Raegan Revord, debut author and star of the CBS hit series Young Sheldon, chats with Zibby about her charming YA rom-com, RULES FOR FAKE GIRLFRIENDS. They discuss how the novel blends grief, love, friendship, and self-discovery through Avery’s journey to England on a scavenger hunt left by her late mother. Raegan shares how her acting background informs her ability to capture emotion on the page and how she built a thriving book club community with Read with Raegan. She also opens up about growing up on Young Sheldon, the importance of found family both on screen and in her writing, and why storytelling has always been at the core of who she is.

Transcript:

Zibby: Welcome, Reagan. Thank you so much for coming on Totally Booked to talk about Rules For Fake Girlfriends. Congratulations. 

Reagan: Thank you. Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited. 

Zibby: It's my pleasure. And your book was so good. There was so much soul to it and like loss and love and parents and families and friendships and you got everything in and, and also the cleverness of the titles and the book within a book situation with the, with the writing a book.

And I was, I was actually quite blown away. I didn't know what I was expecting. 

Reagan: Oh, good. 

Zibby: But I was totally blown away. Thank you. 

Reagan: You, I'm so glad you enjoyed it. I love whenever I'm such like a found family like person, especially with that trope. And so anytime anyone mentions it, I'm like, yes, yes. You get it.

Zibby: Oh, it's really great. Well, okay, why don't you tell listeners what the book is about? 

Reagan: So the book is about a young college age girl named Avery. And after Avery's mom passes away, Avery gets a scavenger hunt clue from her mom's will, which sends her to England, where on the train to her new college she meets Charlie, who agrees to help Avery complete the scavenger hunt if Avery fake dates Charlie to get her ex back.

And it's sad and happy and it has a little bit of mystery in it. And yeah, it's just a fun like feel good. A little bit of sadness, romcom. 

Zibby: It's more than that. I think it's more, I, I'm gonna beg to differ on this one. Um, but it, yes, there's romcom elements of course, obviously with the fake relationship and everything, but I really feel like this is a story about a girl in her search for her mom and to reclaim what's lost.

And obviously there's so much else, but I don't know. Maybe that's just the piece that like really got me. 

Reagan: No, I had so much fun writing that because. The whole, the main reason Avery leaves and like abandons her life plan and goes to England is because her mom set her there. That's where her mom grew up.

And so like with Avery walking around Brighton and seeing the streets that her mom walked on in the coffee shops, her mom like hung out with friends and like it really does help her connect with a mom that she never really understood. That was always, I feel like I would have those revelations with Avery whenever I would be writing and I would forget kind of like, oh, this is where, how I grew up.

And then I would think, and I'd be like, wait a minute, like. This is where she went to school. Like she also probably sat in these like greens in this like courtyard and hung out with her friends and Avery would also have those revelations. And so I feel like we were kind of like remem like remembering and realizing that together, which is really interesting to experience.

Zibby: Yeah. It's so crazy thinking about how you. What if it, what if you were like the same age as your mom kind of thing. And I feel like when, towards the end when she found, and I won't give anything away, of course, but she found this one photo of her mom exactly her age from the lens of her dad, which was just like, I mean, it's just the need.

It's like you finally can see your parents as people at, yes, these certain glimpses, but Reagan like, where did all the sadness come from? Where did this loss come from? It feels like you've totally like. Gotten the plot of life yourself. Where is, where is it from? 

Reagan: I mean, how you said the plot of life like that is what life is like.

There's happy moments, there's sad moments, there's in between moments. And even though I was writing a romcom, which is like a romcom is. Like technically very like happy and like cupcakes and rainbows. I didn't want it to just be that because that's not how life is. And so even though Avery is experiencing this really amazing, exciting thing and for her first time too, which brings about other complicated emotions, it's also she's still grieving her mom.

She's grieving her, like growing up. She's moved to a new country on her own and she's grieving like her whole life plan that she thought and trying to figure out this whole new kind of path she's on. And so I really wanted to portray that because it is how life is. There's always different things going on.

You're feeling different emotions, and I've never experienced loss like Avery has. I thankfully have both of my parents with me, and so I've never known loss on that level, but as. Humans do you lose childhood pets? You lose family members. And so I do know, like while one thing may be happening, another sadder thing can be going on in the background even.

And so it, even though it's been months since Avery lost her mom, that's still always kind of in the background. And whenever she's realizing that this is where her mom lived. That kind of realization brings that grief to the forefront sometimes. 

