What is the title of your latest release?
LOVE AT FULL TILT
What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
Lia Baker is determined to win the 50th Anniversary Superfan Scavenger hunt at Fableland, her favorite amusement park, and secure a cash prize that could change her future. But when she agrees to a (temporary) alliance with Mason, a rival contestant, who wants to win as badly as she does, she discovers she may have to choose between the future she wants to rewrite and a love she hadn’t planned for.
How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
I had just gotten home from a family trip to Disney World, and I couldn’t let go of the idea of writing a romance set in an amusement park, so I started brainstorming!
Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life?
Absolutely. Lia is hilarious! And I love how unapologetic she is about her love of Fableland!
What are three words that describe your protagonist?
Funny, passionate, caring
What’s something you learned while writing this book?
Disney uses a very specific shade of green called “Go Away Green” that makes things like trashcans, electrical panels, etc. fade into the background.
Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
I have to write the whole draft first. If I start editing before it’s done, I will never get to the end!
What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
There are few things better, in my opinion, than a really good dumpling.
Describe your writing space/office!
My office has five floor-to-ceiling bookcases (filled with YA books—including all the Christopher Pike and RL Stine books I devoured as a tween/teen), and a desk sporting two monitors, plus my blue-and-white mechanical keyboard, and walls full of bookish art! You can usually find two of my three dogs lounging on the couch under the window.
Who is an author you admire?
Julie Murphy. I wouldn’t have had the courage to write books that center people with bodies like mine if I hadn’t read Dumplin’
Is there a book that changed your life?
FANGIRL by Rainbow Rowell is the first book that I ever read where I saw my own anxiety on the page, and it really helped me to understand how important representation in stories is.
Tell us about when you got “the call.” (when you found out your book was going to be published)/Or, for indie authors, when you decided to self-publish.
I spent almost ten years before I wrote The Make-Up Test (my debut adult romance) trying to break into the young adult space without any luck. That age category has always had a special place in my heart and I have always wanted to be able to write books for teens, but after so many years of rejection (including two years trying to sign with an agent with Love at Full Tilt), I had begun to fear that was a dream I would never get to fulfill. I was home, grading papers, when my agent called to tell me that Love at Full Tilt had sold, and I honestly have never cried so hard in my life. Then my husband and I went out to one of our favorite restaurants to celebrate!
What’s your favorite genre to read?
Fantasy, especially if it has a really good romance subplot!
What’s your favorite movie?
Godzilla Minus One
What is your favorite season?
Fall. I am deeply in love with sweaters and books and scarves as an aesthetic.
How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
My husband and two of our best friends try to find a new restaurant to try every year on our birthdays!
What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
The Pit on HBO Max. It’s a medical drama set in an ER in Pittsburgh, and the entire season takes place over one day, so every episode is an hour of that day. As a storyteller, I was absolutely fascinated thinking about how they managed to get me so invested in these characters who can only develop so much in a span of a few hours—and it was also just super engaging and well-acted!
What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
Thai food. Especially drunken noodles and pad Thai Yum.
What do you do when you have free time?
I have a small (coughs I mean gigantic) obsession with Lego. I especially love the sets that are buildings because they do so many fun, intricate details on the inside too, even though you won’t ever see them when they’re on display. And it’s so fascinating to see how they reuse pieces for different purposes. I just finished up the National History Museum set, and they used bananas for a dinosaur’s rib cage! It was so cute.
What can readers expect from you next?
I have a second YA romance coming out in Fall 2026. The title and concept have not been announced yet, so all I can say right now is that it will be swoony and fun…but also a little bit spooky!
In this joyful celebration of fandoms, whirlwind romance, and plus-size girls, love is the ultimate roller coaster ride.
Lia Baker has spent the last few months wishing time would stand still. Soon her friends will head off to college while she’s left behind, buried under her mom’s anxiety and working a job she doesn’t want. But life throws her for a loop when she wins a spot in the fiftieth-anniversary scavenger hunt at Fableland, a legendary theme park. The contest is a golden ticket to a world where her favorite stories come to life and a chance for her to write some new ones of her own.
Everything seems perfect, especially after she teams up with Mason, a cute rival who knows as much about Fableland as she does. Together, they’re unstoppable. But as Mason’s sweet smile starts to melt her focus, Lia realizes that she may have to choose between the future she wants to rewrite—and a love she hadn’t planned for.
Young Adult | Women's Fiction Contemporary [Random House Childrens Books, On Sale: July 22, 2025, Paperback / e-Book , ISBN: 9780593809105 / eISBN: 9780593809112]
Jenny L. Howe first started scribbling stories into black-and-white composition notebooks with neon pink pens when she was in junior high and never really stopped. In college, she decided to turn her love of books into a career by pursuing a Ph.D. in literature, where she spent the next few years studying bizarre and entertaining medieval romances. Now, as a professor, she teaches courses in college writing, literature, and children’s media. When she’s not writing and teaching, Jenny spends her time buried under puzzle pieces, cross-stitching her favorite characters, and taking too many pictures of her rescue dogs, Tucker and Dale.
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