new book news

and other updates i've accumulated over the last three months

Sitting in my substack draft folder is a piece called “the wisdom of dogs,” which was supposed to be the second installment in an essay series about drafting my fifth YA. At this point, I don’t know that it’ll ever get written. I was ambitious back in October…

I really did want to document the drafting process for myself—and I think I did, ultimately, in my morning pages, where I chart the day-to-day changes of my emotional landscape. To summarize them: I’ve had this idea for ten years. I worry that it’s beyond my skill level. I worry that I’ll never be equal to it. I wish I had more time to write it. I think it could be the best thing I’ve ever written, even though it doesn’t feel effortless.

I’m starting the second developmental edit in the next few days. Thankfully, my feelings have become a little less turbulent since finishing the first developmental edit. In the end, I think I’ve said what I wanted to say. What else could I want? By the end of this draft, I think I’ll be very proud of it. Maybe then I’ll finally write the process retrospective I promised y’all…!

Working on this book has consumed most of my life over the last seven months, but I’ve managed to keep sane by adhering to the Artist’s Way. If you’ve never heard of it, it’s a program for blocked creatives. I highly recommend it. It encourages you to reconnect with a sense of play and pursue things that bring you small, everyday joy. Here is a non-exhaustive list of things that have kept me going over the last few months:

• Collecting Pokemon cards (both physical ones and on the Pocket TCG app…)

• Redecorating my apartment (hanging an agate mobile in front of my window has done wonders for my wellbeing)

• Sitting on park benches, with no phone or book, just my thoughts

• Lying in the grass with my dog

• Buying a record player and starting a vinyl collection

• Practicing drawing, guitar, and ballet

• Developing a new hammock act

• Reading for fun (a recent favorite of mine is Bobby Fischer Goes to War; I’ve been reading a lot of chess nonfiction)

keep reading for

• announcing immortal game

• down comes the night is coming to the UK

• a fragile enchantment paperback

• thank u

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announcing my next ya fantasy: immortal game

I’m thrilled to announce my next book, Immortal Game, which will release in 2026! As I mentioned above, I’ve carried this idea with me for over ten years, after reading a story from the Mythological Cycle called “The Wooing of Etain.” I’ve tried many iterations of this reimagining over the years. It was only after falling deep into a chess phase that I finally found the right shape for it.

Immortal Game is my very first contemporary fantasy and maybe my weirdest book yet. Every 100 years, the King of the Otherworld invites a group of elite chess players to a tournament he hosts; the players compete for the honor of playing one match against him. Whoever defeats him (no one ever has) can ask for one boon.

Our protagonist is a very determined, very burnt-out chess grandmaster named Shea, who once lost a game (and her sister) to the King of the Otherworld—a loss that has haunted her for six years. But before she can get her rematch, she’ll have to go through the king’s sister: Princess Ciara of Bri Leith, who enters the tournament for a stake of her own. They may or may not fall in love.

There are no preorder links yet, and the book does not have a cover. I can’t wait to share more with y’all when I can!

art by Mia Minnis

I’m so grateful to Mia Minnis, the artist who brought the protagonists to life here. Her character design work is incredible (I definitely added the cloak into the book). Please give her a follow; all of her work is gorgeous!

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down comes the night is coming to the UK

Some happy news: Down Comes the Night will publish in the UK this July! If you’re new to my work, Down Comes the Night was my debut novel. It published back in March 2021, which was a kind of depressing time for a book to come out. Long-time readers might remember the original US hardback cover, which has since gone out of print. RIP spooky house and bats.

Although I’ve grown a lot as a writer since this book came out, I still love it. I’m thrilled it will have the chance to reach new fans! It’s an enemies-to-lovers fantasy in the vein of Crimson Peak. It has wintry vibes, my take on the dark and brooding YA love interest, two people in search of redemption, a camp villain, and maybe my favorite meet-cute I’ve ever written (iykyk). The full description, along with preorder links, is below. I hope y’all enjoy it! And if you’re in the US, the paperback (same cover as below) is already out.

Wren Southerland's reckless use of magic has cost her everything: she's been dismissed from the Queen's Guard and separated from her best friend - the girl she loves. So when a letter arrives from a reclusive lord, asking Wren to come to his estate, Colwick Hall, to cure his servant from a mysterious illness, she seizes her chance to redeem herself.

The mansion is crumbling, icy winds haunt the caved-in halls, and her eccentric host forbids her from leaving her room after dark. Worse, Wren's patient isn't a servant at all but Hal Cavendish, the infamous Reaper of Vesria and her kingdom's sworn enemy. Hal also came to Colwick Hall for redemption, but the secrets in the estate may lead to both of their deaths.

With sinister forces at work, Wren and Hal realize they'll have to join together if they have any hope of saving their kingdoms. But as Wren circles closer to the nefarious truth behind Hal's illness, they realize they have no escape from the monsters within the mansion. All they have is each other, and a startling desire that could be their downfall.

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a fragile enchantment paperback

Speaking of paperback releases: A Fragile Enchantment’s paperback (with a new and moodier colorway) is also releasing this July! This one first published in January 2024, but I’ll take the opportunity to (re)introduce it in case you haven’t heard of it.

It’s a Regency-inspired fantasy about two people who, for very different reasons, believe that they are ticking clocks—that anyone who loves them is doomed to be hurt. I had a ton of fun writing this one. It’s got some angst, of course, but I’d say it’s overall lighthearted, whimsical, and a little silly. If you’re looking for a book that embodies this lovely late-spring weather, this one’s for you!

Niamh Ó Conchobhair has never let herself long for more. The magic in her blood that lets her stitch emotions and memories into fabric is the same magic that will eventually kill her. Determined to spend the little time she has left guaranteeing a better life for her family, Niamh jumps at the chance to design the wardrobe for a royal wedding in the neighboring kingdom of Avaland.

But Avaland is far from the fairytale that she imagined. While young nobles attend candlelit balls and elegant garden parties, unrest brews amid the working class. The groom himself, Kit Carmine, is prickly, abrasive, and begrudgingly being dragged to the altar as a political pawn. But when Niamh and Kit grow closer, an unlikely friendship blossoms into something more—until an anonymous gossip columnist starts buzzing about their chemistry, promising to leave them alone only if Niamh helps to uncover the royal family’s secrets.

The rot at the heart of Avaland runs deep, but exposing it could risk a future she never let herself dream of, and a love she never thought possible.

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thank you!

I want to end with a huge THANK YOU. Wings of Starlight has been on the New York Times bestseller list for 13 weeks now; for 5 of them, it was at #1. It’s still kind of unfathomable to me.

I appreciate you if you’ve been here for a while, or if you found me through Wings. I’m working on two books that light me up, and I hope you’ll enjoy them, too <3 Because of you, I get to do what I love.

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