Publication Day - The Cards We're Dealt

Rhian MacGillivray
May 27
3 min read

Today is the day! The Cards We’re Dealt is officially published. Mark, Josh and Sadie Turner are out in the world, so make sure you get your copy.

With this post, you can enjoy some snippets that I’ve been posting on social media in the run-up to my debut novel’s release.

Where to buy ‘The Cards We’re Dealt’

A person plays an electric guitar on stage. Text reads: "Sadie couldn't take her eyes off him. Mark was a man transformed on stage. At home, he was as calm as a lake on a summer's day, but up there he was a giant. A performer. An idol." Grayscale image with purple and teal text overlays.

If you love the smell of a book’s pages and the feel of its weight in your hands, you can buy a paperback version from Amazon here. I’m looking into how I can get physical books into real stores, or available to order in-store, so I’ll keep you posted.

If ebook is more your style, you have several places where you can buy a copy:

And if you like audiobooks, stay tuned! I hope to have an audio version out later this year.

The importance of reviews

A person plays guitar, text overlay features a quote from "The Cards We’re Dealt" by Rhian MacGillivray

When you finish reading The Cards We’re Dealt, I’d love to hear your thoughts: favourite scenes or characters, what you enjoyed most, anything! You can message me through this website or on social media (see the links at the bottom of the page).

Please also leave a review if you enjoyed the book on the site where you made your purchase, and also on Goodreads or BookBub. Reviews are hugely helpful to authors when it comes to climbing up those online rankings, and a self-published author is up against big publishing houses and needs all the help they can get! I’d be hugely grateful for any reviews.

Events with book clubs and elsewhere

Silhouetted guitarist stands in foggy light with emotional text: "Mark's words pierced through a dense fog and hit Josh square in the chest. What had he done?" Title: "The Cards We’re Dealt - Rhian MacGillivray."

If you run or are a member of a book club, I’d be happy to attend one of your meetings virtually. Simply get in touch: I have a list of book club post-reading questions that can be tweaked if needed, and I’m happy to do readings or participate in discussions.

For any in-person events, I will be in Scotland in August this year. Send me an email or use the contact form on this website if you’d like to talk about organising something. I’ll be based in Inverness, but I will be in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen at various points during the month. You might catch me in local libraries and bookshops. I'll let you know!

What my writing future holds

A distressed man with hands on face overlaps a tiger's face. Text above and below explores themes of understanding and darkness in a quote from The Cards We're Dealt by Rhian MacGillivray

Well, The Cards We’re Dealt is done! I will be continuing my work on the translation into Spanish, and maybe an audiobook, both of which I’d like to have wrapped up this year.

In terms of this blog, I’ll be posting a little less frequently and I’ll now be turning my attention to the craft of writing, offering tips and advice on everything from plotting to creating characters to editing and to self-publishing. Keep an eye out if you’d like to learn more about writing.

As for new writing… I have a standalone contemporary romance written and edited that I may publish later this year, although I’m undecided. Self-publishing is a long process!

I’m also 75,000 words into book one of a fantasy trilogy that I have in mind, but I don’t think I want to publish one without the next two being substantially done, or at least with a first draft in place. You might have to wait a little longer for that one!

And then I have around 15,000 words done on another book club fiction novel. I may return to this one as I think it could be a good follow-up to The Cards We’re Dealt since it’s in the same genre.