10. "Remember: Always walk in the light..."

... and if you feel like you're not walking in it, go find it. Love the light—the recently late Roberta Flack (rest in power and peace)

Dear reader,

After January predictably felt like it was a couple of years long, I was expecting February, already a shorter calendar month, to fly by; only to be pleasantly surprised to have it feel weightier than expected! The month did also hold my birthday, but more on that a bit later.

Settle in for a long, chatty newsletter ahead 😊 (this is probably going to be too long for email, so make sure you read it in a browser)

Here are my first publications for the year:

Documenting a Mundane Life: a book review of Three Days in June by Anne Tyler (for the New Sunday Express Magazine, February 23 edition)

“So, what’s your family like?”
Fights, fall-outs, feuds, forgiveness. These 10 sagas will make you realise how normal your own peeps are (for HT Brunch, March 1 edition)

Link: Read here (pages 24-26)

For listicles like these, I stick to selecting from the past five years unless there is a timely hook for a pick, so there are many I’d normally name in such a list that aren’t on there. Which ones, publication year no bar, would be in your list, if asked to name complicated literary families?

Speaking of families, I’m currently rewatching Parenthood with my parents since they haven’t watched any of it in order, beyond a few random episodes.

When I obsessed over Roswell as a teenager, I didn’t know that Jason Katims was the producer/showrunner for a large part of it. When I fell hard into Friday Night Lights at university, though, I looked up all the details, and so, a few years after the end of that one, when I saw that he had another show coming out, I knew that I wanted to watch it. While Parenthood definitely tips over more into earnest emotional impact territory than either of Roswell or FNL did (he’s called it his most personal show to date), Katims’ shows have this ability to immediately get to the heart of a story and the characters who inhabit it without relying on cloying sentimentality or cliched narrative beats. There is no manipulation to feel a certain way, just a raw honesty and care at showing us the best (and the messiest) of humanity, with depth, nuance and a dry wit and humour that somehow doesn’t at all feel out of place. Underlying all of this is a belief and a hope in the best of us, even if we don’t always get there, that never fails to draw me in. As a writer and a viewer, it’s storytelling at some of its most compelling and I always pick up something new.

Any fellow Jason Katims fans reading this newsletter?

Birthdays and letters to our younger selves

As mentioned earlier today, it was my birthday this past month (on the 23rd, to be exact). I’ve never been huge on celebrations on the day, much less commemorating the whole month or week, but it’s always nice to pause and give thanks to another year of being safe and healthy.

This is the caption I wrote for the photo I shared on my Instagram—

I've seen the “I met the younger me for coffee” trend going around the gram and considered, for a brief moment, what I'd write if I did it (the trend and what it has morphed into for some has its own issues highlighted here).

Well, all I can come up with is a keen sense of continued gratitude. For family and friends like family. For love and community that encompasses the world. For words and storytelling and the privilege of working with my passion. For good health. For possibility and hope.

Everything else, even at its hardest and darkest, is part of the same package, made easier by the list above.

Here's to the next revolution around the ☀️

An exciting aside…

…before I move onto a reading update.

I now have my first monthly supporter via Buy Me a Coffee! And it has me in my feelings.

It already means a lot to me that so many of you choose to spend your time with my words when you could be doing so many other things. And there will always be free issues of this newsletter, no matter how much I expand into paid subscriptions in the future (or not) because it’s something I enjoy doing outside of my writing for work without putting any pressure on myself (or at least not too much, this is me, I have to be realistic). But I do invest my time, energy, and heart into each issue, and this kind of additional support and belief will never not be special.

I’m soon setting up certain perks for monthly and annual supporters, but even if you wish to support my work on a one-off basis, the link below will always be in the header (if you’re an email subscriber) and in my sign-off message in each issue.

https://buymeacoffee.com/anushreenande

What I Read: February edition

After last issue’s reading update (in that, there wasn’t much to update on), I’m happy to report that the interim two weeks has seen me catch up on my reading; even if quite a few titles are books I’m reviewing for other publications, who says I can’t still enjoy them and the very act of reading—nobody says, except my often annoying internal critic who gets rather stir-crazy without making a semi-regular appearance.

Everything I Know About Love by Dolly Alderton

I’ve been wanting to read this memoir-y essay collection by the British author, columnist, and screenwriter since I first heard about her work last year. I was drawn in by its initial charm and humour, but struggled to continue. I’m glad I did, though, since the final third or so of the collection showed more heart, clarity, and story than the rest of the fairly unconnected ramblings that made up the middle (there are also these satirical emails and recipes scattered throughout which serve to only pad the page count). The author’s snappy, confessional, self-deprecating narrative voice is definitely more suited to a column—she has also since published novels but I don’t think I’m going to give them a try to see if those work better for me. Something tells me we’re not a good fit.

