BookPage calls Katherine Center “the reigning queen of comfort reads.” She’s the New York Times bestselling author of over half a dozen books, including How to Walk Away, Things You Save in a Fire, and What You Wish For. Katherine writes laugh-and-cry books about how life knocks us down—and how we get back up. She’s been compared to both Jane Austen and Nora Ephron, and the Dallas Morning News calls her stories, “satisfying in the most soul-nourishing way.” Her books have made countless Best-Of lists, including RealSimple’s Best Books of 2020, Amazon’s Top 100 Books of 2019, Goodreads’ Best Books of the Year, and many more. Bestselling author Emily Henry calls her summer 2022 book, The Bodyguard, “a shot of pure joy.” The movie adaptation of Katherine’s novel The Lost Husband (starring Josh Duhamel) hit #1 on Netflix, and her novel Happiness for Beginners is now a Netflix original starring Ellie Kemper. Katherine lives in her hometown of Houston, Texas, with her husband, two kids, and their fluffy-but-fierce dog.

Tell us about The Shippers. What was the inspiration for this novel?

It’s the story of JoJo Burton, who has to go to her sister’s destination wedding on a cruise ship and while there decides to woo her first kiss and childhood crush. She ropes her childhood bestie, a guy named Cooper Watts, into being her wingman, and it’s a disaster, but it’s a fantastic disaster. It’s the most fun I’ve ever had writing a book. The banter! The shenanigans! The fake flirting! I loved every single minute of writing this story and I’m so grateful for all the magic.

Setting a book on a cruise gives you really interesting guardrails around space and time, how did you play with these elements? Was it challenging or fun to have that level of constraint?

YES! Locating the story on a cruise ship kind of traps everybody together on the ocean, but with enough room to get up to shenanigans on their own. It’s kind of a perfect setting. And it’s an eight-day cruise, so it’s a tight timeline for a story—but a lot happens in those eight days. And because the reason for the cruise is our FMC’s sister’s wedding, all the characters have known each other for decades. So eight days works because they don’t need to get to know each other, they just need to shift how they understand and feel about each other.

In this, your FMC is seeking to pursue her first crush and solve her romantic issues by rekindling a relationship with someone from her past. What is it about first love that you enjoyed exploring? How does it up the stakes?

First love stands out so vividly. The intensity of it stays with us, and something about that connects us back to the past—to who we were then, and who we wanted to be. This story is very much about understanding the past in new ways.

The book is jam-packed with beloved tropes—childhood friends, unresolved heartbreak, and forced proximity—is there one that was your favorite to play with?

Childhood friends, hands-down. I’d never written a story where childhood friends fell in love with each other before, and it was more fun than I could’ve ever dreamed. The fact that they knew each other so well already gave me an incredible starting place. So much teasing and comfort and familiarity. Getting to start with that level of intimacy and then light it on fire as the characters fell in love? Heaven.

This book feels like summer vacation on the page. What are the elements you are looking to pull forward when crafting the perfect summer romance?

It’s a warm, breezy, sunny story, and I love the way it feels to be on that cruise ship. I always want my stories to let readers escape for a while into another world full of banter and play and warmth and swooniness… and this story is definitely an escape.

You’ve had so much exciting adaptation news and now The Bodyguard is headed to the screen. Tell us about what we can expect from this news and how you’re involved.

YES! I’m so excited for Jared Padalecki and Leighton Meester to star as Jack and Hannah in the movie version! The book is set at Thanksgiving, and the movie will be set at Christmastime, so that’s a change—but I love it. It allows for maximum coziness—which I think helps them get at the warmth that’s so central to the book. I think Leighton is a perfect rom-com heroine—lovely and relatable—and Jared, of course, as an actual famous Texas actor, himself, is totally going to crush it as Jack.

How does watching your books move to film impact your writing? Do you create novels with movies in mind now? Or has your process remained and adaptation exists separately?

It hasn’t changed my writing much at all. I’m pretty clear in my head about what I need to do to make sure a book comes to life on the page. Whatever movies might come along don’t change my work for the book, if that makes sense. I need to create characters who are flawed, and lovable, trying their best, and pushing their way through a situation that’s forcing them to grow and change. And in the midst of that I get to weave a swoony love story. Doing justice to all those elements still requires every writing skill I’ve got!

Romantic comedies are having a real resurgence right now in both publishing and film. Why do you think audiences are craving these kinds of hopeful stories?

I’m not sure I know why, but I’m so glad to see it. Love stories are incredibly nourishing. Done right, they enrich our lives and delight us and reconnect us with joy. They remind us what it means to be alive. I honestly believe reading love stories makes us better people. Because love stories are all about the characters becoming better people themselves—gettting better at all the pro-social behaviors that love stories are built on: caretaking, listening, empathizing, forgiving, and nurturing—and on and on. And we learn by example. So I think people who unabashedly love love wind up getting better at love. And getting better at love, of course, means getting better at life.

As we’re headed into summer, what is your perfect summer reading (or writing) setting?

Anywhere near water! Watching the ocean, or a lake, or a stream. Please also sign me up for some sunshine and a gentle breeze.

What are a few things you pack in your summer beach bag?

Books—of course. Also headphones, because I love audiobooks as much as paper ones. I’ve become a big hat person in recent years—sun hats, straw hats, cowboy hats. Love having my own portable shade. And probably a bottle of San Pellegrino!

What are you currently reading?

I’m currently working my way through the series The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion, and it’s unbelievably charming! I also just finished The Other Bennet Sister—and flat-out adored it. Pure delight.

What are a couple of books you always recommend?

You can’t go wrong with anything by Emily Henry, Christina Lauren, or Abby Jimenez.

If you could go on a summer vacation with any author, who would it be?

Nora Ephron! I’d be terribly intimidated, but I’d try to overcome it. Just to even just sit in her presence would be awesome.

If you could go on any summer vacation for “book inspiration” where would you go right now?

I’ve got a hankering to go to the Mediterranean sea! Not even too picky past that—South of France? Santorini? Istanbul? Venice? I’m in!

What are you working on next?

I’m just finishing up the first draft of my 2027 book, and I’m totally in love. More details to come—but it’s a fun, fresh story that completely took me by surprise, and I can already hardly wait to share!

The Shippers by Katherine Center

JoJo Burton heads to her sister’s cruise-ship wedding determined to finally fix her love life by pursuing her first crush for closure. But when her estranged childhood best friend—and biggest heartbreak—unexpectedly shows up, her plan quickly gets complicated. As they team up and fall back into old rhythms, unresolved feelings start to resurface. What begins as a lighthearted scheme turns into a chance to finally face the love she’s been avoiding all along.

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