine, who's a geologist, and he was giving me all these tips for all these

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Unknown
different gemstones, and that was one that he recommended. So I just I had to include it.

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Unknown
there. So pretty. It's beautiful. I think it's also different. Like you don't see it everywhere all the time.

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Unknown
And a lot of people don't necessarily know what it is. So I felt like a real expert in gems would know what alexandrite is. Yes. And because I love the color changing like a it's my favorite colors. And then the fact that it changes colors for unique and fun, it's really different.

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Unknown
So yeah, that made me really excited.

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Unknown
I love that no one's asked me

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Unknown
that question before, so I appreciate that which plays into style. It styles a big part of this book. What does having a personal style mean to you?

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Unknown
I would say it just reflects who you are and how you view the world. I would say that for me, fashion is just kind of an extension of who I am.

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Unknown
I also love art and all forms. Like, I love writing, of course, film, photography, painting, writing, all of it. And I think fashion is just an extension of that. How would you describe your style?

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Unknown
I would say mine's kind of eclectic. It just depends on the day. Like today, I feel pretty preppy and then other days I feel like really bohemian or maximalist, but I like a lot of colors or patterns, so I'd say it's it's fun.

00;09;47;08 - 00;10;07;20
Unknown
That's fun because I'm not stylish at all. That's not true. No t shirt and jeans. That's it. Yeah, but that's the best basic, though. Like, what is fun when I like doing panels and stuff? Like I will show this. This is this is the uniform. And it's like they're all dressed up and I'm like, I look like a bum up here now, you know, it's dependable.

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Unknown
You have to look for every time, which I like.

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Unknown
I was telling my friend that I was like, oh, I almost forgot to pack a plaid. And she's like, that's half your outfit. Brand.

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Unknown
Julie. I think that's something for sure.

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Unknown
So you have a reference to a K-drama in this book? Yeah. What are some K-drama recommendations that you have for anybody who hasn't dove and dove into that? Oh, crash landing on you? Probably. I feel like that was the one that I watched most recently. And I love that they're getting more popular in the US, too, I think largely because they're on Netflix.

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Unknown
But that's the most recent one that I've watched.

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Unknown
Yeah, I need to get it. It's very melodramatic, but it's a really fun watch. Yeah, I've heard really good things about that one, I just haven't. I'm like, if I pull the trigger on K-pop, on K-drama, I will probably never return to American TV.

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Unknown
That's why there's so many of them too. And I've heard that they're such a better quality than a lot of the shows in America. Sorry to, Oh no, they're great. They're so soapy and fun and they're really addictive. So yeah, I would recommend,

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Unknown
there's a reference to Myers-Briggs personality in this. What is your Myers-Briggs and how do you feel like you are like, what is like the characteristic about Myers-Briggs that you're like, yeah, that's definitely me.

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Unknown
You know what's funny is that I've never actually taken

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Unknown
the Myers-Briggs exam, but it was always something that was around, like when I was in school, I feel like every teacher that I had would be like, oh, what's your Myers-Briggs personality type? For me, I would say maybe just because I'm a Virgo, like, I'm very detail oriented.

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Unknown
Like I'm passionate and I would say, like, enthusiastic

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Unknown
about pretty much everything that I do.

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Unknown
So you lean on the ego a bit more? Probably. I don't know, but I feel like I'm somewhere in the middle, though. I don't feel like I'm an introvert. I don't feel like I'm an extrovert and a very yeah, I'm in the middle days.

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Unknown
That's

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Unknown
what I would say. Yeah, yeah. Because when I first did,

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Unknown
I was very high on the extrovert. And every time I've done it since then, it's like lower on the extrovert. And yeah, I wonder why I work in retail sometimes and people suck. Yeah. So they're looking for longer and then in news and retail it's it's going down around people.

00;12;07;24 - 00;12;18;27
Unknown
I do need to take it though. But I was looking it up and I was kind of putting in the traits of the characters. Like for Dalton. And his came up and I was just kind of going based off of his personality. So

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Unknown
that's fun. How much of the like results from that influenced character decisions? I would say not that much because I knew his traits from the get go.

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Unknown
So this was just kind of a fun thing to put in there. Just because Piper's best friend said, is like peppering her on what Dalton's, type would be personality type. And so I kind of knew that going in, but I just thought it would be a fun thing to include. Yeah. And I do want to talk about the cover because this.

