Lucy Score's new book 'Mistakes Were Made' is her most personal yet

MECHANICSBURG, PA – Hidden behind a secret bookshelf door at a massive farmhouse in Pennsylvania is Lucy Score’s romance writing haven. 

It’s also home to signed Ted Lasso scripts and plenty of taco merch (an inside joke, ask Score's superfans, of which there are many), treasured books by Nora Roberts and artwork with the daisy-riddled cover of “Things We Never Got Over,” the title that skyrocketed Score to romance halls of fame.

With 35 books in 11 years, it’s hard to imagine that Score, 46, ever had trouble finding her “thing.” But the bestseller spent years struggling through desk jobs and bartending gigs, even a stint as a yoga instructor on her way to self-publishing her first novel.

Today, she has a unique print-only publishing deal with Bloom Books, an imprint of Sourcebooks, that allows her more autonomy over her career than most genre authors ever see. Her digital and audiobook operations have become a family business. 

It’s only fitting, then, that her new novel, “Mistakes Were Made” (out now from Bloom Books), is her most personal yet.

Step into Lucy Score’s romance universe

Score is goofy and humble, ready with a dirty or self-deprecating joke. I followed her around her hometown on a hot summer day in July, getting to know that warm demeanor that pulls others into her orbit. 

Some of her most loyal readers have become marketing staff and proofreaders. Her brother came on board to help with audiobooks and her sister, the author Madison Score, is signed to the small digital publishing company that Score’s fiancé owns. She has a dedicated Facebook page with almost 30,000 members, “Lucy Score's Binge Readers Anonymous,” more oversize group chat than fan club. Readers exchange e-books around the holidays and cover classroom supply expenses for teachers. They make new friends and debate fonts for tattoos of Score’s book quotes.

Later, we stop by Cupboard Maker Books in nearby Enola, which stocks all of Score’s signed books and ships them across the United States. They’re known as the “Lucy Score bookstore,” a tourist destination for fans who sometimes drive in from states away. I witnessed one who drove from Michigan during my short stop in.

Owner Michelle Haring tells me they’ve seen a “bump up” in overall sales because of Score. She has to ask Score to stop by unannounced so word doesn’t get out, lest she be “mobbed” by fans.

“She is just as wonderful as the characters in her books,” Haring says. “If you read her books, you know who she is. She is just that great and she's so kind and generous. Somebody said ‘What if she wasn’t nice?’ I was like, ‘We wouldn’t be doing this.’”

In small-town Pennsylvania, Score lives an almost Hannah Montana-level double life – like many romance authors, she uses a pseudonym with her books.

There’s not much crossover between the two parts of her life, she says. Most people know her as one identity or the other.

She tells me about a time when someone at her hair salon found out – she heard people whispering about her while she was there. Another time, a fellow yoga attendee came up to her in class and said they’d read her books (“Now they know Lucy Score is all rickety and makes old man noises,” Score grumbles). There are also not-so-sunny interactions when people find out who she is. Her lawyer once overheard someone in the town’s country club belittling her for “making all this money off of garbage and smut.” 

With the Story Lake trilogy, Score takes a victory lap

As Score enters her second decade of authorship, she’s only leaning in more to what she does best. 

Her new Story Lake trilogy was born from an idea to write about a romance author who built her fictional town in real life. In the first book, “Story of My Life,” protagonist Hazel moves to a picturesque small town in need of some writing inspiration. In the second book, “Mistakes Were Made,” her best friend and literary agent Zoey meets her match in the same ZIP code (and family).

She imagined the heroes of each story as three brothers, but she’d already done that in another series. Rather than reinvent the wheel, Score crafted the Story Lake trilogy in the vein of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour – it celebrates her greatest hits. 

“I was really struck by how Taylor Swift celebrates her entire back catalog. She’s not judging her 16-year-old self and the songs she created when she was young,” Score says. “I wanted to pay homage to how far I’ve come, so I turned this series into this mashup of the favorite bits and pieces of my backlist. It’s like my Eras Tour in a really nerdy way.”

In “Mistakes Were Made,” readers can expect the beloved “opposites attract” trope, more small-town animal shenanigans (the first book featured a mischievous bald eagle named Goose) and a blue-collar hero who works in both construction and law. 

‘Mistakes Were Made’ is Lucy Score’s most personal story yet

With so many characters and stories under her belt, Score typically keeps herself out of her fiction. But with Zoey in “Mistakes Were Made,” Score felt she had more to say. Zoey is diagnosed with ADHD in the book, which Score was diagnosed with at age 38.

Discovering that about herself, finding answers to the ways she felt she couldn’t keep up with her peers, ripped her world open.

“It profoundly affected my life up to that point in a negative way,” Score says. “Once I understood more about it, I’ve been able to work with [my ADHD] in a much more empathetic and graceful way. I’m so much nicer to myself than I was.”

Crafting a modern-day publishing empire

As we grab tacos at a local spot, I ask Score’s fiancé, Tim, (affectionately dubbed “Mr. Lucy” by fans) about his role in the publishing business. In 2016, as Score was finishing up her contract with a small indie publisher, she asked Tim if he’d help her do it themselves. Then, That’s What She Said Publishing was born.

“I knew myself well enough to know the business and accounting side of things was going to be a lot,” Score says. “[Tim] was making houses and working for a private investigator at the time and I remember we were in the car going over a railroad track and I was like, 'What do you think about becoming my publisher?'” 

Tim jumped into research, eventually publishing Score’s sister first book while Score fulfilled the rest of her contract. At the time, there weren’t a lot of indie publishers taking on self-published authors and navigating advertising and platform distribution on Amazon.

“It was almost like the Wild West. At that time, traditional publishers were like, ‘What are these weirdos doing?’” Tim says. “Nowadays I think they’re obviously very interested and very attentive to what’s going on so they can try to capture the same thing.” 

Tim talks protectively about Score. Mostly, he just wants her to get more time doing what she loves – writing. So he handles finances, digital revenue and advertising. He communicates with lawyers about trademarks and fights against counterfeit books online. That’s What She Said Publishing signs authors in three-year stints so writers can feel free to move genres or take their rights to a traditional publisher. 

In 2022, Score became one of those indie authors to sign with a major publisher. At first, she was hesitant to sign a traditional book deal, thinking it would take away her control over digital sales and advertising on her existing platform.

When Bloom reached out, it was only when they offered a print-only deal that Score budged. It’s a “symbiotic relationship,” the couple agrees – Score reaps the benefits of their distribution network and Bloom can rely on Score for digital advertising. 

Today, Score is a harbinger of a new kind of digital-era book deal. The industry is taking note of the self-published authors dominating BookTok, nabbing them in a book deal and then letting them drive the bus. And she's got a full tank and an open road.

“I don’t know if anybody else has found the most perfect vocation,” Tim tells me at an interview in Boston. He turns to Score. “I think you’ve fallen perfectly into your niche. … Very, very few people end up finding the thing that they truly love and can see themselves doing until the day they die. I don’t think she’ll ever retire.”

Clare Mulroy is USA TODAY’s Books Reporter, where she covers buzzy releases, chats with authors and dives into the culture of reading. Find her on Instagram, subscribe to our weekly Books newsletter or tell her what you’re reading at [email protected].