My dearest book nerds! 🎉

IT'S HAPPENING! Today I get to show you the actual, real, not-a-drill cover of "The Memory Keepers"!

But first, a story: Yesterday I tried to do a "casual" cover reveal on Instagram Live. Key word: tried. What actually happened was my cat knocked over my coffee, I accidentally showed the cover upside down, and then my neighbor started practicing bagpipes. So basically, it was perfect.

THE COVER

I KNOW, RIGHT?!

The butterfly-memories! The twilight colors! The way the title seems to dissolve at the edges like fading memories! I've been staring at it for three weeks and I still can't believe this gorgeous thing has my name on it.

Huge thanks to cover designer Amelia Kim, who somehow reached into my brain and pulled out exactly what I imagined but could never describe properly.

Pre-order Madness

Deep breath Pre-orders are officially LIVE!

You can now secure your copy at: - Your Local Indie Bookstore (my personal favorite) - Barnes & Noble - Amazon (for my Kindle readers)

And here's a secret: The first 100 pre-orders get a signed bookplate and a "memory keeper" bookmark I designed. It has terrible puns on it. You've been warned.

The Journey So Far

Can we take a moment to appreciate how WILD this is? A year ago, I was convinced this manuscript would live forever in my "Maybe Someday" folder. Now it has a cover! And an ISBN! And people who aren't related to me actually want to read it!

Current emotional state: - 40% excited screaming - 30% imposter syndrome - 20% caffeine - 10% pure terror

Beta Reader Hall of Fame

Y'all, my beta readers deserve a monument. This month's MVP is Jennifer, who caught a plot hole so big you could drive a truck through it. Apparently I forgot that my protagonist was supposed to be allergic to strawberries, then had her eating strawberry shortcake in Chapter 22. Jennifer's note: "Unless she's trying to die dramatically, this seems wrong."

She was right. The strawberries have been changed to peaches. Crisis averted.

Upcoming Events

Save these dates! I'll be doing virtual events at: - March 1: Instagram Live Q&A about the writing process - March 15: Virtual book club visit (email me to sign up your club!) - April 1: Cover story workshop - how we created the design

And the BIG news: I'll be at BookExpo in May! If you're there, please come say hi. I'll be the author nervously eating all the free cookies and pretending I know what I'm doing.

This Month's Reads

Recent favorites from my towering TBR pile: - "The Ten Thousand Doors of January" by Alix E. Harrow – Portal fantasy perfection - "The City We Became" by N.K. Jemisin – Cities as people? Genius. - "Beach Read" by Emily Henry – Romance for people who claim they don't like romance

Real Talk Corner

Can I be vulnerable for a second? This whole "being an author" thing is terrifying. Some days I'm convinced everyone will hate the book. Other days I worry no one will read it at all. Most days I eat too much chocolate and stare at my inbox waiting for my editor to email saying "Just kidding about the whole publication thing!"

But then I get messages from you all – about how excited you are, how the preview chapters made you feel, how you've already told your book clubs about it – and I remember why I'm doing this.

So thank you. For being here, for caring, for pre-ordering (hint hint), and for making this dream feel real.

Sarah Chen
Soon-to-be-published author!

P.S. – Fitzgerald update: He's learned to sit on my keyboard right when I'm in the middle of emotional scenes. His Instagram followers think it's "adorable." I think it's "sabotage." The jury's still out.

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