Dear Rach & Soph

This is our first episode dedicated to books that are being released, as we’d like you to know what’s coming out so you can find your next favourite read!As it’s the first one, and organised quickly, there’s no order to how we present the books, other than sequestering April titles from titles released between January and March (as we decided to do those too). Please note that these are the titles we were told about and the list is not comprehensive. Unfortunately there isn't space here to list all the titles, so please go to https://sophiegreenauthor.substack.com/p/dear-rach-and-soph-april-new-releases for that.

We like to have a subject on Dear Rach & Soph, so when we learnt about Sydney author (originally from Canada) Catherine Greer and her novel The Bittersweet Bakery Cafe (Allen & Unwin, March 2025), and saw her website Love Our Age, we asked if she’d be interested in talking about stories for women in later life. What followed was a wide-ranging conversation about Catherine’s life, her interests as a writer, and her extensive writing background, which includes several works of non-fiction - Small Steps Are Perfect, The 10 Minute Fix, The 10 Minute Fix Journal, and Choosing Happiness - along with YA novel Love Lie Repeat (Penguin, 2019) and two picture books for children, Violin & Cello and Jacaranda Snow. And there was plenty more too. It was wonderful to talk to Catherine, and her novel is wonderful too! Here’s a little bit about it: A woman’s midlife reinvention and a beach village of eccentric Aussies collide with stupendous results in this witty, razor-sharp and immensely enjoyable debut from author Catherine Greer.In The Bittersweet Bakery Café, Catherine Greer takes readers on an emotional rollercoaster when Audrey Sweetman is left shattered by her husband’s betrayal, and uncertain of her career as they both crumble in one horrible day. With everything to lose, she leaves her fast-paced city life behind and heads for the picturesque seaside town of Whitehaven Bay where she holidayed as a child.As Audrey immerses herself in her new surroundings, she finds herself in financial strife and the locals rally around to help her embark on a business venture no one saw coming. She’s humbled by the unexpected bonds that have come with making a fresh start in this close-knit community with its cast of oddball characters.***For more about Rachael Johns: https://www.rachaeljohns.comRachael's latest book is The Bad Bridesmaid (2025)For more about Sophie Green: https://sophiegreenauthor.comSophie's latest book is Art Hour at the Duchess Hotel (2024)

When we started Dear Rach & Soph last year, we named it that because we hoped readers (and writers) would send us questions. For this first episode of season 3, we have mainly reader questions to answer and one writer question. Plus we generally have a chat, per usual.Coming up this season we have some fabulous guests to talk about a range of subjects and we’ve had some writers volunteer for ‘writer therapy’ so you’ll see/hear that too. Plus we’re adding an episode a month to cover newly released Australian fiction, so if you’d like to find your next favourite read, tune in! If there’s anything you’d like us to cover on the pod, please leave a comment, send a DM or email me on sophiegreenbooks [at] gmail [dot] com***If you have a question for us, please email sophiegreenbooks [at] gmail [dot] com and put ‘Dear Rach & Soph’ in the subject line.And if you’d like to actually be in the podcast with us while we answer your question, please let us know in the email.For more about Rachael Johns: https://www.rachaeljohns.comRachael's latest book is The Bad Bridesmaid (2025)For more about Sophie Green: https://sophiegreenauthor.comSophie's latest book is Art Hour at the Duchess Hotel (2024)

Rachael Johns has a brand new book! And it is called THE BAD BRIDESMAID. Those who read and loved Rachael’s novel THE OTHER BRIDGET, which was released last year, will recognise the character Fred, who is Bridget/Bee’s best friend. In THE BAD BRIDESMAID (TBB for short) Fred has the starring role. TBB is a delightful rom com that you will not want to finish, and has a quite lovely hero in the form of Leo.You can find a blurb for TBB on a gazillion bookseller websites so we're not going to reproduce it here. Instead we're going to tell you that in this bonus episode of Dear Rach & Soph, we talk about how TBB came to be and why Rach chose to set it on Norfolk Island, which involved a research trip, and other things to do with the novel. This discussion is spoiler free. We also bring back some greatest hits:Soph giving Rach a lecture about saying ‘sorry’ for things that don’t need an apology.A bit of writer therapy (with Soph as the therapist).Some talk about what we’re both up to writing wise.And Soph asks Rach why she’s work-wife cheating on her with Anthea Hodgson over at the Reading Between Deadlines pod.Thanks to everyone who has asked about whether or not there will be a season 3 of Dear Rach & Soph - yes, there will be! We’ll be back in March. Right after Rach delivers her next novel and Soph does the copy edit on her next one.Subscribe on Spotify Subscribe on AppleSubscribe on YouTubeFor more about Rachael Johns: https://www.rachaeljohns.comRachael's latest book is The Bad Bridesmaid (2025)For more about Sophie Green: https://sophiegreenauthor.comSophie's latest book is Art Hour at the Duchess Hotel (2024)

