You're my wish list, lookin' at you got me thinking Christmas

What’s new with Rachel?

Officially headed into the first winter weather advisory of the season in Virginia, the lights are up outside, and the tree is glittering with colorful lights (though it can switch to white lights if I’m feeling classy.)

December has always been my favorite time of year, even with the busyness and all the season brings with it. I love seeing friends, drinking too many peppermint mocha, wearing my plethora of Christmas clothing, and being distracted when driving in the dark by all the Christmas lights.

I hope you’re finishing out the year best you can and, if nothing else, remembering you almost made it. 2025 is almost over.

Speaking of seeing friends, I’m looking forward to tomorrow, when my friends her in the DMV are getting together to wrap presents for families adopt every year. For the past seven years, our group of friends participates in the Adopt a Family program through the Healthy Babies Project, a local-DC nonprofit that provides pregnant/parenting youth with case management and peer support so they can raise stable families. We donate funds, do the shopping, and get together one day in December to wrap all the presents - it’s always amazing how many gifts the group is able to pull together. These are gifts for both mothers and their children, helping provide them clothing, household items, books, and toys. The mountain looks like a steep climb when we get there, but before too long everything is wrapped in pretty paper, put into organized piles, and we spend time arguing over what Christmas movie to watch to round out the evening.

This year, we wanted to invite our friends and families to join us in supporting this great cause. We’ll do the hard work of wrapping and shopping, but if you have the ability to support financially, we’d love to make this the best, tallest mountain-of-gifts year ever. You can see, we’ve got some large piles to beat.

We know times are tight for so many and appreciate any and all support you can give. You can send any support via Venmo to @DeannaElizabeth - we’ll be happy to send back photos of the haul!

Writing Corner and Book News

I had a great time at Sweet Nothings Book Co in Baltimore last weekend chatting with Jade, the owner, and introducing some customers to the Brandt Brothers and Holly Ridge.

I’ll be at Romance-landia Bookstore in Centreville, Maryland (the Eastern Shore) on December 13th for what is ACTUALLY my last event of the year. I’m so lucky to have so many great Romance bookstores within a few hours of me, and even luckier they’ve been willing to have me stop by and share my books with their customers.

Spotify Playlist

Listen, I’m not responsible for my Heated Rivalry hyper fixation. I blame Rachel Reid, Jacob Tierney, Connor Storie, and Hudson Williams for that. But I’m taking a break from my rewatches to write this newsletter, and loved this playlist I found - it has music actually from the soundtrack of the first two episodes of the show, and then some other songs that give the vibes of Shane and Ilya. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, our internets are VERY different, but in short: my favorite book couple now has a TV show - rival hockey players who are hooking up and trying not to fall in love. The adaptation so far has SO much respect for the source material, queer love, and just the Romance genre in general. In a week where Threads is arguing whether or not a Romance novel needs an HEA (spoiler: it does), it’s nice to have this escape.

Book Spotlights

First up is Hexed for the Holidays by Courtney Corlew. Many of the graphics on my social medias are from Courtney’s Marketing Patreon—it’s lovely to have access to those resources from a fellow author who gets it. I can’t wait to read this one!

A meddling ghost. A magical mishap. One secret that changes everything.

Ophelia Turner is working at her late mother’s shop, Hexed, when a snowstorm threatens to shut her in for the night. Before she can head home, a surprise Sam Watts stops in. He’s tall, handsome, very human—and sure, it’s cliché, but she’s been secretly in love with her childhood best friend since forever.

Sam has a secret of his own—one he’s kept near to his chest instead of telling his stunning, purple-haired, sassy best friend of a witch. He’s been gone for three months, but he’s never questioned where his home is.

Ophelia is excited to find out what's next for Sam, but she never expected a night with him to go like this...

Hexed for the Holidays is out now!

Next we have a Nutcracker retelling, A Dance of Sugarplums and Power Plays from Jess Christine, who I had the pleasure of being next to during a signing earlier this year, is out now! This is another one so high up on my Christmas TBR!

“We were meant to be a blip—one star in the midst of an expansive night sky. Burning fast and bright, until it dimmed completely, and we moved on from each other.”

Claire Silverman has always been enchanted by winter in New York. Blankets of freshly fallen snow, twinkling lights, and the promise of new beginnings just around the corner make the city feel like it’s wrapped in magic. This year feels no different, until a series of unexpected interactions have her past colliding with her present. Now Claire’s face to face with the man she never planned to see again, but he may be the answer to holding on to everything she’s ever wanted.

Captain and forward for the New York Crowns, Everett Nuttall isn’t ready to accept that his hockey career might soon come to an end. At thirty-two, retirement should be far in the distance, but a nagging shoulder injury says otherwise. Attempting to run from the inevitable, he goes out for a drink and finds Claire, the stunning onyx-haired ballerina from his past. From the moment he lays eyes on her, his night takes a turn neither of them saw coming.

A flash of pink and one night together changes everything they thought they knew, leading them on an adventure through the dreamy town of Sugarplum Park. Forced to get to know each other deeper than ever before, will they be able to find their way back home, or will they discover the magic that comes with second chances?

A Dance Of Sugarplums and Power Plays is the first interconnected standalone novel in the Fairytale Season series. Readers won’t want to miss this modern Nutcracker retelling about a ballerina and a hockey player who get the second chance they never expected.

Finally, we have Lovestruck from Ivy Dawes. This one’s only been out for about a month, and I love having a book to highlight for you if Holiday romances aren’t your thing.

I want to punch my arrogant, hot co-star in his stupid, beautiful face.

I have to pretend to love Roman Everett on screen, and thanks to the film studio, I have to fake date him too. But it’s hard to hate someone who looks like… that.

Not only do I want to punch that beautiful face, I also want to kiss it.

What’s worse? I’m trying to live up to everyone’s expectations of me. Just when I feel like I’m about to break, Roman surprises me and seems like someone I can lean on.

Roman Everett may be a great actor on-screen… but the role he plays in our relationship is feeling less like a character, and more like he might really want this.

Lovestruck is a loathe to love fake dating romance with spicy scenes and a happily-ever-after. It is the second book in the Starlight Studios Series, and can be read as a standalone.

Lovestruck is out and available in KU now!

Finally, I wanted to share a heads up that I’ll be switching newsletter providers at the beginning of 2026! Newsletters will come from [email protected] starting with the January 2nd newsletter, so be sure to keep an eye out! ❤️ 

Alright, I’m off to snuggle up with one of my cats and read in front of a YouTube-provided crackling fire.

Stay hydrated, call your Reps, and escape with a good book.

Romantically Yours,

Rachel