Danielle L. Jensen's Blog, page 4

WARRIOR WITCH Character Discussion: Vincent and Victoria (And the importance of comic relief)

This post is part of a series of posts discussing characters and events in WARRIOR WITCH. They will all contain serious spoilers, so if you haven’t read the book, I’d suggest holding off on reading them.

A question I’m often asked is how I come up with my characters. For my protagonists, I typically have a sense of their personality before I even start writing, because I spend so much time thinking about characters/plot/setting before I ever create a Scrivener file and put my fingers to the keyboard. But my secondary characters are quite different. They tend to grow and develop along with the plot – the needs of the story are what determine who they are and what they are like. Or said another way, the significant secondary characters are the way they are for REASONS.

I wrote a guest post at some point (although I can’t seem to find it!) about how Tristan’s friends all represent certain aspects of his personality, but there is more to it than that. In this post, I’m going to focus on Vincent and Victoria (The Twins), and why I constructed their personalities the way I did.

I wrote the majority of STOLEN SONGBIRD while I was studying for my BA in English Literature, and one of my primary academic focuses was on 17th Century literature, which meant quite a bit of Shakespeare. Of great interest to me was the Shakespearean Fool, which, in a highly simplified nutshell, is a character whose scenes tend to be set apart from the action of the play and who provide comedic relief. These characters are typically quite clever, and they use wit or tricks against those of higher social standing. The Shakespearean Fool was the inspiration behind the twins.

There is a theory of thought that audiences benefit from comedic relief that pulls them out of the tension of the main action of a story. The argument is that an audience becomes numb from uninterrupted tension, and that providing them with a break actually increases the emotion resonance or impact of whatever tense event happens next. If you go back to STOLEN SONGBIRD and read the scenes where the twins are central to the action (the competition scene when Cecile has first meets the twins, the fishing scene, etc.), you’ll notice that the content of those scenes isn’t particularly necessary to the continued plot of the novel. They were comedic breaks that allowed the reader to relax before I dived into more tense, plot-intensive events. Their existence gave STOLEN SONGBIRD a great deal more levity than it would’ve otherwise had, especially in contrast to a novel like HIDDEN HUNTRESS.

The twins have very little screen time in HIDDEN HUNTRESS, and when they do, they are a grim version of their former selves. I did this purposefully, because I wanted the novel to have a darker, broodier feel than its predecessor. The first half of the novel has pretty much no comic relief, because I didn’t want to cut the tension – I wanted it to weigh upon the reader. This is what makes the first half of HIDDEN HUNTRESS a harder read and, judging from some feedback I received, caused some readers to take their own breaks rather than pushing through. The second half of the novel reads much more quickly, not only because it is the rising action to the climax, but also because I give the reader a few comedic breaks using the banter between Tristan and Chris (I couldn’t use the twins as they were in Trollus!). The refocus on Tristan and Cecile’s romance serves a similar purpose, because while it is no less tense, it is a break from the central conflict of the novel (the hunt for Anushka).

In WARRIOR WITCH, the twins have a much greater amount of screen time, and while they aren’t exactly back to their silly selves, they once again take on the role of comedic relief, especially as Tristan and Chris’s banter is missing for a good portion of the novel. But for this book, I wasn’t satisfied with that being the extent of their character duties: side kicks who provide the occasional chuckle. I wanted to pull their personalities into the central conflict, which is why I used their notorious pranking abilities (candy globe scene, moving the mountain town scene, etc.) as a weapon against the enemy. But as every plot arc must contain conflict, I had to have one of their pranks go dreadfully wrong (Vincent’s injury). Although I certainly led readers to believe there might not be a chance of him recovering, I always knew he would (he does fully recover in Arcadia, for those who were uncertain). Killing the twins, who were a consistent source of good throughout the novels, would’ve been undeserved, and I believed that their deaths would’ve dragged what was destined to be a tough ending into the territory of a tragic ending, which wasn’t at all what I wanted.

Related Posts:

The ending of WARRIOR WITCH (Focuses on Tristan and Cécile)

WARRIOR WITCH Character Discussion: Alex

WARRIOR WITCH Character Discussion: Marc

WARRIOR WITCH Character Discussion: Marc and Sabine

WARRIOR WITCH Character Discussion: Sabine

WARRIOR WITCH Character Discussion: The Duke d’Angoulême

WARRIOR WITCH Character Discussion: The Duke d’Angoulême

This post is part of a series of posts discussing characters and events in WARRIOR WITCH. They will all contain serious spoilers, so if you haven’t read the book, I’d suggest holding off on reading them. I’m even sticking a giant image of the cover below so that you don’t accidentally see anything you don’t want to.

