1. Congrats on your YA debut! How would you describe your book to readers?
A Stage Set for Villains is a dark romantic fantasy that imagines a world where Dionysus, Greek god of theatre and revelry, has vanished, leaving behind beautiful, godlike monsters called Players who torment the land. Cursed by one of the Players at a young age, Riven Hesper infiltrates a deadly competition hosted in their magical Playhouse, and there, strikes a bargain with the enigmatic Lead Player to save her own life. I recommend it for fans of Stephanie Garber's Caraval and Rachel Gillig's One Dark Window.

2. What drew you to YA to tell this story?
This story explores something that I feel sits at the very heart of the category, which is transformation. For this book, that transformation took several shapes—not only in choosing who you are, but what you are. What does it mean to be a “villain”? What does it mean to be redeemed? What does it mean to belong? Who gets to tell your story, and how do you reconcile with living in an unfair world? The book was never designed to answer these questions, only to pose them to readers. If I make someone think—really think—then I feel like I’ve done my job.

Each character is faced with varying, but fateful decisions. More than anyone, I chose to dig into that idea with Riven, a young woman who finds herself responsible for not being the hero of her story after all—but the villain.

One other theme that pulled me to YA while writing this story was a question I couldn’t seem to shake from my mind: Is what entertains us what controls us? It’s something I ask myself often when I’m doomscrolling on social media or numbing my mind with a TV show. What am I trying to escape? Why? What’s influencing me without me ever realizing it or thinking to question it? I think teens, especially, are bombarded with varying forms of media and entertainment battling for every inch of their attention. But as with above, I’m not attempting to answer each and every question the story puts forth (and there are a lot)—I just want to ask them, and I hope it makes readers ponder their own inner worlds a bit!

3. What, if anything, surprised you while writing it?
This book surprised me more often than not! I’ve been asked a good deal about several of the twists and turns in the story that, in truth, were not planned at all. Each time I sat down to write, I felt like I was following our main characters, Riven and Jude, through a tale they were only willing to convey one scene at a time, and, to be honest, the two of them really kept me on my toes. Jude, especially!

4. Tell us more about the characters. Which character do you most identify with and why?
I love each of them dearly in their own way. It’s hard to pick a character to identify with. In truth, each one got a piece of me, some a little more profound than others. Jude has my sense of humor, but shares my worst tendencies to let fear take the wheel. Meanwhile, Parrish just got my love for collecting shiny objects.

But Riven, in particular, is very close to my heart. She (unfortunately) was tasked with all of my worst struggles growing up—of being too much, too sharp around the edges, or constantly having to shift and adapt to “play the character” of a Normal Person. I think this is especially hard as a teen, but not necessarily something that vanishes when you step across the threshold and into adulthood, either. I hardly think every adult I know knows exactly who they are. I’m pretty sure everyone is still trying to figure it out. I know I am!

4. What do you hope readers will take away from this book?
Like I mentioned, I’m not here to tell anyone what to do or how to think—but I’d love for this book to be a conduit that really encourages someone to reflect, to question, to look inward. At the end of the day, I hope every reader finds something special just for them in this story—whether that’s feeling seen on the page in a unique way, or giggling over some snarky banter at the end of a tough week, or escaping into a fictional Playhouse when reality is feeling a bit much. My wish is that readers will find little gems hidden just for their eyes in these pages.

The Rec: Finally, we love YA and recommendations—what’s your favorite YA book you've read recently?
I recently read The Prison Healer by Lynette Noni and really enjoyed it. It’s a dark and gritty fantasy with fun twists, trials, and romance!