Rea Frey
Author Interview - Rea Frey
Author of Secrets Of Our House and The Other Year and In Every Life
About In Every Life:
What happens when a husband's dying wish is for his wife to find a new love . . . before he's even gone?
Ben and Harper have had a rough start to their marriage. After a surprise late-stage cancer diagnosis, Ben comes up with one final wish for his wife: he wants Harper to find a new partner before he dies. Harper is resistant to this wacky plan. If she can't have Ben, then she doesn't want anyone. Finally, he lets it drop, but not before the New York Times sends a journalist to do a feature story about Ben's life . . . and his idea. When Harper opens the door, she is stunned to find the one man who got away. Or, the man she spent one perfect week with a decade ago and never saw again: Liam Hale.
Suddenly, Harper is faced with her ultimate what-if:
What if Harper had ended up with Liam instead of Ben?
What if she'd pursued life as an artist instead of teaching?
What if it had all turned out differently?
After making a wish, Harper wakes up to find herself in a parallel universe . . . where her what-ifs become a reality.
Author Interview - Rea Frey
About The Other Year:
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.
Author Interview - Rea Frey
Author I draw inspiration from:
2024: Annabel Monaghan--I loved Nora Goes Off Script; it felt so fresh and authentic. Anything by Rebecca Serle, Abby Jimenez, Kimberly Belle, Megan Miranda, or Katherine Center.
2022: Nonfiction: Tosha Silver ; Fiction: Megan Miranda
Author Interview - Rea Frey | Author I Draw Inspiration From
Favorite place to read a book:
2024: Out by my pool or in bed!
2022: Epsom salt bath with candles and a hot cup of tea
Book character I’d like to be stuck in an elevator with:
2024: The nameless protagonist in Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man. I would see him, honor him, and acknowledge him. I would make him understand that he is not invisible. One of my biggest childhood "wounds" was not feeling seen. I think, at the core, we all want to feel seen, and I've learned the only way to really do that is by seeing yourself first.
2022: Currently: Joe Goldberg from You by Caroline Kepnes; Historically: Celie from The Color Purple
Author Interview - Rea Frey | Book Character I’d Like to be Stuck in an Elevator With
The moment I knew I wanted to become an author:
2024: I was already at college studying creative writing, but I'm not sure I really believed that I could become a successful author. Then, one of my professors from Ireland, Antonia Logue, who had won all sorts of awards for her book, Shadow-box, took me under her wing. She helped me believe that it was possible, that I could really do this. I was a competitive boxer at the time and when her book fell into my hands, I literally thought, "If she can do this, then so can I." So I did.
2022: When I was a teenager, I used to write love letters. When I saw what the power of words could do--how it could make someone feel, how it could make someone respond--I knew I wanted to do that on a much larger scale.
Hardback, paperback, ebook or audiobook:
2024: Paperback--easy to travel or toss in a bag! This is insane to say, but I have never read an ebook! I know Kindles are great and they save the planet, but I have to physically hold a book in my hands!
2022: Hardback (I have never read an ebook!)
The last book I read:
2024: Nonfiction: Fast Like a Girl by Dr. Mindy Pelz. This book is life-changing for women who want to ease chronic conditions and take control of their hormonal health by learning to fast the right way. Fiction: The Rom-Commers by Katherine Center. I love how hopeful and light Katherine's books are, but how they always have such heart and deep messages at their core.
2022: Everything We Didn't Say by Nicole Baart
Author Interview - Rea Frey | The Last Book I Read
Pen & paper or computer:
2024: I love pen and paper for journaling, but when it comes to writing books, computer is king!
2022: I love pen and paper for journaling; computer for writing books
Book character I think I’d be best friends with:
2024: As a kid, I remember DYING to be best friends with the girls from The Babysitter's Club. I wanted to belong to that group so badly, I actually felt like I was friends with them. Then, it was every kid in Goosebumps. And later, Sweet Valley High. I've always had the ability to swallow myself in a book, to feel like I know the characters. So, in some ways, I think if an author has done their job correctly, I already feel like I understand EVERY character in a book (even if I don't necessarily like them).
2022: Janie Crawford, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
Author Interview - Rea Frey | Book Character I’d be Best Friends With
If I weren’t an author, I’d be a:
2024: Quantum healer/teacher: I truly believe we hold all the technology within our bodies to heal. We are capable of so much more than we think we are. There are a lot of themes in my new book that deal with this very subject, but if I could do it all over, I would dedicate my life to showing people what's possible, starting at a young age. I would teach others about the nervous system, and hormones, and emotional regulation and self-communication. i would show people that we don't have to outsource, or take pills, or belong to a "sickcare" system that doesn't have our best interests at heart. We are magnificent. Our bodies know just what to do.
2022: Neuroscientist... or an assassin.
Favorite decade in fashion history:
2024: 1920s
2022: 1930s
Place I’d most like to travel:
2024: Jasper in Alberta, Canada (Just google it.) I've been lucky enough to travel numerous places in my life. I used to love going to thriving cities, but now I find I am pulled more to nature. Beautiful mountains. Bodies of water. Places to revel.
2022: Tuscany for the wine; Africa for the culture
My signature drink:
2024: Chemex coffee (light roast) with full fat cream from a local farm with a teaspoon of ghee
2022: Chemex coffee with ghee, MCT oil, and homemade almond milk
Favorite artist:
2024: Billie Holiday
2022: Billie Holiday
Number one on my bucket list:
2024: I would love to travel for one solid year with my family: no bills, no to-dos. Just learning to observe, to live, to be. (I also really want to ride an elephant!)
2022: Ride an elephant on sacred land
Anything else you'd like to add:
I also run a business and podcast, Writeway, for writers who want to become published. I think it's very easy to "romanticize" being a writer, but there's so much that writers need to understand. We need to advocate for ourselves, understand the business, understand how to make money, how to negotiate, how to set our own goals, and what we are really getting ourselves into. I am so passionate about helping other authors navigate the publishing industry every step of the way.
Find more from the author:
My goal is to be a writer (and human) without social media. I have whittled my accounts down to just Instagram, so you can find me there: https://www.instagram.com/reafreyauthor/
About Rea Frey:
Author Interview - Rea Frey
Rea Frey is the award-winning, #1 bestselling author of numerous suspense, thriller, and women's fiction novels. She is also a book doula who helps other authors birth their books into the world. To learn more, visit reafrey.com.
