Welcome to Furthermore | June 2025

Long story short, I survived.

(Re)Launching My Newsletter

Welcome to the first installment of my newly revamped newsletter, Furthermore! I’m so happy to have you here.

My favorite view in the whole world, courtesy of the Washington coast.

This newsletter has taken me a while to get out because I’ve put a lot of pressure on it—too much pressure. I felt like it had to be deep and profound because it’s my first newsletter since I fell and suffered a traumatic brain injury; I kept putting it off because I had no idea how to distill the last year-and-a-half into one newsletter.

So I’ve decided that I’m not going to try.

In the words of Taylor Swift,

Long story short, it was a bad time.

Long story short, I survived.

This injury undoubtedly changed me, and I’m sure it will come up in many newsletters, social media posts, and events. Especially as I gear up for the release of The Sun and the Starmaker—that book is so intrinsically linked with my injury that I would have no idea how to separate the two, even if I wanted to (which I don’t).

But for now, what I want to say is that recovery is a full-time job, and it was so much harder than I ever thought it would be. When I was first diagnosed with my concussion, I assumed I’d take a day or two off work and then get back to my normal life. I was so wrong. The next year-and-a-half was the worst season of my life, and I worked SO hard to find my way back to myself. I’m exceedingly proud of the work that I did, and prouder still that I somehow wrote a book during that time.

All of my concussion symptoms are now gone except for the headaches, and even those have gotten much better. I never struggled with headaches before my fall, and I have now had one every single day since. But I no longer feel like a human with a concussion—I feel like a human with headaches, and my doctor is very optimistic that they will be gone in the next few months. Once that happens, I’ll probably write an extensive newsletter solely about concussion and treatment/recovery, but until then, I’m very happy to say I feel like myself again. What a journey it was to get here.

To all of you who sent me messages and left comments on my Instagram posts, thank you. I read every single one, and it meant so much to me to have that encouragement. I’m so excited to be back to posting about books and reading and life beyond my concussion, and this newsletter is another way of connecting that I’ve been very eager to start.

So here we are, at the start. The beginning of a new way to connect. It isn’t the profound or deep start I initially thought it needed to be, but it is heartfelt and genuine and landing in your inbox with a lot of enthusiasm and gratitude. There was a time I couldn’t even look at my screen without becoming violently ill, and now I’m writing to you after a full day of work and hours at my computer—I am so thankful.

Thank you so much for being on the journey with me. ♥️

Funny story about my short hair. Soon after I fell, I got the idea of chopping all my hair off into a French bob. I desperately wanted to feel lighter, to ease the pain in my head somehow (even though I didn’t actually think cutting my hair would help my headache). I’ve had long hair for almost my entire adult life and I was scared to do it all at once, so over the course of the past year-and-a-half, I cut over a foot of my hair off a couple inches at a time, until finally going all the way. And you know what? I do feel lighter. :)

Going Forward

Now that I’ve established Furthermore, here’s what you can expect from it: a semi-regular newsletter (once a month? Once every other month? I’ll see what works, but it won’t be too often) with book news, behind the scenes looks at the creative life, musings about craft and writing, sneak peaks, and life and writing updates.

In Case You Missed It

We have a cover and a release date for my next book! The Sun and the Starmaker is hitting shelves on February 16^th, 2026, and I couldn’t be more excited to share it with you. It’s now available for preorder, which you can do here if you’re interested.

The most beautiful cover I ever did see

I have been blessed with beautiful covers and have loved them all, but this one is my favorite. I just love how romantic and whimsical it is! Artist Viv Tanner did such an incredible job, and it perfectly fits the story inside. Stay tuned because I have a lot of exciting things on the horizon to share—this book is going to be my most stunning one yet. 👀

And for those of you who haven’t seen it, here is the official copy:

There once was a village so far north that most considered it the top of the world... and in that village, the Sun fell in love with her Starmaker. From the New York Times bestselling author of The Nature of Witches comes a whimsical and sweeping romantic fantasy.

Nestled deep in the snowy mountains of the Lost Range, the village of Reverie is a small miracle. Beyond the reach of the Sun, Reverie is dependent upon the magic of the mysterious Starmaker: every morning, he trudges across a vast glacier and pulls in sunlight over the peaks, providing the village with the light it needs to survive.

Aurora Finch grew up on tales of the Starmaker's magic, never imagining she'd one day meet him. But on the morning of her wedding, a fateful encounter in the frostbitten woods changes everything. The Starmaker senses a powerful magic within her and demands she come study under his guidance. With her newfound abilities tied to the survival of the village, Aurora is swept away to his ice-covered castle and far from everything she's ever known.

The Starmaker is as cold and distant as the mountain itself, leaving Aurora to explore his enchanted castle alone. Yet the more she discovers about the sorcerer, the stronger their attraction grows, pulling her closer to the secrets he refuses to share. But a deadly frost approaches and Aurora must uncover what the Starmaker is hiding before she is left in an endless winter that even the Sun cannot touch.

A Moment of Gratitude

I’d like to end my newsletters with something I’m particularly thankful for at the time, and this month (and the past year-and-a-half) one of those things is audiobooks. I’m SO thankful for them. I had never listened to audiobooks in the past, but when I fell, I lost my ability to read. Audiobooks became a balm for my soul during a very, very hard season. I shared some of my favorites over on my Instagram—you can see them here.

What a thrill it is to be back. Thank you for still being here. 💕

Love,

Rachel

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