Their year: 2025

What are my characters up to in this moment in time?

I’m currently working on the sequel to Heartwaves. It’s about a farmer and a fisherman (but the fisherman is mostly a writer), and it might be the slowest I’ve ever drafted anything. But maybe I always feel that way when drafting. Regardless, I’m hoping to get it to you sometime in 2026. (This is Luca’s book, for those of you who have read Heartwaves.)

My Greyfin Bay/Heartwaves world, while set on the Oregon Coast, exists in the same universe as my first series, even if the first series mostly takes place in California and Nashville. At the same time that I want each book to stand on their own, I like to picture all of my books taking place in the same universe, really: there is something comforting about it to me, something that tethers each book to the other that helps ground me. I’m sure this has something to do with historical romance, and the way it frequently functions in series of interconnected characters, being one of my first true loves/gateways into the genre. (See also: contemporary series like Game Changers!)

Especially in Greyfin Bay, as I’m self-pubbing and can do whatever I want, I like playing around with previous characters and worlds. Mae and Dell, in Heartwaves, in addition to having a connection to my Nashville characters, also visit Moonie’s, the karaoke bar from my Moonlighters novella series. The karaoke scene in their book was pivotal to their plot, but it also just made me happy.

I have written what I think are three true stand-alones: Donut Summer (which I was truly honored to see on School Library Journal’s Best Books of 2025, as well as on this stunning list of 100 trans debuts from 2025 from Jen St. Jude and the Chicago Review of Books [as this was my first young adult book it can technically be considered a debut]); the comic shop romance that died on sub last year (although I technically have not finished writing this one, but I hope to someday); and the book I currently have on sub (which I love, and which is fully finished, so I’ll definitely get it to you someday, even if it doesn’t sell). (Sorry for that truly horrifying construction of a sentence. If one could call it that.) Even these though, while not explicitly connected to any of my previous books, I like to picture in the same universe: that Penny Dexter could walk by Dahlia Woodson on the street someday, or maybe take a college class with Ben’s younger sister Carolina.

The current WIP is especially intertwined because the plot of Farm Book (as I have been calling it) largely revolves around the wedding of Alexei Lebedev and Ben Caravalho, which is to take place on said farm. (I should note that this really is just a catalyst for the actual MCs, largely the farmer who is completely unprepared to actually host a wedding at his small farm and who desperately needs help, which arrives in the form of the fisherman who doesn’t want to be a fisherman anymore and has been searching for a fresh start. It’s their book, not Lex and Ben’s, but Lex and Ben do show up.) And there was a certain point in drafting a month or so ago when I was trying to remember some details about Ben and Lex’s life, and wondering timeline-wise what all the other people on their wedding guest list would be up to at this moment in time, and it was at that point I realized:

1) I have really written about a lot of characters these last few years, and

2) I had forgotten a lot of shit.

And so, I took a complete break from drafting to sit down and make a definitive timeline of my universe. Starting off with Love & Other Disasters, presuming that it took place in 2022, the year it was published, followed by each subsequent book and set of characters until I had a somewhat steadier vision of where everyone is now. This was extremely helpful for drafting the current WIP, but also ended up being helpful for me, as I have struggled so much both writing and mental health-wise after two years of rejection. Of having my previous body of work dismissed so casually on phone calls that made me feel so small. It was nice to look through all my previous books again just for me, to remember these people that I had created, that it turns out, I still love. But of course I do. You don’t make something out of nothing without a lot of love.

It also occurred to me that it might make a nice end-of-year tradition for my readers, too—catching up with where my characters are now, at this current moment in time.

It does occur to me, of course, that doing so will be a major spoiler fest if you have not read all of the books!! (And I know sometimes even readers who have read books don’t like knowing what happens to the characters within later on, that it can ruin a bit of the magic and the completeness of the book, which I also understand.) It’s possible this idea in general is not a good one, but—I love when an author has a yearly tradition (I used to so look forward to Cat Sebastian’s Christmas epilogues), and I think this one will make me happy, so here I am.

Accordingly, feel free to skip the rest of this email entirely, especially for any brand new readers who may have made their way here recently, or to scan to only the characters you know and care about. But you’re all adults who can handle this newsletter however you want; I think that’s enough disclaimers for now, yeah? Here’s what’s going on with my people.

