Sonya Rhen's Blog

Waiting for Spring has been nominated for Book of the Month from Long and Short Reviews. Voting runs from Thursday, August 1st through Friday, August 2nd, 2024. If you don’t miss the deadline, vote here: https://www.longandshortreviews.com/uncategorized/book-of-the-month-poll-which-book-do-you-think-is-best-based-on-the-review-19/

Long and Short Reviews gave me a Five Star review for Waiting for Spring. I was so surprised and pleased by this wonderful review. Here’s a snippet, “The chemistry between Shayla and her possible match made my heart flutter.” You can read the rest of it here: https://www.longandshortreviews.com/book-reviews/waiting-for-spring-by-sonya-rhen/

Not only that, the reviewer used my book for their Top Ten Tuesday article and wrote ‘Ten Things I Loved About Waiting for Spring‘ You can read that here (and don’t worry, there are no spoilers!): https://www.longandshortreviews.com/miscellaneous-musings/top-ten-tuesday-ten-things-i-loved-about-waiting-for-spring/

If you haven’t had the chance to read it, you can pick up your ebook of Waiting for Spring here:

Amazon KindleBarnes and NobleiTunesKoboGoogle Play

Thank you all for supporting this novelette, which has a fond place in my belly dancing heart! -Sonya

Waiting for Spring released on Monday this week. I’m so excited about my first traditional publication. This novelette eBook is available at the retailers listed below.

Amazon KindleBarnes and NobleiTunesKoboGoogle Play

What Waiting For Spring by Sonya Rhen is about.

Returning to belly dance at the annual Kirkland Crocus Parade with the Habibi Nile Dancers, Shayna vows to forget her breakup after last year’s parade and guard her fragile heart. However, her best friend is just as determined to find her a new love interest. Shayna would rather not think about matters of the heart and just concentrate on entertaining the spectators by dancing with her dignity intact. Which is harder than she thought. As the parade participants march on through Kirkland’s quaint downtown streets, the Easter Bunny, her fearless leader, her best friend, an eye-catching drummer, and a jelly-bean-tossing clown, might give Shayna a reason to open her heart…after all, spring is in the air!

Read the full review here:

Praise for Sonya Rhen

Don’t wait any longer! Get your copy today! Happy Spring!

Hello all and Happy Groundhog’s Day! I love this holiday! My father came from Pennsylvania and our family has celebrated this holiday ever since I was little (and long before the delightful movie of the same name!) If you’d like to see the ceremony, click on the YouTube link below.

Looks like Phil chose an early spring this year! And this spring brings my short story Waiting for Spring about a belly dancer in a parade with drummers and clowns! Stay tuned for the release date.

In the meantime, here are some reviews from my early readers. (Thanks all for your wonderful comments and taking the time to read my story!)

I loved this story! The vivid imagery of a chilly morning as a parade gets ready, and all the activities thereof, made me want to attend the Kirkland Crocus Parade and see all the participants. What a sweet salute to spring! —Eilis Flynn, author

Waiting for Spring is a whimsical meet cute which reminds me of all the things I love about my hometown.  It had me longing for Spring, dancing, and those moments of falling in love. 

—Alyda F.

Shayna dances in her small-town parade to celebrate spring—a time of renewal and rebirth, which she contemplates on a personal level. The story ends on a positive and hopeful romantic note. I felt like I was marching along the parade route beside Shayna. —Hallie Alexander, author

Fun, sweet and relatable, I enjoyed this story very much! Sonya does a wonderful job with the way she describes the characters and surroundings that really brings the story to life. —Jodey Mann

Spring is a time for new beginnings. Two near-strangers offer Shayna a chance at her own new beginning following a local parade. Pratfalls, posies, and poking pins will have you smiling with delight at this funny, sweet story. —Lynne Hancock Pearson, author

Rhen poignantly captures the awkwardness and longing that persist within our yearning to be loved and in love. Her prose sweeps you along with the rhythm of the dance, rooting for a mended heart, and yet you wonder, is Shayna trying too hard? The vulnerability portrayed is akin to a flower unfurling in the earliest days of spring. —Scott C.

