A (Long) Word from the Queen Helper Bee👑🐝
Hi everyone! While Rachel is dealing with literal lunatics and working on a top-secret new project I'm not allowed to breath a syllable about on pain of ☠️☠️☠️, I'm taking over her newsletter - which means I can write WHATEVER I WANT and possibly even get away with it too!
First item on the agenda: SALT LAKE CITY FANX! (And lots of behind the scenes tea 🫖)
What a wrap on my first summer of convention season with Rachel! 🥳
Having just arrived home from the amazing Salt Lake City FanX event I can now say with certainty... what a RUSH! Each event we attend really is so special and fun, but there is also SO MUCH work and planning that goes into each one. (I literally don't know how she did it on her own for so long.)
It's been wonderful getting to travel alongside Rachel and witness first-hand the level of care and effort she pours into her work and readers. Watching the way she engages with her readers, both new and familiar, is just something you cannot put into words. They laugh together (and sometimes straight up CACKLE), they cry together, they yell out completely inappropriate things randomly just for funsies ... She gave so many hugs and made multiple people cry, which then made ME cry! 😭
Like my awesome Inked-inspired siren hide leggings??
And through it all, Rachel and I have gotten to know each other a little bit more each time. Really, we keep learning that we're just more and more alike than we thought and you know how each person has their own little quirks and silly things? ... Yeah we have A LOT of those in common. 🤪
Rachel and I "savoring the pickle" at one of our rest stops on the way to SLC. Turns out, pickle juice is super hydrating for roadtrips!
Except... I haven't bitten a stranger in public, then tried to apologize but only spit out incomprehensible gibberish and then sprinted away at an impressive speed when realizing the "stranger" wasn't who I thought it was. THAT was definitely just a Rachel thing. (She's gonna unalive me for sharing that with all of you but still totally worth it!!)
A few more highlights/revelations from SLC while I can still get away with it:
We're both big fat cry babies for epic instrumental music. Rachel's a BIG fan of Samuel Kim and his epic Star Wars compositions. You should check them out!!
"AAH! This is definitely not tofu!" Rachel took me to my first experience with Shabu Shabu, a Japanese style of eating where you cook the food at your own table. Thinking she'd grabbed some firm tofu in her bowl, Rachel plopped an entire cube in her mouth and then turned white as a napkin when she realized it was actually a fishcake. Turns out, Rachel hasn't gotten over her previous experience with Japanese fish 🤣
I've also decided that I need to drive Rachel around for hours on end WAY more often, because remember that TOP SECRET PROJECT I mentioned above that she's gonna kill me for mentioning? She had SO many epiphanies and awesome ideas about it that I am bursting at the seams to tell you!!! Any guesses as to what it might be?😈 (I can neither confirm nor deny but I'd love to hear your thoughts!)
Lastly, she managed to convince author David Andrew Trotter to climb up onto a vent in the middle of SLC....in a kilt. It. Was. GLORIOUS.
Anyway 🤣 - let's move on to some other really exciting stuff. We are so excited to be starting a new reader group on Facebook: RACHEL'S RENERGADES! This is going to be a place where you can come for the tea and stay for the snark. There will be a bigger/more official announcement later, but you guys are the very first to hear it and have the chance to join early! We'll have opportunities to join together and buddy read some of Rachel's books in a book-club style, chat about books and upcoming events, and mayyyybee even get insider access to new release teasers before they go live. (Read: you will DEFINITELY be the first to hear about Rachel's most exciting projects way before anyone else.) Oh, and Rachel has said she's gonna routinely give out the most outlandish signed prizes to the most engaged members. I'm pretty sure she mentioned she's gonna send someone a signed rubber banana at some point?!?!?! 🍌
Our first buddy read is planned to start on Wednesday, October 9th and seeing as it's spooky season we'll be starting with none other than The Bone Whisperer Chronicles*. Whether you've read this amazing duology before or have been eyeing it on your TBR, you are welcome to join us. Want more deets and info? Join the group here!
*Even though Rachel never discounts special edition books (unless they're damaged), she's given me permission to offer 15% off discount codes to all Renergades. All you have to do is join the group and we'll get you all the info you need!
For those of you who have been asking, we've restocked those gorgeous Gilded Blood calendars for 2025, so go nab yours now!!
Lastly, please help me wish Rachel a HUGE congratulations for Inked winning not one but FIVE categories in the Indie Ink Awards:
- Best book cover and cover artist
- Side Character MVP
- Best use of tropes
- Prettiest book interior, and
- Best light read
That brings her up to 3 first place awards for the year!!! 😱
With that, I shall bid you all a wonderful week ahead. Remember, if you ever need me you can reach me at support@rachelrener.com. Can't wait to talk soon and hopefully see you in the new reader group!
XoXoX,
Britt 🫶🏼
If you're reading this on Goodreads or on Rachel's blog, be sure to sign up for my newsletter to get the most exciting updates sent directly to your inbox!
EXCITING FREEBIE!!!
From Rachel:
My friend Lisa McBride has an awesome freebie that I wanted to share with you! Boneyard Thief is the prequel to the Riley Cruz series. If you like fun, fast-paced urban fantasy with quirky characters (which I know you do!), this is the book for you.
BLURB:
Sixteen was supposed to be about fast cars and first kisses, not plotting a heist that might get me killed.
As a scrawny goat shifter in a pack of werewolves, my role is to get into places they can’t go. The alpha who took me in after my parents died molded me into a master thief. For four long years, he’s lined his pockets, while I’ve taken all the risks.
Now he’s sending me after the magical artifact he’s chased for years. This is my chance to escape. All I have to do is pull off the biggest heist I’ve ever attempted, escape the seethe of vampires I’m about to rob, and ditch the wolves who watch my every move.
To walk away from this job alive, I better prove I’m as good at getting out of trouble as I am at wading into it.