Unlike previous posts in this series, I’m going to try to keep this one short!

Anyone who has been following me for a long time knows that I have a fondness for villains, which is probably why this series has so many of them! I generally like to give my antagonists backstories to justify their villainy, because I find characters who are evil for evil’s sake aren’t horribly compelling. Throughout all three books, I reveal details about Anushka, King Thibault, Lessa, and (to a certain extent) Roland that explain their path into villainy – what made them they way they are.

The Duke d’Angoulême is a bit of a different circumstance, which is why his backstory is light. Yes, he is from a family with a long-standing rivalry with the Montignys, he desires power and the crown, and his own upbringing (remember the Dowager Duchesse Damia!) didn’t exactly predispose him to being a nice guy. But there is no specific reason he followed the path of a villain. He is, for the most part, evil for evil’s sake. Which kinda seems like I’m breaking my own rules, right?

I did! But I had reasons.

Central to Tristan’s motivations in STOLEN SONGBIRD and HIDDEN HUNTRESS is his fear that the trolls are innately evil, dangerous, and destined to repeat their tyrannical history if released back into the world.

“I think it is in our nature to be selfish, and in our capacity to do a great many evil things.”

The Duke d’Angoulême is that fear personified. He represents all of Tristan’s nightmares: a power-hungry troll intent on subjugating or destroying all those he perceives as lesser. Who will not hesitate to reduce cities to rubble and slaughter all its inhabitants. Whose evil is innate to his character rather than the result of events or circumstances.

For the first two novels, that fear, more than Angoulême himself, is the antagonist. It’s a big part of what keeps Tristan and Cécile apart, and is the reason so much conflict exists within the choice to kill Anushka and free the trolls.

But in WARRIOR WITCH that fear becomes reality, which is why Angoulême steps forward as the true villain of the series: he represents the ultimate consequences of their actions.

“Not all of them are Angoulême!”

Defeating him not only represents triumph over a flesh and blood villain, but also triumph over the antagonistic belief/fear that all trolls are innately evil, which they prove is not the case when they fight to save the lives of the humans of Courville and Trianon.

Comments are open!

Next post will be on the twins!

Related Posts:

The ending of WARRIOR WITCH (Focuses on Tristan and Cécile)

WARRIOR WITCH Character Discussion: Alex

WARRIOR WITCH Character Discussion: Marc

WARRIOR WITCH Character Discussion: Marc and Sabine

WARRIOR WITCH Character Discussion: Sabine

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

International Giveaway!

I chat with L.R.W. Lee about Stolen Songbird and more! Post a comment on the YouTube video for a chance to win a signed copy of your choice of STOLEN SONGBIRD, HIDDEN HUNTRESS, or WARRIOR WITCH!

 

 

WARRIOR WITCH Character Discussion: Sabine (and the happily ever after)

 

This post is part of a series of posts discussing characters and events in WARRIOR WITCH. They will all contain serious spoilers, so if you haven’t read the book, I’d suggest holding off on reading them. I’m even sticking a giant image below so that you don’t accidentally see anything you don’t want to.

In WARRIOR WITCH, Cécile says of Marc and Sabine: …I knew he’d left a mark on her soul that would not soon fade, if it ever did.

Some people have interpreted her words to mean that after meeting (and losing) Marc that Sabine is unable to seek love again, and that’s why she pursues a career and remains unmarried and childless at the end of WARRIOR WITCH. But that was not at all my intention. I often get the impression that for SOME readers, happily ever after only has one definition for fictional characters: getting married to your one true love, probably having babies, and living a long life free of the drama that dominated the plot of the novel. But the truth of the matter is, that isn’t the life that everyone dreams of living. The mark that Marc left on her soul was not sorrow, but strength: the idea that she could do what she wanted and be what she wanted.

In the beginning of STOLEN SONGBIRD, Sabine is a timid girl who is too afraid to ride a horse in order to attend a party at Cécile’s farm. But the loss of her friend, and her sense that her cowardice was partially to blame, became the impetus for her to overcome her fears. She continues to challenge herself, moving to Trianon with Cécile and taking a job with the opera house. She makes friends and swiftly adapts to live in Trianon, despite it likely being terrifyingly large and different from Goshawk’s Hollow. Though she hates the trolls, Sabine helps Cécile and Chris in the hunt for Anushka, despite knowing the dangers of involving herself.

