Dear Rach & Soph

Due to manuscript deadlines and other commitments, it’s taken until now to bring you up to date with October and November new releases. But it’s just in time for summer reading! See how I managed to spin that! As a reminder: these are the books we know about. If you’re an author with a 2026 release, you can let us know here.This is a Soph-only episode as Rach has two books to write at once. She needs a restful summer break too! Indeed, this is our last episode for the year. Thank you very much for listening/watching to us this year. We don’t have a pod without you! We plan to be back next year and may well be asking which subjects you’d like us to cover … The full list of books mentioned in this episode is available on our Substack.

**SPOILER ALERT**If you haven’t read Rachael Johns’s latest novel, The Lucky Sisters, please be advised that in this bonus episode of our podcast, Dear Rach & Soph, we discuss the ending of the book. The episode was recorded before the book was published and held until now to give people time to read it. If you haven’t read it and decide to listen anyway, well … you’ve ruined your own surprise!While we still intend to record a new releases episode for October, November and December releases - it’s been a packed few weeks, so we simply haven’t had a chance - this is the last full-length episode of the podcast for this year. THANK YOU to everyone who has listened to or watched the pod. We have plans to return next year! If there are any subjects you’d like us to cover, please leave a comment or send a DM or drop us a line. *** About The Lucky SistersThe Australian blockbuster of the year - read it before someone spoils the ending! A moving and heartfelt story about life, death and the miracles in between by the award-winning author of The Patterson Girls.What would you do if you thought each day on earth might just be your last? Lucky by name. Not so lucky by nature.Adopted twins Nora and Stevie Lucky have always been close, despite being total opposites.When their mother dies, Nora convinces Stevie to search for their biological parents, only to come face-to-face with a life-changing revelation that sends them spiralling in opposite directions.With their careers, love lives and even their sisterly bond at risk, they’re going to need more than luck to survive.'Rachael Johns delivers one of her most heartfelt and emotionally layered novels yet ... a good choice for anyone who enjoyed Liane Moriarty's Here One Moment' Bookseller+Publisher

When Rachael and I were offered the chance to have Lyla Sage as a guest on the podcast, we said yes straightaway. While our focus is Australian books and authors, Lyla has created something special in her Rebel Blue Ranch series and new novel Soul Searching, which kicks off the new series Sweetwater Peak. The writing is first and foremost, and she’s a great writer. But there’s also ‘the package’ - the covers that she envisaged herself and worked on with a designer, to create and convey the world that she wanted to tell readers about. Lyla was about to leave for her North American tour when we spoke to her. She very generously gave us an hour - a not inconsiderable amount of time for an author who is about to tour. It was a tremendous pleasure to talk to Lyla about ghosts, music, cover design and writing practice, amongst other things. She self-published Done and Dusted, the first book in the Rebel Blue Ranch series, so we also talked to her about that experience and how she came to be traditionally published. If you weren’t already a fan of Lyla’s books before you listen to this, we think you will be. She was fantastic (more about her and Soul Searching below).NB: This is an audio-only interview, so while we have it on YouTube in case you like to listen there, you will not find video with it. Also, I had a cold, so you’ll hear me sounding suboptimal - but Rach is in top form!***ABOUT LYLA SAGELyla Sage lives in the Wild West with her loyal companion, a sweet, old, blind rescue pitbull. She writes romance that feels like her favourite things: sunshine and big blue skies. She is the author of four books in the Rebel Blue Ranch series, Done and Dusted, Swift and Saddled, Lost and Lassoed and Wild and Wrangled. Her latest book is Soul Searching, the first in the Sweetwater Peak series. When she's not writing, she's reading.ABOUT SOUL SEARCHINGThe No. 1 New York Times bestselling author of the Rebel Blue Ranch series returns with a stirring Western romance about a new-to-town upholsterer, a photographer whose life has come to a halt, and the supernatural forces that bring them together.Home is where the heart is - and this one is haunted.Collins Cartwright does not want to go home. Sweetwater Peak, Wyoming, was supposed to be in her rearview mirror, but when she finds out a developer is trying to buy her parents' antique shop, she doesn't have a choice. At least, that's what she tells her family.They don't need to know she's lost her job and is out of money. Or that the ghosts that have always been her companions have recently gone silent.Brady Cooper is absolutely fine. Seriously, there's no secret reason why he decided to uproot his life and suddenly move to Sweetwater Peak. He just needed a change of pace. At least, that's what he tells himself.But when he agrees to let Collins stay in his spare room, he doesn't realize that she constantly talks to thin air or that she looks like that. Good thing their arrangement is only temporary. Right?

