an assortment of updates

and a chance to win a signed ARC

Hi friends,

I’m writing this early in the morning from a hotel room in Ireland, because life has been extremely busy lately and the 5-8am window seems to be the only time I’m able to get anything writing or book-related done, including writing this newsletter. (It is much easier to get up early and drag myself to my desk this time of year when sunrise is at 4:45am, I should note.)

I am, as usual, working on a book, and the more I work on it, the more I feel like it’s a puzzle which keeps changing shape as I go. It is fun, and challenging, especially because I’ve had the idea for this particular book for over five years, and I’m excited to finally be actually writing it, but I sometimes think that having so long to ponder a book before beginning to write it is not always the most positive thing, because it gives you time to build up completely unrealistic expectations of what the book might look like, and then spend every day that you work on it acutely conscious of how you’re failing to meet those expectations—especially when working on a first draft, which is just inherently messy. It’s great! Very fun and healthy! Not anxiety-inducing at all! I’m fine!!!!!!!

if I ever finish this book, it will solely be because of pastries

Anyway: hello! Getting a front row seat to my creative anxiety spirals is definitely not why you signed up for this newsletter, so let’s get to the actual news-you-can-use portion of the proceedings, shall we?

book news

My next book, And Then There Was The One, comes out four(!) months from today. ICYMI, it’s a romance novel/murder mystery mashup, set in a cozy English village in the 1930s that has been mysteriously beset by a plague of homicides, which attempts to poke loving fun at the entire subgenre of cozy mysteries by answering the question, “Why are there so many murders in a single charming village?!” Featuring a practical, no nonsense amateur sleuth and the caddish, charming assistant to a famous detective who is sent from London to help her investigate, I honestly think that if you read & enjoyed my Regency books, you will like this, too—it is, imo, a very similar vibe, underneath it all, just dressed up in different clothes.

she has a beautiful cover, too

My main piece of news is that, for the first time in a couple of years, I’m going to be able to offer signed preorders for this one! This is something that isn’t usually possible for me these days, since I live in London and most of my readership is in the US, but the timing for this release aligned really conveniently with some other life scheduling, and I’m going to be Stateside for this book launch. So! If you would like to preorder a signed, personalized copy of this book, you can do so from Flyleaf Books; you’re also welcome to order signed copies of any of my backlist, too, just know you won’t receive them until October when I’m in Chapel Hill! I never got to sign copies of To Woo and to Wed, because I had juuuuust moved to the UK at the time it came out, which always bummed me out a bit—so if you’d like a signed copy of that one, this is your chance!

This also means that I’ll be doing an in-person launch! If you’re local to the Triangle in North Carolina (or just fancy a random October vacation, I suppose? I don’t know your life), I’ll be at Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill on Tuesday, October 14th. More details about this to come, I just wanted to give you all a heads up now! (So that you can plan your entire autumn schedules around it, obviously.)

I’m excited to see some of you in person and sign a bunch of books in a few months’ time; I will offer, as enticement, the note that odds of me sharing my (alarmingly realistic?) sheep baa at this launch are extremely high. A thrilling prospect! I’ll leave you to contemplate that with giddy excitement, and instead move on to less agricultural updates below. But first! As a reward for reading all of this, I’m giving away a signed + personalized ARC. This is open globally, because I enjoy giving the entirety of my life savings to the UK post office, so enter with abandon, no matter where you live! Just fill out this form; I’ll notify the winner by email on Friday, June 20th.

five recent faves

1. The Irresistible Urge to Fall For Your Enemy by Brigitte Knightley

   This debut is getting a lot of hype in part because the author already has a large readership because of a fanfic she wrote a few years ago, but I went into this completely new to her writing and I have to say: I was so charmed. This is a fantasy rom-com set in an alt-19th century England that is honestly unlike anything I’ve ever read; the magic system is so interesting and weird (though it takes a second to fully grasp), and the writing is just an absolute joy. This book is deeply funny—so clever, so sly, so British—and it is the slowest burning romance I’ve read in recent memory. It’s not out til July 8th, but it’s well worth a preorder, or a request at the library.

2. Second Story newsletter by Robert Khederian

   This is so my cup of tea that I feel like I’m turning into a caricature of myself, but: it’s an entire newsletter about old houses! I love old houses! I grew up in an old house, my current flat is in an old Victorian house, new houses make me feel utterly joyless, etc. etc. etc. So obviously I was pretty much guaranteed to love this. Some of the issues are more up my alley than others, but some—like the deep dive into the floorplans of prewar apartments in NYC—are just so niche and fascinating.

3. Lady Like by Mackenzi Lee

   I am sorry to tease you with another book that’s not out yet (this one isn’t out til September, tragically) but ohmygod I LOVE THIS BOOK. It’s a sapphic Regency romance and it is so! much! fun!!!! This is easily one of my favorite things I’ve read all year; I read the entire thing with such a stupid grin on my face, it’s so funny, it’s so skilled at handling darker aspects of queer history with a light, deft hand, it’s just so voice-y and wonderfully written and just…wonderful? It is wonderful! I love Mackenzi’s YA books but I might, somehow, love this even more?! Please preorder it. (And—yes I am cheating by tagging an additional rec on here!—if you want another sapphic Regency to tide you over while you wait, Joanna Lowell’s A Rare Find just came out and is also wonderful and also one of my favorite books of the year! Another one that I finished just in absolute awe at the skill of the writer.)

4. Good Hang with Amy Poehler

   Please allow me to offer a disclaimer: I think there are way, way too many celebrity podcasts. Celebrities are not good interviewers! Most of these podcasts are just self-indulgent and need to go away! I have many complaints! (Put that on my tombstone.) But: I really enjoy this? Amy Poehler is so likable, and she makes everyone she has on her show seem more likable just by the magnitude of her own charm. It truly does feel like you’re just listening to friends catch up, I find it so soothing, and some of the episodes have genuinely made me laugh until I cry while walking around the park in public like a lunatic, which I feel is a pretty strong recommendation? (Also: some of the episodes [the Philly Justice episode, this week’s Dakota Johnson one] really benefit from being watched rather than listened to.)

5. WindowSwap

   Finally, a small joy to end on: my desk doesn’t face a window, because the layout of my flat makes that impossible; when I’m writing, I turn off wifi and set a timer for a couple of hours, so when I need to pause for a moment and just think, I sort of just…like to stare off into space? Which is part of why I enjoy working at cafes and libraries, since there’s something to look at, rather than just the wallpaper on the wall in front of my desk. So when I’m working at home lately, I’ve been pulling up WindowSwap in another tab, and clicking over to it when I need time to think; it’s just videos that people have sent in of the views outside their windows, around the world, and I find it really soothing? I’m currently watching dusk on a harbor in Slovenia, delightful.

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I will wrap this up here, both because it is getting long (per usual) and I don’t want your eyes to cross, and also because this hotel is in an old Georgian-era manor and I want to go explore the gardens before anyone else wakes up. Perhaps I will channel Jane and stage a light haunting (To Swoon and to Spar, 2023). Stay tuned for updates! (Not really; I promise I won’t materialize in your inboxes for another couple of months.)

To be serious for a moment: everything about the world right now—fascism, genocide, climate change, right-wing populism, just honestly everything??—feels really, really awful, to the point that it feels extremely self-indulgent to waste time talking about my silly little book, so I appreciate more than ever you all taking the time to read. Take care of yourselves.

Martha