*This interview includes spoilers for Elsie Silver’s Wild Card*
It feels right that Elsie Silver‘s latest book, Wild Card, comes out at the same time as the changing of the seasons. As the now #1 New York Times bestselling author would probably tell you, things just keep changing as she officially releases the final book in the Rose Hill series. The past year has included a lot of new adjustments as the former indie author reached a new kind of stratosphere with her third series that has officially cemented her as a small-town romance queen.
As readers get cozy with her new read, Elsie is also getting ready for whats to come. She’s finding how to balance her newfound success and the accelerated release schedule that readers have gotten used to. She already has a new series set to come out in 2026, this time with Atria Books, leaving her longtime publisher of Sourcebooks for the first time since she was traditionally published. (Editor’s note: Sourcebooks and Cosmopolitan are working together on a new imprint, Cosmo Reads.) It brings a new set of experiences that she definitely did not have before, especially moving from a fast-paced independent publisher to an imprint that is part of one of the traditional Big Five publishing houses, Simon & Schuster. But, amongst the chaos, it’s very evident that Elsie is only just getting started.
Cosmopolitan caught up with Elsie Silver shortly before the release of Wild Card to discuss her big move, how she knew it was time to leave Rose Hill, and what fans can expect next as she takes us to Emerald Lake for a fun new ride.
How has everything been leading up to the release of Wild Card?
I feel pretty good. I honestly have been on deadline for Fever Dream. It’s funny—I don’t want to say I left it till the last minute—but, I did have an amount of time sort of set aside for editing. And then I was like, Yeah, I’ll finish up early and then I can just relax before release. But I didn’t, because I’m a procrastinator.
I think it kept me slightly distracted too, which is kind of nice, but I wasn’t super fixated. So now I’m packing and running around, especially with back to school. It’s kind of like a chaotic week.
It’s a good chaotic though!
Until release is here, it kind of gives me something to focus on.
‘Wild Card’ by Elsie Silver
Wild Card is the end of the Rose Hill series, so I’m curious what it feels like for you to say goodbye. Although, not necessarily, since characters always seem to pop back in your universe.
It’s an end of an era. It’s always bittersweet. As a writer and a creative, I am constantly thinking about what’s next and I’m almost always writing a story in my head. So my brain is kind of excited about what’s to come. This series just wrapped up in a very complete, satisfying conclusion. Everybody got their happily ever after. We get a scene at the end where they’re kind of all at the bowling alley, and there’s just something very full circle about that found family and the new friendships that they’ve forged. It’s sad to be leaving them, but I know I’m leaving them in a good place, if that makes sense.
Even though this is your third series, ending this one definitely feels different as a reader. How has it been seeing their reactions?
The fandom and the readership has just grown so much over this series that there are so more people invested in these characters and this ending. It’s infectious watching people and they’re crying about it, right? I’ve kind of had that moment already because I’m so far ahead that I’m onto something else. But to see readers feel so excited and so passionate and so sad and devastated to be leaving Rose Hill, it’s hugely motivating for me. It’s really kind of special. There’s something touching about knowing that there’s so many people sort of in this with me. I feel like I’m very alone in my office a lot of the time and you go online and it’s like, Oh no, there’s a whole crew of us who are kind of in this together.
It’s always interesting talking to writers because it can be a very solitary experience, until you submit it to your publisher and suddenly there’s so many other people involved.
When you’re really hyper focused in a manuscript, it can get a bit weird. Your brain can play very strange tricks on you, where you’re like, Is this even good? There is something nerve wracking about it. The book has been mine, or mostly mine, for a very long time now, and it’s about to be everybody’s. So there’s definitely this feeling of anticipation or nervousness where—I don’t want to say that I’m hoping that I haven’t let people down—but I’m hoping they they get that rush and that enjoyment out of it that I so want them to feel with my books.
As you mentioned, your readership has really grown and now you’re a #1 New York Times bestselling author. Was that super surreal, especially when you look back on your journey and how you started off as an independent author?
I think surreal is a really good word for it. Things in my career have changed really quickly, in the grand scheme of publishing. I just feel so incredibly fortunate. I had publishers telling me how many units there were, so I knew that I had strong pre-orders, but you still just never know. Nothing is ever a guarantee. So, yeah, there was definitely a lot of anticipation.
