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WORK TITLE: The Trouble with Anna
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PERSONAL
Female.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Editor and writer. Scholastic, editorial director.
AVOCATIONS:Horseback riding.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
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Rachel Griffiths is an editor and writer of romance novels. She was most recently editorial director at Scholastic, where she oversaw the publication of numerous New York Times bestselling books. Griffiths’ debut Regency historical romance, The Trouble with Anna, offers an independent and scheming heroine. Headstrong Lady Anna Reston loves nothing more than to ride her horses. While attending a party at her best friend Charlotte’s, her grandfather drops dead and his will stipulates that Anna must marry Charlotte’s half-brother, Lord Julian Ramsay, within six months to inherit the Reston estate. Both Anna and Julian are surprised because they’ve never shown interest in each other before. At first Julian thinks Anna put her grandfather up to it, but soon learns she had no input. Anna fears losing her beloved horses, but she also doesn’t want to be stuck in a loveless marriage, so she’s encouraged when she finds herself and Julian stealing some kisses and their attraction for each other growing. Meanwhile, Anna and Charlotte develop a gambling enterprise involving horse racing in an effort to amass some financial independence.
According to a Kirkus Reviews critic, “Griffiths’ debut is a delightful and witty slow burn with enough complexity to celebrate friendship as well as romance,” and added that along with some steamy moments, “the book has a pleasingly old-school feel.” In Publishers Weekly, a reviewer noted: “Lighthearted banter, comic misunderstandings, and sizzling romance keep the pages turning, and Griffiths especially excels at crafting full-bodied characters.” The reviewer also appreciated the backstories on the lead characters that flesh out their personalities and why they work so well together.
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BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Kirkus Reviews, March 1, 2025, review of The Trouble with Anna.
Publishers Weekly, January 13, 2025, review of The Trouble with Anna, p. 47.
ONLINE
The Nerd Daily, https://thenerddaily.com/ (March 4, 2025), Rachel Griffiths, “I Wrote a Spicy Romance and My Family Won’t Stop Teasing Me.”
Rachel Griffiths was most recently an editorial director at Scholastic, where she published more than twenty New York Times bestsellers. As you might guess from a book full of high-stakes horse races and romantic midnight rides, she spent much of her childhood in the saddle and knows from painful experience how it feels to take a fall at twenty-five miles per hour.
I Wrote a Spicy Romance and My Family Won’t Stop Teasing Me
The Nerd Daily·Writers Corner·March 4, 2025·2 min read
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Guest post written by The Trouble With Anna author Rachel Griffiths
Rachel Griffiths was most recently an editorial director at Scholastic, where she published more than twenty New York Times bestsellers. As you might guess from a book full of high-stakes horse races and romantic midnight rides, she spent much of her childhood in the saddle and knows from painful experience how it feels to take a fall at twenty-five miles per hour.
About The Trouble With Anna (out March 4th 2025): A tart young woman and an arrogant lord collide in this flirty, sexy, and remarkably modern historical romance, perfect for fans of Bridgerton.
My family is enormous. And loud. And loves nothing more than teasing, like when we dyed my uncle’s white dog pink (it was accomplished with Kool-Aid and lots of belly scratches. No pooches harmed in the making of this prank.) Or when my cousin slapped a stealth So many cowboys, so little rope bumper sticker of my mom’s car. Or the time an unnamed perpetrator snuck a ten-pound rock in my suitcase.
So imagine my trepidation when I announced that I’d just sold a pair of novels. Romance novels. Spicy romance novels.
“Gross,” said my older brother.
“Which chapters should I glue shut when I give it to my friends?” said my mother.
“Rachie! Congratulations!!!” said one lovely aunt.
“Oh, we’re definitely doing a read-aloud at Christmas,” said my most fiendish cousin.
We most definitely are not, I thought, and when I showed up at Christmas, I conveniently forgot to bring the galley. It didn’t stop the endless texts, or my brother’s five-star Goodreads review: “Total smut. The author must be a pervert.”
My editor said, “Don’t worry. As a review, I think it’s selling.”
Then that fiendish cousin and a pack of relatives came to visit. While I was in the kitchen, they sniffed out a galley from my desk. When I came into the living room carrying the bread and wine, I found them sitting in a circle and howling with laughter as my cousin read out, “He let his body slide again, slow and rough, and—”
I put the food down, dropped to the floor, and died.
Please don’t think that the fact my family can’t get enough of teasing me means they’re sex-negative, or prudish in any way. Only my grandmother, whom we called Baba, even came close. She was British and in a hopeless battle to train us up for tea with the Queen, and seemed startled to find herself surrounded by hooligans instead. Often, when we started to talk about our love lives over the dishes, she’d shake her head from the kitchen table and say in her starchiest voice, “Really! You people are oversexed!”
