Rose Tide & Rust Preorders are Now Open!
- R. D. G. Lover
- 14 minutes ago
- 4 min read
Hello hello!
It's been a while since I wrote a blog, so I thought it was time to check in. The last blog I wrote was about Tempest of Angels, the most recent book I published on March 17, 2026! It's crazy to think I'm fast approaching yet another release.
On that topic, I'd love to address my release schedule.
I had a fellow author once tell me, "It's not a race."
(Don't worry, it was in a friendly way!) But it truly made me think. What does it look like from your side? I hit the ground running in 2024 and have published two books a year for the last two years. This year (2026) and next year (2027), I anticipate publishing three books each year.
How do I manage that, you ask? Well, I'm not new to this game. For those of you who've been following me for some time now, you know this. I've been in this game for over 10 years very seriously.
This was not some fad that I adopted in the pandemic. This is not something I do for fun. This is my whole life. I am chasing this as a career.
If it were a race, it's a race I've been running for the last 15+ years.
A good amount of the work I've been publishing is part of my backlog. I've written dozens of completed works at this point in my life. Some of them will never see the light of day.
But a few of the books I've published in the last two and a half years are entirely new. Namely, The Amelia Island Coloring Book and The Tides of Amelia Island series. These were the books I created in order to "write to the market," and boy oh boy have they sustained my career!
That topic brings us right around to where we should be in this blog, which is the impending release of The Tides of Amelia Island book two, Rose Tide & Rust!
I wanted to blog about this book in particular because of how close it hits home. All of my books have a lot of my heart in them, but I've never written about characters that are very distinctly artists.
For those of you who may be newer to my work, Rose Tide & Rust is my contemporary romance retelling (AKA, fanfiction) of Jayren and Ophiah from the Angels' Compass saga. If you've read The Storm & the Sea, you know from my author's note that none of my characters get their "happily ever afters" in Angels' Compass. Thus, The Tides of Amelia Island became my way to give them some happy endings, but it also became a way to allow readers who aren't into fantasy to experience these characters that I love so much. (They are truly pieces of my heart.)
But again, when it comes to the actual story of Rose Tide & Rust, there's so much of my experience as an artist in it, which I think is what makes it so, so special. Both Nathan and Sophia have such distinct art styles in the book. Nathan is a graffiti artist, and Sophia is a painter with a very pop-art style with her own spin. Writing characters that are so inherently creative pushed me creatively as both an author and an artist with this book.
In the novel, Nathan and Sophia both enter a local art competition called The Rose Tide Awards. I have entered a few local art competitions myself, and the characters' experiences with the local galleries and award show follow very closely to what I have experienced. (Art is subjective, of course, but people do love their pelicans and sand dollars here on the coast.)
Another really personal element of the novel is the arts markets that the characters attend. As some of you know, I was recently able to become a full-time author/artist by relying on local events where I sell my books and art out of a 10x10 pop-up tent. So this was a really special thing to write about—it brought me back to my days of first visiting these markets myself and the awe and inspiration I drew from the people who were doing what I'm doing right now. (Like literally! I'm writing this blog at one of my markets.)
There are even some really fun cameos in the book. Some of them may never be noticed by anyone but me, but I think that just makes it extra special to me. One secret I can let you in on, without spoilers, is that the characters see my own tent in the book! There are a couple of other fun collaborations I have in the book too, but you'll have to read it to find out about those! ;)
All that being said, I think Rose Tide & Rust has definitely been one of the more challenging books I've worked on. With how much I've pushed myself creatively, I'm feeling pretty drained approaching this release. I know that the moment I hold this book in my hand, it'll all be worth it, but I'm really trudging to the finish line here.
Regardless, this book will be out there for the world on June 9th—which is only 26 days away! If you'd like to help me get to that finish line, please consider preordering the book or one of the art bundles that come with the book. This helps me tremendously with up-front costs of printing stock.
These are the bundles that are currently available for preorder! I'm very excited as I've never run a preorder before, and adding all of the custom merch for this book was a very fun experience. :) Because what do you mean we have a graffiti tee shirt now!?
And the best part? All the books are signed, and all the bundles have FREE shipping!
Well, that's all for now! I hope you've enjoyed this little peek behind the curtain. I'll see you on the other side! <3
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