Rebecca Yarros' New Book Saved Her: 'If I Hadn't WrittenVariation, I Wouldn't Have WrittenOnyx Storm'(Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Katie Marie Seniors; Montlake

Rebecca Yarroshas a new contemporary romance coming out, and writing it all but saved her life.

The Colorado-based author, 43, has written 25 books, but after her dragon-ridingromantasyFourth Wingrocketed to the top of theNew York Timesbestseller list in 2023, selling more than 2 million copies, and sparking hashtags that racked up over a billion views on TikTok, Yarros’ star rose with it. That attracted a ravenous online community, which brought adoring fans and harsh critics to her doorstep, sometimes literally.

“Social media is very much like a hall of mirrors, and when you stare too long, it distorts who you think you are,” Yarros says, echoing what she told her kids when the online firestorm began. “Mostly it’s just remembering that real life is what happens inside my house and not in my phone.”

Katie Marie Seniors

In a conversation with PEOPLE for this week’s print issue, Yarros explained how she’s still emerging from the “tidal wave” of the past year that put her health, family’s safety and even her writing in jeopardy — with the help of her new book,Variation.

The novel, out Tuesday, Nov. 19, from Montlake, follows an elite ballerina named Allie who returns home after an injury to find an old flame has resurfaced, not to mention swarms of painful memories. When that old beau’s niece shows up on her doorstep, it throws Allie’s life into turmoil.

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“Social media and TikTok play a role inVariation,” Yarros says, “so I can look back and see what I wish I had been able to say to myself, which is, ‘This is not a healthy place. You can delete [social media]. You don’t have to do this.’ "

And while some fans have questioned Yarros’ choice to write her new contemporary romance in the first place, as they clamor for the January release ofOnyx Storm, she has an answer for that too.

“I’ve had a year to kind of adjust and grow and writeVariation, which I think helped process a lot of those emotions. And I can tell you, if I hadn’t writtenVariation, I would not have writtenOnyx Storm. If I hadn’t writtenVariation, I wouldn’t have survived.”

The new novel also marks a return to the form that launched her career, and still represents the bulk of her creative work.

“Really, branching into fantasy was kind of an outlier for me, and my first loves are always a combination of fantasy and romance,” she says. “I couldn’t write the fantasy without writing the romance. The romance is really what causes you to focus inward on internal conflict and character struggles. And it makes an even richer fantasy when you go back to it.”

Montlake

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And never fear, fans: Yarros is not leaving either genre behind any time soon. When she’s writing fantasy, she’s usually got a contemporary romance spinning around in her head, and vice versa.

“I get to balance both, so I honestly can’t imagine ever giving either genre up,” she says. “They each enrich the other so very much that it would be impossible to let either of them go. Writing contemporary allows me to just let my brain go and really explore internal conflicts. And of course, love, because if it doesn’t have love, I’m not interested.”

source: people.com