Note from Sophie:This is an episode featuring me alone - not because Rachael lost her voice or anything else, but because my guest is Qin Qin, and I published her book, Model Minority Gone Rogue: How an unfulfilled daughter of a tiger mother went way off script, so it made sense for me to do this one alone. Model Minority Gone Rogue has been shortlisted for The Age Book of the Year and at the time of writing is shortlisted for The ACT Book of the Year, with winners announced on 24 October during the Canberra Writers Festival - and Qin Qin works at that festival, so I wanted to ask her about what it’s like to be a writer working at a writers festival. There’s also a fair bit of discussion about what it was like for her to write her memoir - which was quite a process. We are also both yoga practitioners so there is some yoga chat as well, but it’s all in the context of writing and creativity. Qin Qin is a writer of great power, and she’s also wonderful in conversation. I hope you enjoy this chat with her, and seek out the book if you haven’t read it already. There’s some information about it below.***About Model Minority Gone RogueWe all grow up with rules. Do this, be this, don't be that. Qin Qin was all about the rules: do your homework, be good, don't rock the boat. She was the model daughter, model student and model minority.But doing everything right? It made her lost and miserable. So she decided to take a spectacular risk and change everything.At 23, Qin Qin was an unhappy overachiever working for a prestigious law firm. So she quit. She didn't know what else was out there, but she wanted to find out. She changed paths, changed countries, changed her entire view of what the world could be, and who she could be - with some primal screaming and tree-hugging along the way.In the process, she discovered the person she truly was, not who she thought she should be.Model Minority Gone Rogue is a funny, sad, exhilarating and thought-provoking true story about what happens when you want to live life on your own terms, even when those terms go against everything you've ever known. It's a story of what happens when you choose love over fear and honour your authentic self: life can be bigger and brighter than anything you had ever imagined.

Michael Brissenden had a long career as an esteemed journalist (see bio below) and all the while was writing fiction, as we found out when we spoke to him recently. We were interested in finding out more about how he has moved from investigative journalism to writing fiction that has won him lots of new fans, as those books - the latest of which is Dust - have become bestsellers.We also found out that Michael has other creative talents! And all round it was very interesting to talk to him. His storytelling drive is immense and no doubt there will be many more novels to come.This episode was recorded a few weeks ago as we are now both writing, but we’ll have episodes for you almost until the end of the year as we banked a few. ***ABOUT MICHAEL BRISSENDENMichael Brissenden was a journalist and foreign correspondent with the ABC for 35 years. He was posted to Moscow, Brussels and Washington, and worked in Canberra for many years in various roles, including as the political editor for ABC-TV’s 7.30 and as a reporter with the ABC’s investigative television documentary program Four Corners. Michael has published four previous books including his highly successful 2024 release, Smoke.ABOUT DUSTLake Herrod, a once-thriving community, now lies in the shadow of a nearly dry lake. The town, like the water, is evaporating and its residents are left clinging to what little remains.When Aaron Love discovers a fresh corpse near the cracked lakebed – along with evidence his missing father is alive and linked to a web of organised crime – he is thrust into a world of deception, injustice and betrayal. With the town on the brink of collapse, Aaron and a haunted detective, Martyn Kravets, uncover a web of conspiracy that reaches far beyond the small community.

‘So I just get this tiny snapshot of extreme humanity at its most tempestuous or its most vulnerable almost … I obviously have had a lifetime of influence of what humans can do when they're pushed to the edge in whatever way. And that obviously has to kind of influence how I see humanity and therefore how I write characters in a way.’Michelle Johnston is the author of THE REVISIONISTS and she is also an emergency physician, so in this me-alone episode (Rachael had lost her voice!) I had questions to ask her about the relationship between those two disciplines and also about the new novel (bio and blurb below). She had many interesting things to say, as I’m sure you’ll agree once you listen/watch!- Sophie***ABOUT MICHELLE JOHNSTONMichelle Johnston is an author and an emergency physician. She is a Staff Specialist at the Royal Perth Hospital Emergency Department, a busy inner-city trauma centre where she works as both clinician and teacher. Michelle's first novel, Dustfall, was published by UWA Publishing in February 2018 and shortlisted for the MUD Literary Prize for a debut novel in 2019. Her second novel, Tiny Uncertain Miracles, was published by HarperCollins in 2022. Her latest novel is The Revisionists, which is an absorbing, unputdownable novel about ambition – and how we curate our own stories and rescript our memories in order to survive.ABOUT THE REVISIONISTSUpper East Side, Manhattan, 2023: Christine Campbell, former journalist, turns on the television to watch a documentary paying homage to her Pulitzer Prize–shortlisted coverage of the unrest in 1999 in the North Caucasus. She is newly widowed, wealthy and attempting to write a memoir celebrating her bold life and significant achievements in writing about the silencing of women during conflict.But truth has a way of resurfacing, even when buried deep beneath money, memory and reinvention. When Dr Frankie Pearson, Christine’s oldest – and estranged – friend, knocks on her door, the pair must reconcile their memories and come to terms with the far-reaching and disastrous decisions they both made over twenty years ago. The Revisionists examines the malleability of memory and the slippery nature of the truth – and the lengths that people will go to avoid facing both. 