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As seen in the epilogue for How You Get the Girl, Dahlia and London have just gotten married this fall. It was beautiful and wonderful: Julie and Hank gave speeches; Barbara was their officiant; London’s top surgery scars were well-healed and they felt very much themself on their wedding day; Dahlia wore peach-colored roses in her voluminous hair.

They are currently planning on taking their honeymoon in spring of 2026, a meandering tour through Spain, France, and Italy. Basically, all the places with the food they most want to eat. They still live in Nashville with Schnitzel the ugly one-eyed dog in their apartment in 12 South. London still works in the music studio and Dahlia does her food writing and cooking videos, including her original channel on YouTube, though she’s experimenting more with TikTok. She’s also trying to think of more ways to push her platform and her work beyond just recipes and reviews and personal essays, maybe working on series that highlight the stories of local farmers or food production, or food origins and evolutions.

QueerOut celebrated its third summer in 2025 as a camp for queer youth, focused mostly on cooking and other real-life skills meant to empower. London, and Dahlia, are still involved, especially when it comes to fundraising as they’re the ones who still have a glimmer of star power, but mostly they leave its operation to its talented staff.

How they celebrate the holidays: They spend most of December in Nashville, celebrating Christmas Day at the Parker family home. But while Dahlia still loves Nashville, even with all its complexities, as she gets older she increasingly misses Massachusetts, where she was born and raised, especially around the holidays. And so London and Dahlia have started a tradition of leaving for New England on Boxing Day. They spend a few days with Dahlia’s parents in New Bedford before spending New Years in Boston with Hank. London feels more attached to New England with each visit too; they are currently crafting a plan of buying a vacation home somewhere in the region to surprise Dahlia with. (Dahlia will feel kind of disgusted at the luxury of having two homes but will also really, really love it.)

2025 marks Ben’s first full year of living with Alexei in Portland, Oregon. Alexei is still working for the Forest Service, although it has been a stressful year with government layoffs: especially as a provisional employee, every day he wakes up holding his breath, praying Russell Vought lets him survive another day. Somehow, by the end of the year, he’s still employed, but it’s been hard, too, watching the Forest Service scrub any mention of diversity, equity, and inclusion from its policies. To go from having his dream job, and being able to be his full self at his dream job, to the world saying jk. Your identity here actually isn’t welcomed at all. But this is the way of any progress in the world, he knows: two steps forward, three steps back. [Sorry to bring Russell Vought into this made-up world; I know, I’m a sick fuck.]

His work life is made manageable, though, by his friend and coworker, Rex, who complains, loudly and inappropriately both at the office and outside of it, about all the changes wrecking their jobs and, accordingly, our nation’s forests and ecosystems. Even though they are really, really not supposed to do so: a small act of rebellion Alexei admires and takes comfort from. And, of course, it’s made better by being able to come home each day to Ben.

Ben has secured a job as a home health nurse, and he is, frankly, rather obsessed with it. He’s honored by the privilege of being able to serve his patients in their homes, to have such intimate access to their lives and communities while helping them be the most comfortable they can; he loves the independence of it, even while still being beholden to his agency, but he likes his boss, and thinks his boss likes him. Even as much as Ben does miss Ted, his old boss in Nashville at Lakeview Hills, and the patients he cared for there.

Ben and Lex still live in their apartment in Southeast Portland (though they often dream of buying a house); they hike every opportunity they can with their dog, Delilah, from the river gorge to the mountain to the high desert to the coast.

What has been most important and life-changing for Alexei in particular this year is the community he and Ben have found. Through the new church Alexei has started attending, he meets Jesús and Steve, an older gay couple. They invite him back to their house for lunch each Sunday post-church, and after only a short amount of time, they feel like both friends and the parental figures Alexei still needs. Eventually, both Ben and Lex fall into Jesús and Steve’s wider friend group, which includes a variety of queers of all ages and identities. Ben particularly clicks with Mae, Jesús’s best friend and co-worker at a local queer community center.

Also. Ben and Lex have been watching Heated Rivalry (the whole gang has, including London and Dahlia), and Alexei is, obviously, having a lot of feelings about Ilya Rozanov’s story. Ilya’s story is not his, of course, but there is enough there to reach inside his guts and twist a bit. (He also wishes the cokehead brother in the show wasn’t named Alexei, but he tries to not take it personally. At the same time, he gets a little thrill whenever he hears Ilya say his name in Russian, so. It’s a whole complex journey.) Ben is increasingly concerned for him as the series continues—Ben kind of crawls out of his skin with anxiety during Episode 5—but Alexei assures him he is fine. And he is. It’s a lot. But things like having Jesús and Steve now, and very sincerely, Heated Rivalry, help Alexei feel better and better each and every day.

