Rachel Rener's Blog, page 13

I. Am. SCREAMING.

It has been brought to my attention that INKED has been featured on not just one but TWO of Book Riot's must-read lists! THIS IS A REALLY, REALLY, REALLY BIG DEAL, WHICH I AM STILL TRYING TO PROCESS.

20 MUST-READ COZY FANTASY BOOKS

31 OF THE BEST KINDLE UNLIMITED ROMANCE BOOKS IN 2023

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Please don't reply to this email directly, as it won't make it to my inbox! For all direct replies, you can head on over to ,www.RachelRener.com/contact or email me at RRener13@gmail.com!

If you enjoyed this post and want to show your support, I would be grateful if you ,,subscribed to my ,,blog and/or gave a ,one-time-only tip. With a subscription of $5 a month, you'll gain access to all past and future locked content for paid subscribers only. It also shows me that you like what I’m doing and want to see more ❤️

THE END.

1 year,

2 sore wrists,

3 (ish) realms,

4 complete books,

1,500 novel pages,

364,609 words, and

2,047,152 characters later,

Synced, the fourth and final book in the Gilded Blood series is finished! Last night, after sending the manuscript to my editor, I poured myself a glass of wine and took a loooooong bubble bath.

Today, I'm back at it - formatting digital and print versions, chatting with my audiobook publisher, finalizing the cover and interior artwork, ensuring all preorder links are up and running, designing ads and graphics for marketing, scheduling promotions, and - my favorite part - updating my readers <3In other words, the work doesn't stop just because the last book is finished.That said, now that the writing is done, I finally get to re-embark on my absolute favorite kind of work: attending conventions and book signings! This spring/summer, I'll be appearing at 5 different conventions in 4 different states, as well as a half dozen Barnes and Noble book signings (dates TBD). To help my readers keep track of upcoming events, we've created a handy dandy events calendar, which will be updated every week.

In the meantime, if you haven't preordered Synced yet, you can get the e-book here or sign up for signed copies here.

To everyone who has supported me and this series during this past year, THANK YOU. I'm not gonna lie - there were times I was tired, cranky, weepy, and daydreaming about throwing in the towel. But you all cheered me on and kept me going, and for that, I am eternally grateful. I can't wait to hear what you think of Synced!

***If you enjoyed this post and want to show your support, I would be grateful if you ,subscribed to my ,blog and/or gave a one-time-only tip. With a subscription of $5 a month, you'll gain access to all past and future locked content for paid subscribers only. It also shows me that you like what I’m doing and want to see more <3

Please don't reply to this email directly, as it won't make it to my inbox! For all direct replies, you can head on over to www.RachelRener.com/contact or email me at RRener13@gmail.com!

What in the world does Sol look like?

Gilded Blood readers love putting faces to names, and when it comes to Sol, the smolderingly wicked incubus mob boss, no one can quite agree So I thought I'd share a handful of examples of what my readers have told me they envision, versus my own vision (which you'll find at the bottom of this post!)

Bruce Willis

Jon Hamm

Dennis Hopper (?!)

Richard Gere

George Clooney

And finally, "The short chubby perverted guy" (Don Corneo) from Final Fantasy 7

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeen in actuality, Talia describes Sol like this:

"I stared up at the second most beautiful creature I’d ever laid eyes on – a silver-haired man with ice-blue eyes, a short, dark beard that faded perfectly into his platinum sideburns, and a smile that could have thawed permafrost. He wore a three-piece navy suit with diamond cufflinks and a crimson silk tie, but the most striking part of his outfit was the ring he wore on his right hand: it held a massive gem, the color of dried blood, that somehow managed to sparkle against a sunless sky. Between his thick, slicked-back hair and his flawless, smooth skin, I honestly couldn’t tell if he was thirty or fifty."

Which, as I envision him, looks a little something like this:

How about you? How did you envision Sol, and was it anything close to his actual appearance?

Along with Talia, Zayn, and Biscuit, the Gilded Blood series has a pretty sexy cast, wouldn't you say? ❤️

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Please don't reply to this email directly, as it won't make it to my inbox! For all direct replies, you can head on over to ,www.RachelRener.com/contact or email me at RRener13@gmail.com!