Short stories: An Illumination of Thieves/A Wild Wedding by India Holton

These are wonderful bonus stories for the first two books in the author’s Dangerous Damsels trilogy.

Short story: The Knight and the Butcherbird by Alix E. Harrow (out on March 11, 2025)

In this dystopian fairytale, a small-town storyteller rushes to protect the local demon—and her own secrets—from the legendary knight hired to kill it. Dark, weird, wonderful, unflinching, yet wrenchingly hopeful.

Short story: Eleven Numbers by Lee Child

An American mathematician is tasked with a secret mission at a conference in Russia by the US government. This is as crisp and propulsive as you would expect from him, with all the elements that make him such a wonderful thriller writer evident even in this tighter, shorter form. There was even a well-laid twist I hadn't seen coming. If I had to pick something I wanted more of, that would be the lead up to the end because I didn't quite want to leave the story, but I understood why it unfolded the way it did.

The Love Simulation by Etta Easton (out on March 4, 2025)

A vice principal (Brianna Rogers) and a science teacher (Roman Major) spend their summer, along with a team of fellow teachers, at a Mars simulation, to try and win their school money that is to be put towards upgrading the school library that has long been out-of-date and in disrepair. Living in close quarters only intensifies whatever has been brewing hot and cold between these two all throughout the school year. I had enjoyed enough of the author’s book before this (which was the story of Brianna’s older brother Vincent, an actual astronaut) to give this one a try. This was not as cute but still cute enough, though I wish it had dual POV. I don’t often say this but here is one story that would have definitely benefitted with including Roman’s point of view beyond Brianna’s which got really repetitive and frustrating.

Promise Me Sunshine by Cara Bastone (out on March 4, 2025)

I tried my first Cara Bastone last year and ended up leaving it after a few chapters as not a good fit. But when I was sent this to early read, the blurb made me want to give the author a second chance. And I’m so glad I did! Lenny has been lost since cancer stole away her best friend. As a professional babysitter, the only jobs she can handle at that moment are temporary. One such gig brings her to single mum Reese and her precocious seven-year-old daughter Ainsley…and Miles, Ainsley’s seemingly grumpy and terse uncle who is a recent (awkward) addition to their lives. Despite Lenny doing a great job with Ainsley who’s an immediate fan, Miles sees right through Lenny’s attempt to pretend as if she’s got her personal act together. He then makes her a deal. He knows a lot about grief and can help her with the laminated “live again” list of things she walks around with; in return, she can advise him on how he can better build a relationship with his niece, and working on improving the complicated equation he and Reese share. At 415 pages, this is not your typical romance book, but I mean that in a good way. It was so compelling that I gulped it down in under 24 hours! This is an expertly paced, wonderfully developed look at grief, friendship, and, eventually, a (very) slow-burn love between two people who are created with so much care that they pop out of the pages. Miles felt a little too good to be true at the start, but as the story moves along, you are privy to his flaws and battles and insecurities even if we are only in Lenny’s point of view throughout the book. Lenny, similarly, felt too immature at times in the first third of the story, until you realise that you’ve never known who she was before her grief—soon you get glimpses of both past Lenny and the one who slowly emerges as she does from the fog (How much of my personality is grief and how much is me? I am who I am because of Lou, but am I also who I am because Lou died?) I appreciated the good communication between them, on the whole, with no narratively contrived drama. The trajectory of their relationship felt earned, and the book didn’t shy away from the realistic messiness that’s intrinsic to any close connection. Emotional without being saccharine, unafraid to feel the Big Feelings, funny, sweet, and warm, with a supporting cast that feels as real as the main characters. This is already a 2025 favourite.

The Ex-Girlfriend Murder Club by Gloria Chao (out on June 24, 2025)

Three women realise that they’ve been dating the same man. This story, inspired by the movie, John Tucker Must Die, adds to it a cozy-ish murder mystery twist. The trio vow revenge on Tucker Jones for what he’s done, but before they can go through with their plans, he turns up dead…and they are, of course, prime suspects. Unless they can find out who did it before the police do. This was such an unexpected romp! Well paced and structured, with an abundance of wordplay that didn’t feel annoying (though some of the humour wasn’t to my taste), and characters that I was surprised grew on me as much as they did (this was because they weren’t caricatures or tropes like in many stories posing as cozy, and had actual development and growth). There’s been a hint that it might turn into a series—I certainly wouldn’t mind! If you’re wondering where you’d read the author’s name before, she’s been on this newsletter before! I’ve known Gloria since her YA debut in 2018 and I’m so glad to see her ace her first book for adults.