How they celebrate the holidays: They fly back to Nashville, staying at Iris and Luiz’s house (they’ve kept Ben’s bed set up in the basement for when they visit), with frequent visits to Julie and Elle’s house as well. Alexei has developed increasing guilt, though, about leaving Alina alone at the holidays; she has been on her own personal journey with their parents, their faith, and herself. Ben and Lex discuss on the plane ride home this year the idea of inviting Alina to Nashville next Christmas.

Ben also spends a lot of the plane ride contemplating how exactly he’s going to propose to Alexei next year. Really, he’s been contemplating it for what feels like forever. He kept wanting to wait until he felt steadier on his own two feet, settled into his new job and life in Portland. But whether he’s steadier or not (he totally is), he’s tired of waiting. 2026 is for finally biting the bullet and planning whatever kind of wedding Alexei Lebedev wants.

Phewwwww, so 2025 has been kind of a LOT for Julie Parker, who has just completed her first fall of being a counselor at East Nashville High while also taking classes at night. The learning curve is STEEP, and is not helped by the fact that she often comes home to an empty house because Elle is also in school several hours away in Chattanooga, and basketball season has just started hahaha and she might be losing her mind!! (A new English teacher at the school, Mr. Tyler, has taken Elle’s place as Julie’s assistant coach; they have become fast friends through 1) their love of basketball, and 2) the bonding stress of surviving a school year as newbies in the building. They are both still absolutely terrified of Dr. Jones, their principal. But Julie is pretty sure Iris Caravalho [who still subs in for the secretaries sometimes] bullied everyone in the office to be nice to her, so at least there’s that.)

And yet: even with the struggle, every day for both Julie and Elle is approximately a hundred times more fulfilling than their days were before they found each other. Even if Elle still occasionally struggles with bad brain days. Vanessa is still living with her mom, but she maintains a close relationship with Julie and Elle. (And she is still on the basketball team.) Elle has learned that a lot of maintaining a relationship with Vanessa and Karly involves biting her tongue: she is constantly worried, does not always approve of choices that are made, but she is still grateful for her relationship with Vanessa and knows she has to be quiet sometimes to hold on to that. Family is complicated, and they’re all navigating as best they can.

Like everyone else this holiday season, Julie and Elle are also all-in on Heated Rivalry; Julie is particularly obsessed and feels like it’s been a gift sent from above for both her brain and her heart after a stressful as hell year. She feels confused about how into both Ilya Rozanov and Shane Hollander she is, and is considering adding them to her List of Men She Has Definitely Been Attracted To list, bringing the grand total from one (1) [Manny Jacinto] to three (3). She also worries out loud a few times about it being problematic that she’s so into it, at which Elle pats her knee and tells her to stop thinking so hard. It’s a shitshow out there for queer people and they can take their joy where they can get it.

Elle will later ask, out of pure curiosity, if Julie is still attracted to Svetlana most of all, to which Julie will answer without hesitation, “Well, obviously,” and Elle will pat her knee again and smile.

(While Julie obviously contributes to the group chat about the show, she and Ben start a separate private chat where 1) they can share what actual freaks they have become, without revealing the disturbing depths of it to their partners and families; 2) Ben can do so in a space where he can temporarily set his concern for Alexei aside. Even though Ben has kept his word and kept their friendship alive even after moving to Portland, it’s these Heated Rivalry chats that make Julie feel closer to him than she has all year.)

How they spend the holidays: Somewhat chaotically, they split their time at Christmas between the Parker family home, Elle’s mom’s house, Vanessa and Karly’s, and the Caravalhos’. But for the rest of winter break, they savor both being able to breathe together for a little while in Nashville, watching and playing basketball and cuddling with Snoozles. Among other activities.

(Speaking of basketball, they both found it absolute bullshit when the WNBA announced their expansion markets earlier this year and Nashville wasn’t one of them, but in Pat Summitt’s honor, they are still holding out hope. They would also accept an NWSL team. Also, a PWHL team. For the love of god, give the queers of Tennessee something.)

Once I compiled my timeline, I realized that the actions within Heartwaves actually have to take place in 2026. Which is okay! Because for those who haven’t read it, I can now fill you in on the backstory that eventually leads to Mae Kellerman and Dell McCleary meeting.

