Mistakes We Never Made

Hannah Brown is best known for her appearances on romantic reality television shows The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, having appeared as a contestant on the former and then starred as the titular bachelorette on the latter. She also competed in beauty pageants, winning Miss Alabama USA 2018 and competing in Miss USA 2018. Brown also won the celebrity competition show Dancing with the Stars (2019) with her professional dance partner Alan Bersten, and she later won the reality TV competition Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test (2023).

Brown’s background as a reader and television celebrity influenced her novel. In an interview with Variety, Brown explained that she pivoted to writing romance novels because she has always enjoyed reading, explaining, “While this is fiction, I drew a lot of inspiration from my own life and experiences, which is fun for me to see sprinkled throughout the series” (Thompson, Jaden. “‘Bachelorette’ Star Hannah Brown Inks Two-book Deal for Fiction Romance Novels (EXCLUSIVE).” Variety, 23 Sept. 2019). One of the protagonist’s best friends in the novel, Nikki, also appears on a Bachelor-type show, which is the clearest connection to Brown’s real life. However, Brown also comments that she sees herself as similar to the novel’s protagonist, Emma, and she wanted to showcase the importance of friendship as a form of significant relationship, which is why Emma and her “Core Four” are central to the novel’s story (Schumer, Lizz. “Hannah Brown’s New Novel Has ‘East Eggs’ from Her Own Life: ‘All Based in My Own Experiences’ (Exclusive).” People, 6 May 2024).

Brown wrote this novel with professional ghostwriter Emily Larrabee. It is common for celebrities to collaborate with ghostwriters on both nonfiction and fiction works: For example, J.R. Moehringer contributed to Prince Harry’s memoir Spare, and James Fox wrote Keith Richards’s memoir Life. Some acknowledge their ghostwriters explicitly in their acknowledgements, while others do not. Ghostwriters typically receive a contract stipulating the parameters of their relationship with the celebrity and the degree of credit they can expect to receive.

Brown has spoken directly about working with Larrabee. In an interview with People, she commented, “[Larrabee] encourage[d] me and help[ed] me get everything, all my thoughts, all my hopes for these characters in this story and how I want it to really show up in the page” (Schumer). Brown also explained to Entertainment Weekly that the writing process for Mistakes We Never Made was unfamiliar territory for her, and so she saw the utility in having “an expert who does it for a living to help see the holes that I’m not seeing or add a little something here that can insinuate something is happening later on in the story” (Lenker, Maureen Lee. “Hannah Brown Is Ready for The World to Read Her Romance Novel, But Don’t Expect a Windmill Sex Scene.” Entertainment Weekly, 19 Oct. 2023). Writing with a professional ghostwriter helped her to bring her personal experience to the novel in a cohesive way.