It would be stretching a point to suggest Tucson author Sarah T. Dubb wears her heart on her sleeve.
It’s actually on her arm, a white-crowned sparrow that was tattooed above Dubb’s left elbow years ago and now seems more comfortable than ever … especially since Dubb’s debut novel, “Birding with Benefits,” has become one of the summer’s most surprising hits.
Released June 4 by Gallery Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, “Birding” was quickly applauded by NPR, Publishers Weekly and Audubon Magazine.
As fast as you could say “yellow warbler,” 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.
“It’s been a fun summer,” she said in July. “It 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. It’s crazy to think about my little book being out in the world.”
“Birding with Benefits” 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 there’s 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, “Birding” 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.
“Until I went to library school, I’d pretty much read literary fiction,” Dubb said. “It’s one of the reasons I didn’t think I was cut out to be an author. I didn’t know what I would say. But I loved romantic fiction right away. I read one, then another, then another. It’s a genre where you’re rewarding hope, you’re celebrating joy. You have to have a happy ending.
“Romance novels fit my personality a lot more than what I’d read before. If I was ever going to write a book, I thought this might be something I could do.”
The final nudge came from a college friend in the spring of 2020.
“I reached out to Rachel and confessed I was loving romance books,” Dubb recalled. “She said, ‘Ohmygawd, I am too!’ 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.”
“Birding with Benefits” was actually Dubb’s second full-length manuscript, written while waiting for word on the first … a small-town story set in Patagonia.
“It was about a spunky woman running for mayor and a former baseball player coming back home,” Dubb said. “We never did find a buyer. Publishers said it was too light, not hooky enough.”
Dubb found all the “hooky” she needed when she asked Celeste to step outside in “Birding.”
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 — Eliza McLane — while waiting to hear back from publishers. “Haunted Hookup,” “Santa Baby” and “Perfect Match” are still available on Amazon.
“They were great fun to write, they were exactly what I wanted them to be, and they were getting readers,” Dubb said. “For a while there, I thought I might switch over and be Eliza McLane. Then, finally, the phone rang.”
For the record, that was Feb. 6, 2023, and Eliza hasn’t been seen since.
Readers of modern romance will see that “Birding” 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.
“Look at me,” she laughed. “I 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.”
Her best decision was to give her characters binoculars and field guides. As well-received as it has been by mainstream media, “Birding” 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.
“I always thought birding could be romantic because so much of it is paying attention,” she said. “It’s all about discovery, and the desire to find some magic in our everyday world. Aren’t we all looking for that?”
Poor Eliza never had a chance.
