Let Me Be A Good Animal Today
Hello friends (and welcome to new subscribers!),
It seems this is my first post of 2025! The holiday season really took me for a whirl, and since then I’ve been working to finish up my next book, among other things. I hope to have Book 2 title and cover news in the next few months, but until then sit tight!
I have some thoughts about resilience and resistance, and some great books to tell you about, but first I have a little bit of housekeeping:
I have a few events coming up in Tucson in February and March! I’ll be doing a presentation on publishing, telling some stories at an improv show, and (gasp!) appearing as an author at the Tucson Festival of Books! If you’re in the Tucson area, check out all the details on my website!
I’m also very happy to tell you that the Author’s Note from BIRDING WITH BENEFITS is now available on my website! I’ve gotten a really wonderful response to this addendum to the book—in fact, some of the top highlighted passages in the Kindle edition of the book are from the Author’s Note. I realized this week that the Note is not included in the (amazing, incredible) audiobook, and I wanted to make sure it was accessible to anyone who wanted to read it.
So you can now find the Author’s Note right here.
And that most highlighted passage? Here it is!
I consume romance novels for the same reason I watch birds—for the sparks of joy, because I prefer to be happy when the world gives us so many reasons to be sad.
And about those reasons to be sad… we’ve been hit with a lot of them lately. From fires to fascism, it’s scary out there. It feels like an odd time to be writing romance novels. But when I get hit with a case of “What’s the Point?” I just think about how many books help me find peace and happiness at night, and help me build my resilience for another day.
One piece of writing I come back to again and again is Barbara Kingsolver’s incredible essay High Tide in Tucson. The essay is a beautiful meditation on animal instincts and the human condition. She talks about grief and violence, love and protection. She writes:
On most important occasions, I cannot think how to respond, I simply do. What does it mean, anyway, to be an animal in human clothing? We carry around these big brains of ours like the crown jewels, but mostly I find that millions of years of evolution have prepared me for one thing only : to follow internal rhythms. To walk upright, to protect loved ones, to cooperate with my family group—however broadly I care to define it—to do whatever will help us thrive.
Later in this essay, she writes this passage that I think of every day:
For each of us—furred, feathered, or skinned alive—the whole earth balances on the single precarious point of our own survival. In the best of times, I hold in mind the need to care for things beyond the self: poetry, humanity, grace. In other times, when it seems difficult merely to survive and be happy about it, the condition of my thought tastes as simple as this: let me be a good animal today. I’ve spent months at a stretch, even years, with that taste in my mouth, and have found that it serves.
When the broader world feels overwhelming, I return to these words: Let me be a good animal today. I take care of myself and the people close to me. I strive to cooperate with my family group. Some days that means holding my kids tight and helping them cope with a changing world. Other days it means showing up for my colleagues and friends. On my best days, my family group is people I’ll never meet, but whose survival is as precious and vital as my own.
I do know that we can’t fight for and protect others when we disregard our own care. So let yourself be a good animal today. Get yourself some water, take care of the people around you, and build the resilience you will need in the coming days.
What I’m Reading
I’ve read amazing books in the last couple months, so here’s an abbreviated list:
A Man for Mrs. Clause, Rebekah Weatherspoon
This spicy but very tender book includes a Bachelorette-style competition to become the next Santa Claus. The plot was so fun, but what really struck me about the book was the really beautiful, thoughtful, inclusive theology developed in its pages. As a former Religious Studies major, this book really scratched an itch for me!
The Wild Wolf’s Rejected Mate, Cate C. Wells
I am absolute trash for this entire series. It’s wolf shifters and fated mates and SO MUCH GROVELING. The stories can be pretty grit and dark, but I’ve loved all five books in this series. If they sound up your alley, I suggest starting with Book #1.
How Freaking Romantic, Emily Harding
I had the extreme honor of getting my hands on an early copy of this fantastic novel, which is Emily’s solo debut. It’s a really beautiful look at adulthood—what it means when our friendships change, and how to let ourselves break the patterns of loneliness. I absolutely loved this book from start to finish and can’t wait to scream about it when it releases!
Mating the Huntress, Talia Hibbert
I reread this one all the damn time. It’s a near-perfect paranormal romance novella. Hibbert is an absolute genius who manages to pack in all the satisfying primal energy of a fated mates paranormal story with tons of tenderness. Love! Love!
Tucson Festival of Books Authors:
We have an absolutely mind-blowing line-up of authors coming to Tucson this March, so I’m eagerly reading books by all of them to prepare! Lately, that’s included:
I totally loved this book. My favorite part, as a lover of paranormal romance, is that it felt like Ali really loves this genre and enjoyed digging her heels into it. I can see why some elements (aka knotting, lol) might be *a lot* for folks not as familiar with paranormal books, but I was all in.
Sia Martinez and the Moonlit Beginning of Everything, Raquel Vasquez Gilliland
Holy crap, ya’ll. This book was incredible. As a YA & Tween Librarian, I’ve had my eyes on this book for a long time. The cover itself is so incredibly beautiful. The story was gorgeous from top to bottom—it had a really fun and easy to approach micro-chapter style, and the themes of immigration and forced removal were all too poignant right now.
The Lesbiana’s Guide to Catholic School, Sonora Reyes
Another incredible Arizona-based YA novel featuring themes of immigration, otherness, and queerness. I finished this book during a break at my desk yesterday, and later a kind coworker found me and said “Are you okay, Sarah? I heard you sniffling a lot earlier.” All I could say was “I finished the most beautiful book ever!”
I absolutely cannot wait to read adult novels by Raquel and Sonora!
That’s all from me for now. If you’re in the Tucson area, I hope to see you at event soon. If you’re elsewhere, please stay in touch. <3
With love and solidarity,
Sarah