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I have a devil on my shoulder who just can’t help himself, so once I turned around and asked, “But how was your sex life, Baba? You never say a word about it.”
The family gave a collective gasp.
It’s a question I could only ask because she had a soft spot for me, and probably also because my grandfather didn’t quite exist in my mind as a real person, gone long before I was born.
To everyone’s wide-eyed surprise, my grandmother decided to answer.
“I’ll only say this.” She crossed her hands in her lap, pleased when everyone leaned forward. “Once, I went away for the whole summer. When I left, we had two twin beds, but when I came back there was just one big bed. And your grandfather and I never said a word about it.”
Her saucy was so sweet. But oh, Baba, my book takes it a lot further.
Griffiths, Rachel THE TROUBLE WITH ANNA Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster (Fiction None) $19.99 3, 4 ISBN: 9781668052945
A headstrong lady and an imposing lord are matched against their will.
Lady Anna Reston doesn't want to be at her best friend Charlotte's party--she'd rather be out in the stables or riding one of her beloved horses. She's shy and certain that people see her as "plain to look at and prickly to deal with," and especially wants to avoid being overawed by Charlotte's attractive and haughty older brother, Julian Aveton, Earl Ramsey. The party goes from intimidating to tragic, though, when her grandfather dies in the middle of it. And one week later, when his will is read, she learns that she's in line to inherit the unentailed portion of his estate--but only if she marries Julian in the next six months. Anna is terribly hurt that her grandfather chose not to leave her the estate outright, but Julian assumes it's a setup engineered by Anna, and says he will refuse to go through with it. Once home, his mother and sister convince him he's mistaken, and when he goes back to apologize to Anna, a slow back-and-forth begins between the two. Their attraction grows, but the connection is derailed by a series of misunderstandings. Unsure whether she even wants to inherit her grandfather's estate but terrified of losing her horses, Anna splits her attention and devotes just as much time to a gambling scheme with Charlotte that might afford them both some financial independence, which leads them toward a daring venture that may change everyone's lives forever. Griffiths' debut is a delightful and witty slow burn with enough complexity to celebrate friendship as well as romance, and loaded with ample details about horse racing to boot. Some readers may chafe at Julian's more chauvinistic impulses, but he's an excellent (if slightly simple), starchy hero who's not afraid to admit when he's wrong, and is well paired with the lively Anna. Although Anna is a fairly contemporary heroine, and the story features several steamy encounters, the book has a pleasingly old-school feel, and readers will finish with the hope that one or more of the well-drawn supporting characters will star in future volumes.
A strong Regency debut from a promising new author.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2025 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
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Source Citation
MLA 9th Edition APA 7th Edition Chicago 17th Edition Harvard
"Griffiths, Rachel: THE TROUBLE WITH ANNA." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Mar. 2025. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A828785325/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=1055c20c. Accessed 22 Aug. 2025.
The Trouble with Anna
Rachel Griffiths. Gallery, $19.99 trade paper (336p)
ISBN 978-1-66805-294-5
* Debut author Griffiths's delightful Regency romp kicks off with spirited horsewoman Lady Anna Reston learning that the terms of her grandfather's will require her to marry the man he names as her guardian, Julian Aveton, the ninth Earl of Ramsay, if she wants to inherit her home and her beloved horses. Julian, who is Anna's best friend Charlotte's half-brother, is equally blindsided by this news, but feels duty-bound to propose. Anna initially refuses, finding Julian too handsome for his own good and not wanting to be trapped in a loveless marriage. But as Julian woos her with stolen kisses, they are both surprised by their mutual attraction and developing friendship. Anna reluctantly agrees to the union while also secretly scheming with Charlotte to raise funds to ensure the two women's financial independence regardless of their marriage prospects. Lighthearted banter, comic misunderstandings, and sizzling romance keep the pages turning, and Griffiths especially excels at crafting full-bodied characters, fleshing out both her leads' backstories to explore what makes them tick--and why they work so well together. Thanks to its strong female characters and a swoon-worthy hero, this is sure to charm Regency fans.
Agent: Holly Root, Root Literary. (Mar.)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2025 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Source Citation
Source Citation
MLA 9th Edition APA 7th Edition Chicago 17th Edition Harvard
"The Trouble with Anna." Publishers Weekly, vol. 272, no. 2, 13 Jan. 2025, pp. 47+. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A828299902/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=d32a036d. Accessed 22 Aug. 2025.