Dear Rach & Soph

New books mentioned in this episode:General fictionThe Remarkable Truth of Alfie Bains by Sarah Clutton (Allen & Unwin)Lonely Mouth by Jacqueline Maley (HarperCollins)Everything Lost, Everything Found by Matthew Hooton (HarperCollins)The Good Mistress by Anne Tiernan (Hachette) – NZ authorBoom Town Snap by Jay Martin (Fremantle Press)RomanceSalty, Spiced and a Little Bit Nice by Cynthia Timoti (Pan Macmillan)Last Breath (Blood Wine Dynasty Book 2) by Emma Pignatiello (Penguin Random House)Needle in a Haystack by Karly Lane (Allen & Unwin)One Last Night by Lauren Ford (Canelo/Hardie Grant)Crime/thrillerVANISH by Shelley Burr (Hachette)The Unquiet Grave by Dervla McTiernan (HarperCollins)The River Whispers by Deb Jordan (Bloodhound Books - UK and US)Historical fictionThe Butterfly Women by Madeleine Cleary (Affirm Press)The Ladies Guide to Utter Ruin by Alison Goodman (HarperCollins) Literary fictionThe Opposite of Lonely by Hilde Hinton (Hachette)FantasyThe Quest Begins - The Crystal Dynasty Book 2  by Abigail Mader (independent)Children’sMade of Steam and Stardust by Bianca Breen (Stag Beetle Books)Silverborn: The Mystery of Morrigan Crow – Nevermoor 4 by Jessica Townsend (Hachette)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)

There have been several well-known books written about creativity. The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron is a classic. Rachael and I talked about Elizabeth Gilbert’s Big Magic in an episode last year. Both of them deserve the hype and longevity, and there are others too of course. None of the books I’ve read about creativity or writing, even a book that might be classified as inspirational self-help (or perhaps I just made up that category), has quite the combination of warmth, compassion, urgency and practicality as British-resident, Australian-raised Amie McNee’s new book We Need Your Art.Amie is an author, speaker, creative guide and the founder of the popular Instagram account Inspired to Write, where she has over half a million followers. She writes historical fiction and has released two novels, Regrettably, I Am About to Cause Trouble and The Rules Upheld by No One. She is known for speaking, teaching and coaching artists all over the world, and We Need Your Art is a way of having her coaching you all the time. Because what Amie says and how she says it have a way of making each day feel interesting and limitless. It was a tremendous privilege to have the opportunity to talk to Amie about her work, her teaching, and her fiction, and to delve into how We Need Your Art was written and why. It is a book for everyone, because Amie fervently believes that EVERYONE should be creating. Everyone should be making art. So if you need a jolt - or a lightning bolt - or just a reminder that whatever project you’re working on is worth getting back to or persevering with, read this book. There is so much that’s great about it that we couldn’t possibly cover it in this interview, but hopefully that gives you that much more incentive to buy the book.We Need Your Art by Amie McNee is out now from Penguin Books Australia.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)

‘It’s solving overwhelm’. Our guest this week, novelist Karina May, is an experienced user of writing software Scrivener and the above is one of the reasons why she uses it. Rachael has tried using it; I never have. Will I be convinced to try by the end of this episode? Listen and find out!We cover this subject because we like to have a theme to these episodes, and mainly because we thought it would be interesting and useful to chat about. And we also wanted to talk to Karina about her latest novel, That Island Feeling (out now from Pan Macmillan) - there’s a blurb below should you wish to know more. Karina writes romcoms, and she is terrific at it! She also has a podcast, That Rom Com Pod, with author Clare Fletcher. Do you know about Scrivener? Use it? Love it? Loathe it? Let us know in the comments!***ABOUT THAT ISLAND FEELINGFrom holiday fling to homecoming ... A whirlwind island romance becomes something more in an uplifting romantic comedy about finding yourself after heartbreakA week on Pearl Island is exactly the R&R that perpetual planner Andie Alcott needs. Except instead of sipping pina coladas by the beach, she's busy throwing her freshly divorced bestie, Taylor, a girls' trip to remember, dealing with a double-booking fiasco and worrying about her ailing father on the mainland. But it's cool – she has it covered. After all, everyone would be lost without her, right? The last thing habitually barefoot local Jack Cooper wants is the headache of managing tourist bookings. But since he's to blame for the island's dwindling supply of holidaymakers, he'll do whatever it takes to keep them happy - in particular, a beautiful visitor named Andie …With sun-kissed sands, sapphire waters, oysters and wine, Pearl Island promises the perfect getaway - and maybe even a hot holiday fling. But what happens when the emotional baggage comes in excess, and island life suddenly feels all too real?

Not that long ago I put a message on social media basically saying that Rachael Johns says she gets ‘writing therapy’ from me and asking if anyone else would like some. We had responses! Thus, this will be the first of several episodes of such ‘therapy’ [NB: neither Rach nor I is a therapist, although teaching yoga can feel like it sometimes].Our guest for this episode is Emily Paull, whose debut novel, The Distance Between Dreams, is historical fiction and out now from Fremantle Press. Like Rach, Emily is from Perth. Her ‘therapy’ question was specifically about managing the promotional process for the book, so we talked about that and also about her writing background and the story behind the novel. (If you’d like to know more about her novel, you can find that below.)Emily is so engaging, just like her writing. I thank her for her honesty in talking to us about the process of writing and promoting the book, and I’m sure, whether you’re a writer or not, you’ll find something to relate to in her story.***THE DISTANCE BETWEEN DREAMS by Emily PaullA heart-wrenching romance set around WWII that was shortlisted for 2023 Fogarty Literary Award.Sarah Willis longs to free herself from the expectations of a privileged upbringing, while Winston Keller can’t afford the luxury of a dream. Despite their differences, the pair are drawn together in a whirlwind romance that defies the boundaries of class. But when a dark family secret pulls the young lovers apart, and WWII plunges the world into chaos, it seems impossible they will ever find their way back to each other – or even hold onto the dream of what might have been.***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)

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)