Natasha Lester's Blog, page 3

It's Only One Month to Go! Countdown to Launch!

I can’t believe it’s only one month until THE MADEMOISELLE ALLIANCE is published in Australia, and six weeks until it’s published in North America!!! I don’t know about you, but I’ve officially moved into excitement mode. Especially after spending last night talking about the book to a roomful of booksellers, alongside three other incredible authors—Shelley Burr, Emma Pei Yin, and Rachel Paris—whose books you must all read when they come out in the next couple of months.

I’m flying to Melbourne t...

Join in Our Group Read. It's Going to Be Fun!

A couple of newsletters ago, I floated the idea of hosting a group read of THE BLIND ASSASSIN by Margaret Atwood. Lots of people seemed interested, so I thought, why not? Let’s give this a try!

And my friends and , who created the brilliant bookish podcast , also thought it sounded like fun, so we’re going to collaborate for this group read. On their podcast they chat about one hyped book a month and discuss whether they like it, hate it or are ambivalent, and they're starting a new segment wher...

Book Tour Details!

I decided to break my usual monthly update into two parts this month because I have a lot of news to share with you about the book tour for THE MADEMOISELLE ALLIANCE! Yay!! And the email was starting to get way too long, so this is Part 1, with Part 2 to come later in the month, which will be more of a regular update rather than just a long list of dates.

But first, can we just take a moment to marvel at this video? My publishing team at Hachette really are the best and I have to confess to gett...

Summertime Sadness: When the Vacation is Over

First up, my apologies! This newsletter was meant to go out a few days ago, but my daughter had the nastiest case of appendicitis (I’ve been through it before with my son, but his was nowhere near as bad) so I’ve been living in a hospital for a few days and am seriously sleep deprived! But I’m back home now, so I can finally send out the newsletter that…

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From Linda Evangelista to Little Women: The Origins of My Creativity

We all see things over the course of our days and months and years that spark the creative parts of our brains and inspire us in some way, whether it’s to simply buy a new cushion to add a touch of colour to a living room or whether it’s to do something more grandiose and start an oil painting (okay, the latter one has never happened to me—yet!). But there are some things that do more than just spark our creativity—they’re fundamental to shaping it, to our creative outlook, and to our outlook as...

2025: The Year of Optimism. Let's Dream!

Firstly, welcome to all the new subscribers who’ve joined us over the past couple of weeks while I’ve been relaxing and recharging in my beach house on Western Australia’s south-west coast. It’s great to have you here, in what I think is the loveliest place on the internet, where we talk about books and writing and extraordinary women, with a little sprinkle of France and fashion and other fabulous things thrown in for good measure.

This is my regular monthly post for all subscribers, where I ba...

Read the First Chapter of The Mademoiselle Alliance!

Happiest of Happy New Years to all of you! I hope you received lots of books over the festive season and have been able to carve out some time to sit quietly and read. I certainly have!

Today’s newsletter is short and sweet but that’s because it contains something very special - the first chapter of The Mademoiselle Alliance! Only a few early reviewers have seen this so far, so you’re in a very exclusive group! Warning - it may contain a couple of typos as the final proofread is being done as I t...

December's Digest: Books to Look Forward to in 2025, 14 Weeks to Go and—Dolphins!!!

It really is the downhill slide into the festive season now, isn’t it?! My family and I have decamped to our beach house for December and January, although my youngest is lucky enough to have been selected for an exchange in France. He’s heading off on January 6 for eight weeks of French life, swapping summer and the beach for winter and the experience of a lifetime. The rest of us will be soaking up the sun and I’ll be working with a view of the sea for the next few weeks, which is a very nice ...

Who Wants to Know the Working Title of My 2026 Book?!

Hi everyone! Something a bit different today—a video post because I feel like it’s been a while since I said a personal hello and thank you to my subscribers. And to make it extra, extra special, I thought you might like to know the working title of my 2026 book, which I haven’t shared yet, but I do in the video below. I hope it has you intrigued!

I also…

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Best Books of 2024

I can’t believe it’s only a month until Christmas! Where did 2024 go? For me, it disappeared in a rush of words: words for THE MADEMOISELLE ALLIANCE, words for a brand new book for 2026, and words in books written by other authors that I’ve read and enjoyed.

Speaking of THE MADEMOISELLE ALLIANCE, if you’re looking forward to it being published in April, then you might like to know that we’re organising a special chapter sampler for my paid subscribers here on Substack. I’ll be sending out a post...