It would be stretching a point to suggest Tucson author Sarah T. Dubb wears her heart on her sleeve.
Itβs actually on her arm, a white-crowned sparrow that was tattooed above Dubbβs left elbow years ago and now seems more comfortable than ever β¦ especially since Dubbβs debut novel, βBirding with Benefits,β has become one of the summerβs most surprising hits.
Released June 4 by Gallery Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, βBirdingβ was quickly applauded by NPR, Publishers Weekly and Audubon Magazine.
As fast as you could say βyellow warbler,β Dubb was under contract to write two more novels, and the design on her arm looked almost prescient. Clearly, her career has taken flight since she married her affinity for birds with her dream of writing a romantic novel.
People are also reading…
βItβs been a fun summer,β she said in July. βIt still feels a little unreal. We went back east to visit family and saw my book in the Philadelphia airport. Somebody sent me a picture of it from a library in Melbourne. Itβs crazy to think about my little book being out in the world.β
βBirding with Benefitsβ is a joyful, sometimes-steamy love story that follows an unlikely couple who team up for a major bird-watching contest.
The tale is set in Tucson and features Celeste, a 40-something divorcee who teaches in a local middle school. Her daughter, Morgan, is a high school senior headed to Northern Arizona University. Then thereβs John, an expert birder who looks great in T-shirts.
Will Celeste and John find birds? Will they find themselves? Will they find they are made for each other?
Fun and easy to read, βBirdingβ is another sparkling example of why romance fiction has become the best-selling genre in American literature.
Thank Dubb, a full-time mom and part-time librarian with the Pima County Public Library.
Born and raised in Tucson, she became a writer who worked with a variety of nonprofits here and in Washington.
Dubb has always been a writer. But an author?
She could not imagine seeing her name on a book jacket until five years ago, when she began studying for a degree in library science at the University of Arizona.
As part of the curriculum, students would read a book or two from each major genre. When Dubb read her first romance, she fell in love.
βUntil I went to library school, Iβd pretty much read literary fiction,β Dubb said. βItβs one of the reasons I didnβt think I was cut out to be an author. I didnβt know what I would say. But I loved romantic fiction right away. I read one, then another, then another. Itβs a genre where youβre rewarding hope, youβre celebrating joy. You have to have a happy ending.
βRomance novels fit my personality a lot more than what Iβd read before. If I was ever going to write a book, I thought this might be something I could do.β
The final nudge came from a college friend in the spring of 2020.
βI reached out to Rachel and confessed I was loving romance books,β Dubb recalled. βShe said, βOhmygawd, I am too!β When I told her I was thinking of writing one, she loved the idea. That got me started. For a long time, she was the only person who knew.β
βBirding with Benefitsβ was actually Dubbβs second full-length manuscript, written while waiting for word on the first β¦ a small-town story set in Patagonia.
βIt was about a spunky woman running for mayor and a former baseball player coming back home,β Dubb said. βWe never did find a buyer. Publishers said it was too light, not hooky enough.β
Dubb found all the βhookyβ she needed when she asked Celeste to step outside in βBirding.β
Already a casual bird-watcher, Dubb went on several guided bird walks and studied an assortment of guides to sharpen her grasp of the sport. The completed manuscript went out on submission in the spring of 2022.
Interestingly, Dubb self-published three novellas under another pen name β Eliza McLane β while waiting to hear back from publishers. βHaunted Hookup,β βSanta Babyβ and βPerfect Matchβ are still available on Amazon.
βThey were great fun to write, they were exactly what I wanted them to be, and they were getting readers,β Dubb said. βFor a while there, I thought I might switch over and be Eliza McLane. Then, finally, the phone rang.β
For the record, that was Feb. 6, 2023, and Eliza hasnβt been seen since.
Readers of modern romance will see that βBirdingβ is a rare bird on several fronts. The key characters are in their 40s. One of them is divorced. Middle-age characters with middle-age problems are rarely found in romance novels, but Dubb was not trying to plow new ground.
βLook at me,β she laughed. βI was 39 when I started writing the book. Several of my friends were starting over after a divorce. I live with those things every day.β
Her best decision was to give her characters binoculars and field guides. As well-received as it has been by mainstream media, βBirdingβ has drawn even more attention from the American outdoors.
Audubon Magazine sent a writer to Tucson to profile the author. The American Birding Association featured Dubb and her book in a full-length podcast.
βI always thought birding could be romantic because so much of it is paying attention,β she said. βItβs all about discovery, and the desire to find some magic in our everyday world. Arenβt we all looking for that?β
Poor Eliza never had a chance.
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