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:**:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

Great news! JINXED is now available at Audible!* Come hear the controversial book opener heard 'round the world - not to mention the steamy bathtub scene that spurred a pearl-clutching outcry of disdain! (Including my favorite example, posted at the bottom of this announcement)

I'd like to extend my heartfelt gratitude to Podium Audio, as well as my narrator, Tara Novie, who will have you snorting with laughter one minute and making a beeline for a cold shower in the next!

Audiobook sample (listen to the end, trust me!):

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/85042f_c7db13a7fe5c40d79c3278043c9209af/1080p/mp4/file.mp4

Aforementioned disdainful reader:

*ℎ ℎ, , ℎ , ℎ, ℎ- ℎ ℎ ℎ .

Please don't reply to this email directly, as it won't make it to my inbox! For all direct replies, you can fill out the ,contact form or email me directly at RRener13@gmail.com

✨ ✨

After yesterday's highly-anticipated release of // #, I'm thrilled to share the cover art for , the fourth and final installment of the Gilded Blood series! My longtime cover artist, Lana, worked on this beautiful masterpiece despite widespread power outages and a constant barrage of regional disturbances in Ukraine. I could not be more grateful for or proud of the beauty she has contributed to this series.

Preorder the Synced ebook here!

For Deluxe Color Paperback Editions, click here!

Of the four Gilded Blood covers, which is your favorite?

For all direct replies, please visit ,RachelRener.com/contact or email RRener13@gmail.com.

❤️

LINKED // GILDED BLOOD #3 is FINALLY here!

Plus, you can grab INKED for free & JINXED for just 99¢!

❤️ I don't think I've ever agonized this much over a book before. For one thing, Linked presents a tremendous shift in Talia and Zayn's relationship dynamic, as well as their overarching character arcs. SO. MUCH. GROWTH happens!

Secondly, this story marked my official foray from urban fantasy into pure epic fantasy, meaning detailed maps were drawn, elvish languages were created, and many, many 12+ hour days were spent toiling over keyboards and sketch pads.

AND YET, because of (or perhaps in spite of) my neuroticism, this may just be my favorite book to date. And I truly hope, from the bottom of my heart, that you will feel the same!

Read / # right now!

Signed, deluxe color paperback edition Standard (B&W) signed copy Kindle (Free on KU!)

Download / # for FREE on Amazon!

Signed, deluxe color paperback edition Standard (B&W) signed copy

Nab / # for 99¢ on Amazon!

Signed, deluxe color paperback edition Standard (B&W) signed copy

Pre-order / # on Amazon! (Cover reveal happening TOMORROW!)

You can even pre-order your signed, deluxe color paperback edition here !

Thank you all so much for your enthusiasm and support this past year! I can't wait to hear your thoughts on the penultimate installment of the Gilded Blood series!

For all direct replies, please visit ,RachelRener.com/contact or email RRener13@gmail.com.

Linked Deluxe Color Edition Copies are In!!

They look absolutely gorgeous, and the interior ain't so bad either ‎️‍Get your signed copy here! (Because all orders are shipped next-day, there is a great chance you'll get your copy before the book is even published. And that is a-okay by me)

"Too Stupid To Live"

Let’s talk about the plight of "stupid" female literary characters.

See the original Facebook post ,here .

How many times have you read a fantasy book and either found yourself calling the female main character TSTL ("Too Stupid To Live"), or read reviews disparaging her as such?

As a female writer of FMCs (Female Main Characters) I'm here to (hopefully) put this “TSTL” label to rest, because it’s not only unfair, but terribly sexist. Here’s why.

First of all, I’d like to point out the sheer number of MMCs (Male Main Characters) in fantasy books that have made terrible, idiotic, literal war-losing/nation-dooming choices: Rand al’Thor (WOT), Kvothe (Name of the Wind), and Bilbo Baggins (The Hobbit), to name a scant few. Now, when you read reviews of these books, you will never see the term TSTL to describe to MMCs, even though these characters repeatedly make terrible, sometimes-life-and/or-limb-threatening mistakes. What you WILL see are words like “stubborn,” “aggressive,” “head-strong,” and “resilient” – but never “stupid.” Even when these characters’ actions throughout the books(s) are incredibly, inarguably stupid.