It did take me kind of back down that road of being locked up during the pandemic with a three-year-old and writing little snippets when I woke up so so early just to have a couple hours to myself. That feels like it was forever ago. But, really, it was five years ago. So to come from just doing it as like a little bit of an escape to hitting number one was kind of kind of wild.
You previously mentioned how hitting publish on your first book as an indie author was you taking a really big chance on yourself. What’s advice you would tell your past self?
I would probably tell myself to just not be so hard on my debut. It’s never going to be perfect, and it’s never going to feel 100% ready, and it probably won’t even ever be your best book. I really made peace with that. I love my debut. I have very warm, fuzzy feelings about it, but I’m not, Wow, that’s the best book I’ve ever written. That is a symbol of where I started and I think that’s what’s special about it. If I look back through my books, I can see the trajectory and the improvement. Like anything, the more you practice, the better you get.
My advice is just giving yourself some grace and letting yourself enjoy the fact that you wrote a whole book and hit publish, because a lot of people start a book or talk about starting a book, and they they never actually do it. I think it’s about just enjoying that moment rather than being competitive or hard on yourself. If you’re just head down the whole time in this business, you’re going to miss some pretty cool milestones. Now looking back, I’m like, Wow, that was amazing that I did that. So, yeah, enjoy the process little bit.
With the Rose Hill series, we got two books a year. How did you find that work-life balance with that very quick publishing schedule?
That balance has really changed over the last couple years. Indie publishing moves so quickly. When I was indie, I was probably releasing three books a year. Every four months I released a book which is—you know, without getting into the nitty gritty of it—almost what the self-publishing algorithm demands of authors. Whereas now I’m working so far in advance that it has kind of changed the landscape of my timelines and my day-to-day schedule.
Two per year felt slow to me when I switched to that. And now, as things have grown and the job and the demands that come with it have kind of morphed, it feels like a lot. Next year I’m only releasing one book. Based on which months they’re in, the following year could be two, but it might be the beginning of the year and the end of the year. I’m giving myself some grace to enjoy it, which I wish I had done at the very beginning. I think people might be surprised by which books of mine were written the most quickly. It’s not always a measure of the quality of the book, it’s more about your headspace and where you’re at.
This book, like your others, are such a love letter to Canada and Canadian authors have certainly gained more popularity in the states over the years. What has that reaction been like from people both from Canada and from other countries?
I am very proud of where I come from. I think the more I’ve traveled and the more of the world that I’ve seen, the more I really appreciate where I grew up and some of the places that I’ve seen and maybe written off as very small or not very metropolitan. With age comes perspective and some of that is seeing the charm of some of those places, which includes that sort of Canadiana nature setting that is pretty specific to this part of the world. There’s a wildness in Canada that feels maybe a little bit exotic to people in other parts of the world. When I’m on tour or doing signings in other parts of the world, they’re like, Oh, I can just imagine being there on a farm and there’s snow and mountains and land as far as the eye can see. There’s something escapist about that for so many people, depending on what part of the world they’re living in. During the pandemic, it felt a little bit like taking a trip when none of us could.
When I first started, people were like, Oh, I don’t think I would set them in Canada, because it’s not relatable. People can’t imagine being there. But I think the relatability is maybe a little bit of the magic of these towns.
The Kindred Wolf
Going to Gwen and Bash’s story, how did you know they were the right couple to end this series on?
I knew that I was going to do the four guys on the bowling team. Having Clyde in the mix threw people for a little bit of a loop. They were like, Is Clyde getting a book? I knew that there was going to be four books and the thesis of this series is fatherhood in all different forms and iterations, and the ways it manifests with blended and found family. And so, as I was looking at the entire series, I kind of was like, I will do a spin on a secret child and then I’ll do a very traditional single dad, but maybe have an amicable relationship with the ex, because that’s not always been done. And then I’ll do guardianship. And then I kind of was like, I don’t want to do just like plain old single dad four times in a row. I had to challenge myself. And ex boyfriend’s dad was a challenge in certain moments.
I kind of threaded Bash through as somebody in the background a little bit, and kind of left that grumpy closed off character for last. With Gwen, I knew the setup for it and how I wanted their meet cute to go in the airport. I had wrapped my head around writing this trope in a way that still felt, you know, forbidden, but you can understand that there’s not really like the backstabbing side of it, because it’s a little more complicated than that.
You made a funny TikTok poking fun at the controversy over Gwen and Bash’s age gap. Does that reaction still surprise you?