We had such a great time chatting to Rachael Treasure on episode 10 of this season that we thought, heyyyyy - let’s ask her back! And we also wanted to have her back because in that first chat we barely scratched the surface of the richness of Rachael T’s life and endeavours.In this episode we catch up on Rachael T’s latest daring adventures, as well as talk about what we’ll be reading over the Christmas break [NB: we recorded the ep in late November as it was the only time the three of us were available before Christmas], and we answer a question that author Nina Kenwood posed to Rach and me a few weeks ago, about our predictions and thoughts on the book industry and where it’s going in 2025 and beyond. She also asked us for our thoughts on the state of romance/women’s fiction in Australia. So we give that a go. Mostly we chat to Rachael T, who is a brilliant writer and brilliant human. More about her below in case you’re not familiar. ***Rachael Treasure is a best-selling author, regenerative agriculturalist, and mother who grew up and still lives in Tasmania. A graduate of universities in Orange and Bathurst, Rachael uses story to empower women and change mindsets towards healthier food systems.Drawing on her experience working on a Queensland cattle station, Rachael published her first novel Jillaroo, in 2002.In the two decades since its release, Jillaroo has cemented itself as an iconic work of contemporary fiction, changing the face of Australian publishing and opening the floodgates to a plethora of novels in the ‘rural lit’ genre.She is co-founder of Ripple Farm Landscape Healing Hub, a 100-acre regenerative farm in Southern Tasmania that showcases Natural Sequence Farming, soil health principles, ecological restoration, and holistic farming. The farm sells meat, eggs and other produce directly to conscious consumers via Open Food Networks – an online system offering an alternative to major supermarkets.Rachael has travelled widely, writing wherever she goes. She has worked a number of jobs as a jillaroo, professional wool classer, veterinary nurse, rural journalist, stock camp cook, high country cattle drover, truffle sniffer dog handler and family farm manager.Her eighth novel Milking Time was published this year. She is also the author of the memoir Down the Dirt Roads and some short story collections. ***For more about Rachael Johns: https://www.rachaeljohns.comRachael's latest book is Outback Reunion (2024)For more about Sophie Green: https://sophie-green-author.comSophie's latest book is Art Hour at the Duchess Hotel (2024)

This week Rach and Soph discuss the Booker Prize-winning novel Orbital by Samantha Harvey and also delve into whether or not we usually read award-winning books and why/why not. We’d love to know if you read them or do not, and why, so please let us know in the comments!Also for the comments: an answer to a question Sophie poses near the start … about the title of her 2025 novel. It was to be called one thing - a title she gave it at inception - but now it’s not. There are some options. Which should she choose? Let us know!Plus we talk about our Christmas-themed reading and viewing. Spoiler alert: Rach has a TBR stack of festive novels! And she will be covering them in her Substack this coming week. You can find that at https://rachaeljohnsauthor.substack.comOther books mentioned in this episode:Same As It Ever Was by Claire LombardoThe Bee Sting by Paul MurrayThe Editor by Sara B FranklinThe Naughty List by Jade WestThe Christmas Countdown by Holly CassidyEveryone This Christmas Has a Secret by Benjamin StevensonThe Most Wonderful Crime of the Year by Ally CarterThe article Soph mentions about Hallmark Christmas movies was in Vogue (not New York magazine, which is what she says on the pod) and you can find that here: https://www.vogue.com/article/what-i-learned-visiting-the-set-of-a-hallmark-christmas-movie***For more about Rachael Johns: https://www.rachaeljohns.comRachael's latest book is Outback Reunion (2024)For more about Sophie Green: https://sophie-green-author.comSophie's latest book is Art Hour at the Duchess Hotel (2024)Subscribe on Spotify Subscribe on AppleSubscribe on YouTube