Exit Zero: Stories by Marie-Helene Bertino (out on April 22, 2025)

Twelve short stories by the author of Beautyland. In their unique (unsettling) way and through her distinct brand of magic realism and the supernatural, these stories try to answer the big and small questions of life, death, and the beyond. I’m reviewing this for a publication so won’t write more about it for now, but will definitely share the review whenever it goes live. As with any collection, I adored some stories, liked others, and didn’t enjoy the remainder, but on the whole I’m a huge fan of Bertino’s writing style with its sharpness, its keen observations of humanity, what we say and don't, and the way she finds the surreal and bizarre in the mundane.

Anywhere You Go by Bridget Morrissey (out on April 22, 2025)

The Holiday, but for lesbians. Tatum Ward has never left her small Midwestern hometown, living in a guest cottage that’s like out of some fairytale on her parents’ property. She’s a part-time waitress at a local diner, part-time writing hopeful (though you’ll never guess what she helps strangers write on the side), full-time ignorer of her feelings for a favourite diner regular. New-York-living Eleanor Chapman is only work, sacrificing her personal life and all relationships for her high-profile Broadway press career. When both of their lives fall apart at the same time, they find each other through a common contact, and decide to swap cities for a week. This is a fun premise and one that I will always have a soft corner for, but this story didn’t quite live up to the potential in its execution, taking on a bit too much within each storyline to do full justice to either. I wanted a lot more of both. It was, however, a nice surprise to see a connected character from the only other book I’ve read by the author (which I’d loved) show up as a major supporting character in this one.

A Song For You and I by K. O’Neill

Being a ranger means adventure, action, and protecting the weak. But who protects the ranger when they lose their way? Identity, belonging, purpose, believing in yourself, dedication to one’s calling, becoming who we were meant to be without bowing to external pressures. This graphic novel was as imaginative, sweet, and soft as their other works, with beautiful illustrations in their easily recognisable style—no surprise there either!

Currently reading: The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers

This is the first of her famous Wayfarer series of cozy sci-fi, though, being set across space, this is more overtly sci-fi than the Monk and Robot novellas. A diverse, multi-species space crew find themselves on a challenging mission. I’m enjoying it a lot. It’s one to be savoured being character-focused than plot-heavy, so I’m taking my time.

Writing updates

I wrote an essay that received a positive rejection from the place I submitted it to (that’s when they pass on a submission but say they’ve liked your work and would like you to submit again in the future), but it’s something I had been putting off writing for a few months so it’s good that I got it done with this deadline in mind. I’ve had two book review pitches accepted for later in the year, been assigned an author interview for another publication a few months down the line, and am still waiting to hear back on some pitches.

I’ve also done a final edit (I hope) on a flash fiction I first wrote a couple of years ago but have since been tweaking on and off because it didn’t feel quite ready—it was birthed deep during the pandemic when it suddenly “appeared” without any active probing on my part, and is definitely one of the stranger, more experimental stories I’ve written. Five years later, it finally feels done. Let’s hope the places I want to submit it to agree!

In the background of all of this is the story that’s growing mostly on its own with some input from my conscious mind; a story I hope will be my first full-fledged novel. The time for me to start putting words to paper is fast approaching and I’m the appropriate mix of nervous, terrified, and excited.

Before I sign off for today, there are two more things I'd like to share.

If you read the February 2 issue, you know I loved Mad Sisters of Esi by Tashan Mehta. The book is finally releasing in the US this fall and currently available to request on Netgalley if you're on there and want a chance to read it early!

Link here: https://www.netgalley.com/catalog/book/576084

The issue with my review here:

The second shoutout today is about a dear friend who’s launched a small business. Jane’s Blackberry Cottage Candles are completely natural, clean-burning candles free from artificial fragrances and paraffins. Have a look below!

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/blackberrycottagecandles

Website: https://blackberrycottagecandles.com

From the archives

Since I mentioned India Holton and her Dangerous Damsels trilogy earlier, here’s the first interview she did for this newsletter.

---

If you’ve enjoyed today’s issue, here’s a few things you can do:

• click on the heart to like it

• turn this into a conversation by leaving a comment below or dropping me a line via email, even just to say hi—I always love hearing from you 😊

• share it with friends and family who might like to read it

• Buy me a coffee at https://buymeacoffee.com/anushreenande

Let me know what you’re currently reading and watching, send me rants/ramblings/recommendations/excited monologues, GIFs and memes (especially them) 🤓 and let me know if there is anything you’d like me to write about.

Take care and I’ll see you next on March 16!

Anu

---

*the book buying links I share on here are affiliate links (barring the links for my own published work for which I will earn royalties instead), which means that if you make any purchases through those links, I will receive a small commission from the sale at no additional cost to you.