Hannah Brown is ready for the world to read her romance novel, but don't expect a windmill sex scene

Hannah Brown promises her first novel has some steamy scenes to offer, but alas, there's no sex scene set in a windmill.

"The windmill does not show up in this story," she says, with a laugh. "But hey, maybe for projects in the future. But there are definitely some steamy scenes in this book. Everybody likes to have that moment where you blush a little bit as you're reading, and you really see the fullness of what is a relationship and what creates romance and connections to people."

Brown first appeared on Colton Underwood's season of The Bachelor before going on to star on season 15 of The Bachelorette (and she famously proclaimed her enjoyment of a sexual experience with Peter Weber in a windmill on that season's "After the Final Rose" special). She has had her fair share of public romance, but now Brown is turning to fictional love stories with her first novel, Mistakes We Never Made, which will hit shelves on May 7, 2024.

EW can exclusively reveal the cover, designed by Kaitlin Kall. The novel follows two former debate team champions, Emma and Finn, on an epic coastal road trip. Years ago, they almost fell in love and now, pushed together for a wedding weekend, all Emma can think about was all the mistakes they almost made together and never did. When the bride runs away, Emma and Finn have to bring her back in time to walk down the aisle — only to find themselves on a whirlwind trip that finds them tempted to make those "mistakes" all over again.

Check out the cover below and read on for more from Brown on the novel and why she's always loved reading.

Forever The cover of 'Mistakes We Never Made' by Hannah Brown

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: This marks the first of two rom-com books. Have you been a longtime romance reader?

HANNAH BROWN: I've always been an avid reader. I've always loved what a novel can do — To be able to escape reality and go into this other world and learn a lot about myself along the way. Even if it's a rom-com, there's always something that I can relate to. That's what makes brilliant novels the best is when it [tugs at] those heartstrings. This is a dream come true as someone who's grown up reading religiously.

Where did the concept of second chance romance and a road trip come from?

I wanted to make this an epic summer read — having a group of girlfriends, a road trip, rivals to lovers, and a beautiful beach setting is the perfect combination of that. So really just going off of what I enjoy in reading and then taking some of my own personal experiences and sprinkling them in there and coming up with this great novel for people to enjoy and to relate to. It's funny about romance, we know what it is, and yet we still are so hardcore rooting for the person, knowing what the ending's going to be. But maybe that's why we like them because they're all a little bit different, but predictable in how they're going to make you feel while reading them.

This cover has some lovely southwestern vibes and a vibrant orange and pink palette. Did you have a wish list going into the design process?

I wanted it to be a beautiful cover. There are definitely some trends when it comes to romance covers and what we like in the market and what as readers gravitate towards. I really do appreciate a piece of art on the cover that gets me immediately intrigued. So, I wanted something that was really beautiful and a watercolor treatment of everything. The book and the setting is a road trip, and we find ourselves at some pivotal moments in the book in a setting like the one on the cover.

Raul Romo Author and former 'The Bachelorette' contestant Hannah Brown

You've spent plenty of time in Bachelor-land and they are great at constructing dates and romantic moments for all of us to enjoy. Did that inspire you in terms of creating the dates or these romantic settings for your characters to be living in? 

I guess it did. I didn't think of it in that way, but my love life did inspire the story. I've had the most grand and romantic moments, which there are instances of that, but some of the most beautiful moments in a love story are the times where it's very intimate. So, how to create that in the story for the reader to experience was really important to me. Whether it's a touch or the way that somebody looks at you, how do you encapsulate that in your writing so that the reader really experiences that? That is what makes for beautiful romance. My time on reality TV was in Los Angeles, and this story takes place on the coast, and that's where my love story started with my fiancé too. I took some inspiration from those parts of my life and those places that I've been and the beauty that is there.

Were there particular authors that inspired you in your writing process? 

Emily Henry is the queen of romantic comedy. Now that this book is done, it's amazing to feel like this is something that I think Emily Henry would be proud of as well. It's that same type of read that people love when they pick up a book from her. She's really the one that resonates the most with me. That's where I get most of my inspiration from.

You are so sex positive and treat the subject of intimacy with such respect and a sense of empowerment. How did you want to channel that into your storytelling? 

I am authentic and honest about what a relationship is, and so I channeled that into this story. I didn't ever expect to be this sex positive symbol; that was never an intention. Honestly, I've had my own journey with that. I just have had authentic moments for people to see or finding moments where I've had to stand up for myself and my worth and what I thought was right at the time. When it comes to writing this book, I wanted it to be authentic and true to how love is. It can be messy, it can be sexy, it can be hurtful, it can be forgiving, and that is physical and emotional.

Mark Bourdillon/ABC Hannah Brown on 'The Bachelorette'

In terms of your characters, Emma and Finn, were there particular inspirations for them?

The group of girlfriends in this novel all represent a part of me. Emma represents a part of me. She has this need to feel in control of her life. She can be great for the people around her, but she can sometimes hurt herself. Learning to let go and to be able to experience the fullness of her life and her love is the journey that she's on throughout this. That's a journey that I've been on — wanting to be perfect, to excel, to achieve, and how that can lead to success. It also can lead to detriment in your life and love and how to overcome that and let go. Some of the times where I've finally let go and really been myself is when love and big life moments have happened. I don't know if Finn represents any one person. He's a mixture of different men in my life for sure. But in different ways, how somebody has let me down or what lifted me back up and incorporating that into who Finn is and how he makes Emma feel throughout this story.

With the road trip aspect, was there a favorite place in the country or on your travels that you've been that it was really important to you to include in the story?

There is a wedding weekend that this story starts and ends with, and one of my good friends got married in Malibu. That is definitely where I want this wedding weekend to be. As we go down the coast on this wild goose chase, there are other aspects that I drew inspiration off some of my own experiences, things that I've seen with my own eyes, places that I've dreamed of going.

What was the most difficult part of writing this?

It's been a dream come true and a project that I'm really proud of and that I'm excited to share. But the writing process is very new to me. It was really important for me to have people that I could collaborate with to make this what I knew it could be and what it has become. And I worked with Emily Larrabee. I've had these experiences and can see the details in my head, but to be able to put down every single detail on paper and get it the way that I envisioned it, she was such a big help and it allowed me to let that creativity come to life.

This is not a one woman show. It's a big task to write a novel. It is a lot of hard work, and it is not my main profession at all, but it's something that I've always been passionate about. But to create a full story that actually everybody can follow, it's tough. And sometimes it needs 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 on later on in the story. I could not have done it by myself. Or I could have, but we would not have this book for another 10 years.

It's been a dream of yours for so long, so what was the most enjoyable part of the process? 

The most enjoyable part of the process was seeing the full manuscript for the first time. The first edit of the whole thing was fun for me to see — every thought, every conversation, every paragraph that had been poured over and talked about and see it all in one story for the first time was really surreal. To get in there and start being really picky and doing the hard work to make the experience for the reader the most enjoyable was the hardest, but also the most rewarding.

You have a two book deal. Have you started working on book two yet and do you know what it will be about?

We have started working on it. The group of girlfriends all play a role in the idea of what these books can turn into. It is still connected to Mistakes We've Never Made, but we'll focus on another character's situation going on around the same time. How this group of girls is there for each other intermingles across all their stories. How do all these stories connect? How do these girls support each other? What is their role in this group of friends? That will be even more evident and continuing to grow in this next novel.

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