Finally able to share some big news!
Paste Magazine just ran this interview and cover reveal for my wife Rachel’s debut YA thriller, Nothing Bad Happens Here… so I think that means I can finally talk about it!
“Nothing Bad Happens Here will hit shelves on April 22, 2025, but we’ve got a first look at its sinister, summery cover—as well as a chat with Rachel Ekstrom Courage herself about the inspiration behind the story and what to expect…”
Her cover reveal over on Instagram is pretty fun, too :)
There's so much excitement for this book already (lots of fun blurbs forthcoming!) and between this and Rachel’s Golden Girls mystery, I'm going to have to try to stop myself from oversharing... but after all the support and help she's given me and so many other authors over the years, it's such a special feeling to see her own books start to make their way into the world!
From the Publisher: “A carefree New England vacation is just what sixteen-year-old Lucia needs to chase her sadness away. At least, according to her mom, who whisks them away for the summer with her ridiculously wealthy new boyfriend. Nothing bad happens in Nantucket, a charming island with cobblestone streets and million-dollar cottages.
But when Lucia stumbles upon the body of a teenage girl on a beach, the discovery reopens old wounds from her past. With the dead girl’s identity a mystery, Lucia takes it upon herself to investigate and crosses paths with Selah and her pack of devil-may-care besties. The three girls are beautiful, chaotic, and a little wild—and they help Lucia forget her crushing sense of grief and loneliness. But as Lucia becomes a part of their shimmering world, she begins to suspect that there are dark secrets hidden in this quiet enclave, and that uncovering them may be the key to solving the dead girl’s murder. Not everything on this island is what it seems…”
Check out Rachel’s website and Substack for more info, and if you’d like to help this very special book find its way into the world: the best ways to do that are to pre-order from your favorite bookstore, request from your library, add to your Goodreads “To Read” shelves, and forward this email far and wide. On that last one, if you’re reading this far and you’re the kind of person who’s forwarding this email to your friends…
Truly, thank you for being a friend!
I’ll be back to our regularly scheduled programming soon! Right now I’m trying to catch up on every single minute of Olympic replays… but this has been a busy summer in books and life and I’ve got a lot of fun things to share. I’ll save that for next time, but since a couple of friends wrote in after my last newsletter—about being backstage during Rachel’s author photo session—I’ll sign off with this:
I did (finally) end up taking some new author pics!
Hoping to put one of ‘em in a new book soon :)
Until next time,
Your friend,