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Unknown
Yes, an incredible cover. Thank you. On video from when I was doing my TBR game of like holding it up and I thought it was a photo. Oh, wow. And then I was like looking at, I'm like, this is in the photograph. It shocked. So what was your cover creation process like, and what input did you have into it?

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Unknown
Yeah, well, I mean, Simon and Schuster did an incredible job with the cover. I agree, it almost looks like a photograph, especially from far away. My editor and I discussed kind of at length that we both really wanted to, you know, kind of replicate or be inspired by, the early 2000 y book covers, one of which was Gossip Girl.

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Unknown
That whole series, the book covers are photographs with

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Unknown
kind of neon striking font over the photographs of the characters, and those aren't necessarily as common in 2025, but I kind of wanted to draw from that.

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Unknown
And so that was a big part of the cover process,

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Unknown
and they just did a fantastic job. I designed the dresses in the book or in my head.

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Unknown
I described them and they just did a wonderful job bringing them to life. Yeah, it's so pretty. Thank you.

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Unknown
Well, since you're your debut, I had to do a little extra research because we got to get to know you a little bit more first.

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Unknown
I saw online that you are a member of the Princess Grace Foundation. Yes. What is that? And what's that all about? It's an amazing, organization that supports emerging artists in all fields. So that ranges from dance to music to writing to painting. Fun fact one of their earliest nominees or winners of a grant, was John Chu, who directed wicked.

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Unknown
I'm a huge fan of him and his work. So get books out to. Yes. He's fantastic, and I just I love everything about him.

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Unknown
And you mentioned your sister earlier, and, she owns a bookstore or one of your own. Oh, yeah. So it's actually a different sister there. There are four girls in my family. We're like little women. There's. There's a bunch of us. People always get confused. But, yes, this is a different sister.

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Unknown
Yeah. Your sister

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Unknown
the owns is is still a teenager. Yes. She's 19. Yeah, yeah a bookstore.

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Unknown
What's it like for you to have your book be on the shelves of her very specific niche store? It's an honor. And it's so cute because, Annabelle, my sister told me as soon as I signed the contract that my manuscript had sold and everything.

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Unknown
She said that one of her biggest hopes when she opened the book store was that, she'd be able to sell my book there and throw a party for me there, which she did, which was just really special. And it's my favorite book store. I'm biased, but it is my favorite. And I just think she's created such a great space for authors and just people who love reading in general.

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Unknown
I'm really impressed by what she's built. So honored to have my book there.

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Unknown
And I heard you were part of a walking book club. Yes, we were right about that experience. It was run by a company called preoccupy. They have two amazing founders, Samantha and Morgan, and we started the walk at Annabel's Book Club, which is my sister's bookstore, and walked around Studio City. Came back.

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Unknown
Everyone, got to have their book sign. I got to meet a lot of readers, which was really special in person because so much of this is online, I think, as you know, as well. And it was just a really fun afternoon. There was a coffee cart, snacks, things like that.

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Unknown
Ooh. Last question we always ask because this is literary hype up books. Are you hyped about.

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Unknown
Oh, well, I'm reading the Summer Broken Rolls right now, which I know I'm behind on, but I've never read it, and I wanted to read it ahead of your first. And it's it's really good.

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Unknown
So that's what I'm reading right now. I'm really loving it and ripping through it. Read that one. It's so great. It kind of reminds me of the summer turned pretty, but slightly older, so I'm really enjoying it. Well, thanks so much for taking time to talk about my invitation only here at y'all fast. Thanks for having me.

00;16;12;11 - 00;16;17;09
Unknown
Thanks again to Alexandra for hanging out with me at Yale Fest 2025, in Charleston, South Carolina.

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Unknown
If you're interested in checking out by invitation only, which I recommend you do because this is a really fun read.

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Unknown
the links to get Ahold of this book are down in the description for you, as well as where to find her on social media.

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Unknown
If you enjoyed this conversation, don't forget to subscribe to the Literary Hype Podcast. Give us some stars and share it with a friend.

00;16;34;28 - 00;16;36;27
Unknown
Thanks so much for listening. I'll catch you next time.