About the Author: Rea Frey
What would you like readers to know about you?
I am always a reader first. I found my love of writing through reading and was once told to write the type of books I love to read... which is now what I strive to do. I also straddle the line between being an author and helping other authors get published, so I find myself on all sides of this business.
What music do you listen to (if any) when you write?
I used to listen to Spotify playlists ranging from Billie Holiday to Asadi. Then I switched over to binaural beats and music tuned to a specific hertz. Now, I don’t write with music at all! I find I can get in a better flow without it. My husband often jokes that when I am writing, he could be on fire and I wouldn’t notice.
What books or authors inspired you to become a writer?
Growing up, I was surrounded by books. Alice Walker. Zora Neale Hurston. James Joyce. Slyvia Plath. George Eliot. Shel Silverstein. R.L. Stine. Beverly Cleary. I loved how each book, each author, each story was so wildly different. When I first started writing, it was simply to capture my day by way of journaling. But then I saw what words could do, and I wanted to make others feel what I felt when I read something good. But my biggest inspiration has been my dad! He’s a phenomenal writer and gave me the love of both reading and writing.
About the Book: The Other Year
What is your book about for those who haven’t read it?
On a coveted two-week beach vacation, working mom Kate Baker’s nine-year-old daughter, Olivia, vanishes suddenly among the waves—a heart-dropping single moment that threatens to uproot her entire reality. But in the next moment, Olivia resurfaces, joyously splashing.
What would I do if she didn’t come up? Kate wonders. How would I live without her?
In another set of circumstances that hold a different fate, Kate doesn’t have to wonder. Because in that “other” world, in the pulse-pounding seconds after Olivia goes under, she doesn’t come back up.
Told in parallel timelines, Kate begins to live two lives—one in which Olivia resurfaces and one in which she doesn’t. In the reality that follows her daughter’s death, she maneuvers through every mother’s worst nightmare, facing grief, rage, and the question of purpose in the aftermath of such profound loss. She endures, day by day, in a world without her daughter.
In her alternate timeline, while she explores a tremulous romance with her best friend, Jason, she finds herself grappling with the ex-husband who abandoned Kate and Olivia years prior. Even as Kate scrambles to hold her daughter close, Olivia pulls further away. The line between joy and loss seems to get thinner with each passing day.
Woven into a single story, both Kates discover a breathtaking finality to their respective journeys. Bringing to light the drastic polarities dire circumstances often create, The Other Year explores truths about love, loss, and the sharp turns any life can take in the blink of an eye.
What has been your inspiration for writing it?
A couple of years ago, I was standing on the beach with my daughter and I thought, “What would I do if something happened to her?” I never planned on becoming a parent, and when I did, it took a moment to find my footing. (Now, my daughter is almost 11 and I can’t imagine a life without her.) I wanted to put a mother in that position–losing her daughter and not losing her daughter to see how her worlds would merge or differ.
What was your favorite scene or part of your book to write?
I’m a suspense writer by nature, so the opening scene when Liv vanishes beneath the waves was a heart-pounding scene to create. I love a good prologue.
Where can your book be purchased?
Anywhere books are sold, though I always like to encourage people to purchase or request from their local bookstore whenever possible!
To the Future Writer:
What advice would you give to aspiring authors who want to write a book?
Learn everything you can about the business. How it works. How to get published. How to make money, then how to make good money. How to build readers. How to connect with authors. We focus so much on the craft and not enough on how to make a career from what we love.
What’s next for you? Any events, upcoming pubs, etc.
My book hits bookstores 8.15.23 and I am going to be doing a ton of events, which will be posted on my website! I also have a thriller, Don’t Forget Me, that releases 1.9.24, so I have two close releases I’m excited about!
Where can we find you:
Instagram- instagram.com/reafreyauthor
Website- reafrey.com
What’s on your TBR list?
I am just finishing up Julia Bartz’s The Writing Retreat, which is so fabulous, and I’m excited about Christina Lauren's new book, The True Love Experiment!
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