"Hearst Magazines and AOL may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links."
Ali Hazelwood fans are having a great 24 hours. Yesterday, Amazon Prime finally released a first look at the buzzy film adaptation of Hazelwood’s debut novelThe Love Hypothesis, coming later this year. And while the author released a whoppingsixbooks in 2025, no new titles have been announced for 2026, leaving her well-fed readers feeling unusually peckish. The wait for a new Hazelwood story is nearly over:Unbound,an audiobook sequel to last year’sBound, is coming exclusively to Spotify on July 14.
The novella follows Lilit, a 5,000-year-old, fashion-obsessed, cool-girl immortal who is in a steamy, 10-year-long situationship with a (human) pediatric ER doctor named Roman Martin. He doesn’t know what she is. She likes it that way. But when a deadly threat comes for both Lilit and Roman, she’s forced to navigate the complicated, bloody politics of her fellow revenants and her equally complicated relationship with the mortal man.
The audiobook, narrated by Tara Fatehi and Dean Miller, will be accompanied by Spotify’s new Follow Along feature, which floats exclusive custom art by Hazelwood’s cover artist, Lilith (not to be confused with Lilit), throughout the story for an immersive experience.
Can’t wait until July? Ahead, Hazelwood and I cover a ton of ground as we discussUnbound,her obsession withThe Pitt,historical romance, and her honest thoughts after screeningThe Love Hypothesismovie.
Maybe I meant the second one, which is now a full-length novel, and not paranormal. But the other novella was always a sequel toBound, so I don't know what I said when I said it … I feel like I wouldn't purposefully lie!
Honestly, I hadn't even finishedBound,and I sort of realized who the maker of Viktor was—I guess that’s a little bit of a spoiler—and I was like, “Oh my God, I wish I could write her story.” And I was only contracted for one novella with Spotify, so I actually emailed my agent. I was like, “If I had an idea for another novella in this world, would I be able to write it? Would it have to go through Spotify? What if Spotify said no, would I still be allowed to write it?” She came back to me and said Spotify would buy it if you had another idea.Boundis from the point of view of the human learning about these immortal worlds, and I really wanted the option of writing the switch of that—Unboundis from the point of view of the immortal who has to explain this really weird world to a human.
I think when I finished the other novella that ended up becoming a full-length novel, which was in January.
Things go really fast with Spotify, and generally with online-only publishing. The editing takes a couple of months, but then the production is very quick.
So I mostly shop at Old Navy. It’s really funny because in any text group that I've been in, people would comment on who is wearing what. And I am like, “That looks fine.” I'm really not good at clothes, but I don't think she would wear Old Navy. And if you have any suggestions, I am all ears.
Absolutely. I wanted her to be super cool and super graceful. And if you've been alive for 5,000 years, you must have a wonderful sense of balance, right? It just comes with time.
I've never been, even though I am a lover of historical romance. I have never really been into history, per se. The history that we study in Europe, or in Italy—I went to high school in Italy, and then I went to college to major in STEM stuff. And like, history was never mentioned again. But the history we study in Italy is a little bit different. Stuff that is very commonly taught here in the United States is not all in Europe, and vice versa. I have definitely been reading very widely lately. I've been reading political intrigue and fantasy.
I'm so glad you brought it up! We actually have this amazingTrailblazersKickstarter that is starting on May 12. And basically what Adriana and I, in collaboration with Fated Mates, have done is collect some of our favorite historical romances, and we have repacked them in the most deluxe editions, and we're just very excited to share them with people. I think that the art is amazing. I'm a huge lover of historical romance. I would love to write it, but I think it would have to be something about Italian history, just because it's really what I know the most. Maybe I’d write something set in the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages.
I love that people can track the show that I am watching.
The other full-length novel that I finished also has a doctor character. So yes, I was one thousand percent watchingThe Pitt. I don't know why I do this to myself, because it gives me so much anxiety, but I really was obsessed withThe Pittfor a while there. I have not watched season two yet. I am gonna be on the verge of a heart attack for an entire day as I binge the show. But yes, I'm obsessed.
