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The author, who is about to publish her eighth young adult book, says her Rutherford upbringing serves as a "deep well" of inspiration that she returns to time and time again.
"It's hilarious for my friends to read because they recognize all of these things that happened to us growing up," Vivian, 37, told Daily Voice.
Her stories are about teenage girls, friendship, and, of course, boys.
"Through the course of all my writing I'm pretty sure I've namedropped every single boy I ever made out with," she said.
Her latest book, "The Last Boy & Girl In The World," which is due out April 26, is about kids celebrating their final days in their hometown before it is washed away forever.
"It's about senioritis on steroids," Vivian said.
The town in the story is a small blue collar town just downstream from a major city, not unlike Rutherford.
Vivian said the idea for the story came when she learned that her parents were selling their Rutherford home.
"I won't have that physical space in my hometown to return to anymore," she said. "It made me think about if I never returned to Rutherford, all of the things I would miss or do differently."
Growing up, Vivian said she was a gossip and a class clown who "fell in love with a different boy every day."
Friendship, however, meant more to her than anything, and she tries to get that point across in her stories.
"When I would have trouble with my friends or somebody was mad at me, that churned my stomach ten times more than any guy," she said. "So in my books, romance is always secondary to friendship struggles."
Today, Vivian is married with two children and lives in Pittsburgh, but she says she still feels like one of the teenage girls in her books.
"I feel much more comfortable talking to teens than adults," Vivian said. "I still love watching Nickelodeon Saturday morning."
She says she is searching for Rutherford in Pittsburgh.
"I know I won't come back to Rutherford but I will find the western Pennsylvania version," she said.
"Where I live now outside Pittsburgh reminds me so much of Rutherford," she added. "If you squint your eyes it looks just like it."
Vivian will be at Watchung Books in Montclair on April 27 from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m.
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