Event: Now I Rise Launch Party

Kiersten White

Hello everyone, today I’ll talk a little about an event I attended last week: Now I Rise Launch party.

Now I Rise is the second novel in the And I Darken trilogy. The event took place in the indie bookstore Mysterious Galaxy in San Diego at 7:00 pm.

The first part of the event was a talk by Kiersten White followed by a Q&A session.

During the event the author talked about different topics about her other books and And I darken, but after I continue I will provide you with the synopsis of And I darken.

No one expects a princess to be brutal. And Lada Dragwlya likes it that way. Ever since she and her gentle younger brother, Radu, were wrenched from their homeland of Wallachia and abandoned by their father to be raised in the Ottoman courts, Lada has known that being ruthless is the key to survival. She and Radu are doomed to act as pawns in a vicious game, an unseen sword hovering over their every move. For the lineage that makes them special also makes them targets.

Lada despises the Ottomans and bides her time, planning her vengeance for the day when she can return to Wallachia and claim her birthright. Radu longs only for a place where he feels safe. And when they meet Mehmed, the defiant and lonely son of the sultan, Radu feels that he’s made a true friend—and Lada wonders if she’s finally found someone worthy of her passion.

But Mehmed is heir to the very empire that Lada has sworn to fight against—and that Radu now considers home. Together, Lada, Radu, and Mehmed form a toxic triangle that strains the bonds of love and loyalty to the breaking point.

As you may notice by the synopsis, And I Darken is historical fiction, White says she was inspired to write this story after she traveled with her husband to Romania in 2010. There she learnt a lot about Vlad the impaler.

One of the most difficult things about writing historical fiction is that historical writing depends on the point of view the author takes, but White did her best to remain on neutral grounds.

And I Darken took a lot of research work to be as accurate as possible; it took a year to write.

White commented that there is already a cover and title for the third installment, but she can’t reveal any of them yet. The final book in the trilogy will be released next year, 2018, along with two other books.

This month, another book of Kiersten White will be released; it’s a middle grade book titled Beanstalker and Other Hilarious Scarytales. This book is a compilation of retellings that end in a funny and unexpected way, and it’s illustrated. She will attend this year San Diego Comic Con and be on a panel titled What’s Hot in YA alongside Lish McBride, Jason Reynolds, Nicola Yoon, Brendan Reichs, Beth Revis, Megan Whalen Turner, Jen Armentrout, S. Jae Jones, and moderated by Nathan Bransford.

White said that she had fun writing And I Darken and Now I Rise, but that her most memorable writing experience has been Beanstalker and Other Hilarious Scarytales, because is the book that was easiest to write and she enjoyed the process with her children.

To finalize she said that she wanted to write spies series next but her editor told her to stick with fantasy. She is very open to write every genre except for contemporary, she feels she is very far from those experiences now and that wouldn’t be able convey the feeling or be believable. Her writing style has change during the years because her life has changed.

After the talk and Q&A session, it was time to the signing, and she was giving each person an exclusive print of Lada. I talked with her mainly about Comic Con and as I gift her some Mexican candies and had a Latin American copy of And I Darken (Hija de las Tinieblas), she told me that she used to study Spanish when she was in college and that she can speak it if she takes her time to think what to say.

The event was such a good experience; it was a fun night full of laughter and a relaxed vibe. I can’t wait to start reading the And I Darken trilogy.