✨✨ Dizzyingly excited I finally get to announce news I have been sitting on since March 2023!!!! ✨✨
When I tell you this book bas been a JOURNEY! I will absolutely get into the details soon (I feel like a video is required for *details* but I’m also so old now and have been off Instagram so long I don’t know how to make a reel haha), but the gist of it is I wrote an adult romance when I was meant to be writing a YA fantasy because I was having a dark time and needed some fun in my life.
So obviously I ended up with a story about grief and burnout and generational trauma which manifests literally in the form of ancestral spirits 😅
But this book is also sexy and playful and whimsical and big-hearted, just all the wild ups and downs and round abouts of life and love, and I really am so giddy for you to all read it!
More to come soon! ♥️
🎉 HAPPY BOOK BIRTHDAY TO MEEEEE 🎉
I’m currently rushing through the airport to catch my flight from Paris to Washington, DC, so I’ll keep this brief! Just wanted to say thank you so much to everyone who has read, reviewed, talked about or just taken any interest in GIRLS OF PAPER AND FIRE. This book means so much to me, and your support means the world. This is a book about girls empowering girls. I think that’s something we need more of, especially right now, so please do pick up a copy if this is an important issue to you too! And if not, the story also contains magic, demons, an Asian-inspired fantasy world and battles in the sky, so hopefully there’s something in there you might enjoy! Shopping links in my bio, or enquirer at your favourite indie bookshop! More to come over the next couple of weeks as I tour the US, but for now another huge THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! 🙌🏼🌟🥂
I still don’t have the words to express what this means to me. Yesterday afternoon in a yet another hotel room, I was in the middle of a post-anxiety nap after a horribly turbulent flight through a snowstorm when my phone started ringing. I woke up to a flurry of notifications, one of which was my editor who just typed in all caps, YOU ARE A NYT BESTSELLER! I haven’t stopped screaming/crying since then. My book - an angry, feminist YA book about queer asian girls resisting their abuser and taking down the patriarchy - made the NYT list. I still can’t believe it 😩😍 Thank you to everyone who made this happen. My incredible team at @jimmypattersonbooks for championing this book from the get go and working tirelessly to get it into readers’ hands. Super agent @tayhaggerty at @rootliterary for being GIRLS’ fierce cheerleader and never giving up on us. And thank you to every single amazing writer and reader who has talked about this book, bought copies, and supported me in this 4 year-long journey. YOU are why this has happened. I’ll never be able to thank you enough 😭🙏🏻💕💕💕💕
💖 The years change but the selfies remain the same 💖
Love her more and more every day. Even on the days where she is being a dramatic lady and needs all of the attention, which is always a day I have a lot to do and minimal spoons. She reminds me to exist outside of myself and makes my heart burst with how much she trusts me, even though I am the administer of much medicine and taker of trips to the vet. Watching her run through fields and be the happiest little dog is my eternal privilege. I want to listen to her snore forever.
Nova, Nono, Noonoo, Nouche, Nouchette, Nouchetta Bruscetta, Bichette, Bibou, Bean, Jelly Bean, Jelly Baby, Little Lady. Love you ♥️
I’ve been having such a good reading run recently and had to share a few of my recent favourites that made my heart SO full, made me laugh and cry, gave me worlds and characters to disappear into and band behind, stories that I came away from blinking into the same world but feeling changed, looking around with me with eyes that seemed to catch just a little more glimmer than before ✨✨✨
Swipe through to see my thoughts on each book!
💋 LAST FIRST KISS by @wintersjulian
🌍 LESS by @asgreer
🍹 THE LOVE HATERS by @katherinecenter
🦜 STILL LIFE by Sarah Winman
What have some of your recent feel-good reads been? I’ve now dipped into a dark mystery/crime binge ahah, but with spring in full bloom I’m wanting some more uplifting stories!
💫🐠 Film from Sardinia 25 🐠💫
I rarely go on trips anymore because of my health issues, so when I do it feels extra special. I learned recently that Sardinia is a Blue Zone (places in the world where people live much longer than average, often reaching 100+), and truly that makes sense given the unique magic of the island. Roads that wind through mountain ranges so tall your ears pop. Warm seas. Gentle currents. Hazy meadows and ancient rocks and olive groves which whisper secret histories into your ear.
If you’re planning a visit, I highly recommend splitting your time between the southern shore and northern mountains. Particularly recommend @gallicantu in the north. This was such a lucky find. Small hotels are my absolute favourite and Gallicantu is a place you’ll instantly feel welcome and at peace. If I could I’d go there to write every year! Not an ad, just genuinely fell in love with this place.
Extra love to @farahasifofficial who invited us for a very special celebration on the island. There’s nothing better to share with friends than love and laughter.
Anyway I need to dive back into the writing cave, but something about spring weather always gets me feeling sentimental about warmer days 💛 sending love x
(PS camera is Holga from #heylomography)
Kicked off this year with an operation for endometriosis. It was meant to be a straightforward procedure but ended up with nine organs being operated on, multiple complications, triggering old traumas, and a storm of physical and mental issues because my little EDS body and mind was so stressed. Truly the hardest thing I’ve ever done and it took so much out of me. I’m still recovering. But also so grateful to be here and getting a little stronger each month.
And I got to end the year in such a beautiful way with our first proper holiday in years with some gorgeous friends celebrating life and love 🩵
I’m so excited for what 2026 has in store. These past few years have really forced me to confront myself: what kind of life do I want to build, how do I want to spend my precious time on this earth? And honestly, I want to just keep doing much of what I already am. Laughing with friends. Watching Nova be the happy, free dog she is. Writing books that are meaningful to me, and I hope will be meaningful for others. Time in nature. Loving the people I love, and knowing just how lucky I am to be loved by them. And every possible moment, always choosing joy.
Wishing you all a magical 2026 ✨✨
It’s so easy to flick through these pictures and videos and see an easy, sunshiney year, but in truth these days were few and far between. I was mostly at home rewriting an entire draft (first time I’ve had to do that, and it was both so necessary and SO painful) and dealing with health issues that only got diagnosed towards the end of the year.
But I’m so grateful for these bright moments 🌞 as hard as life is, it is also just so damn beautiful.
This year was a mix of gorgeous moments with friends and hiding away at home or in nature, working and healing. So appreciative of the beautiful places around me - I’m happy every day we made the decision to move from Paris. Here I can live quietly and calmly, at the pace I need.
Book things were super exciting this year! I’ll be able to share more soon as we announce in January, but I got a new book deal, so I spent most of the year on my laptop, chasing the blank page ✍️
I went to post an update of these four years I’ve been off social media and realised it didn’t fit into one post 😅 so here’s one for every year!
Honestly 2022 was actually a lovely year for the most part looking back, with many visits from friend and family, but at the time I was still healing from health things and had difficult losses to handle, so it felt rough.
I was also between contracts, so it was a year of finding the right book to write, not just what I felt I should be writing. It took me most of the year, but at the end I was super excited with a shiny new proposal for my agent 🥰
She’s here! The last book in the GIRLS series, and just like that the trilogy is complete. My journey with these girls has been the biggest rollercoaster of my life. I’ve lived the most incredible moments and struggled through some of my hardest battles yet. But throughout it all, you, my dear readers and supporters, have been there, championing me - us - on. I am so proud of the things we’ve achieved. Your messages mean so much to me. I will treasure your words and stories always, and I hope we’ll keep journeying together with future books! ♥️
#girlsoffateandfury#girlsofstormandshadow#girlsofpaperandfire#natashangan
