BEHIND THE BOOK
Vegan Virgin Valentine all started because of a short story I was writing for Girls’ Life. My editor at the magazine asked me to do a story with a Valentine’s Day theme. Right away, I envisioned a girl whose last name is Valentine, so everyone thinks she’ll be into romance and cupids and candy heart. But no, she has been completely burned by love. At that exact same moment, I got an email from my British book editor, Mara Bergman, about an unrelated topic. But it was like wires crossing and – flash! – Mara Valentine was born.
After I finished the short story, I was still intrigued by Mara Valentine. I wanted to know more about her. And so, like I do whenever I’m starting a novel, I began asking myself questions. And those questions led to more questions. And slowly, a book began to evolve in my head. I wanted to write about a senior in high school who is an uptight overachiever. She has always been the good girl, but she has also been on such a rigid track that she’s not letting life in. In some ways, she’s not even living. Most of the elements in the Girls’ Life story changed as I began writing the novel, except for one – Mara still worked at a café called Common Grounds. I, like Mara, worked in a café (for me, it was during college) and I, like Mara, found it to be one of the only places where I could relax, have fun, and let my guard down.
Working at the café in college
And then, of course, there’s the love story. In the middle of writing Vegan Virgin Valentine, I married my husband. Jonas and my falling-in-love story is not dissimilar to Mara’s saga with James, the owner of Common Grounds. When I first met Jonas, I labeled him “friend material.” He didn’t fit into the category of guys I usually dated – for one, I was taller than him. And for two, it just seemed so easy to get along with him. Aren’t relationships supposed to involved lots of angst and tear-filled tissues? But I, like Mara, ultimately learned that love does not fit neatly into a category. And sometimes you have to leave your comfort zone to find something wonderful. Oh! And another similarity I have with Mara – I’m a devout vegetarian. But a title like Vegetarian Virgin Valentine didn’t have quite the same ring to it!
