The Ties That Bind Us has been out in the wild for a week now, I am stunned by the amount of love and support I’ve received from you all! The launch party at Brightside was AMAZING, and we DEFINITELY want to go back! What an overwhelming experience—I literally have no clue what I even said on stage. Total blackout!

Now, I promised you a tease… Are you ready? 👀

Special editions of The Ties That Bind Us are coming soon! And let me just say, she is absolutely gorgeous, and I am so excited to share her with you! Be sure to keep checking emails, and follow me on IG, so you can be one of the first to know when the preorders open!

For now, I’ll leave you with this! ✨

Upcoming Events

📅 August 15th: Nugget and Books Florida Convention | ⏰ 9am-4pm

👯‍♀️ Join me with Shaylin Gandhi

📍Lakeland, FL | 🎟️ Tickets on sale now through @nuggetconflorida

📅 August 25th: Kat MacKenzie Launch Event | ⏰ 6:00-10:00pm

👯‍♀️ Join me with Christy Schillig, Ashley Poston, and Lily Parker

📍Trope Bookshop, Charlotte, NC | 🎟️ Tickets on sale now through @tropebookshop

🔗Follow me on other platforms to stay up to date on all things The Ties that Bind Us and other WIPs 👀

My LinkTree

That’s all for now! Thank you all for your continued love and support!

I’ve written wrote a why-choose romantasy novel, AND I’m a full-time OB/GYN. The question I get most often is, “How do you manage to do both?”

While doing both is anything but simple, my answer ALWAYS first and foremost… I don’t know??

After that, however, I try to explain how I feel COMPELLED to write. These stories live in my head and they don’t leave me alone. It’s almost unbelievable to me that other people want to read them too.

I will admit, though…

I am TIRED.

But I think it’s worth it because this book coming out next week? This one is my BABY. The one that took me 24 years to finish. The one with my FAVORITE MMC. The one with the angst and the sparkles and the

And now, in case you haven’t heard yet, preorder signed bundles for The Ties that Bind Us are LIVE!

Pub day is ONE WEEK away! Preorder bundles are open until July 17th, and I’m so excited to share these items with you! Be sure to place your order before I sell out 😉

Preorder Signed Paperback Bundle

"Deidra Duncan's entrance into the fantasy genre offers a fresh twist on beloved tropes like past lives and fated mates. THE TIES THAT BIND US weaves swoony romance, complicated prophecies, and burgeoning political strife into an explosive romantasy that will leave readers begging for more."
—Emily Krempholtz, USA Today bestselling author of Violet Thistlewaite Is Not a Villain Anymore

👆🏻Not me completely starstruck with Emily’s feedback.

Upcoming Events

📅 July 19th: The Ties that Bind Us Release Day Party! | ⏰ 12pm-3pm

📍Junction West, Raleigh, NC | 🎟️ Tickets on sale now through @brightsidebooksandwine

📅 July 24th: Good Girl Feud - Who Knows Romance Readers Best? | ⏰ 7:30pm

📍Good Girl Books, Knoxville, TN | 🎟️ FREE to attend, but RSVP is required

📅 July 25th: A Meet & Greet Cute | ⏰ 1:00-6:00pm

📍World’s Fair Exhibition Hall, Knoxville, TN | SOLD OUT

🔗Follow me on other platforms to stay up to date on all things The Ties that Bind Us, and other WIPs 👀

My LinkTree

That’s all for now! Thank you all for your continued love and support!

You’ve officially been selected to receive an advanced e-copy of

THE TIES THAT BIND US

No application. No waiting list. Just a thank you for being here.

You've supported my books, cheered me on and followed this journey, so I wanted to give you the chance to read this story before the masses.

HERE’S WHAT HAPPENS NEXT

📚 Claim your ARC

Click here to download your free Advanced Reader Copy

📅 Read before release day

The official pub date is July 21, 2026, so you’ll be among the very first to experience the story!

⭐️Leave a review

I am always grateful when readers leave reviews. This is one the biggest ways you can help any author, and every single one makes a difference.

