Friendship is important at every age, but particularly in your twenties when you’re single. Eliza has different relationships with Sophie and Carmen—one is her sister and one is her best friend—but functionally, they fulfill very similar roles in her life. I liked casting Eliza and Carmen with their dynamic because it’s important to me to celebrate strong friendships in my writing.

Eliza and Carmen have a weekly happy hour date where the location changes each week. In Playing with Matches, Sasha frequents Hotel Tortuga on Fourteenth Street. What’s your go-to spot in New York?

Hotel Tortuga was my go-to spot with my friends for years. The same year that Playing with Matches came out, though, the restaurant was bought by new owners, and I’m sad to say it’s no longer quite the same. Many of the spots in Love at First Like are tributes to places I love dearly in New York—Golden Years and the Wythe Hotel in Williamsburg, and AOC East, Dorrian’s, and Brandy’s on the Upper East Side.

In the last few years, we’ve seen a lot of influencer weddings that are partially if not completely sponsored. Were you thinking of any in particular while you were writing? How do you think these sponsored weddings influence those that are not?

The first time I remember a wedding from an “influencer” type (I’m using that term loosely in this case) is 2014, when #nellandteddy, the Instagram hashtag for Nell Diamond and Ted Wasserman’s wedding, suddenly appeared all over my feed. There’s even a HarpersBazaar.com story from that week with the headline, “The Internet Is in Love with Nell Diamond’s Gorgeous Wedding Photos.” It was one of the first times that wedding photos from a noncelebrity really dominated social media and digital media, and that concept certainly influenced Love at First Like. Just as I finished the first draft of the novel, Brides announced that fashion blogger Chiara Ferragni would appear on the cover of their Weddings of the Year! issue. The fact that an influencer would get that honor—instead of Meghan Markle or any number of other high-profile celebrities who got married that year—speaks volumes about how influencer love stories and weddings are a source of cultural fascination right now.

What do you want readers to take away from this story?

My number one goal is always to entertain. If readers have a great time reading about Eliza’s adventures, I’m happy! Beyond that, I hope this novel helps people consider what roles ambition, love, passion, and social media play in their own lives.

What’s next for you? Are you working on anything new?