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Hey! How are you?

This Christmas, I doubled down on the Santa Claus con.

On the one hand, I generally don't want to lie to my kids, so we always downplayed Santa when my older son was little. But now that he's six, and in school, Santa Claus is a whole THING. His teacher helped him write a letter to Santa! All his friends remember their Santa Claus gifts dating back to their births! He outright asked me if Santa was real! (And if so, why he had a spotty gift-delivery record in our family.)

I waffled, but ultimately couldn't bring myself to tell him the cold, hard truth, so I went with the cold, hard lie: Santa is most likely to stop if you do the standard things...

1. Do your best to be good all year.
2. Write him a letter.
3. Leave out bait (cookies and milk).

So, my kids diligently checked everything off that list, and I bought special, rustic-looking wrapping paper and better-than-my-usual ribbon, and wrapped up one toy for each boy as though it were from Santa.

I have to say, their delight when they discovered the cookies had "vanished" and the presents were there on Christmas morning was pretty heartwarming. And then my older son turned to me with a sigh and said, "I forgot I was going to leave a note for Santa to take the cookies and milk but not leave any presents, because we already had so many under our tree."

😳

I mean, who is this kid?

Kindle Unlimited

All of my books are now available in Kindle Unlimited! Please borrow away and if you're willing, I'd love it if you'd help me spread the word. You can even grab the graphic, above, straight out of this email if you'd like!

Wild Ones

Long Winter and Signs of Spring, a contemporary western duet about Robbie, a lonely rancher, and Lance, his (much younger) brother's best friend

Burning Season, a cowboy romance set in 1972 about Dylan, the younger son of a ranching family, and Bo, the hitchhiker he meets the night before a rodeo in Texas

In Step (contemporary romances with a Dominant/submissive dynamic)

Jaywalking, an age-gap romance about Emile, an English professor, and Jay, his student and much younger Dom, featuring poems, and a very polite dog named Godot

Sleepwalker, an age-gap romance about Oliver, a high-powered attorney, and Blake, the young artist who walks his dog

While I'm excited to make my books available to "KU" readers, the decision to enroll them was complicated. Amazon requires that Kindle Unlimited-enrolled titles be available exclusively on Amazon, which means that people who have been reading me on other platforms, like Apple, Kobo, and Barnes and Noble, will no longer be able to buy my books through their preferred retailer.

I hate to disappoint anyone. BUT, while the solution isn't perfect, I WILL be offering my new releases a few days early on my Payhip store, beginning with As the Tallgrass Grows. Payhip integrates with BookFunnel and enables you to download the correct version for your e-reader of choice, plus it will walk you through the "side loading" process so that the book will look and feel just as it would if you'd gotten it from your usual retailer.

What I'm reading

I have been reading so many good books that it's hard to pin down a single favorite. I really enjoyed Booklover by J.E. Birk, a new adult read about Jamie, a farm boy, and Briar, who had a rough start in life. They meet through a romance novel book club!

I also have to mention The Remaking of Corbin Wale by Roan Parrish. I've been meaning to read this book for a long time, and now I can't believe it lingered on my TBR so long. It's a whimsical, magical winter read, so if you haven't checked it out yet either, do!

What I'm writing

I'm still in the planning stages but hoping to start writing the next Wild Ones book any day now. I also have a secret project that is ready to go...I'm just waiting on someone else to give me the official green light.

Over the last week, I've been finishing edits on As the Tallgrass Grows, and I think y'all are going to love it. ARCs should be going out today!

xo,

Rachel

find me in more places

Website | Rachel's Party Barn on Facebook | Instagram | Discord

my books

Long Winter | Signs of Spring | Burning Season | As the Tallgrass Grows

Jaywalking | Sleepwalker

Night & Day