Some years feel like a steady climb; others are a full-on sprint through joy and grief, faith and grace. 2025 has been one of those years—a season of deep valleys and breathtaking peaks.

On the mountaintop side, I’m humbled and grateful to share that I won both the Christy Award and the Emma Award this year. To stand among authors whose work I’ve long admired and have my stories celebrated in that way was beyond anything I could’ve imagined.

I also turned in my 2026 novel, it’s title Writer in Residence. It’s a story close to my heart, and had the joy of being a featured author at the Black Romance Bookfest and the Black Book Bash. Meeting readers, hugging familiar faces, and hearing how my stories have touched you—those are the moments that make all the long nights at the keyboard worth it.

But this year also carried heartbreak. I lost three young relatives, as well as a beloved aunt and uncle. Grief has a way of hollowing out space inside you that words can’t fill. Yet somehow, love finds a way in. Last spring, a new little dog joined my family—sent, I think, to help heal the space my sweet Tails left behind in 2023. His arrival has been a reminder that joy can exist in the heaviest seasons.

And because I can’t close the year without a little Christmas sparkle, I’m ending 2025 by releasing a new holiday story. Could it be A Bennett Christmas? I think so. Let’s just say it has all the things you’d expect—family, love, laughter, and a swoony hero sprinkled in.

Thank you for walking with me through the highs and lows, for cheering me on, and for reading the stories that come from both joy and sorrow. Here’s to more hope, healing, and heart in the year ahead.

— Rhonda

Here are some pictures:

Click HERE to read the entire press release.

Earlier this year, I won the RSJ Emma Award for Best Contemporary Romance

for The Thing About Home.

A group photo from my panel at Black Romance Book Fest

A group photo from one of my panels at Black Book Bash.

Introducing Nauti. I adopted him in March from Kinder Keeper Shelter in Myrtle Beach. He is a 2 year old Jack Russell/Rat Terrier mix and my new love.