On Bookbub deals, ZOE's release, Crohn's Disease, and Smiling Through Pain

The first draft of this newsletter was incredibly maudlin, let's see how this one goes!

Y’all! ZOE BRENNAN, FIRST CRUSH is a Bookbub deal! For $2.99, you can purchase ZOE’s e-book on Amazon Kindle here!

This is a big-ass deal. First of all, my publisher Union Square did not put HANNAH TATE on sale EVER, until a few weeks ago. But ZOE? They’re throwing this babe out into the wild for a mere $2.99 three weeks after publication! This is clearly some bid to get word out about ZOE fast and furious, so it would be lovely if you all could go buy a copy, leave reviews on all your favorite sites, and tell all your friends about it! I’d really like to keep publishing books, but that does sadly require the ones I’ve already published to sell copies first. Maybe you could help?

*insert angelic smile*

ZOE has had some tremendous press recently, too! It was featured on Oprah Daily, y’all! Read the article here.

That’s my book, y’all!! Does this mean I can say Oprah endorsed my book???

The response to ZOE BRENNAN has been overwhelmingly positive. So, so many people have reached out to tell me how warm and affirming it was and how safe and loved they felt while reading it during such a scary time in our country. I’m really glad ZOE BRENNAN can provide that sort of comfort. That’s what authors are telling ourselves over and over—that even when the world outside is terrible and frightening and half the country is either happy about it or couldn’t care less, that our silly little stories still matter. And that actually, stories where queer folks get happily ever afters aren’t little or silly at all. Not now, not ever.

It’s all smiling through pain, releasing a book about queer love in the middle of this hurricane of hate. Trying to hold on to my own slice of happiness and pride when the dominant political strategy is to strip that away through fear and bullying. And unfortunately, I’ve been smiling through a lot of literal pain, too. I’m experiencing a bad flare of Crohn’s disease and have been since January started. I’ve been in remission for years with the occasional flare-up, but nothing that’s lasted this long. Crohn’s is a deeply embarrassing, shame-inducing disease. It strips you of your confidence in profound and lasting ways. When you do not know when the next debilitating, agonizing attack will hit, it makes you question everything—should I go out tonight? Should I risk driving thirty minutes to the event? Should I get on a plane? Should I go to a three-day romance festival where I’m expected to be on panels in rooms full of hundreds of people, and then sit at a table with a line of people waiting so patiently for me to sign books?

That’s a lot of pressure on someone who’s trying desperately not to shit their pants.

On a related note, my new project is about a woman struggling with Crohn’s disease and how it’s impacted her life—from where she chose to go college, to where she works, to how she avoids dating like the plague. Here’s a little excerpt from the first scene, first draft:

Contrary to what my friends think, I don’t try not to date? It comes very naturally. When I was younger and in prime romance years, I was too sick to care. Now that my Crohn’s disease is technically in “remission,” which means I only get sick once or twice a month instead of constant misery, I still don’t care. Dating is hard, stressful, and involves way too many restaurants and public bathrooms.

More news on that project hopefully soon. To say it’s near and dear to my heart would be an understatement, and I look forward to exposing all my deep and at times, maudlin, but always irreverent thoughts about life with a diarrhea disesase to you.

On a second extremely related note, I’ll be at the amazing Love Y’all Romance Book Fest this weekend. I had such a wonderful time last year—I’d say I can’t wait to go back, but to be real, I’m more than a little terrified of how I’ll weather all those nerve-wracking panels and events and very specific times I have to be places, preferably not clutching my stomach in agony. If you’re also going and see me run off stage, well. Now you’ll know why. Send me all your chillest colon vibes!

Here’s a very busy graphic with all my events this weekend—please come find me and say hello if you’re going! I’ll doing super cute giveaways at my signing table, too.

Thank you so much for subscribing to my newsletter and for supporting my books. Please pick up a copy of ZOE BRENNAN, FIRST CRUSH if you haven’t yet. If you need more convincing, here—check out this excerpt from one of my favorite reviews I’ve received. I’m particularly fond of the last paragraph, lol.

Here’s to smiling through pain, which right now feels like a very powerful form of resistance indeed.