Blog Tour, Author Interview & Giveaway: Disenchanted (A Lay of Ruinous Reign #1)

Tangled meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer in this Breton folklore-inspired fantasy debut brimming with wry humor, epic adventure, and an irresistible romance.

At the peak of the Breton Renaissance, Lilac Trécesson is held prisoner in her own castle after a most wicked secret is revealed on the eve of her fifteenth birthday. Years later, her Accession looms upon her father’s decision to abdicate, and between town riots and the noble family bent on snatching her throne, she prepares for the worst…

Until a letter arrives from The Witch of Lupine Grotto, detailing a curious offer to banish her curse forever.

Her heirloom dagger at the ready, Lilac embarks into Brocéliande and finds herself in the grasp of a bloodthirsty barkeep who demands her help in exchange for protection against the even deadlier forces of the woods.

She is thrust on a quest to uphold her family’s legacy—and her sovereign right to destroy it and start anew—by any means necessary. Pity the fool to underestimate the girl with subpar blade skills but the pure spite to make up for it.

This is the tale of a cursed princess,

A crestfallen killer,

The town that wants them to burn,

And the witch who can save them both.

• 1st or 3rd person narration?

3rd!

• Single POV or multiple POV?

Multiple but only if necessary; I like them in romances.

• Coffee or tea?

Tea.

• Morning person or night person?

Night.

• Series or standalones?

Series.

• All the smut or fade to black/closed door?

All the smut.

• Contemporary or non-contemporary?

All my life I’ve been a SF/F reader but have lately gotten into contemporary romances, they’re actually amazing. I’ll always be a Fantasy gal but Cotemporary is great. Agh, BOTH!

• Plot driven or character driven stories?

Character driven.

Tell us a bit about yourself.

Sure, I’m a romantic fantasy author, student and aspiring historian (16th century France/ Bretagne/ Brythonic Celts), and mom. I’m from Hawaii and live in California with my partner and three children.

Did you always want to be a writer?

For a long time, as long as I can remember, in any capacity. I went to school for journalism and that ultimately fell through, and I had a family and became a romantic fantasy author instead. I’ve loved reading fantasy novels all my life, so it’s become my adult dream in a way.

What was the inspiration or what sparked the idea behind the book?

After experiencing a stillbirth in 2017, I took to writing. My therapist told me to free-write my feelings or whatever came to mind. I wrote a few poems in alternating POVs of two characters—a princess and a monster. I am a horrible poet, so I set those pieces aside, but they became two characters I could not stop thinking about. I needed names, a context, a setting, which quickly became a forest. Brocéliande came to mind. I knew a little about the mythical forest in the backdrop of Merlin and other Arthurian stories that inspired the fairy tales my mom read to me as a kid, and was shocked to find there was a real-life Brocéliande. The residents surrounding it still believe in and operate around faeries and other mythical creatures specific to the region. I spent the latter half of the year reading some of Le Morte d’Arthur and books on the romances of Brittany, and drafted in 2018. These characters, who became Princess Lilac (inspired by some of the women of Arthuriana but mostly Eleanor the Fair Maiden of Brittany, Constance of Brittany, and Anne of Brittany) and Garin (inspired by the themes in Gawain and the Green Knight, a little Klaus Mikaelson from TVD, and Spike from BTVS), basically told me their story from there.

Describe your book in 5 words or less.

Tangled x Buffy x The Princess Bride.

If you were to write a spin-off series about one of the characters, who would it be and why?

It would be my cruel, cinnamon roll, bisexual vampire boy, Bastion. He was Garin’s counterpart in the Hundred Years’ War and I would love to explore his background.

Any advice for writers working on their first book?

Write the book you want to read. There will always be an audience for it.