A little bit. I just wanted to write very competent physician heroes. Once you write one thing and you've done a little bit of research, it's very easy to be like, I think I'm gonna use it for this next one; I was interested in exploring physicians for the three to four months I was writing this.
In the novella, I wanted to explore what it is like when the entire world underestimates you and thinks you are still very young and don't have much life experience. Meanwhile, you have seen more than anyone else around you. I don't know that I have a lot of aging anxiety, mostly because it feels so much like a privilege to me to be able to say I stayed alive this long. I do have a lot of time anxiety, as in, sometimes I'll tell myself, “Okay, by this time next year, I will have written something about this, or I will have finished this project that has been in my heart for the longest time,” and then I don't do that. I have this anxiety of time passing by, and I am not being as productive as I want to be. And I think that is something that academia has put in my head—just this constant feeling that I should be doing more, I should be hurrying up, that I am wasting time when I'm not working and I'm not producing something. So I guess it's less aging for me, and more the idea of wasting opportunities to get stuff done.
Advertisement
I have so many ideas. There is always something happening where the thing that I want to write the most at that time, I do not have time to write, because I have committed to something else. But there are so many book ideas that I just really, really want to write. One I've already talked about is CeCe’s story, who is the roommate of the main character inLove, Theoretically. I know exactly what I want to write, and it's been percolating for so long. And then I have something that is a little bit of a genre switch for me. It's always gonna be a romance. I don't talk about it, just because it feels so far right now that it might never happen. All I want is to be able to actually write, right?
I'm not very much on social media anymore, but I wish I could tell people there are so many amazing books coming out. I wish I could be like, “But what about this book that just came out? What about this other book?” I just didBig Girl Blitzby Danielle Allen, the last book in her Curve trilogy—it’s the best; she has surpassed herself. There's so much good stuff. So I don't really feel that, because the romance industry is such a rich—and I don't mean rich monetarily, even though it is also very lucrative—it’s such an amazing place right now where there is so much that is being written by so many authors.Whenever I have something ready, I am very eager to share it with people. Like, I am currently fighting for my life to be able to release this full-length novel that I told you about this year. I understand, I also don't like sitting on things, and I just like to share them. Maybe it's from my fan fiction days.
Actually, I don't think so. I wish it had been, or maybe it was subconsciously, I don't know. The truth is that the 10-year situationship of Ilya and Shane is so delicious, and the ups and downs are fantastic. The 10-year situationship of Roman and Lilit is actually pretty boring—they’re both in love with each other; they're just unable to fully express that. So there’s definitely a lot of difference. But you know what? It was around January of this year, so I was thinking, breathing, and just snortingHeated Rivalry.
I definitely would like to write more. There are sports I am interested in, and they are usually not very present in romance. I think what interests me the most about athletes is the discipline, and also how lonely it can be. So I'm not very interested in team sports. I'm more interested in the idea of these people who are trying to hone their bodies and about the kind of discipline that you need to be able to do it, and the follow-through. They have to be constantly aware of everything that they put into their body. That's very fascinating to me. So I think if I were to write another sports romance, it would probably be something about a sport like swimming or diving, where, you know, it can be a team sport, but it's very much an individual sport. I don't think that’s quite as popular in sports romance.
Yes. I also fought for my life for that, because I really wanted them to have that flippy book thing [tête-bêche binding] where you have the cover, and then when you flip it around, you have the other cover. I don't know when it's coming out, but I do know Berkley is printing it because it was always the plan to do so after the period of audio exclusivity. There are a lot of people who just won't want to, or be able to, consume audiobooks, right? I myself struggle—whenever there is any sort of accent in an audiobook, I'm like, “I'm out. I can't. I don't know what's happening. I can't hear you.”
