By Amanda Woods (Harper-Collins) & Marilyn Miller
W Publishing, an imprint of Thomas Nelson, announces the release of The Bright Side of the Other Side: Notes from a Soul Restored by Sara McDaniel, founder of the nationally recognized lifestyle and hospitality brand, Simply Southern Cottage.
Known for her historic preservation projects, television appearances, and passion for community revitalization, Sara invites readers into her remarkable journey from devastating loss and uncertainty to healing, purpose and unexpected joy.
“Sometimes the places we think are beyond repair are the very places where restoration begins,” said Sara. “What started as a renovation project became a journey of healing, teaching me that God often builds something more beautiful from the pieces we thought were lost forever.”
After a painful divorce left her questioning everything she thought she knew about faith, marriage and her future, Sara felt an unexpected call to return to her Louisiana roots. There she became captivated by a dilapidated cottage that many considered beyond saving. As she pursued the home in Minden and embarked on an ambitious restoration project, she began uncovering deeper truths about grace, identity, resilience, and God’s ability to redeem even the most broken places.
Part memoir, part testimony, and part invitation to hope and dream, The Bright Side of the Other Side chronicles Sara’s path through her divorce, disappointment, career ambition, entrepreneurship, and ultimately restoration. Through the story of rescuing the neglected 1926 cottage in Minden, Louisiana, Sara discovered that the home she was rebuilding mirrored the work that was happening within her own heart.
The book will be released on October 13, 2026, almost six years from the day that Sara was contacted by literary agent John Blase of The Bindery Agency in Colorado. John and Sara were both graduates of Ouachita Baptist University. The agency represents authors, working with them to get book deals. He had found Sara via social media, and he loved the way she wrote…loved her story…and told her, “I think we could write a book.” Sara actually had a “good start” on a book, initially telling herself she could self-publish. But she and John put together a proposal and sent it to many publishers. She got back all “No’s” because publishers were looking for a “Home Décor” book from Sara, not a Memoir.
“But I was like, ‘I don’t want to write a Home Décor book, I want to tell my story.”’
A very discouraged Sara “pressed pause” on the book process. And that is when everything started happening for her. “My life ramped up,” she recalled. “HGTV was happening, and the Villas, and Hector, and Magnolia Network.”
Four busy years later, a very patient agent said “Let’s try again.” They rewrote the proposal, sent it back out to publishers, and Sara got multiple offers. “It was very hard choosing who to go with” but Sara chose “W Publishing,” a subsidiary of Harper-Collins Christian. “That’s how I got a book deal, long story, short.” A memoir book deal!
”With warmth, honesty and Southern charm, Sara explores themes that resonate with readers navigating their own seasons of transition and heartbreak. From the pressures of perfection and the pain of unmet expectations to the courage required to begin again, she offers an authentic portrait of what it means to trust God when life unfolds differently than planned.
W Publishing Editor Lisa Jo Baker was the one who suggested that Sara begin her book with her cottage. “Start the book with something happy and then basically backtrack, and then bring everybody forward,” Baker advised. And that’s what she did, carving out every Sunday afternoon to curl up in front of the fire or stretch out on her back porch, writing. Unfortunately, she had to have the book turned in by November 2025. AND, she had to keep it to 55,000 words. Her first submission was 80,000 words. Her publisher conceded and allowed 65,000. “Harper was so good to work with,” Sara beamed.
Because of timing and word limitations, a lot has been left out. Like her marriage to Hector M. Sanchez, a professional photographer whose work she had admired since 2016 when he was shooting for Southern Living. Then in 2019, he asked if he could come and shoot her cottage in Minden. They were married on Sept. 7, 2026.
As founder of Simply Southern Cottage and Minden Stays, Sara has become one of the most recognizable voices in historic preservation and Southern hospitality. What began with the restoration of a single abandoned cottage evolved into a nationally recognized brand, multiple hospitality ventures, television appearances on Magnolia Network’s In With the Old and HGTV’s Home Town Kickstart, CNBC’s Make It, and features in publications including Southern Living, Forbes Home, U.S. News & World Report, Better Homes & Gardens, Southern Lady, Cottages & Bungalows, American Farmhouse Style and more. Yet behind the thriving business and national acclaim lies the deeply personal story that inspired it all.
“My book is targeted toward two types of ladies,” Sara said. “The first are those who have walked through heartbreak or health problems…any kind of major life transition that they think there is no way they will come out on the other side of this happy, healthy and joyful. I want my story to inspire them, because, yes, they can! Once they have read this book and they see everything I went through that should have derailed me…and I chose not to let it…and I chose to make purposeful and intentional decisions to get where I am today, they can be inspired to do the same.”
“But then maybe there are the ladies who have never had an issue, who have slipped smoothly through life, who don’t have heartache. In that case, my book will inspire them to live their best lives.
There will be a book signing at Purvey Minden on Saturday, Oct. 17 from 10-2. Sara will display her memoir, “The Bright Side of the Other Side,” and Hector will be offering his book, “Past Forward.” The public is invited. “The Bright Side of the Other Side” will be available at all walk-in and online bookstores on Oct. 13, 2026.