Zibby: Well, I feel like your ability to tap into grief dovetails with your being an actor at the same time.

Right. Don't you have to just tap into all of that to even things that you haven't experienced to be able to portray something like, yeah. Were you an empath from day one? Like where did this all come from? 

Reagan: I so with. Playing sad roles or like acting sad situations. What I always do is I, especially if it's something that like hasn't actually happened to me.

Like for example, at the end of the show that I was on for so long, we were so close to all the cast and crew and the characters and everything, and spoiler alert, the dad dies at the end and like the third to last episode. And like I said, I have my dad and so I never really experienced that. But on top of the show ending, which was so like sad because I grew up there, I also would pull from like sad situations that I've experienced to kind of compile all of that to the grief that you see in the episode.

And I also use the show ending because that is a loss in itself. It is mourning something. And so. I kind of used that loss to portray the sadness for losing the dad, and so that is kind of what I did for the book as well writing. I would kind of use that technique that I learned in acting and apply it when I was writing.

I would be like, this is how I felt in this specific situation. I can use that to help Avery to help portray Avery's grief in this situation. 

Zibby: Well, anytime, as you said something not going the way you thought, grieving and alternate ending. 

Reagan: Yeah. 

Zibby: It can be a show, it can be anything. It can, you know, all of us feel so deeply and you really got all of that in here in such a good way.

Thank you. Yeah. Talk about reading. To write a book like this and to pick up on everything in such detail, you have to be, you can't just say you like books. Like you obviously have to read a lot of books and obviously you have read with Reagan. And all of that. When did you fall in love with reading and what is your relationship to books?

And just tell me about your whole reading life. 

Reagan: I literally always have a book with me. I'm traveling right now, so I'm in a hotel and my computer is literally on like five books right now, so it's raised up. I always have books with me. Ever since I was little. I would constantly have a book in my arm, in my bag, anything.

I have a lot of like librarians and teachers in my family, so like reading and just like. Literature in general was always such a, at the forefront of my life. I like to joke, I literally was brought home from the hospital when I was born with a book in my hand. 

Zibby: Mm-hmm. 

Reagan: And haven't let go of one since. I, I think my main like thing that made me love reading was the book series Aragon, which like that.

Like, I think it was like six or 7-year-old. Me just devoured that book and then as many people can relate to Harry Potter was also like such a big thing for me still is. I was literally watching one of the movies last night and I've just grown up reading. It's always been such a big thing. I got banned from my school library because I would be in there too much reading instead of socializing. And so I would be in there doing lunche and recess, and I got banned from the library. It was one of the worst moments of my life. 

Zibby: I'm so sorry. 

Reagan: I was distraught. And then I found, I found out like three years ago, it was actually my mom who did that and not the school. And I was so mad at the school for so long and blamed them.

And then I found out it was actually my mom because mom was like, you need to be around kids. And so my mom was like, Hey, you can't let Reagan go to the library anymore. So I got banned and then I found out it wasn't the school and I, they were wrongly accused for so long. 

Zibby: But wait, how did you feel? Did you get into it with your mom about it then?

I would've been so mad at my mom then. 

Reagan: I was like, I feel like it, it'd been because this was like three years ago and I got banned. I got banned from the library whenever I was probably like seven. And so it'd been almost like 10 years. No, no. Like seven years probably. And I felt like it had enough distance that I was like, I'm not gonna be so mad at you, but like, I still can't believe you would do this to me.

Zibby: Yep. 

Reagan: And she's also such a big reader too, so I was kind of shocked. 

Zibby: Hmm. 

Reagan: Like you, no, it's a hypocritical is what it is. But so like I just, even that you could tell I've always been reading and then right before, I think it was probably 2019, I started my own book club and I've always been asked like, because I've always been telling people how big of a reader I am, and so I've always been asked, what book are you reading right now?

Is there anything you would recommend? And I always wanted to share my love of reading. I always have. I always wanna show people why I love it so much and why stories are so important. And so I started posting a monthly book on my book club or on my Instagram, just like Reagan one. And then in 2022, I think it was, uh, around that time I started my own read with Reagan socials and then it's just grown so much.

It's so crazy to me. I've had people now come up to me like just in the streets and be like, I love your book club. The book you recommended is now like one of my favorite books, and that's so insane to me because I like little 9-year-old me or whatever. No, like 10-year-old me, probably never thought this is what it was gonna turn into and I'm so insanely grateful and I just love having such a, like a good community of readers and just sharing literature is.

