The Countdown is on!

There’s something special about holding a proof copy in your hands for the first time.

After months of writing, rewriting, editing, and making tiny changes that probably no one else would ever notice, suddenly it’s real.

It’s no longer just a collection of chapters on my laptop.

It’s an actual book!

When the proof arrived this week, I did what every author does. I flicked through it, admired the cover for about five minutes, then immediately started hunting for typos.

Thankfully, there weren’t many. Everything looked perfect, and honestly the only thing that really stood out was the colour of my name on the cover. Apparently, I can spend months writing a novel but still obsess over one shade of blue! Back to the colour palette I go!

What most readers never see is just how much happens before a book reaches the shelves.

This story started as a simple idea: a luxury wedding in Margaret River, a missing family heirloom, and two people who would much rather not be working together. It sounded straightforward enough.

It wasn’t.

Some chapters were rewritten three or four times. Characters surprised me. Clues moved around. Entire conversations disappeared because they slowed the story down, while tiny moments I’d almost deleted somehow became my favourites.

But seeing a story on paper is completely different to reading it on a screen. Suddenly you notice things your eyes have skimmed over a dozen times before. A sentence that’s a little too long. A repeated word. A chapter break that isn’t quite in the right place.

I lost count of how many times I told myself, “Just one more read-through.”

Of course, it was never just one more.

And somewhere amongst all of that came the wonderful part.

The ARC readers. My amazing team of advance readers who happily tell me if they love it, if they hate it, or if I’ve accidentally used one too many Australian words that leave everyone else scratching their heads.

Watching the very first reviews appear has been equal parts exciting and nerve-racking.

Once readers have your book, it stops belonging only to you. They bring their own emotions, experiences and interpretations to the story, and that’s one of the things I love most about writing.

Now, somehow, we’re almost here.

In just a few days, Holly and Noah won’t just be characters I’ve been living with for months. They’ll be meeting readers all over the world.

That never stops feeling exciting.

So, thank you!

Whether you’ve been here since Van Life with Benefits, discovered me through Breathe and Let Go, or have only recently stumbled across my little corner of the internet, thank you for coming along for the ride.

I honestly can’t wait for you to visit Margaret River, meet Holly and Noah, and see if you can solve the mystery before they do.

Till Theft Do Us Part launches on 28 July 2026, and it’s available to pre-order now through major retailers (with Amazon joining on launch day).

I hope you love it as much as I loved writing it!

With gratitude,

Sarah

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