And she does all of this of her own volition. She isn’t a “special one” with the divine/magical/prophetical talents needed to save the day, but she turns herself into an important ally that Tristan, Cécile, and later on, Marc, rely on tremendously.

In HIDDEN HUNTRESS, Tristan brings Sabine to the masque with him because she’s capable. She’s nervous, and feels like an impostor, so Tristan bolsters her courage with the following:

“You told me once that information was free for the taking to those who watched and listened… This is the same. Watch them, and do as they do. They may not know who you are, but that is not the same as them knowing you’re the daughter of an innkeeper from a town in the middle of nowhere.”

His sentiment is that she is clever enough to fake belonging to the crowd of rich and noble people, but it isn’t the same as her having the right to be there. It’s an act. Contrast Tristan’s words with Marc’s in WARRIOR WITCH:

“You aren’t helpless in this, Sabine. Circumstance has put you in a position to make a difference, if you are willing.”

He’s saying that her ability to make a difference isn’t dependent on her pretending to be something she’s not, but rather on her willingness to take the risk and make the effort.

“What would you have me do?” she asked him.

“You’re doing it,” he said. “We need to have a unified front if we are to have any hope of making it through this war. They need to see that they are on the same side, and I think you can make that happen.”

Sabine creates and nurtures her own inner strength, but Marc helps her to see that there are no limitations to how she might deploy that strength, other than her own willingness.

That was the mark he left upon her soul. And to have her retreat into her old life – perhaps by me having her marry Fred or Chris – just because our protagonists no longer needed her to help save the world would’ve been a disservice to how she’d grown and changed, and shown total disregard for all the skills and interests I’d shown her as having. Sabine’s choice to pursue a career rather than marriage and children was not a consolation prize – for her, it was the life she fought for. It was her happily ever after.

The next post will be on the Duke d’Angoulême!

Comments are open for questions!

Related Posts:

The ending of WARRIOR WITCH (Focuses on Tristan and Cécile)

WARRIOR WITCH Character Discussion: Alex

WARRIOR WITCH Character Discussion: Marc

WARRIOR WITCH Character Discussion: Marc and Sabine

WARRIOR WITCH Character Discussion: Marc and Sabine

This post is part of a series of posts discussing characters and events in WARRIOR WITCH. They will all contain serious spoilers, so if you haven’t read the book, I’d suggest holding off on reading them. I’m even sticking a giant image of the cover below so that you don’t accidentally see anything you don’t want to.

Artwork by Steve Stone

I’ve heard two sorts of reactions from readers about the relationship/connection/chemistry between Marc and Sabine. The first is, “I totally shipped them! Why, why couldn’t you let them be together?”, and the second is, “I hated that plot arc! It felt unnecessary and like a betrayal of Pénélope!” Talk about a disparity in reaction!

First off, neither reaction is right or wrong. As a reader, you are 100% allowed to love or hate or be indifferent about anything an author puts in a book, and anyone who tells you otherwise needs to piss off. And the point of these character discussions is not to convince people who disliked certain aspects of the novel to change their opinion, but rather to share my reasons for making certain choices. Which, if nothing else, I hope you find expands the depth of your experience with my novels.

Many of you will be familiar with the blogger, Authoress, who runs lots of agent contests, posts great writing advice, and is generally awesome. (It was one of her writing contests where I met and subsequently signed with my own agent, Tamar). Anyway, she posted a question on Facebook a few months ago asking what was everyone’s favorite aspect of novels: plot, character, etc., and I responded with RELATIONSHIPS! Not just those of the romantic variety, but friends, family, nemeses. And not just between the protagonists or the protagonists and secondary characters, but between secondary characters themselves. I often find, especially in first person narratives, that almost all the conversation and relationship development involves at least one of the protagonists, which I find can lead to flat secondary characters, because they seem to exist solely to be sidekicks or sounding boards for the protagonists. With Marc and Sabine, I wanted to create a dynamic that was separate from Tristan and Cécile. For them to have conversations that didn’t include the protagonists, and for the reader to have the sense that many more of those conversations were happening off screen.