Sharing stories and how important they are is like my life goal, I feel like. And to be able to contribute a little bit of why someone might have a favorite book is so cool to me. 

Zibby: This is like music to my ears. I feel like this is why I do everything that I do. And when someone says, I wouldn't have read that aside from you.

Like if you hadn't recommended it, I wouldn't have read it. Yeah, that's, that's the best. It's the best. 

Reagan: It really is the best. I was literally talking to a friend the other day. I was over at her apartment and she had a book on her, like coffee table or whatever, and I was like, oh my God like I know that book.

And she was like, yeah, I'm reading it because I saw it on your book club. And I was like. You're, and like, like it's so crazy to like see it like in the wild, I guess. And not just like someone commenting, being like, oh my God, I read this because you recommended it. Like seeing that the person actually got the book and is reading.

It's so insane to me, but like, so cool. 

Zibby: So how do you pick which books to recommend? Because I have trouble with that too. I'm like, I like all these books and like, but which one? Which one would they like? Which one? You know, for what reason?

Reagan: I always have such trouble as well picking whatever I'm reading.

I, 'cause I read so many books in a month that it's not like, oh, I read one book. I can pick that book. 

Zibby: Mm-hmm. 

Reagan: There's way too many, I'm also a reread. I am such a bad reread and this is why I have so many books. It's because I can't get rid of them, can't, I can't. I reread them and so I can't, like, I can't get rid of them, but I normally pick books that I just really enjoyed that I found like have a good message.

And then also if it's like Pride month or Black History Month, then I'll pick a book that relates to that month. Um, but also still has really good story, really good message. I. Probably any genre. I always say I'll give a book, a first chance, I will read anything that is put in front of me. So my book club isn't one specific genre, it's ya.

But like that's really like the limitations. I will read anything, I will recommend anything I read how I write, which is really anything. I do have a love for fantasy. I feel like fantasy, romcom and mystery are like my top three. Like I'm a good murder mystery, which is probably reflected in the book club if you go back and look.

Traveling in there a lot. But yeah, picking the book of the month is so difficult. I found like a little loophole where it's like, if you liked White Lotus, then read these books so I can like recommend more books because I can't, I can't pick just one. It's so difficult. 

Zibby: I like that. 

Reagan: And that's kind of my little like loophole is.

But there's these other books too. 

Zibby: Runner runners up. Okay. I might have to steal that as a, uh, as a tactic. So. Young you is this huge reader, that's all you wanna do, and yet you end up on young Sheldon for like your whole childhood. How did that happen and how do you feel about how that all unfolded? 

Reagan: It was completely by accident that I even started acting.

My mom had a friend who had a friend who ran an agency, and that friend was like, can I represent Reagan? And we had no idea like what that meant. We had no idea anything about the acting world. We were like, yeah, sure. This will be a fun hobby. It'll last like a year. I was four years old. Did not last a year.

I'm now 17, been doing this all my life. But yeah, I, it was completely by accident. It entirely snowballed. I got like a commercial and I saw the commercial probably when I was like around like six, like five or six. And I was like, I love this so much. I wanna like, like I wanna be in like movies. I loved being on set.

I craved being on a set. It's my favorite thing I did um, I think the first time I really realized. How much I loved it was I was on Modern Family and I was on it like a good few times and I didn't have to audition every time I went back on, and I loved that because I'm not a big fan of auditioning. I, like I said, I love being on the set and so I loved that and I told my mom, I didn't know what it was called, which I now know it's a series regular, but I said, I wanna be on set every day and not have to audition.

That's what I told my mom. And then a few years later I auditioned for Young Sheldon. And I just remember being so obsessed with Missy. I, it was during when we had a thing called pilot season when a bunch of shows are basically auditioning and they're starting and they have their first episode, and that's whenever all those shows are auditioning in those few months.

And I was doing that and I had so many different, like. New shows and stuff, but I fixated on Missy and I kept asking my mom and my agents, I was like, have you heard anything about this? Like, I need to know. I was so, like, I loved it so much. And then I got the role and then eight years later, uh, here we are.

And the show ended a year ago, like, I think it was a year in April. And it's so crazy to look back on like nine, 8-year-old me like not knowing what we were getting into. It's so funny 'cause Annie Potts, who plays my grandma always said like, whenever we started the show I was on set and looking around and I knew this was going to be great, but little, little me had no idea.

And I was just so excited to be there and I had no idea what it meant. And now like older me is like, oh my God, like. If only little me knew 'cause it's so cool. It's so crazy and I'm like so grateful for it. I did not ask, answer your question about 

Zibby: That's okay. No, no. 

