Bestselling Author Duo Christina Lauren Recall 'Squealing' After Learning Rob Lowe Was Cast for 'In a Holidaze' Netflix Adaptation

Bestselling author duo Christina Lauren are officially heading to Hollywood — and they’re still processing it.

During an exclusive chat with OK!, best friends and writing partners Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings recall the surreal moment they discovered that Rob Lowe had been cast in the Netflix adaptation of their 2019 novel In a Holidaze, while also highlighting their recent partnership with K-Y to co-create an original short story centered on modern intimacy.

“We didn’t know that Rob Lowe was finalized until it hit Deadline,” Christina shares. “And we were like, ‘Oh! Okay!’”

The pair admits much of their involvement so far has consisted of “squealing happy,” as the project — currently in pre-production in Canada — becomes their first novel to officially move into full production after years of various options.

“It just seemed so easy,” Christina states of working with Netflix. “They are so wonderful to work with.”

The film will be directed by Tiffany Paulsen, whom the authors already admired.

“We just fangirled all over her,” Christina adds.

Though they didn’t pen the screenplay themselves, the duo offered feedback and were consulted on casting ideas. They’re planning to visit the set later this year once the full cast is assembled.

For Christina Lauren — who have been writing together for 17 years — seeing their words leap from page to screen feels like a milestone years in the making.

Since launching their careers, the duo have watched romance evolve alongside culture, technology and dating norms.

“Romance has the ability to be right on the forefront of social change,” Lauren notes. “Whether that is technology, whether it is cultural.”

Case in point: their 2018 novel My Favorite Half-Night Stand, which explored dating apps and digital identity. Though both authors are married and not on apps themselves, they turned to readers for research.

“Tell us your crazy, terrible stories,” Lauren recalls asking fans, noting the experience was surprisingly therapeutic for many.

That curiosity — and willingness to embrace modern shifts — has helped keep their storytelling fresh nearly two decades into their partnership.

As for how they maintain balance as co-authors?

“We’re just better together,” Christina says. “We’ve learned to embrace the things that make us different, because it’s exactly why we work so well.”

Communication, they add, is just as vital off the page.

“One of the biggest things in romance is being vulnerable,” Christina admits. “I used to be like, ‘Ew, therapy.’ And now I realize the importance of talking about my feelings and my needs — and not expecting people to anticipate them.”

The duo’s upcoming novel, set for release July 14, promises classic Christina Lauren chemistry — with a slight twist.

“We wanted to create kind of a marriage-in-trouble-plus-amnesia story in a way that hadn’t been done before,” Lauren teases.

The book dips “a little toe into sci-fi,” she explains — though romance remains at its core.

“Don’t be scared,” she says with a laugh. “It’s a romance through and through. It’s just fun sometimes to take the contemporary world and bend the rules a little bit.”

According to Christina, the novel delivers both angsty and lighthearted moments.

“We’re just so happy with how it turned out," she expresses.

While celebrating their Hollywood moment, Christina Lauren also discusses their recent partnership with K-Y, with whom they co-created an original short story titled The Homecoming.

The collaboration, they said, felt like a natural extension of the themes they’ve long championed in their books: honesty, vulnerability and raising expectations for women.

“We need to set the bar higher,” Lauren declares, addressing the long-standing criticism that romance novels are “unrealistic.”

“The truth is that female bodies are more complicated in some ways, and it sometimes takes us a while to figure out what gives us pleasure,” she explains. “Having these conversations in places that are accessible to women — and men — is important.”

Through the partnership, the authors aim to help normalize discussions around intimacy — including the use of lube — as simply another part of a healthy, satisfying relationship.

“We don’t want just good s-- to be on the page,” Lauren adds. “We want good s-- to be in your life and out in the world.”

And whether it’s a holiday time loop romance heading to Netflix, a genre-bending love story hitting shelves this summer or a candid conversation about real-life intimacy, one thing is clear: Christina Lauren aren’t just writing happily-ever-afters — they’re redefining them.