What the heck is Ida anyways? Or…here comes Book #10!

If you follow me on Twitter and Facebook, for the past few months you’ve probably seen me talking about Book #10, revisiting an old friend, and the book I’ve been referring to as Ida. For those who just want to know what the heck Ida is, I’ll put you out of your misery first before explaining why I needed to write this one. Ida is how I’ve been mentally pronouncing If I Don’t Ask, which I accept was perhaps a little bit disingenuous—though technically it’s still said Ida if you go by the acronym IIDA. Semantics are fun.

If I Don’t Ask is basically Ask, Tell but from Rebecca’s point of view. There it is. Those who only came for the main event, feel free to skip off and don’t forget to get your parking validated! But if you’re curious about why…

I’ve been wanting to write this book ever since I wrote Ask, Tell, but other projects got in the way and demanded my attention, so this one got pushed further and further down the line. Ask, Tell was my debut novel and while I’m super proud of it, it came with debut woes—especially given how it was presented as a first person, one PoV story set within a specific period of time in Sabine Fleischer’s life. I always wished that I could have given more of the befores, the why are they attracted to each other, how did this come about, what the heck does Rebecca Keane think about all this stuff and what does she think about Sabine—other than the obvious heart eyes that is.

I mean, yeah we got Ask Me Again as a natural progression from Ask, Tell, which gave me the opportunity to weave a little of Bec’s thoughts about Sabine and how she sees her, as well as a brief glimpse of her feelings about The Incident. But I still wanted more. So now I’m doing more.

But why am I doing this now?

Simple. I needed a creative palate cleanser, exactly in the way that I wrote If the Shoe Fits (a lighter, low-drama novel) directly after Ask Me Again and Alone (two VERY emotionally draining novels). This year has been mentally and creatively exhausting. We sold a bunch of horses and moved (after a long delay) from Australia to New Zealand because my better half is a clever legend who got a job in NZ. I wrote Go Around during that time and definitely had a dose of creative squishies. Oh yeah, and the pandemic. I NEEDED to spend time with an old friend or two (or three if you count Mitch). A friend I knew intimately, a friend who would tell me how they felt right away with no mental gymnastics or begging, a friend who’s story I already know in my heart.

I am so effing excited to get the chance to show more of who Rebecca is, how she sees things, and her motivations for doing what she did in Ask, Tell. As the work-in-progress stands now, we’ll get a little of the pre-Ask, Tell stuff then move into Bec’s PoV of Ask, Tell with some new scenes, obviously, as well as some important ones from her PoV. But if you know anything about me, you’d know I don’t plan and that plan might change.

If I Don’t Ask is scheduled for release May, 2022 with Bella Books.