A COUPLE OF QUICK NOTES

• This is an advanced copy, meaning there may be formatting errors

• Please don’t share or distribute your copy

• No pressure if life gets in the way—I just appreciate you giving the book a chance

Most importantly, thank you so much for being here with me! I hope you fall in love with these characters as much as I did while writing them. I invented David Berkeley when I was 16 years old, and he’s still the best MMC I’ve ever written. If you were into Lucas Scott’s sarcastic wit, Julian Santini’s simpiness, and/or Asher Foley’s skills in bed, you will love him too. I CAN’T WAIT for you to get your hands on this!

❤️ Deidra

Friendship like this should come with a warning label...

Asher Foley is an imposter—at least, that’s how it feels. The letters “MD” after his name should mean he’s confident, respected, put-together. Instead, he still feels like the class clown pretending to be a grown-up doctor.

Jocelyn Maddox is a paradox—warm, fearless, but utterly closed off. She’s lost too much already—family, love, home—and she’s not about to gamble her heart again. As an anesthesiologist, she’ll fix everyone else’s pain and refuses to feel her own. It makes Asher, her flirty best friend-slash-work husband, perfectly safe. Right?

When a surgical complication forces Asher to drop the mask and show her the man underneath, Jocelyn sees more than the jokes and easy smiles. She sees him. And suddenly, the walls she’s built to survive begin to crack—one look, one laugh, one heartbeat at a time.

Tropes to Expect

• Friends to Lovers

• Close Proximity

• He Falls First

• Dual POV

• Mental Health Rep

Love & Other Side Effects is available here. Signed copies of Love Sick and Love & Other Side Effects are here. Signed copies come with the themed stickers below ❤️

You did this. LOOK WHAT YOU DID.

As of today, Until I Die has

✨ 3,000+ copies sold

✨ 2.1+ million pages read

✨ 7,500+ hours listened

✨ Across 17 countries

✨ 4.4⭐️ rating on Amazon

ALL THANKS TO YOU. I cannot thank you all enough.

Signed copies and the UID Survival Kit are available here.

Still Want an ARC? Time’s Running Out!

ARCs for The Ties That Bind Us are currently open, but not for much longer! You can get a copy here.

Some exciting things are in the works:

✨ Cover reveal in May

✨ Audiobook in the works

✨ Narrators: June deBorahae, CJ Mission, Alex Knox

✨ Swag is in the works 👀

Well, that’s it for now. Thank you for all your love and support!

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LoveLit Cruise Was a MASSIVE Disappointment

JUST EFFING KIDDING!

It was the trip of a lifetime!

See photos below for proof, including cameos by Naima Simone, Amy Daws and Ashley Poston, and YES - my face on a boob.

I have more, but I’ll let you breathe.

You’re welcome.

Also, come join us next year. It will be GLORIOUS!

ARC READERS!

It’s your time…

For a limited time, eARCs for my upcoming dark fantasy romance THE TIES THAT BIND US are officially available!

If you vibe with…

• A good guy with a little darkness

• A villain who is deeply misunderstood

• A woman between them with secrets of her own

Then you can read it here.

REMINDER!

LOVE AND OTHER SIDE EFFECTS

Releases April 14th

I can’t believe my second (and probably last) medical romance is almost in your hands!

If you vibe with…

• Medical settings

• So much banter

• Emotional depth

You can get it here! Asher is my sweetheart, and I hope you love the goofball as much as I do.

A Small Celebration

As you may remember, UNTIL I DIE (my dark dystopian romance) released on January 6th - unironically. It’s my first foray into indie publishing AND into dark romance. In 2 months, it has reached almost 1 million page reads on Kindle Unlimited, not to mention the 1100+ copies sold!!! Thank you so much to all of you who have been so supportive of me while I stumble through this endeavor. It’s people like you that make indie books possible, and I couldn’t be more humbled or grateful. If you haven’t read it and want to, you can find it here.

That’s it for now! Can’t wait to hear what you think!