Reagan: It's all good books to acting. But I do think they're very similar in just the storytelling aspect because even though one's paper and one's screen, it is very similar because you are communicating a different story that someone might not be able to have compassion for or to relate to. But then whenever you're reading or watching a piece of media, you can kind of step into those shoes and feel for a character and see whether it's across the continent or in a different world, in a different galaxy. You can kind of learn more and have more empathy.

And so I think even if it's acting or writing, storytelling in that regard is very similar. And so that's why I have such a love for both. 

Zibby: I get it. I love that. So I don't know if you've read Allison Stoner's upcoming book called Semi Well Adjusted, despite literally everything about growing up as a child star and the structures that were in place and the lack of protections about child stars, particularly back in the day.

Sort of similar in the Jeanette McCurdy genre of. I survived this. How do you feel looking back? 'cause now I'm like, well I know what they did a little bit ago. 'cause she's much older now. But how do you feel like the industry treated you? As a child, although this is of course totally off topic of the book, but you know, do you feel, because it seems like you've escaped completely intact.

Yeah. You're like completely like self-possessed and doing something so cool, writing really good books, not just like fluffy whatever, like books with soul. Like how did you do that and others didn't, and how did you find the whole experience? 

Reagan: I just got, I got really lucky, honestly, I had such a great experience on young Sheldon.

I, my mom always says it takes a village to raise a kid, and my village was the casting crew of the show. I always have a second mom who played my mom or a second dad or an older brother to go to. Just everyone on that casting crew. I have so many aunts and uncles now because that's just how they feel to me.

Zibby: Mm-hmm. 

Reagan: And if my actual mom was ever busy and I couldn't go to her for advice, I had 200 family members. Always on set that I could always go to and ask. I really just got so lucky. I know a lot of kid actors don't have a good experience or as good of an as good of an experience as I did, but I do think they really prioritized our safety, especially the kids' safety on the show, we were just allowed to be kids.

We would have Halloween parties and we would play hide and seek, and we would prank each other. We would play games, and it was always just such a fun experience. I said from the time I got the show to now that it never felt like going to work, it felt like coming home, so I never, I never hated coming to set.

I lived on that set. I would find reasons to stay after I'd finished working for the day. I would stay two hours after because I would just wanna hang out. I loved being there. I love being there, and I'm so grateful that there's the spinoff now because I can, it's, I like to say it feels like going off to college and coming home for the weekend.

Zibby: Mm-hmm. 

Reagan: I get to guest star on Montana show because I get to, it's a very similar crew, same cast. So it's, it is like coming home because I get to see my family again, even if it's been however many months and just like, ugh. I just love them all so much and I miss them. And I'm excited for the new season to start.

'cause that means I can see them all again. I just went to Montana's wedding and I saw some of them and I was like, I miss you guys so much. 

Zibby: Aw. 

Reagan: Um, but yeah, I had the best possible experience and I just love everyone there. So very much. If you could tell by how passionately I'm talking about this.

Zibby: It's very sweet.

I love it. It's so nice.

Okay, so on the writing side, what, what is the plan are? How are you doing? More of these are same genre, you know, how did you do this? How long did it take? Like when did you know you were gonna do this? 

Reagan: My dream has always been to write a book. Ever since I knew how to write, I would write little books for my parents.

I wrote like an American Girl Doll superpower book during recess with one of my friends. When I was in school, I, whenever I was on set, I would write books and I would hand them out to people and be like, Hey, this is the next book in the series. I've always been writing whenever I was 12. I got a book agent and that was whenever I was like, I wanna take this seriously.

Like this is something I wanna do. And I have been working with him ever since Before I started working on roles for fake girlfriends, I was working on a fantasy series that I still want to work on one day. Uh, it just. There were some like technical difficulties with it, where it was gonna take really long to fix something.

And I told my book agent, I was like, I might wanna kind of switch gears and work on a different idea. And so I gave him an idea for a romcom set in England and he was like, I love this. Let's do this. And so we sent it out, sent it to McMillan, which is the publisher I'm with, got with my editor and it took us.

Probably around two years to I got with my editor. July, 2023. So like around two years. Exactly. Actually that's crazy. And it's coming out in September and here we are, which is insane. I wish I could tell like 5-year-old me you did it. Like you have a book coming out, but I. I wanna, I obviously wanna keep writing books.

