Sunday Edition: Adding "Sunset Gazing" to My Evening Ritual

Feels a lot like spring.

The Sunday Edition is Tuesday’s little sister—off-the-cuff updates I’d bring up over a coffee catch-up with a friend.

Not to be a total Portlander, but it feels like there’s hardly anything worth reporting other than the fact that it has been beautiful the past few days. The clouds parted, unveiling 70° weather and sunny skies all weekend. On Friday, I played hooky to hike one of my favorite trails in the Columbia River Gorge, Dog Mountain. It’s only an hour from my house, and offers some of the most breathtaking views. Afterwards I came home to work for the afternoon, then biked to a park to read until sunset, which is officially my new Friday night ritual—as long as this weather holds. Otherwise, this week has been all about getting back into the post-travel flow…

• Some very exciting news… Reviews and blurbs for my debut novel You’re Safe Here (out June 25th) have been rolling in and I just got such a beautiful review from Booklist! It doesn’t go live until April, but they said I can share a pull quote here, “Stephens' debut novel is dystopia at its best… You’re Safe Here is a brilliant book which explores several themes at once, never losing a beat while doing so.” DYSTOPIA AT ITS BEST! Somebody pinch me! I also had a publicity call where I nailed down some cities and dates for my book tour—details coming soon. Until then you can preorder it here!