Because I am apparently a genre-jumping gremlin, my WIP is neither contemporary romance OR dystopian. From me, you’ll always have to expect the unexpected, so I’m branching into (drum roll…) romantasy. AND because I can do nothing the “right” way, I looked those usual romantasy tropes right and their eyes…

And punched them in the face.

My brain kind of went, What if tropes… but… wrong?

Hence, the blond guy isn’t evil. The love triangle is just one man making catastrophically different choices. And fated mates? It’s a problem, not a prize.

The Ties That Bind Us, chapter 5

Isobel’s piercing gaze slinked over his body to land on his eyes, and the entire world slowed to a crawl, then restarted in double-time.

Her face was poetry. Lovely and lyrical.

But it was also unmitigated ruin.

She was like the last breath before a leap from a building. She was the morphine that hid torture behind synthetic pleasure. She was the tremor that warned of a life-ending earthquake.

In the space of one second, she snapped every cell in his body in half, and put them back together in a different order, and all he could think was I know you.

But how did he know her? How had he already memorized every curve of her body?

Her eyes widened, and even in the dark, he could see the color drain from her exquisite face. Her tanned skin went ashen.

What do you think about pushing trope boundaries? Are you all for it? Or do you prefer to stick to the tried and true? Would you read a multi-POV romantasy that turns all the tropes on their heads?

Leave a comment

Snippet Sunday

Until I Die, chapter 20

“We—we just keep moving forward.”

“Which way is forward?” he demanded, releasing me. He dug his fingers into his hair and paced away. “I had one reason to keep going, even though avenging her won’t change what happened to her. I just wanted retribution, and I figured I’d do as much damage as I could before the NAO discovers I’ve betrayed them and executes me.” He looked up and glared at me. “And then you.”

I froze. “Me?”

“Harrison threw you at me, and you couldn’t have been more destructive if you were a fucking grenade.”

My breath caught. “What?”

“I won’t survive this,” he said, making each word clear and sharp, like he thought I might not understand. “I can’t do this forever. I don’t want to do this forever. I can’t keep killing people like this, and I have weeks at most before they discover me.”

I needed to argue, to plead even, but the raw anger in his voice, the sheer agony in the cracks of his mask forced me to stillness.

“I was fine with it,” he snapped, eyes flashing. “I wanted to die. Until you.”

Read more

Opinions Needed

As I get closer to launching the romantasy, I’m curious what draws you to a cover. Is it the colors? The illustration? Do you have an artist you love? What are your all-time favorite covers? I am open to all suggestions!

Leave a comment

The Personal Bits

Lately, I’ve been struggling with a raging case of Writer’s Block. What used to flow like water is now a bit more like tree sap. I wish I could churn out 10k words a day like I used to. I was a MACHINE.

Maybe I’ve used it all up 😂

Fellow writers, PLEASE give me all your tips and tricks for getting out of the slump!!

Regardless, I delivered three beautiful baby boys yesterday, and Florida is marginally warmer than the rest of the country, so I’ll count my blessings.

Well, that’s it for now! Come see me with Christy Schillig and Libby Tanner Valentine’s Day weekend at Blinking Owl Books in Fort Myers and Books on Third in Naples. I can’t wait to see you!

This is enemies to lovers FOR REAL.

This is TRUE dystopia.

This is CHECK YOUR TRIGGER WARNINGS.

Alchemised + Hunger Games + Handmaid’s Tale had a baby, and it’s UNTIL I DIE.

After the Fracture, nothing is safe—not love, not truth, and certainly not women. In the ashes of the fallen United States, the New American Order has seized power, silencing dissent and enslaving the vulnerable. To stop the spread of their evil, Sophia Reeves has given everything to the Defiance, a resistance force battling the NAO, but now, her general has another command: become a contact for an enemy officer-turned-spy. She understands the sacrifice this order requires. Association with a Blood Colonel is a death sentence…

Especially for a woman.

You can get it here and I CAN’T WAIT for you to read it!

AND, if swag interests you (because why wouldn’t it?), check this out.

