NEW BOOK ANNOUNCEMENT

I’ve been waiting to share this since December, so without further ado:

Last year in early May, I posted this reel on Instagram announcing that my agent and I were sending The Second Greatest Thief off to editors. I’d been out on submission once before for The Winter King, so I was prepared for the waiting game, but that doesn’t make it any easier! Sometimes you’ll hear back from editors fairly quickly (we had a few editors pass soon after realizing it was too close to something they were already working on or wasn’t the right fit for them). Sometimes you’ll get an offer 48 hours after going out on submission, or a month after going out on submission, both of which are lightning speeds in the publishing world.

But more often than not, you have to wait months. And so, I waited. The passes trickled in. Some editors were excited and handed the manuscript off to a colleague for a second look. Some editors never responded at all. More months went by. I tried to focus on anything BUT the manuscript, and usually failed.

November came and I resigned myself to the fact that I wouldn’t hear from editors until after the holidays. What I didn’t count on was that some editors like to clear out their inboxes before the year ends, and so on a random Tuesday afternoon as I was sitting in my living room, my agent forwarded me this email:

I may have shrieked. I may have scared my mother who was downstairs. The dog may have jumped around with me thinking we were going on a walk. The only problem with this great news was that I was left to wonder, “Is the end as good as the beginning??” And I had several agonizing days to ponder this. 🤣 Then, on December 5th, while I was teaching Marcus piano, my phone dinged in the other room, and my daughter who was nearby yelled, “Mom you have an email from your agent and the first words are ‘Exciting news!’” Off I sped to read another forwarded email.

Keep in mind it was December, so I had to take a festive selfie of my reaction:

We had a zoom call the following week. I loved her enthusiasm for the story and her revision suggestions. I accepted her offer on December 16th, and since then, we’ve been waiting on contract negotiations and everything to be finalized before I could officially announce. Now, I’m working on edits and wishing fall of 2026 would get here just a little bit faster.

I’m really thrilled to fill you all in on more details about the story as we get closer to publication. And of course, once I have more pre-order details, I’d love your help spreading the word!

But for now, I’m just very thankful to everyone who reads my words and has followed along on this journey. It’s not a quick one and there are plenty of difficulties along the way, but I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to hold another published book in my hands.

Christine