“Hey, guys, Rinn here.” Rinn smiled brighter, hoping that would make up for the fact that her original expression was, potentially, noticeably fake. These were supposed to be the real deal, these stories. If she started looking overly performative, Rinn would lose engagement and lose sponsorship and—but Rinn stopped herself. She took a deep breath in. Everything was fine. Hold that smile. She could do this. “Today is midsummer—aka the summer equinox, aka the first day of summer—aka a day for magic and peak summer vibes.”

When she filmed by herself, Rinn liked to reference the other mini worlds of the internet—the front-facing makeup looks, the meme accounts, the poetry, the adorable kitten videos—and not just the book photos and posts that she did on the regular. She liked the idea that there were all of these various, significant kingdoms online. That really the spaces on her phone were like fantasy lands—constantly interacting and warring and conquering and trying to relate to one another. Separate but connected. And Rinn liked to draw on those connections.

“Let’s talk about what I’ve been reading recently, because it’s summer and I love summer reading. So, I know I tend to stay inside in this Chicago heat, but I like to imagine I’m by a pool, just to really give it that summer feel.” Rinn caught sight of AJ holding up three fingers, then two, then one.

Deep breaths. You do this every morning. It’s totally fine. Rinn took another deep inhale. “Just keep saving them. I’ll post them after we film it all.”

AJ nodded. “You’re the boss.”

Rinn nodded so that AJ would start filming again. “Whoo boy, I really need longer than fifteen seconds. Lol. I just did a reread of my favorite book of all time: When We Were Us. I’m so excited because I get to see author Brock Harvey to-day, and I literally cannot wait. I’m going to do what I can to film the lead-up to this momentous occasion. The bookstore that I will be seeing him at is definitely a huge stickler for no social media. But I am here now, and I am doing some stealth recon filming.”

At home, Rinn had collected every version of When We Were Us that had come out since the book’s release five years ago, and she had brought to work her most favorite, most worn, most beloved copy. She held it up, still on camera. “I think this book is so gorgeous and romantic, and I love the characters that Harvey created in here. Georgiana and Nate feel so real to me, and they grab me from page one. I had to keep reading just to know what was going to happen next.”