And don’t forget, as a newsletter subscriber, you have all the BONUS CONTENT right at your fingertips (including scenes from Lucas’s POV). You can find it on my website. You’ll find the password in your welcome email!

You won’t regret it.

In other news, my foot is slowly healing, and I’m back to my day job full-time. And yes, I DID get to deliver the first baby of the new year.

I’ve got a TBR a mile long, but y’all should get your hands on some of the good ones…

That’s it for now! Is there anything else you’d like to see from me? Let me know! I’m an open book for y’all!

Much love,

I’ve had an eventful couple weeks! I had surgery on my foot (which basically means everyone has to wait on me hand and foot, right?), and I’m stuck on the couch writing and reading to my heart’s content.

More interesting than that though…

I’ve got a new (and exciting) announcement to share, and I’m sharing it with you FIRST! The cover for UNTIL I DIE is finalized and it is GORGEOUS. In case you’ve forgotten, UID is my upcoming dark dystopian romance releasing Jan 6, 2026.

After the Fracture, nothing is safe—not love, not truth, and certainly not women.

In the ashes of the fallen United States, the New American Order has seized power, silencing dissent and enslaving the vulnerable. To stop the spread of their evil, Sophia Reeves has given everything to the Defiance, but now, her general has another command: become a contact for an enemy officer-turned-spy. She understands the sacrifice this order requires. Association with a Blood Colonel is a death sentence…

Especially for a woman.

If you’re interested, you can read the first chapter here. So, without further ado…

ISN’T SHE GORGEOUS?

UNTIL I DIE will be available in paperback, ebook, and audio, as well as on KU! You can read some of the early (fabulous!) reviews here. I can’t wait for you all to get to know Sophia and Lucas in January.

Now, please excuse me while I languish on the couch with my bum leg…

Much love,

Stick to a genre, they say. Stay in your lane, they say. Well, THEY can shove it. I’m just going to write what I want.

So… I have a surprise project in the works 😈

What is it, you may ask. Is it another medical romcom? No! (Though never fear, Asher’s book is still dropping in April).

I’m shifting gears entirely! I’m going dark and angsty and unapologetically feminist.

So … what is it?!

My friends, on January 6th, I am releasing a ~dark dystopian romance~ (Wait, is that even a genre? If it isn’t, I just made it one). Like many of you, I’ve been feeling oppressed, depressed, and maybe even a little angry. I’ve helplessly watched while women’s rights are systematically revoked, and I’ve found myself thinking, “Where is this heading??”

So I wrote that story.

And I added an enemies-to-lovers romance (because duh).

Are you a dark romance girlie? Did you love the dystopian vibes of Hunger Games but want more romance? Do you wonder sometimes if we are turning into Gilead? Come join Sophia and Lucas on their journey to upend the New American Order!

Blurb is below. Cover reveal SOON! Sneak peek HERE.

P.S. Want to be a part of my street team and get an early copy? Fill out this form!

THE HUNGER GAMES meets THE HANDMAID’S TALE in this star-crossed dystopian romance.

In the ruins of a nation, two enemies risk everything for a chance at justice… and each other.

After the Fracture, nothing is safe—not love, not truth, and certainly not women. In the ashes of the fallen United States, the New American Order has seized power, silencing dissent and enslaving the vulnerable. To stop the spread of their evil, Sophia Reeves has given everything to the Defiance, a resistance force battling the NAO, but now, her general has another command: become a contact for an enemy officer-turned-spy. She understands the sacrifice this order requires. Association with a Blood Colonel is a death sentence—especially for a woman.

He’s just a name at first. A whisper in the dark. But week by week, Lucas Scott becomes something more—dangerously unreadable, brutally efficient, and far too human for a man embedded in a regime that breaks people like her. Sophia expects cruelty. She prepares for betrayal. What she finds is a man haunted by secrets, driven by grief, and willing to burn the whole world down for a hope he’s barely clinging to.