Mae (she/they) works as a social worker at the queer community center where they’ve been for years, alongside their best friend Jesús. While surviving 2025 has been hard—the center has lost a few essential grants—Mae feels more grateful than ever for their own queer community. They have a particularly warm spot in their heart for the new additions to the friend group, Ben and Alexei, even though they’re like a decade younger than her. There’s something about the earnest sweetness and youth of them that gives her some hope in the middle of our politically dark fucking times.

Mae also spends a decent chunk of the year, what will later feel like an absolutely dumb amount of time, in a relationship with a woman named Eden. Until, after five months, they discover that Eden has been married, to a man—with a kid!—the whole time. Mae’s friends are all concerned for them, after, but the absurdity and the cliché of the betrayal is so huge that somehow Mae’s able to get over it relatively quickly. Or, maybe, she had never been as invested in the relationship as she should have been. She feels tired, in general, these days: burnt out on social work, no matter how much she loves the center. Exhausted by surviving the cruelty of the world. The only things that seem to bring her comfort lately are her friends and her ever-expanding collection of house plants.

Meanwhile, in Greyfin Bay…Dell McCleary is practicing some low-key conservation-focused real estate, building an ADU in his backyard for his mom, and maintaining a once-a-month (or so) sexual relationship with Luca Yaeger, whenever Luca is available in town and not off on a fishing trip. Even though they’ve both agreed to keep it casual, Dell finds himself developing more feelings for Luca each time they meet—as is wont to happen—even though neither men have made any move to actually deepen the relationship. Dell is still suffering from PTSD from a random act of violence that happened to him in Portland years earlier; it’s what prompted him to move to Greyfin Bay. It’s also made him very weary of trusting people. Other than Luca, he spends most of his time in his house or his woodworking workshop with his dogs, Crosby, Stills, and Nash.

Until earlier this year, when Liv Gallagher, the butch lesbian who owns the IGA and Dell’s one possible friend in Greyfin Bay, convinced him to finally add a Young to his pack. Young is a collie mix with entirely too much energy, and Dell spends a lot of the year trying to get her adjusted to the rest of the pack. Still doesn’t trust her enough to bring her on his off-leash runs on the beach, though.

How they spend their holidays: Dell flies to his hometown in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to spend a week or so with his mom. Driving to PDX for these holiday visits are the only times he ever allows himself to get close to Portland city limits now. Mae spends Christmas Day with her parents, who live in an assisted living facility in Lincoln City, before returning to Portland to party (like, in a chill but still joyful way; she’s too old for anything more these days) with her friends for New Years. They end up spending most of it rewatching Episode 6 of Heated Rivalry multiple times while eating treats from Trader Joe’s and crying a little bit together, because at the end of 2025, all of them, like all of us, deserve only soft things.

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I have also during this process finally finalized my characters’ birthdays, something that has, for whatever reason, never crossed my brain before to do, even while seeing every other author on the internet posting about their characters’ astrological signs. Which, I should say—while I had reasons for some of these choices, I did not think about astrology at all. So if you totally disagree with whatever signs I have happened to assign to my people, I’m sorry. lol.

But just in case you’re curious, in order of the year:

Dahlia Woodson: January 18th (turned 31 this year)

Elle Cochrane: February 13th (turned 33 this year)

Alexei Lebedev: March 7th (turned 31 this year)

London & Julie Parker: April 6th (turned 29 this year)

Mae Kellerman: June 11th (turned 40 this year)

Dell McCleary: June 29th (turned 41 this year)

Ben Caravalho: October 5th (turned 29 this year)

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I didn’t write here about what my Moonie’s characters are up to, as this was already quite long and I worried it’d be too much (but I’d be happy to dive into that next year if folks wanted it).

I also didn’t include Penny or Mateo from Donut Summer. There is something about them being so young that makes me hesitant to ever dive publicly into what I think happens next for them. Their future is so wide open; I want to keep whatever possibilities await them in the minds of their readers.

Thanks for being part of this little writing exercise of mine! I hope your 2026 is full of much more light than we had in 2025. I can’t wait to, hopefully, have even more characters to fill you in on next year.

xo

anita

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Buy Love & Other Disasters * Buy Something Wild & Wonderful * Buy How You Get the Girl * Buy Heartwaves * Buy Donut Summer