She's the sleek and beautiful blond from MTV's The Hills. She's Lauren Conrad and she has a few things to say: in a book. For fans of The Hills, Conrad's new novel will seem paralleled to the show, titled L.A. Candy (HarperCollins). This marks the first novel in a three-book series for teen readers.

In L.A. Candy, Conrad reveals the story of best friends, Jane, an event planning company intern and Scarlett, a university student. Both girls move to Los Angeles, as the story unfolds their ups and downs and how they handle fame.
"It's easiest to write things that you know about and that was the experience that I knew," said Conrad.

"I kind of took them and went through the process of what it's like to be cast on a reality show and all the things you go through."

Although there are many similarities between The Hills and L.A. Candy, Conrad asserts that there is not enough of a solid connection.

"As far as situations that are between friends and things like that, I mean, there's going to be similarities just because that's what I know, but I didn't take specific situations and write about them and just change names."

The book discloses instances where the fictional characters are getting off-screen nudging during on-screen dialogue and interaction.
How real is reality?

"You have to remember that there are certain things that are going to be unnatural about sitting around in a room with cameras around and that's going to distract you and take away from natural reactions," Conrad said. "They were there to kind of (say) 'Get back in there."'

Did that kind of coaching and nudging alter the reality of the situation?
"I think that they just kind of got them back into what they were doing," Conrad said. "The life you lead outside of the show distracts sometimes, and they're just constantly trying to get you to focus on being in the moment."
L.A. Candy strives to show two girls' perspectives on the show and fame, how their approaches differ and how they handle daily life.

Jane has a relatively easier time adjusting to her new life while Scarlett struggles. Conrad claims she held conflicting feelings regarding the show—sometimes she liked it and other times, she didn't.

"Sometimes I really didn't enjoy doing the show and I was really angry when I felt that they weren't being true to who I was, and there was other times that I loved it and it was the best thing that had ever happened to me, so I went back and forth with it," she said. "I think what I was doing with those two characters is I was almost splitting my two different feelings ... it was almost like the optimistic side of me and the cynical side of me."