Their alliance is a fragile one, forged in shadow and drenched in danger. But as the Defiance grows closer to victory, their missions become deadlier, and the line between duty and desire blurs. Beneath the shadow of escalating war, Sophia and Lucas must decide what they’re willing to sacrifice for a cause that might already be lost—and for a love they were never meant to find.

Hauntingly raw and achingly romantic, UNTIL I DIE is a story of rebellion, redemption, and the unbreakable will to love in a world that has forgotten how.

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I have an exciting announcement today! The cover of Love and Other Side Effects (Love Sick #2) is ready for your enjoyment! Love and Other Side Effects follows the story of Asher (yes, THAT Asher), who is three years into his practice as an OB-GYN and battling a raging case of imposter syndrome. His best friend, Jocelyn, is his emotionally-challenged cheerleader. After a series of tragedies, she refuses to open her heart and risk being hurt again. That’s why lighthearted Asher is the perfect best friend.

When a complicated surgery compels Asher to confide his insecurities to Joss, she uncovers a whole new side to him—one with the potential to finally break through her walls. But as their friendship evolves into something more, will Joss be able to face her demons? Or will the fortress around her heart be too sturdy to break?

Without further ado, see the lovely cover below! As a special treat, my newsletter subscribers are getting early access to the first two chapters!

Praise for Love and Other Side Effects

Hilarious and deeply romantic, LOVE AND OTHER SIDE EFFECTS is the perfect friends-to-lovers romance. Duncan knocked it out of the park with this sequel, writing characters that felt raw and real but also incredibly lovable, in a funny and oh-so-realistic medical setting. You can’t not fall for Asher and Jocelyn!

—N.S. PERKINS, author of The Infinity Between Us

LOVE AND OTHER SIDE EFFECTS is as addictive as any drug—once you pick it up you won’t want to put it down! Deidra Duncan’s newest medical romance is a swoony, slow burn friends to lovers romcom that had me laughing from the first chapter and holding back tears by the end. Lovable Asher and prickly Joss are nuanced, complex leads who will have you rooting for them through all of their ups, downs, pranks, and inside jokes. Fair warning: side effects of this book may include the occasional uncontrollable snort-laugh, strong urges to shout “JUST KISS ALREADY” at the main characters, and loss of sleep because you were up way too late reading this delightful gem of a love story.

— EMILY KREMPHOLTZ, author of Violet Thistlewaite Is Not a Villain Anymore

For My International Besties

Love Sick is now out in Germany and Portugal!

Pending release in Brazil, Poland, Russia, Ukraine, and Czechoslovakia. News on these coming soon!

Upcoming Events

I’ll be at Blinking Owl Bookstore for an author talk on September 26th, 7-8:30 p.m.

Christy Schillig and I will be signing books at The New Romantics on December 27th, 12-2 p.m.

Follow me on IG @deidraduncanwrites for the latest updates on book news!

Today, I am proud to announce the birth of my firstborn (book)!

LOVE SICK, my debut romcom, is officially out in the world today. If you love Grey’s Anatomy or The Hating Game (or—ideally—both), this is the book for you!

Seriously though, I am so proud and humbled to have my work out in the world like this. Thank you to everyone who has supported me and cheered with me through this whole process. It wouldn’t be possible without readers like you 😘

Upcoming Events

Join me at The New Romantics on Tuesday, May 13th from 7-9 pm for the LOVE SICK release party with Amy Buchanan!

I’ll be at Macintosh Books on Sanibel island on Thursday, May 15th from 4-6 pm for a book signing with @kylieisreading.

On May 31st at 6 pm, I’ll be with Kat Mackenzie and Christy Schillig at Trope Bookshop in Charlotte.

Follow me on IG @deidraduncanwrites for the latest updates on book news!

                          Much love,

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The first ‘Spring Fever Giveaway’ starts tomorrow (April 14), so make sure you’re on the lookout. There were will be several more throughout the coming weeks, including a Goodreads giveaway in May. You’ll find all the details on IG @deidraduncanwrites.

Details for the remaining giveaways are TBA!

Keep following for details regarding my book tour in May (including a virtual event with Julie Soto!) and information on upcoming books!

                                 Much love,