Author Event with Amy Mass, Katie Lowes, and Isidora Goreshter

About the book:

A wickedly funny debut romcom in which a young scientist reluctantly becomes a contestant on a reality TV dating show to save her lab—and realizes her secrets are threatened when romance unexpectedly finds her behind the scenes.

Grace Lambert’s entire family are all influencers. Her mom runs an HGTV-like Instagram, her dad operates a Yoga for Men Youtube channel, and her brothers are famous on Tiktok and Twitch. Grace, however, is a scientist devoted to saving the Southern Mountain yellow-legged frogs from extinction, who has never had social media.

When her mom signs her up for a dating show with a cult-like following, Grace hangs up on their lawyer, Andrew, immediately. She has no interest in reality TV—until her lab loses its funding, and her coworkers learn about not only the show’s worldwide viewership . . . but the cash prize.

Arriving on set, Grace immediately feels like a frog out of water. She doesn’t know how to mug for the cameras, make effortless small talk with the contestants, or watch her tongue in an interview—making her a constant thorn in Andrew’s side.

The more time Grace spends competing in challenges, unexpectedly flirting with contestants, and making Andrew’s life a living hell, the more she realizes that being there for the wrong reason and keeping it secret might be trickier than she thought—not to mention just how much trouble an illicit, off-screen romance can bring.

About the panelists:

Amy Mass began her career in New York City, writing those “Can you hear me now?” Verizon commercials, before moving to Los Angeles where she wrote TV comedies for 12 years, including hit shows like Last Man Standing and The Goldbergs. During the pandemic, she moved to rural Georgia, where as a City Girl in a Small Town, she obviously had to write romance novels and romcom movies. While she’s on her third writing career, she’s still in her first marriage, despite her husband’s questionable sports teams allegiances. She has two rescue mutts and an eight-year-old daughter who is the funniest one in the family by far. When not writing, Amy can be found hanging upside down in aerial yoga, dressing in team costumes for trivia night, or pressuring her family and friends into flash mobs and theme parties.

Isidora Goreshter is from Long Beach, CA and is a graduate from the Stella Adler Theatre Academy. Her stage credits include Lost Girls, The Seagull, Tape, Smell of the K*ll, Laundry and Bourbon, Beirut, and Waiting For Lefty. On screen she spent 6 years on Showtime’s Shameless and starred in Condor for MGM. Other credits include Grey’s Anatomy, 2 broke Girls, and Red Bird Lane. On the feature side, credits include Netflix’s HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, portrayed a young Anjelica Huston in Theresa Rebeck’s TROUBLE, and Sundance feature Clara’s Ghost(MGM/Orion). She can be seen in the upcoming Snowfall Spinoff for FX, the movie SLAY and the Yellowstone Spinoff Dutton Ranch. As a producer Isidora and Joshua Bitton produced two theater benefits raising over twenty thousands dollars combined for IATSE during the strikes and for Rogue Machine Theatre company. Isidora together with Joshua Bitton and Jon Bernthal founded the Ojai Theatre Festival and serves as co-artistic director with Bitton.

Katie Lowes is a force on both stage and screen. Lowes is best known for starring as ‘Quinn Perkins’ for the entire 7 Seasons of the ABC hit series “Scandal.” Lowes starred opposite a stellar cast including Kerry Washington and Tony Goldwyn in the fan favorite series created by Shonda Rhimes.

Lowes is currently in production on the new Starz drama “The Hunting Wives” in which she stars opposite Brittany Snow, Malin Ackerman, Chrissy Metz, and Dermot Mulroney. The series is based on the novel by May Cobb, who serves as an executive producer. In Spring 2022, Lowes was seen making her return to network television in CBS’ half-hour comedy “How We Roll.” Lowes starred opposite comedian Pete Holmes in the series based on professional bowler Tom Smallwood’s life. Lowes plays the role of Jen, Tom’s (Holmes) warm and caring wife and son Graham’s loving mother. The series premiered on CBS on March 31, 2022. In Winter 2022, Lowes was seen starring in Shonda Rhimes’s Netflix series “Inventing Anna,” which premiered on the streamer February 11, 2022 and was the number one overall streaming show within the first two weeks of release according to Nielsen Ratings. Lowes stars in the series alongside an incredible cast including Anna Chlumsky, Julia Garner and Laverne Cox. The series is based on true events in which a journalist investigates the case of Anna Delvey, the Instagram-legendary heiress who stole the hearts – and money – of New York’s social elite.

Lowes hosted the popular parenting podcast titled “Katie’s Crib,” which was produced by Shondaland in partnership with iHeartRadio. “Katie’s Crib,” which ran for 6 seasons, was a weekly podcast covering the unexpected joys, pains, foibles, and hilarity of new motherhood. Each episode highlights a specific parenting issue from a variety of different points of view. Lowes conducted frank, intimate conversations with fellow moms (such as A-List actresses Kristen Bell, America Ferrera, Gabrielle Union and many more) about the ups and downs of being a new parent. In Summer 2021, Lowes lent her voice to Netflix’s animated film VIVO. The film also featured voices from Lin-Manuel Miranda, Zoe Saldana, Gloria Estefan, Nicole Byer and more with Miranda writing several songs for the movie. VIVO was released on August 6, 2021. In Fall 2018, Lowes made her Broadway debut, starring in the Tony Nominated Musical “Waitress” with Katharine McPhee. Lowes played the role of ‘Dawn’ opposite her real-life husband, actor Adam Shapiro.

Lowes is no stranger to the big or small screen. Over the years she has been seen in big budget films such as Disney’s RALPH BREAKS THE INTERNET and Dreamworks’ TRANSFORMERS 2, Bad Robot’s SUPER 8 directed by JJ Abrams and was the voice of Abigail in the 2015 Academy Award winning Animated Feature Film BIG HERO 6. In addition, she voiced an animated character in the 2015 Academy Award winning Animated Short Film FEAST, as well as the Oscar nominated Disney film WRECK IT RALPH. Lowes was the inspiration behind the motion and movement work for Idina Menzel‘s character Elsa in the movie FROZEN. Additionally, she has appeared in several independent films including DINNER FOR FOUR, THE JOB, CALLERS, BEAR and CAFÉ. She has been a guest star on hit series such as “The Closer,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Private Practice,” “Leverage,” “Castle,” “The Sopranos,” “N.C.I.S” and was a series regular on the CW show EASY MONEY, created by producers of THE SOPRANOS. Lowes has been regularly seen co-hosting “Live with Kelly and Ryan” alongside Ryan Seacrest.

Born in Queens, New York, Lowes is a graduate of NYU Tisch School of the Arts. Lowes is the co-artistic director of IAMA Theatre Company, which was named one of the top 20 regional theatres in the country. IAMA is in the midst of its 17th season in Los Angeles where she resides with her husband and two children.

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