I’ve tried to find the right words to put in this newsletter for a week. I thought I could give you the support and guidance I share in my informative TikToks, but I’ve had to give that energy to those who’ve needed me in person. Truthfully, I’ve had to be present during this humanitarian crisis more than the past decade of advocacy.
All I can come up with now is that I’m really uncomfortable promoting my work when we’re experiencing global anguish and watching war crimes from the safety of our privilege. But books are my job, and if I don’t continue to do my job, I won’t have a career. That doesn’t mean I’m complicit or unaware. It just means I’m exhausted and functioning on autopilot. It means I’m saving my time for colleagues/friends/students who need me vs. fighting in online comments.
If you’re as emotionally exhausted as I am, I hope this newsletter provides you with a small breath of reprieve, enough for you to rebuild your energy this week, too.
Have you ever felt like you are a productivity machine, but one misstep and your entire productive castle will come crashing down around your ears?
Hello fall, she is me.
Between school/activism/writing/teaching/wifeing/fertility treatments/editing/marketing/daughtering, I have been juggling a lot, which means that I need to focus on refilling the well, and doing some self-care so I continue to have the energy I need to get shit done. If you are in the same boat as me, tis the season for some fall bucket list activities to heal your heart.
This is generally the list I use when I’m planning my fall, and it’s a way for me to recharge after a long summer of book tour activities, when I feel mentally, emotionally and physically exhausted with the world. It also helps me get excited to work again. So far, I’m halfway through the list, eeking out what little time I have for self preservation and my relationships.
Another fall bucket list activity hubs and I have started doing is inspired by TikTok. We are having themed movie nights where our meals are coordinated with what we’re watching.
Last week, we watched the Jack Black version of Goosebumps, and we had pesto spinach ravioli, pistachio pudding cake with ghoulish sprinkles, zombie dogs (for hubs, not me) with green chutney, and Green drinks! (Check out the TT for a looksie at the table setup as well). This week, we’re watching Halloweentown 1 and 2, so we’re doing pretzel and cheese broomstick bites, soup in pumkin shaped bowls, and rice krispie treats in the shape of pumpkins with little rolos on the top of the stem and green M&Ms for the leaves. (Check out Pinterest for different recipes!)
So adorable, right?
Now that leaves me with the books I like to read during this time. It is always Nalini Singh 100% all the way with her psy-changling series. However, I do enjoy re-reading or listening to Nora Robert’s witchy series. She has a few books, and I absolutely adored the ‘Three Sister’s Island’ trilogy growing up if that’s something that interests you.
When I finished with our movie night and my latest book, I was so pumped to get back to revisions on the book I’m working on. That’s when I completely forgot that I had a new cover I could share with all of you!
The Letters we Keep is my first new adult romance and it’s about two students who are from different worlds that have to come together to find out the story behind the infamous Davidson Tower legend. It has a little bit of a ghostly element to it as well, which is perfectly fitting for the season we’re in.
VOILA!
The book is up for pre-order now and more information is included below.
Two students―worlds apart―unite to solve the mystery of a legendary decades-old love story gone tragically wrong in a captivating romance by the award-winning author of The Karma Map and Dating Dr. Dil.
It doesn’t take long for ambitious freshman and aspiring engineer Jessie Ahuja to learn about two university legends. One is the haunted history of Davidson Tower, where more than fifty years ago, two ill-fated lovers disappeared in a devastating fire. The other is Ravi Kumar, a privileged billionaire nepo baby who’s aggravatingly charming and occupying more brain space than Jessie has room for. Things change when a campus prank locks them both in the old tower’s ghostly library.
There, Jessie finds letters from the fabled lost lovers, forgotten in a hollowed-out copy of Persuasion. One by one, the letters suck Jessie and Ravi into a beguiling mystery and an achingly beautiful long-ago romance destined to go up in flames. It’s also drawing Jessie and Ravi―every bit as star-crossed―closer together. Can they overcome whatever fate has in store for them? Or are they just as doomed as the young lovers whose tragic end has become legend?
I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing the book, and let me know how you plan on rejuvenating for the rest of the month. I’d love to add new things to my bucket list so I can be rejuvenated and be the best author/advocate/student/multi-hyphenated person I can be.
Take care of yourselves, loves.
<3 Nisha