- Rachel
- Jun 20, 2024
- 5 min read
Dun dun dun dunnnnn! 🎺🎵 🎶
Presenting....
Amethysts & Alchemy
A Neurospicy, Rivals-to-lovers Cozy Romantic Fantasy
Coming July 31st, cover reveal in one week!
I used to eat rocks as a child.
The family doctor diagnosed me with pica, dooming me to years of intensive therapy and extensive dentistry work. It wouldn’t be until much later that I would understand the all-consuming, insatiable craving that spurred me to eat a variety of rocks and minerals wasn’t a mental disorder, but an innate gift that allows me to extract the magic contained inside them: tourmaline for speed, celestite for strength, augite for a powerful laxative effect (that I had to discover the hard way).
Twenty years later, I’ve hidden my abilities beneath a white lab coat, working as a small-town pharmacist who creates proprietary “naturopathic” tonics that treat everything from memory loss to erectile dysfunction. Those tonics, in turn, fund my expensive lifestyle of solo flying around the world to search for more rocks. What more could an airplane-loving, mineral-munching, magical alchemist want?
Unfortunately, my arch nemesis, Heath Spencer, has recently taken it upon himself to single-handedly ruin my life. No longer content with annoying me from afar with his overpriced, tacky rock shop, Heath has decided to further antagonize me by dangling the opportunity of a lifetime right in front of my face: traveling to an ancient copper mine in China, which is home to some of the rarest and most stunning minerals on Earth.
It’s not until after I’m trapped halfway across the world with my least favorite person on the planet that I’m forced to come face-to-face with three terrible realizations: everything I thought I knew about Heath Spencer is wrong, not all minerals are meant to be ingested, and – worst of all – I’m not the only one who’s been keeping secrets.
Releasing in signed paperback, audiobook & Kindle Unlimited this July!
(BTW, this book is a standalone for now, so don't worry about any pesky cliffhangers!)
💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎
Okay, now that the quartz is out of the bag, I'd like to talk a little bit about why I've decided to take the specific publishing route that I have.
As some of you know, I was lucky enough to secure a literary agent earlier this year. Most writers will never hear back from a literary agent because agents receive several dozen to several hundred queries a day from aspiring authors. And because authors are no longer allowed to approach traditional publishing houses directly, securing a literary agent is the only way to do business with the major publishing houses. #gatekeeping
As part of only the .00017% of writers* who are able to sign with an agent, I had all sorts of options open up to me this year. And so I felt obligated to see some of those options through. Or, at the very least, see what the grass on the other side of the fence is like.
*The odds of an unpublished author convincing a literary agent to represent their novel, according to Literary-Agents.com, is 1 in 6,000.😬
But at this stage of my career, I've come to realize there's not much the traditional publishing world can offer me. I love what I do (and, extraordinarily, I get paid decently well to do it). I love having complete control over what I create. I love being able to interact with my readers without any middlemen getting in the way. And I love being able to bring you new stories without making you wait years in the interim.
So there you have it :)
I'm so incredibly excited and nervous for Delaney's story to go out into the world July 31st and promise to keep you updated on everything as we get closer to that date. In the meantime, I'd so appreciate it if you would share the news with your friends and/or mark Amethysts & Alchemy as "To-Read" on Goodreads & Bookbub!
Delaney and Topie, from Amethysts & Alchemy
PS: I have exactly 15 ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) slots for A&A. If you'd like to be on my ARC/Street Team and receive the book one month early, on July 1st, please fill out this form.
PPS: For those of you participating in the Indie Fantasy Addicts' Summer Reading Challenge, a little bird tells me this book just *might* score you some serious bonus points in August. But you didn't hear it from me. I've heard that IFA President is mean and terrifying and poopy!)
(Plot Twist: The IFA President is me.)
Cheers and happy reading!❤️
If you're reading this on Goodreads or via my blog, be sure to sign up for my newsletter to get the most exciting updates sent directly to your inbox!
MAJOR Free Book Alert!!!
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A Word from our Queen Helper Bee 👑🐝
Hi Fam! ☀️ Hope everyone is healthy, happy and about to have your best summer yet!
Ok, so I recently finished reading the Gilded Blood Series for the first time and OH EM GEE! I absolutely loved ittt!!! WOW! What a brilliantly fun and hilarious series that had such a fresh take on the fantasy world! If you relate to Talia - same! and we should prob be friends!
BTW! If anyone knows a real-life tattoo artist with magical ink - hook a drained boy-mama uppp so I can escape into another realm every now and again and maybe meet my own hot incubus fae male ;) JK! I promise I’m happily married lol!
Ok so mayyybeee Rachel and I joke that I do in fact have a hot side piece but I promise it’s not what you think! After a couple of really fun in-person meet ups together, there has been a very mutual love-interest formed between me and Terrance, Rachel’s super smart “Jungle Chicken” as you all know and love.
Did you know he drives her absolutely bonkers while she’s trying to work? It is hilarious and I try my hardest not to get caught laughing when they start bickering with each other - especially when she threatens to send him to birdy summer camp - yep, that’s totally a thing & now we’ve all learned our something new for today, you’re welcome.
It’s really cute actually though, he says “hello hello” when we’re on the phone and even proceeds to bark like a crazy dog to try to warn me of anyone outside trying to interrupt us from our work. He’s such a good boy.. And maybe even a great fit for that summer camp if they had any openings ;) - probably have to book those in February like the ones for human children so you actually get a spot for the summer break but that’s neither here nor there.
Speaking of those fun in-person meet ups… you guys! We did a test run of packing up the few omnibuses we had here in CO in preparation for our next big order arriving in July and WOW do we have our work cut out for us! I think we’re already planning on bringing sleeping bags to the warehouse for a campout until they're all packed up and sent out, but don't worry we wont bring in a fire-pit for the s'mores - can't risk burning down all the precious books.😅
Thank you all so very much for your endless love and support of these BBBs (Big Beautiful Books)! We cannot wait to get them out to you all and see them sparkling on your shelves and in your hands and we truly thank you for your patience in the meantime!
XoXoX
Britt 🫶🏼
