Vendor
	Mohrbooks Literary Agency Sebastian Ritscher
Categories
Romance

WHENEVER YOU'RE READY

Rachel Runya Katz

After reconnecting on a road trip, two friends must decide if love is the ultimate risk worth taking in this funny, emotional sapphic romance.

Nia and Jade had been inseparable ever since their best friend, Michal, introduced them at her tenth birthday party. But now it's been three years since Michal died of cancer since the brutal fight Nia and Jade had in the weeks after and they're barely on speaking terms. Until Nia reads a letter Michal wrote for her 29th birthday, asking her and Jade to go on the southern Jewish history road trip they'd planned before she died. To add to the complications, Michal's then-boyfriend and Jade's twin brother, Jonah, joins the trip. Despite the years apart and Jade and Jonah's strained relationship, any awkwardness quickly disappears as it becomes clear how much Nia and Jade have missed each other. Unfortunately, old issues soon arise. Nia has been in love with Jade since they were teenagers, and Jade has been so committed to their friendship that she never let herself consider something more. As the stops pass, tensions mount, running high until Nia and Jade are forced to confront what happened three years ago, their feelings for one another, and even their respective relationships with Jonah. Rachel Runya Katz's Whenever You're Ready is about family, friendship, and the kind of first love that could last a lifetimeif only you are willing to take a chance. RACHEL RUNYA KATZ is a contemporary romance writer living in Seattle with her partner, her cat, and far too many houseplants. She has a PhD in biomedical engineering, which is minimally helpful for this endeavor. Her books center queer Jews of color and their layered lives of joy, sadness, and love. She is the author of Thank You for Sharing.

Available products
Book Published 2024-10-09 by St. Martin's Griffin

Comments

Rachel Runya Katz has done the seemingly impossible with this book: she's written a contemplation on grief, an ode to childhood friendships, a summer road-trip adventure, and a slow-burn sapphic romance all in one. It was an honor to join Jade, Nia, and Jonah on their journey through the history of Jews of color in the South and through their personal history with each other. I fell in love with the beautifully grounded characters, the celebration of queer and Jewish joy, and the oh-so-satisfying romance. Poignant, tender, and swoony, Whenever You're Ready is an instant favorite from an auto-buy author.

Reminiscent of the works of Casey McQuiston and Becky Albertalli, this will resonate with fans of character-driven queer romance and anyone seeking a nuanced portrayal of loss and healing.

Whenever You're Ready is a deeply felt meditation on the intertwining of grief and love: how both can weave our complicated webs of friendship, family, and romance. Jade, Nia, and Jonah's road trip is a complex journey of personal and cultural history, and the miles they travel bring each of them closer to the courage they need to fully embrace that love, both for each other and themselves, even in the midst of the grief. A moving, singular read.

This slow-burn childhood-friends-to-lovers romance novel that grapples with history is a compelling pick for fans of the genre.

Is it okay to say that Rachel Runya Katz's characters are always so hot to me? The slow burn tension between Jade and Nia in Whenever You're Ready was off the charts. But more than that, Katz always creates such believable, relatable friend groups, grounded in their relationships with each other and their relationship to the world around them. I adore this author's mind!

So, brace yourself for a lengthy slow burn. Don't worry, though, the journey to a happy ending is sweet, with more than a little heat (including a scene that somehow makes sunscreen applications seem unbearably sexy).

An emotional romance buttressed by strong themes of history, trauma, loss, and identity.

Whenever You're Ready cements Rachel Runya Katz as one of the freshest and most electrifying voices in romance. Nia and Jade's lived-in intimacy and searing connection will have friends-to-lovers fans swooning. I can't wait to shove this book into the hands of everyone I know.

This book is sexitragic at its finest hour. Reader, you aren't ready, nor could you ever possibly be ready, for this level of exquisitely painful, precisely witty, perfectly calibrated hornysadness. Whenever You're Ready will lovingly rip your heart out and set it on fire, then leave you aching to read it all over again from the beginning.