I always want to write the story of the character that everyone hates. AfterLove on the Braincame out, I wanted to write the story of the main character’s best friend, or former best friend. Her boyfriend cheated on her with her best friend. And I really, really wanted to write the story of the best friend, because I think when people do crappy stuff, usually there is a reason that is not just, “I am evil.” The characters that screw up are the ones that I identify with the most, because I screw up all the time, you know? So I just feel for them. I would love to write Pen’s story, Pen fromDeep End.I don't know that my editor would buy that story, because my editor hates these characters.
I know, it's so interesting. I've had people come to me at signings and be like, “I hate her.” But once, one person told me, “You know, I really like Pen,” and I was like, “Thank you,” but I understand. I mean, if you feel strongly about a character, I feel that I've done my job.Especially when you're writing about young characters, friendship groups are so messy and so complicated, and you feel everything so strongly. When I was in college, oh my God, everything felt like life or death. I’d love to write these books, but I don't know if it's gonna happen—maybe a little further down the road.
Let's revisit this in a while. I may have news? I don't know. Let's revisit this. I think we'll see.
Well, we closed that deal withLove, Theoretically,and I'm still very excited. The person who was supposed to write the script is still attached. I'm still a huge, super, mega fan of this person. I don't know that anything is going to happen. The road from something being optioned to something actually being made is just so long and so winding that sometimes announcing it is not even worth it. Every one of my books has been optioned, except the only book that I really, really want to be optioned, because I think it would actually make a good movie or a good series,Check & Mate. No one wants that book. It's my favorite!
In general, the books that I have written that I felt were the best were not necessarily the ones that sold the most or that were better received. And I find this fascinating in general, that whatever the industry and the audience perception of a book is not necessarily your or the author's perception. We all come to art from different standpoints, but it's been a very, a very interesting thing to learn.
I don't know that I can—but I'm a huge fan of her. I don't know if I mentioned this, but like, if this person's work didn't exist, I would have never writtenThe Love Hypothesis, like there was a pretty strong connection between something that she did and me starting to write the first version. I fan-girled so hard on that call.
Okay, you know what? Here's the deal. When I went to see the screening ofPeople We Meet on Vacation—which, by the way, was amazing—Netflix made me sign an NDA, and then they made me tape the camera on my phone, and they swore me to secrecy four times. And I was like, “Okay, yes, I will bring this to my grave.” But when I went to see the screening ofThe Love Hypothesis, literally, it was like, “Come in! Do whatever you like!”
No one has told me not to say that I have seen it…so yes, I have seen it, and Ilovedit. It was amazing. I feel almost like I don't deserve it. I think they did such a great job. The actors are amazing, like the entire cast plays so well off of each other. I love what they have done with the story, the things that they have changed. I have recently been rereading parts ofThe Love Hypothesis, and there have been moments where I was like, “This book is kind of flawed?” It’s been a while—I'm gonna say five years, but the truth is that it's been more like almost ten. I was a postdoc when I started writing it. I was a newly minted PhD, I had just graduated, and I was also very much writing it with a very close friend in mind. At the time, we were at the same institution, and I would write these updates, and she would read them, and then we'd go to lunch. It was a way to give a present to a friend. And going back, I'm like, “Maybe this scene could have not been in there, or whatever.” So I just feel like they really did a great service to the book by changing some things. I'm just very grateful and happy.
If my film agents read this, please don't send me a very strongly worded email. No one told me not to talk about it. I would like to say that I am innocent.
Can I just close out again with our amazingKickstarter?HistoricalTrailblazers is again launching on May 12. We want people who maybe haven't been reading historical romance, who started reading romance after the pandemic, to find the authors who made us into the readers and writers we are. We just want to give them their flowers. We're hoping that people will love it.
My underrated favorite isAgain the Magic. I think it's just a masterpiece. And also, you will need to readDreaming of You, which we have in the Kickstarter.
This interview had been edited and condensed for clarity.
You Might Also Like
Post a Comment