Most of my books could probably be classified as age gap. Usually they’re five or six years apart. I think the biggest age gap I’ve had is 14 years. I married an older guy. People have been asking me, since this was announced, What’s the age gap? and I just haven’t really answered it because a it feels like a little bit of a spoiler. Stop sitting here trying to do the math. Put your calculators away.
That Tiktok really kind of took off. I don’t really know why people are so scandalized by it, especially when it’s a very healthy, consensual relationship. I always try and make sure that I’m just making it as realistic, but also as healthy as possible.
We see Gwen’s positivity in her own body and that is something that is still very rare in books. How did that come about as you created her as a character?
It was another aspect of incorporating diversity into my storytelling, but also being cognizant of not telling stories that aren’t mine to tell. I use sensitivity readers for Gwen’s specific internal monologue just to make sure that I was getting that correct. But I also think that I don’t know if there’s a woman in the world who would tell you like, Oh, I haven’t had insecurities about my body. No matter what dress size they wear, there’s something very relatable and almost integral to womanhood in this day and age where we’re never quite good enough, or it’s never quite right, or it’s never quite fitting. There’s always something we could change. Even though I have not lived Gwen’s specific story, I think that there’s just something about about that dissatisfaction in our bodies that is inclusive of almost any woman.
I wanted to kind of touch on those insecurities, but not have it totally overtake her view of herself and the choices that she makes. I wanted to show that she had come from that, but this is how I’ve decided to live my life. I think is kind of a nod to our own empowerment and satisfaction. I hired a plus size sensitivity reader and a clinical therapist who’s worked with women with eating disorders. I was just making sure that I represented her in a way that felt satisfying to women who’ve lived that story too,
How is it working with outside folks on these stories?
I really enjoy doing the research on different topics like bull riding or congenital heart defect or infertility or PTSD. I enjoy the challenge of slightly pivoting. People say I write cowboy romance, which I do, but I also feel like my brain needs the challenge of a challenging or fresh trope or how could I put a spin on it that felt new to me? That’s part of keeping it fresh for me and also engaging for readers, so that it feels the same, but different.
What do you want readers to take away from Gwen and Bash’s story?
This book really is an ode to no matter how messy things get or how complicated they are, when it’s right, it’s right. I think you gotta fight for that. Their restraint was next level, I think, but at the end of the day, they were just too perfect for each other to sort of pass it up. So I think they both knew the whole way through that they were it for each other.
The Kindred Wolf
Thinking towards the future, is there anything you can hint about with Fever Dream?
The hero and heroine are both characters that you have met before.
Oooh, okay! This is your first book with Atria, as you leave Sourcebooks for this new series. Obviously, everything comes down to a business decision, but I’m curious how this journey has been for you especially going from an independent publisher to a traditional Big Five publisher?
It’s been really exciting. I love Sourcebooks. I owe so much of where I am today to them. I definitely would not be sitting here with my number one bestseller up there without Sourcebooks and I loved working with them. But, there’s something very exciting about the Big Five and the resources at their disposal. I think that this is really going to give me—what we talked about before—an opportunity to just slow down a little bit and sort of savor it. I have a little more support going forward and dipping my toes into some full rights deals. The indie stuff becomes a lot with the admin and design and the uploading and all that stuff. I’m dipping my toes into full trad to see how it feels.
It’s been wonderful! I feel very fortunate and I feel like Sourcebooks and I are always going to have babies together, you know? We’re in this for life and we’re on great terms. So that feels really nice. And now I get to kind of go try this other thing out and see where it takes me.
We’re all about manifesting at Cosmo. So what are you manifesting next?
I am manifesting TV. Like, green lit and actually going ahead!
Well, we have options sold!
I’m, again, very lucky! I’m so happy for Elle Kennedy and Emily Henry and all these women who are just killing it. Watching them go ahead of me with these things is definitely giving me those inspirational vibes!
And I think just a great reception for this new series that I’m so excited about. I’m having the best time with this family and this town, and I think people are going to be so excited about the characters.
Any last message for the fans?
Thank you for coming to Rose Hill with me and being on this journey. Whether it was my first series, or Chestnut Springs, or if you just found it, and I hope we have many great years and books left together!
Wild Card, by Elsie Silver is available now from Bloom Books. To order the book, click on the retailer of your choice:
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