Meanwhile, you’ll see FMC’s making these same (or even lesser) mistakes - not trusting someone they should, taking time to get acclimated to their new (oftentimes magical and/or dangerous) surroundings, or making risky decisions that, more often than not, end up paying off in the end – and yet these young women are often labeled as “stupid,” “idiotic,” or “annoying.”

(And before someone chimes in and says, “I’ve always said Rand was stupid,” or “But Bella really WAS stupid!” I think we all know that we’re going by the rule in this discussion, not the exception.)

Conversely, if a female character is strong, makes good choices, catches on quickly, adapts to her newfound magic/power/skills with little struggle (etc.), we write her off as a “Mary Sue” - a (specifically female) character who is disparaged for unrealistically lacking in flaws or weaknesses.

So, let me get this straight – if a FMC (whose life was just turned upside down) initially struggles, makes poor decisions, and/or winds up putting herself in dangerous situations because of her own stubbornness/impetuousness/poor judgement (but eventually learns and grows from them, as any well-developed character should), we label her as TSTL?

But if she is capable, talented, self-assured, and, let’s be honest, traditionally masculine in her behavior, she’s called a Mary Sue?

What the hell?

This is NOT cool. And we need to stop doing this.

By the way, before someone accuses me of picking on men, I’m NOT just accusing men of calling FMCs stupid. In my experience, it is actually women who are more likely to disparage female characters in writing. Why is that? Is it because we as females are conditioned to be embarrassed for reading romance, YA, and female-lead books, so we therefore feel the need to defend ourselves by putting those characters down? If that’s the case, we’re indeed opening up a whole other can of worms – one that deserves just as much, if not more, attention. But seeing as I’ve probably lost 60% of you by now, I’ll save that soapbox rant for another day.

Anyway.

I realize I’ll likely get a lot of hate for this post; folks will claim that MMCs get called stupid all the time and FMCs with the TSTL label truly deserve it, and it has NOTHING to do with the characters’ genders. But the fact of the matter is, this IS a problem. Once you’ve combed through as many book reviews as I have, you will see a clear and distinct pattern: female MCs are deemed stupid for their poor choices, but male MCs making the same poor choices are either headstrong (or some other forgiving synonym), or just need a little bit of time to come into their own.

I could go on and on, but I will instead leave all of you with this one, single thought challenge: the next time you read a book from a female’s POV and are tempted to call the FMC TSTL, I encourage you to ask yourself whether you’d still be using that label if “she” were instead a “he.”

On a final note, I’d like my readers to know that I proudly stand by every single one of my FMC’s choices, which means that I, apparently, am Too Stupid To Live.

And yet, here I am – living. Go figure.

Stupidly Yours,Rachel

Please do not reply directly to this email, as it won't make it to my inbox! For all direct replies, feel free to write me at ,RRener13@gmail.com. (Unless it's hate mail, in which case you're welcome to reach me at FootFetishesRUs@aol.com.

That's One Sexy Map!

Remember when I said the third book of the Gilded Blood series had transformed from urban/contemporary into full-scale epic fantasy? Well, to underscore that, here's the map that I made of the main continent, where Talia and Zayn will continue their treacherous foray into the Fae Realm!

(By the way, the deluxe color edition of Linked will have this 2-page illustration printed in full color!)

What do you think of my first ever fantasy map? Please don't reply to this email as it won't make it to my inbox! For all direct replies, please email me at RRener13@gmail.com!

LINKED Developments

Happy Monday (and a Happy Hanukkah to all who celebrate)!

The pre-order link for the Deluxe Color Edition of LINKED (Gilded Blood #3) is up! Pre-orders are wonderful because they not only let me know how many books to order in advance, but they also allow you, the reader, to receive them before the official publication date! So if you know that you'll be hankering for a beautiful, full-color, signed edition of Linked come February, please consider placing your order sooner than later! And don't forget to enter WINTER20 at checkout for 20% off!

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For those of you who wish to be on my Advance Reader team next month, please fill out this form as soon as possible. I'll provide follow ups to those selected by the end of December!Thank you so much and have a wonderful week ahead!Please do not reply to this message as it won't make it to my inbox! For all direct replies, you can write me at RRener13@gmail.com :)