— AUGUST 2025 —

I can now officially say that The Favorites paperback is out NEXT MONTH! As a special treat just for my subscribers, I’m including an exclusive excerpt from the Heath POV bonus story below.

But before you scroll, some fun updates:

• On September 4th, People will be sharing an excerpt from the bonus story that’s even longer and juicier than the one in this email (and perhaps having to do with the aftermath of a certain Olympic Village liaison 👀).

• Heath’s POV is coming to audio too! We’re currently casting The Official Voice of Heath Rocha, who will be recording the bonus story to be added to the audiobook. More on that very soon I hope 🤞

• The Favorites paperback will be the Meijer Book Club pick for October, and if you’re a fellow Midwesterner I don’t need to explain how exciting this is (for everyone else: Meijer is a major regional supermarket chain where I frequently shopped during my Ohio childhood). Trust I am already planning my dorky photo shoot in the book aisle.

And now, here’s that Heath POV excerpt I promised you (plus a link to the official Spotify playlist that goes with it):

(I picked this excerpt to share today 100% for the Taylor Swift reference — and let me take this opportunity to wish a very happy #TS12 reveal day to all who celebrate!)

Last chance to get those preorders in! The paperback hits U.S. shelves on September 30th, and it’ll be out even earlier in the U.K. on the 11th of September.

📚 Quick Update on Book Clubs

I’ve been doing a lot of book club visits, both in person and virtual, over the past few months, and it’s been a blast! As I’m on a rapidly-approaching deadline for my next book, though, I’m afraid I must close to any further book club requests for 2025.

In my free time (lol), I’m working on some exciting new offerings for book clubs, which I hope to roll out in early 2026 — and of course, as my newsletter subscribers, you’ll be the first to hear about them!

I’d also love to hear directly from you, so if you’ve got ideas or asks about what would make your book club experience extra-special, please hit reply and let me know.

🗞️ In Other News

• I’ve got one more event coming up in August: the End of Summer Bash at Three Avenues Bookshop, one of my favorite Chicago indie bookstores. (Shout out to bookseller Megan, who I’m pretty sure has personally hand-sold more copies of The Favorites than anyone else on the planet!) I’ll be there on Sunday August 24th from 2-6pm to chat and sign books, along with some other amazing local authors.

• I’ll also be at Chicago’s annual Printers Row Lit Fest on Saturday September 6th. Catch me hanging out at the Blue House Books booth from 11am to 3pm and/or wandering around buying way too many books even though I have hundreds unread at home.

• My U.K. publisher has a ton of fun stuff going on right now for you lucky Brits, including a preorder giveaway of tickets to the 2026 Winter Olympics (see also: my so happy for you, not at all jealous announcement video) and a Kindle Monthly Deal for the They Never Learn eBook (99p for the entire month of August). And save the date for Saturday September 13th, when I’ll be live on Vintage’s Instagram at 5pm U.K. time (which is 12pm ET / 11am CT) for a chat about TNL for their To Be Red book club.

🖤 This Month’s Favorites

• Summer may be coming to an end, but if you want to squeeze in a few more fun summer reads, may I suggest:

  • A Killer Getaway by Sienna Sharpe — I had the pleasure of helping to launch this book just last night at Volumes Bookcafe, and it’s the best kind of beach read: full of both sex and murder!

  • The Compound by Aisling Rawle — Love Island meets Lord of the Flies, need I say more? I raced through this one in 24 hours.

  • August Lane by Regina Black — my current pleasure read, and so far it’s just as juicy and compelling as her debut novel Art of the Scandal (which I adored!).

• The end of summer also means that the figure skating season is officially getting underway. If my long con to make you an ice dance fangirl has worked (🤞🤞), I highly recommend following The Nice Capades Substack for all your skating news needs. It’s an Olympic season, so it’s sure to bring some Favorites-level drama!

Since next month is paperback release month, you may be hearing from me more than once depending on when certain exciting news drops… so stay tuned!