The vivid description puts you in Kirkland, participating in the vibrant colors and hip swirls. Waiting for Spring shares the chill and warmth of the magical day, and then….and then, there is so much more. —Toni Kief, author

A cool spring day started with the doubt, fear and second-guessing of heartbreak until the willingness to be open makes an ordinary day a special one. Feel the warmth of friendship, respect and trust in this sweet story of letting love in again. —Kai Bertrand, author

The story is a sweet and refreshing romance. It made me nostalgic for pre pandemic days and hopeful for a brighter future filled with community. —T. Phenicie

Dripping in vibrant description and oozing with charm Waiting for Spring features a fun cast of characters and romantic suspense that will leave you wondering if your heart will match the exuberance of the playful characters you meet. With exciting linguistic flashes of color echoing our modern reading landscape and set amidst the Pacific North West’s Crocus festival, our dazzling heroine Shayna falls into unexpected meetings with new loves and shares all with friends and readers. Waiting for Spring is a delightful exposition of community and friends sharing possibilities of new love amidst a quirky and sincere backdrop. —Joshua P.

Waiting for Spring was such a fun, relatable read! The Author gives us a colorful slice of a young woman’s life, filled with sorrow, intrigue, laughter and leaves us filled with joy and hope! —

Hello all you fabulous readers out there. I have an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) for any of you that would like to write me a review of 2-3 sentences by February 1, 2024. It’s a 10,000 word sweet contemporary romance novelette with belly dancers and parades.

If you’re interested send me an email at SonyaRhen@sonyarhen and I can send you the details.

This short story should be out sometime in Spring 2024 as an ebook on Amazon. I had a lot of fun writing it and I hope you all enjoy it as well!

Happy Reading!

Wild Rose

Exciting new everyone! I have been offered a contract for one of my short stories from The Wild Rose Press. I look forward to sharing this story with you all as soon as it comes out.

My short story is a romance and features some of my favorite things: bellydancers, crocuses, Kirkland and clowns.

Yeah, I said it… clowns!

When I was little, I think my second or third crush was on the iconic Seattle kids morning show host, J.P. Patches of the J.P. Patches show. It was quite brilliant. I even saw him at Redmond Town Center when my kids were little. I was there with a bunch of other moms and probably grandmas. I think they were more excited by his appearance than the kids were.

I’ll keep you all posted on when this story will be available.

Happy Reading!

Sonya

Sonya Rhen at a book signing

Check out the last interview I did on Eilis Flynn’s blog “The Story Behind the Story”. She asked some great questions and I got to talk about my first book Space Tripping with the Shredded Orphans. I really enjoyed getting the chance to look back at this book and talk about it more in depth. You can see the whole article at the link below. Thanks, Eilis!

http://emsflynn.com/story-behind-the-story-space-tripping-with-the-shredded-orphans-by-sonya-rhen/

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Hey all! I’m super excited that I received an Honorable Mention from the 2nd quarter Writers of the Future Contest for 2020! The story I entered was my short story Port-A-Venture, which is really more like a bunch of short stories tied together. I’d like to publish it someday, but I’m not really sure what to do with it yet.

I’m so thrilled about this and can’t wait to submit more stories to them. Check out the list of winners here and more about the contest!

Another great post from fellow author, Stephanie Larkin – via Bridging the Divide

I didn’t write this post, but I completely agree with what my fellow author, Stephanie Larkin, has to say.  Check out her post via What Stories Can Writers Tell?

A fun night at Brick & Mortar Books in Redmond!

Rachel Author Barnard

20+ authors pitched their books last Thursday! It was such a fun night. This event happens quarterly so you may have another chance to see me at Brick & Mortar Books in Redmond this year!

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