Hitch meets The Sun Is Also a Star in this witty and romantic teen novel about a self-professed teen love doctor with a popular radio segment who believes he can get a girl who hates all things romance to fall in love with him in only three dates.
We chat with debut author Ebony LaDelle about Love Radio, along with writing, book recommendations, and more!
Hi, Ebony! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
Sure! My name is Ebony – I was born in the Detroit metro area, moved to the west coast when I was 14 and back to the east coast for college. I’m the author of the debut novel, LOVE RADIO, which incorporates a lot of my favorite things – music, culture and random adventures (which I’m ALWAYS down for). I also worked in publishing for a little over ten years and got to work on some pretty amazing book campaigns. And while I miss it, I’m excited about the newness of being a published author and enjoying this particular journey for now.
When did you first discover your love for writing?
When I was very little. I’d staple my loose leaf paper into little booklets and write stories that I’d show my mom. I also read a poem aloud in elementary school dedicated to our classroom gerbil that died (my teacher was bawling by the end of it and thanked me for sharing). I stepped my game up and by middle school, I wrote a thriller that I showed to both my parents, and I recall my dad being slightly concerned, yet equally impressed by my kidnapping story.
Once I became a pre-teen my shyness took over and I was too afraid to show my writing to anyone. It wasn’t until I had a few years of publishing under my belt that I realized I had to go back to it.
Quick lightning round! Tell us the first book you ever remember reading, the one that made you want to become an author, and one that you can’t stop thinking about!
The first book I remember reading was THE ROLY POLY PUPPY. I don’t know why but for some reason that book had a grip on me.
The first book that inspired me to be a writer was THE SKIN I’M IN by Sharon Flake. The cover was of a Black girl around my age, with the same eye shape as mines and the same full lips. The main character, Maleeka Madison, was a smart, tall, skinny, dark-skinned girl who didn’t feel like she fit in, and was insecure about her chocolate skin. At the time there was no real representation in media recognizing that beauty comes in all shapes, shades and sizes, but I was still someone who was beginning to feel comfortable in my own skn, so reading the book validated my confidence early on and I knew then if I was ever going to be a writer I wanted to be THIS TYPE OF WRITER. A writer who was writing about things that can change and shape a Black girl like me.
One book I can’t stop thinking about is BOYS COME FIRST. It’s a novel that follows 3 Black gay men living in Detroit amongst the city’s weird changes (going from a mostly Black city to now the latest city dealing with the newness of gentrification) and the book was messy and hilarious and had me the entire way through. I never thought I’d see the day where I’d read a Black gay story set in a city like Detroit. Aaron is such a talented writer and I can’t wait to see what he writes next.
Your debut novel, Love Radio, is out May 31st! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Love is on the air (but why is this the hardest question ever?!?)
What can readers expect?
LOVE RADIO is a romance, but I’ve also heard from readers that it feels very much like a coming-of-age story. Its a story of community, of two Black teenagers who are allowed to be imperfect and the friends and family that hold them down, even if they may not look like your typical American family, And of the city of Detroit, a place that gets a bad rep but is a time capsule of America and literally birthed this country’s musical sound. Its a story of love—for a person, your family, your city, yes, but most importantly, yourself.
Where did the inspiration for Love Radio come from?
So many things inspired me to write LOVE RADIO, but the main one being I just wanted more representation of love that felt like the classic Black movies of the 90s and early 2000s that I loved. Two of my favorites of that time were LOVE AND BASKETBALL and THE WOOD, and I know now its because while these were Black, coming of age movies that were marketed for adults, half of the storyline showed them as teenagers. I realized I loved those movies as a teenager because there were no movies or books marketed specifically to me and this was the closest thing I had to it.
The fact that in the past five years, 91.9% of romance books counted were written by white authors is a major problem (Ripped Bodice State of Racial Diversity in Romance Publishing survey), but what’s exciting is seeing more and more romance novels by Black authors being published. I’m happy we’re seeing more Black love and joy out there, and I’m equally as excited to be part of this movement.
Can you tell us a bit about the challenges you faced while writing and how you were able to overcome them?
My challenge was different than other writers, since I was on the inside. Which I recognize is a privilege because technically I am learning how the “sauce is being made”, but its unbelievably intimidating to work with such talented and skilled authors and not be incredibly insecure about your own writing. I’ve heard one too many unfair critiques of BIPOC writers’ work to not be a bit tramautized from it.
But on the flip side, I was equally as afraid of regretting not doing the thing I wanted to do, which was publish my own work. So writing in secret actually helped me the most – I only told a select few people so that I had accountability partners, but I wrote and edited and rewrote until I felt comfortable enough sharing. Just like any process that’s deeply personal, I think its important to find what makes you most comfortable but also examine the reasons why you’re doing something.
I thought I wanted to work in publishing and just be a marketer, and I realized it was fear keeping me from writing. Getting over that was a challenge for sure, but absolutely worth it.
Were there any favourite moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
I really enjoyed learning about the history behind some cultural moments I grew up with. For instance, one of the dates (without giving too much away) is at a pretty iconic museum in the city, and it was fun watching documentaries of the era and learning about how things came to be. Same with a hair show featured in the book – Hair Wars is such a Detroit staple, so actually learning about how it got started and the evolution was so fascinating. I loved sprinkling those facts throughout the story.
What was the road to becoming a published author like for you?
It was dormant until I lost my childhood best friend and used writing as a tool to navigate my own feelings. From there, I entertained the idea of attending a MFA program, got accepted to some, realized I didn’t want to go back to school and be in more debt, and looked at other alternatives. That’s when I started the collaboration process with Cake Creative, and that was helpful in giving me the confidence to write the type of story I always dreamed of writing.
What’s the best and the worst writing advice you have received?
Best advice was to never delete scenes, but just put them in another document. And also to keep an excel grid of your character names. I love how I’ve only written one book and already forgotten some of their names (I know, my memory sucks) so its nice to have this advice early.
For worst advice, I’d say it’s what I heard early in my career, which was Black people don’t buy books. I’ve pretty much worked for every major publisher. So I’ve heard this in multiple meetings at multiple points in my career. And while it was a general statement and not necessarily writing advice, it was writing advice because it prevented me from writing. I didn’t feel comfortable writing in a space that I thought wouldn’t recognize the type of books I wanted to write, so I was fine not writing them.
It DID motivate me to prove them wrong. I had to tell myself ‘I’m in these spaces, help Black authors get amazing marketing so I can show them actually yea we do push units. Check the receipts.’
What’s next for you?
I’m working on a second book J. I didn’t talk about Love Radio until I felt good about it’s direction, and I want to do the same here; I don’t want to be swayed positively or negatively by other’s opinions on what I should be writing next. Just know it is another romance.
Lastly, do you have any 2022 book recommendations for our readers?
Yes, I got to shout out my 2022 debut group. Two I’d recommend are my pub day twins, Riss Neilson’s DEEP IN PROVIDENCE and Kelis Rowe’s FINDING JUPITER. I’d also recommend Kristina Forest’s ZYLA & KAI!