This year Holly Brunnbauer released her first novel, What Did I Miss? - but it is far from her first attempt at writing (and not even her first fiction manuscript). Holly began writing in earnest when she created a blog about motherhood in Melbourne and turned it into an enterprise. That taught her about writing to an audience, and she now assists other authors in understanding how to communicate with their readers (to the point that I asked if she would consider creating a course for it). This part of her story alone would have been enough for a conversation but we got into so much more … and then Holly had questions for us.So it’s a long episode and we cover a lot (A LOT) of ground about writing, publishing and creativity. It was wonderful to meet Holly and have the chance the chat to her.Full episode out now on all podcast platforms, my YouTube and our Dear Rach & Soph Substack (links in bio). ***ABOUT HOLLY BRUNNBAUERHolly Brunnbauer is a multi-award-winning emerging fiction author with numerous accolades in writing competitions across Australia, New Zealand and the US. Holly writes stories filled with heart, humour and hijinks. Her signature style includes a strong commercial voice, quirky cast and putting the 'com' in rom-com. She first caught the writing bug via blogging and later transitioned into copywriting. Holly’s now a sought-after virtual assistant for published and aspiring authors. ABOUT WHAT DID I MISS?Married young. Finally divorced. Turning thirty ...Makayla has many regrets: a Chiko Roll impulse buy, not visiting the Big Pineapple and marrying her high-school dud.Now, newly divorced, determined to hold on to her independence and facing the Big Three-O, Makayla makes a list of all the things she missed out on while her friends were single and running amok in their twenties.But when her one-night stand turns up again, and a revenge plot on her ex spirals out of control, she has to decide if some things are worth missing. And if Makayla can’t sort herself out before her birthday, she might face the biggest regret of her life.A fresh and feisty romantic comedy about what happens when you meet someone special before truly knowing yourself.

Renae Black (bio below) was a guest on the first season of Dear Rach & Soph, and at that time we talked about whether or not she needed a literary agent. This time around, we wanted to talk to Renae about how her work in child protection has influenced the stories she writes, including her latest, Second Chance Station. What followed was a discussion in which Renae not only talked about the sorts of stories she wants to tell but also of how writing fiction helped her manage postnatal anxiety after the birth of her second child. While her world felt so out of control, she told us, she could control the worlds she was creating in the novels. We so appreciated Renae’s honesty in discussing this and no doubt someone else will resonate with it or may indeed find it helpful in their own life.The episode starts with a discussion of Rachael’s ‘Diet Coke top’ - it’s quite something, and you’ll have to watch the video version of the episode to see it! You can find that on my YouTube channel or our Substack, dearrachandsoph.substack.com***ABOUT RENAE BLACKRenae Black lives in Queensland with her husband and two young bookworms. By day she works as a social worker within the child protection industry. By night, she escapes to the romantic fictional realms of rural Australia that transport her back to her childhood home, a large property that bred cattle and hosted the odd ostrich sale. Her latest novel is Second Chance Station.ABOUT SECOND CHANCE STATIONA gritty, flirty and uplifting rural romance about taking risks, overcoming the past and standing up for the people you love.Relationships on the station are forbidden ... but are some rules made to be broken?At Windale Mountain Sheep Station there's only one rule: don't sleep with the guests.In her ten years living on the mountain, Indigo Mills has never once thought about breaking the rules. After a childhood of neglect and an adolescence that still haunts her, the opportunity to live and work on the sheep station was a lifesaver - literally - and Indy won't do anything to jeopardise her mountain family and home.That is until Carter Hendrix, the best half-back in the game of professional rugby league, turns up.The Scorpions have come to Windale for a pre-season training camp, fresh off the loss of last year's grand final - a loss Carter's teammates blame him for. Carter's plan is to keep his head down and his sponsors happy so he can continue playing the game he loves.Until he meets Indy. Now is not the time for distractions and Indy is full of reasons why they shouldn't explore their attraction: their vastly different backgrounds, their age gap, the rules. But their chemistry is impossible to ignore. Can Carter prove to Indy that he's worth the risk, or will it all be left on the mountain?