The second reason I created the connection between the two of them was to develop their character arcs. As much as I possibly can, I try to give my secondary characters their own plots, even if they are tiny. In my post on Marc, I talked a lot about the importance of Pénélope to his character, but here, I want to talk more about his identity as Tristan’s second-in-command in the revolution. Marc is deeply involved with the fight to overthrow Thibault and change the world of Trollus for the better – enough so that it is what allows him to push through the pain of losing Pénélope. There are many hints dropped throughout STOLEN SONGBIRD and HIDDEN HUNTRESS that Marc is doing much of the work behind the scenes, but he is never the leader. He always keeps to the shadows, both literally and metaphorically. Much of that is driven by his anxiety over people’s reaction to his appearance. Marc believes he looks like a monster – he says as much to Cécile in STOLEN SONGBIRD – and he expects negative reactions from those who look upon him. To that end, he is content to let Tristan constantly be in the limelight.

But in WARRIOR WITCH, Marc needs to step up and take a leadership role. This requires a huge step outside Marc’s comfort zone, and the connection he develops with Sabine helps him do it. Unlike Cécile (who screamed the first time she saw him), Sabine never reacts negatively to his appearance. She gravitates to Marc, and unlike everyone other than Pénélope, she values him more than Tristan.

“I respect Tristan,” Sabine continued. “Sometimes I even like him. And I truly believe he loves Cécile, and for that, I can forgive his faults.” Staring at the plate, she set it on the table. “But damned if he isn’t the most entitled creature I’ve ever met.”  

Marc laughed softly. “It’s a common trait amongst the nobility, human and troll alike.”

Her eyes flicked to him. “Not you.”  

“Yes, well…” He turned, tugging his hood forward so that his face was obscured. “He had some advantages I did not.”

She touched his sleeve; and though they looked nothing alike, for a moment, she reminded me of Pénélope. “I think you are the better man for it.”

Self-confidence comes from within, but that doesn’t mean that another person doesn’t have the power to harm an individual’s internal strength, or to bolster it, as Sabine does for Marc.

For Sabine, Marc plays a rather different role in her character development. He helps her find empathy in her heart for the trolls. Certainly at the beginning of HIDDEN HUNTRESS, Sabine HATES the trolls for what they did to her best friend. Despite everything Cécile tells her, she refuses to see the trolls as anything other than monsters that need to be punished. And Tristan’s arrival doesn’t do much to change that. In him, she sees a beautiful, brilliant, and powerful young man who has her best friend’s heart wrapped around his little finger. Nothing about him suggests that the trolls are in anything other than a glorious state in their city under the mountain. And his personality doesn’t exactly help the situation[image error]

It isn’t until she meets Marc that she sees the proof she needs to feel empathy for the trolls. The hurt he has endured is written all over him, not just from his iron-inflicted disfigurement, but also the black bonding marks on his hand. Unlike Tristan, Marc’s personality is the sort that speaks to her heart – he makes her see that not only are the trolls and humans alike in need of help, but that she is in a position to give it.

As she turned to leave, Marc caught her arm. “You aren’t helpless in this, Sabine. Circumstance has put you in a position to make a difference, if you are willing.”

Together, they form a team that holds Trianon together while Cécile and Tristan are off fighting other fights, and I am very fond of the unified force they create.

So why, oh why, didn’t I let them be together? Well, for one, just like Tristan, Marc would’ve had to go back to Arcadia. So there always would’ve been an end date on anything between them. Two, Marc’s heart belongs forever to Pénélope, as I think is made clear by the choice he made in the end. Which isn’t to say that he didn’t feel anything for Sabine – the heart, especially a heart like Marc’s, has room for many people.

So did anything happen between the two of them? Any stolen kisses or affectionate words that we didn’t get to see or hear? Cécile says it best:

I did not know the extent of the relationship between the two of them. How far their sentiment for each other went or whether it had been acknowledged. Sabine never said, and I knew better to ask. Whatever had happened was hers to share. Or not. But I knew he’d left a mark on her soul that would not soon fade, if it ever did.

Next post, I’m going to talk about Sabine’s life after the trolls left for Arcadia.

Comments are open for questions!

Related Posts:

The ending of WARRIOR WITCH (Focuses on Tristan and Cécile)

WARRIOR WITCH Character Discussion: Alex

WARRIOR WITCH Character Discussion: Marc

 

 

 

 

 

 

WARRIOR WITCH Character Discussion: Marc

This post is part of a series of posts discussing characters and events in WARRIOR WITCH. They will all contain serious spoilers, so if you haven’t read the book, I’d suggest holding off on reading them. I’m even sticking a giant image below so that you don’t accidentally see anything you don’t want to.

