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Hey lovely humans!

The title of the email might have tipped you off that I've been doing some research lately! Specifically, research for Burning Season, the next book in the Wild Ones series and my first foray into writing a romance that’s set in a non-contemporary time period.

One of the research questions I jotted down was the following: "What was the LGBT scene like in Dallas in 1972?" At the beginning of Burning Season, Dylan Chase is just back from hitting a few Texas rodeos with his friend, Billy Castigan. At their last stop, Dylan borrowed the car and snuck off to a neighborhood that he knew had a gay night club scene from an article he'd read in one of the magazines he has stowed under his bed at home in Nebraska.

It was surprisingly easy to learn something about Dallas's gay culture in the 1970s. I found a piece about Dallas from a 1975 gay travel magazine almost immediately. My fascinating, and sometimes sobering research path wound onward from there.

If you want to see the article (warning for NSFW images!) you can click here.

What I’m writing

I completed my draft of "The Pool Boy," and it's about 11,000 words after my first round of revisions. I'm hoping to turn it into the editor after I polish up the ending. The story is about Elliott, an almost-forty interior designer and rope bunny, and his twenty-three-year-old pool boy, Clay, who's been keeping a secret from Elliott for years.

What I'm reading

Lately I have read a few sports romances. I don’t seek these types of books out as a rule, because I tend to assume I won’t like the sporty subject matter. But I’m often pleasantly surprised by how much I can enjoy a book that includes details about sports that I generally care nothing about. One such read was The Jock by Tal Bauer. The novel delivers insight into football that helps convey the struggles and joys it brings to the characters.

I'm not quite sure why, but I don't prefer sports romances where the sports-related details are glossed over. You'd think I'd be glad to skip those details, but when one of these stories is done well, instead I find myself ridiculously invested in the fictitious stakes of every practice and game. I guess I would rather see characters interact with a sport they're passionate about on the page than just be told how much it means to them.

Do you like sports romance, but could take or leave sports, otherwise? Have you given any thought as to why?

I'll sneak another book mention into this section, but this was one I listened to in audio... Best Laid Plans by Roan Parrish. It was a fabulous listen for me. The second in the Garnet Run series which I've been excited about since reading book one, Better Than People, I actually enjoyed this story even more than the first. Highlights for me were the main characters' cats, which were side characters in their own right, and the complicated sexual awakening story that unfolded for thirty-something Charlie.

Further, the narrator's performance is 10/10. That will probably come as no surprise to those who are familiar with Greg Boudreaux, who's apparently a big name. I'm relatively new to audiobooks in the romance genre and hadn't had the pleasure of hearing one of his titles yet.

Reader survey

I'd like to gather some information about the kinds of stories that most interest y'all as I begin to plan my new few projects. For a chance to win a book of your choice from my catalogue, complete this survey! I'll keep the survey open for two weeks and notify the winner via email. And if I get a lot of submissions, I might pick a few extra winners!

Chapter 23 of Undertow

The serial m/m fantasy romance I've been delivering chapter by chapter exclusively to you, my lovely subscribers, is almost complete! I still forecast twenty-five chapters for the whole book, and the first through twenty-third are now up on my website!

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books by Rachel Ember

Wild Ones | contemporary western romance | Long Winter | Signs of Spring

In Step | contemporary kinky romance | Jaywalking | Sleepwalker