Brooke Averick Is Bringing Back 2000s Rom-Coms With Phoebe Berman

Brooke Averick has always been a fangirl. As a kid, before her obsessions included celebrities and Heated Rivalry, she fixated on bouncy balls, sponges, and The Count from Sesame Street. As Averick got older, she moved on from Muppet vampires to book vampires, with Edward Cullen in Twilight.

As we sit outside Dialog Cafe in West Hollywood, drinking our berry smoothies, I joke that she must have a thing for the undead. “No one's ever made that connection, including myself,” she says. “I guess The Count planted the seed for Edward.” Of course, if you follow the 29-year-old on social media, you’ll know from her username, @ladyefron, that she’s also a fan of the High School Musical star Zac Efron. “That was my email address,” she says. In 2020, Averick blew up on TikTok thanks to comedy videos reading from her childhood diaries, and the name Lady Efron stuck.

After gaining a following, Averick started sharing more of her humor on TikTok through sketch videos. At the time, she was working as a preschool teacher in Pennsylvania. “I don't even want to say being in the spotlight was a dream, because I was so convinced it was not an option for me,” she says. “I would daydream about being an author or doing comedy in some way, but I just did not consider it a possibility because I was so anxious.” But those early viral sketch videos were validating. “It felt really good.”

A year later, she posted her most viral video — an all-too-real reenactment of what it was like being a kid in a swimming pool, playing with your bathing suit, and getting frustrated with your goggles. She can be self-deprecating at times, sharing her cringe moments with her 1 million TikTok followers or saying something “a little bit stupid” on her podcast, Brooke and Connor Make A Podcast, with comedian Connor Wood.

My humor is very dry and sarcastic. And I'm definitely not afraid of sounding dumb.

The two met in 2020 when she moved to Los Angeles, and they both joined Common Room LA, a content house. In 2022, they launched their weekly podcast, where they chat about their lives and pop culture while showcasing what makes them truly hilarious. “My humor is very dry and sarcastic. And I'm definitely not afraid of sounding dumb,” she says. “It's just saying unfiltered thoughts out loud.” Those inner thoughts have helped grow Averick’s fan base and led her to start a solo podcast, Obsessed, about her current film, TV, book, and celebrity fixations. Then, after years of hosting, Averick took her humor on the road in 2025, as well as earlier this year, alongside Wood, with a live show titled Brooke and Connor Make A Podcast.

Now, she’s ready for her next chapter — a debut novel, Phoebe Berman's Gonna Lose It. The romantic comedy, which is the first of her multi-book deal, is set to release on May 26, and follows lovelorn Phoebe Berman with intimacy anxiety, who makes it her mission to lose her virginity before her 30th birthday.

We're just very comfortable and not afraid to twist the knife to really get under each other's skin in a very brother-sister way.

“There's a bit of Bridget Jones to her. She's definitely one of those people who finds themselves in situations that are very cringe-worthy,” she says. Averick believes 2000s rom-com lovers will also feel nostalgic diving into Phoebe Berman. “It has the essence of 13 Going on 30, and there's an energy of that era.”

Phoebe may not be on shelves just yet, but it’s already getting rave reviews on TikTok. One fan was “consumed” by Averick’s writing, saying Phoebe Berman felt like a “warm hug” while reading it. And her inner circle adores it, too. “They're my friends, so they have to say that,” she says. “But it has been very heartwarming to watch them read it, because so much of them is in the book.”

Being taken seriously in author spaces has been my biggest ‘pinch me’ moment.

Wood is among that group. Over the years of hosting BNCMAP, the two have only gotten closer. Despite some fans shipping them, she says, “We're just very comfortable and not afraid to twist the knife to really get under each other's skin in a very brother-sister way.”

Because of Wood, Averick has become more outgoing. “He's been helpful with how I approach the people I'm obsessed with and admire, because that was very hard for me,” she says. When Ilana Glazer, one of Averick’s comedy idols, came on their podcast, Wood eased Averick’s anxieties. “He was just so calm, cool, and collected around her.”

After we finish our smoothies, we head to Book Soup, a vintage-like bookstore with wooden shelves and a magazine stand outside, where we spot titles we’ve just talked about, like Spring Awakening, Twilight, and Averick’s current fixation, Sarah J. Maas’ Crescent City series. There’s even a copy of Heated Rivalry. If Averick were in charge of Phoebe Berman’s film adaptation casting, she’d want Hudson Williams to play one of the love interests and a known actor to play her lead character. (“Those boys [Williams and Connor Storrie] are the loves of my life, and it just shows that we're hungry for new faces.”)

Averick also wouldn’t mind making a “little cameo.” Being an actor was one of those fantasies that Averick had as a kid, but never thought could happen. “I just didn't see how I would get there,” she says. Now that she has her first book coming out and over 1.3 million followers across social platforms, Averick feels more confident.

“Phoebe got reviewed on Kirkus. That made me realize, ‘OK, I'm an author,’” she says. “Being taken seriously in author spaces has been my biggest ‘pinch me’ moment.” She owes it all to her followers who have been on this journey with her since 2020.

We’re in the middle of browsing the shelves at Book Soup when two fans stop us to share that they’ve pre-ordered the novel and can’t wait to read it. It’s a brief interaction, but the excitement on their faces is undeniable — and so is the delight on hers.