Cover Art by Steve Stone @ Artist Partners

Of all the secondary characters in THE MALEDICTION TRILOGY, Marc has been the most popular with readers. I love Marc, because despite being damaged both inside and out, he has a beautiful spirit. He is kind, thoughtful, intelligent, and an extremely loyal friend. And yet for many years, I’ve known he wouldn’t survive to the end of the series. I’m going to talk a bit about my rationale behind that decision. This post is a bit long, so forgive me for that!

Marc’s defining characteristic is his undying love for his wife, Pénélope, whose hemophilia caused her to bleed to death during a miscarriage prior to the events of STOLEN SONBIRD. She was the love of his life. They’d been close since they were children, and discovering she was afflicted with hemophilia (the Duke had gone to great lengths to hide her illness for many reasons), his love for her remained. Especially given she was one of the few who saw beyond his own iron affliction. When his parents refused to allow him to bond her, he stole a vial of Élixir and sneaked Pénélope into a portion of the labyrinth where the moon was visible, where they bonded each other in secret. He did this knowing that her life was unlikely to be long, and that her death was likely to kill him. As you all know, Pénélope did succumb to her illness, and while her death didn’t kill her instantly like Matilde’s death killed King Thibault, I think I made it very clear that Marc would’ve killed himself if Tristan hadn’t intervened.

Tristan’s first course of action was to force Marc to make a binding promise to him to live. But that promise ran counter to Marc’s deep desire to die, the conflict between the two forces driving him insane. So Tristan used the power of Marc’s true name to layer a series of commands that would diminish the pain of Pénélope’s loss (without making him forget her), as well as to an instill a desire to live into his cousin’s mind. But when Tristan gave up the power over all those true names in order to win the half-bloods trust (in the mines in HIDDEN HUNTRESS), all the orders he used to help Marc ceased to exist, leaving behind only the promise. Once again, Marc’s mind fell into a state of enormous conflict, driving him toward madness.

In the mines, Tristan and Marc have a heated conversation, but Tristan walks away from his cousin after the following comment: “If you find reason inside yourself to live, your will and your word might cease to be at odds and your mind once again be whole. Or you can pine away for death and let the madness grow until my father orders you put down. The choice is yours.” Neither the reader nor Tristan see how Marc grabbles with this challenge, only the results when Marc and the twins show up to rescue Tristan from Lessa. Marc explains: “You were right. It would have been one thing if my heart had stopped beating when hers did, if the decision had been taken out of my hands. But to choose it?” He inhaled sharply. “She did not wish it. And now, I find I do not wish it either. There is much I would like to see done before I willingly walk toward the end. This,” he gestured out at the city lying in front of us. “Saving this is one.”

As Tristan had hoped, Marc rediscovering his purpose and a reason to live (seeing the revolution through, helping Tristan gain the throne, etc.) put his mind, to a certain extent, at ease with the promise and allowed him to continue on.

Fast-forward to the moment in WARRIOR WITCH when Marc has killed Lessa and is now mortally injured at the bottom of the ravine. The fight against their enemies is over. The trolls are freed, and with Cécile’s ability to send the trolls back to Arcadia, there is no fear of war between full-bloods, half-bloods, and humans. Tristan has the throne, with Cécile at his side. The purpose that Marc has used to will himself onward, and to live, has been seen through to fruition, and therefore ceases to exist. He must choose between living for the sake of living, or letting go.

For me, that he would decide to let go was always the choice that he would make. To do otherwise would be breaking with the character that I’d created. His love for Pénélope was what defined him, and while he was able to move beyond that for a time in order to see his friends through, to have him continue to do so once the day had been won would’ve be counter to all the character development I’d given him. He believes there could be an afterlife for trolls, and any chance of being reunited with Pénélope is one that he will take.

And as the author with the ending firmly fixed in my mind, I knew one thing more than he did. Should he choose to have Cécile heal him, it wouldn’t just be a mortal life that I’d be presenting him with. Because much as Tristan has no choice about going to Arcadia, Marc would be in the same position. So he wouldn’t be presented with living a mortal life, at the end of which he could hope for an afterlife with Pénélope, he’d be presented with an immortal life, with no chance of reuniting with her unless he once again sought his own death. This was the right path for him in my mind, so it was the one I went with.

This is somewhat of an aside, but this moment was also important for Tristan. Tristan is a control freak – it’s probably one of his bigger character flaws. When Pénélope died, he took Marc’s choice away from him, forcing his cousin to live on whether he wanted to or not. In HIDDEN HUNTRESS, he gives up the control over Marc’s name, but he does not relinquish the hold of the promise he demanded from his cousin, which means he is still trying to force Marc to live. In the ravine, Tristan finally sees that Marc needs the opportunity to make this decision himself, and he finally relinquishes that control, leaving Marc’s fate wholly in his own hands.

