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Hey ❤️

As a subscriber, you get early access to buy my ebooks directly from me. I offer this for two reasons: 1) to thank you for your support, and 2) as a workaround for readers who aren't Amazon customers.

This subscriber pre-sale of the novel is available for three days only, and will end at 10 p.m. US central time on Thursday, March 24.

buy night & day now

If you're waiting to purchase the book on Amazon, or you've already pre-ordered, or you plan to download in Kindle Unlimited, thank you. I am happy to know you're connecting with my books in your preferred way. 💕

What I'm reading

I have a bunch of books on my e-reader thanks to your suggestions last week... but I haven't actually started reading any of them! I think I'll be starting with Scapegoat by J.R. Gray, so if anyone wants to be in a book club with me, grab it too and let me know what you think. ;)

What I'm writing

I have been working diligently on the secret project. The announcement about this one should be happening in April, so I don't have to keep all the details to myself for much longer.

I can tell you it's a sort of second-chance romance between childhood friends who were also each other's first loves. Their story is rooted in a childhood connection formed while spending the summers together.

Part of the inspiration for the book were my own memories of childhood friendships and imaginative play. For a few years, my family lived in a community adjacent to a state lake. The area had a lot of extreme poverty--as my dad liked to say, he thought we were poor, but then he'd look around and feel rich--but as a kid, I was oblivious to anything except the easy access to the woods and the waterways, and several neighbor kids close to my age.

As I grow older I find myself thinking about those other kids all the time, and our sun-forged bonds. We spent hours tracking imaginary bandits or scooping fat tadpoles out of the marshy pond I could see from my bedroom window.

We moved a lot, and I was never a good pen pal, so these friends and the ones from a handful of other cities aren't people I'm still in touch with. But I think of them the same way I think of my past loves. With hopes that they're happy, and that they're still the people I knew in the ways that count.

Until next week...

Do you remember your best friends from childhood? Are they still in your life?

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 | When the River Rises

Jaywalking | Sleepwalker

Night & Day