It's, I love acting, but writing is my baby. It's my dream. And I have a book idea that I'm working on right now. I'm kind of revisiting the fantasy series that I abandoned. We're gonna see how that works out. I was working on it when I was like 13. So there's things. I'm in a different like stage of my life where like the writing is younger, the story is younger.

Zibby: Mm-hmm. 

Reagan: So I kind of wanna transition it a bit to more like ya. But yeah, I. Could never stop writing. I fear if someone was like, what do you give up? I was like, don't do this to me. Writing's my baby. I could never, I love it so much, so very much. What 

Zibby: if somebody said you had to choose writing or acting? 

Reagan: So my friends have asked me this before and I could not tell you.

I do think if it was a life or death situation, I would have to do writing. No one understands how much I love acting and how much I love. Being in that world and being on set. But I, I say that whenever you're acting, you get to bring to life a character in someone else's universe. But whenever you're writing, you get to create that universe.

And so there's more freedom to writing a book, at least from my experience. But I love both so much. It probably would have to be writing. Don't tell anyone I've ever acted with, but it probably would have to be writing 'cause it's just been my lifelong dream. 

Zibby: That's amazing. Well, you're really good at it and I'm excited for all the things to come.

I mean, I am so much older than you. My twins are 18, so they're about your age. And we, by the way, watched young Sheldon. Mm-hmm. And watched you grow up and everything. So anyway, this is a very. Very nice, but I related to this book me like at my age and found so much in it that that's, I mean, that's hard to do, right?

Like I didn't read it like as if I was a kid. I'm like, no, no, this is actually really getting me in the most emotional way possible. 

Reagan: I mean, I feel like the book at its core, even though it is about like an 18, 19-year-old, I feel like the book at its. Core is just about a person who's trying to find their place in the world.

Zibby: Yes. 

Reagan: And trying to figure out what she wants to do, what she wants with her life. And especially as a new college student, that is kind of what going off to college is you figure out your path and if you are however old. Anyone can relate to that. Everyone I feel like at some point in their life is trying to figure out who they are.

You're always changing, you're always evolving, and I feel like anyone can relate to that. So even if there are aspects or tropes or elements to the book, that does make it seem like if you're reading it and you're older and you're reading it and it's a teenager, but there's elements to it that you can relate to, which is what I really appreciate the about the book because I love whenever I'm reading a book.

And anyone can relate to it. And so I was like, I wanna write a book like that and I think I did that. I hope I did that. 

Zibby: This is like you have a new target audience because it's not just ya. It's like people like me who are parents of kids going off to college. It's the same thing. We're just freaking out over here.

Reagan: So I also think anyone can read ya. I know so many adults who are like, I just read ya. Why Ya is for anyone. 

Zibby: It is. 

Reagan: Yeah. It really is. It's such a broad. Genre because it really does go from like thir around like 13 and like up. 

Zibby: Yeah. 

Reagan: Anyone can really read Y A. 

Zibby: Yeah. 

Reagan: And I know so many people who do well. 

Zibby: I think sometimes I think, I mean I won't get into it, but the whole category seems bizarre.

Like catcher in the eye is what Ya like it? No. Is it? No it's not. I mean, I'm just saying if it came out today, it's like, yeah, it would be like. In a different section of the bookstore. I don't know. I, I don't know. But anyway, all to say it's fabulous. You're fabulous. I really am rooting for you. You're such a nice person and just someone else who loves books. I, I feel like nobody could love books more than me, and yet you do. So I don't know. I don't know. I at least we're tied. I feel like maybe we're tied. 

Reagan: I feel like we're like neck to neck. 

Zibby: Like we really Neck to neck and neck. Yeah. Neck and neck, yeah. 

Reagan: I don't think however much you love a book shouldn't be a competition.

I just think if you love a book, you love a book, and if someone loves reading a lot, then you're an amazing person. 

Zibby: Yeah. Obviously I'm too competitive is the problem. 

Reagan: I'm also really competitive. Don't worry. I get it from my mom. My mom and I are both so competitive. We're both reading books right now and we're like, who can finish it first?

Zibby: Yeah. Okay, good. 

Reagan: We're both very competitive. I totally understand. 

Zibby: All right, well thank you so much for all your time and I again, I'm just so excited for you. 

Reagan: Thank you so much. I appreciate it. It was so lovely talking to you. 

Zibby: You too. I hope you stay in touch. 

Reagan: Thank you. 

Zibby: Yes. Okay. Take care. Bye. 

Reagan: You too. Bye.