But what about SABINE? THAT is going to be what I talk about in Monday’s post, along with some discussion about Sabine’s life after the trolls leave for Arcadia.

Comments are open for questions!

Related Posts:

The ending of WARRIOR WITCH (Focuses on Tristan and Cécile)

WARRIOR WITCH Character Discussion: Alex

 

 

 

 

 

 

WARRIOR WITCH Character Discussion: Alex

This post is part of a series of posts discussing characters and events in WARRIOR WITCH. They will all contain serious spoilers, so if you haven’t read the book, I’d suggest holding off on reading them. I’m even sticking a giant image of the cover below so that you don’t accidentally see anything you don’t want to.

There is always a reader reaction to each novel that totally surprises me, and in the case of WARRIOR WITCH, it was the reaction to Tristan and Cécile’s son, Alex. LOTS of people have messaged me about him, so if you are one of them, don’t think I’m picking on you in particular. The first and foremost question I’ve received is whether there will be a series of novels written about him. The answer to that is probably not. At the end of WARRIOR WITCH, Alex is about twenty-nine or thirty years old, so he isn’t exactly good material for a YA novel. And if something novel-worthy had happened to him in his younger years, Tristan probably would’ve mentioned it! But you never know… maybe an idea will strike me, and I’ll have to write a novel about it!

The second reaction is why bother with a baby at all given this is a YA novel. Most of this stems from my desire to remain true to the characters I created, which is something I’ll talk about in length in my post on Marc. The idea of having a child was something that Tristan and Cécile brought up continually in STOLEN SONGBIRD and HIDDEN HUNTRESS, particularly their fear over what would happen to it. Having a child at some point was obviously something both of them wanted, and to take that from them (after I already took so much!) seemed really unfair.

The third reaction, and this one is what has REALLY surprised me, is the number of people who thought it was cruel that I didn’t bring Alex to Arcadia to be with his parents. I…. Hmmm. This one really threw me, because he’s a GROWN ASS MAN when Cécile crosses over. He has a life in the human world – friends, family (Fred, Joss, Sabine, Chris, etc.), a career, and he’s in a serious romance with Aiden and Zoé’s daughter. Taking him away from all that so he could hang out for eternity with his PARENTS and a bunch of strangers seems a heck of a lot crueler to me. Sure, it would’ve been nice for Tristan to spend time with him, but no good father would put his own wishes ahead of his son’s happiness. And we’re going to assume that Tristan is a good, albeit absent, father.

The third reaction was to Tristan not voicing more loving words towards Alex when they finally meet. I admit, I waffled a bit when I was writing this particular section. The reason I didn’t have Tristan express a whole bunch of loving sentiment was twofold. One, it would’ve been out of character for Tristan. He isn’t exactly the best at expressing his feelings, and for him to give a big sappy speech would’ve been breaking character. Two, I think if he’d done so, it would’ve made both Tristan and Alex really uncomfortable. They’ve never met before, and to Alex (the grown ass man) his father looks like a teenager. To hear a big “I’m so proud of you speech” would’ve felt a bit weird. So instead, I had Tristan try to convey his emotions to Alex by making it very clear that he’s been watching over him the entire time. Alex has been raised with a lot of love in his life, and he knows his father didn’t leave him by choice. It mattered much more to him that Tristan was there for Cécile in her final hour than hearing a bunch of sentiment that, in his heart, he already knew. Plus, the always savvy Sabine has figured out that Tristan intended to bring Cécile over to Arcadia, and knowing his beloved mother was finally able to be with his father would’ve made him really happy.

Comments are open for anyone who has more questions!

The Ending of WARRIOR WITCH (Focuses on Cécile and Tristan)

Guest Post: Cécile’s relationship with her mother

I wrote a guest post for The Speculative Herald about Cécile’s relationship with her mother. This is an extremely important post to me, and one I’ve been wanting to write for a long time, primarily because it addresses certain of Cécile’s behaviours that might not have made much sense to some readers. So if you’ve read/reviewed HIDDEN HUNTRESS, I’d love it if you took the time to read this.

 

WARRIOR WITCH Launch Party!

For those in the Calgary area, I’ll be celebrating the release of WARRIOR WITCH on May 17th at 7pm at Owl’s Nest Books!

 

WARRIOR WITCH Audiobook

The audiobook will be released on May 17th via Audible Studios!