The World of The Forgotten Sister

A reimagining of Sleeping Beauty:

As a reader I could never wrap my head around the characters in the Grimm version of Sleeping Beauty. It made no sense to me that parents might somehow fail to remember the night their daughter is meant to be cursed, and thus leave her unguarded, even if they've managed to destroy every spindle in the land. By the way the Grimm version is a little different from the Disney version, but I highly recommend taking a look at both to see where your own sentiments lie. That's what  The Forgotten Sister series was for me: a way of trying to understand the world and all the characters involved. When I began it was meant to be a novella, but I fell in love with the world and the characters, and they showed me that they had so much more to share than just a revisiting of that tale that was the first seed of my inspiration.

 Want to connect to the story and characters a bit more? Follow this link to Playbuzz and find out what order of Fairy you are! https://www.playbuzz.com/dalilah10/what-order-of-fairy-are-you?utm_source=email&utm_medium=ff&utm_campaign=ff&pb_traffic_source=email

 

The making of a villain:

Sorcha, Fairy Queen is a character I had a lot of fun writing. It was very surprising to me that I enjoyed her so much, because I went into it seeing her as entirely evil. There seemed no other description for someone who would curse a baby all over being snubbed. So when I wrote her I gave her a reason, not a good one, but one she could cling to for having committed great evil. However as I wrote, she kept on showing me more and more, her desperation, her anguish, her loneliness, and the terrible degradation of beginning her rule in such turmoil. She is set out from the beginning of the tale as this powerful, unflinching, ruthless monarch, but as the story develops the reader can see for themselves how much of that is true. But there are aspects of Sorcha's character, both good and bad that grew out of a time the reader never gets to see, her youth. She has a great love for beauty, and sees it all around her. She has an innate seductive power that she quiet enjoys the use of, and she is first and foremost a performer.

With as much fun as I had writing her it is no wonder that the illustrator I found when working on volume 2 Future Queen, Yenthe Joline had such fun creating her look.      

And I in turn had a terrible/ wonderful time deciding on the ultimate look to go with. Making a hero:                            

Rowan the Eternal, knight of the rose and future queen of Stonedragon was a real labor of love. When I set out to write the story, I wanted a character close enough to "Sleeping Beauty" to know her world intimately, one who was truly invested in the outcome of the curse, and so devoted to saving her that she would allow nothing in her way. And I could think of no more devoted or truer ally than a sister. But as devoted and loving as Rowan, Sorcha's curse is insidious and its power tries to weave its way between even the greatest of bonds to destroy them. So Rowan needs to be strong in every way she can be, physically, mentally, emotionally, and--magically.

I was truly impressed by the expressiveness Yenthe Joline was able to achieve for Rowan in just these character sketches.

But that wasn't all: Rowan also needed weapons and adornments suited to a woman of her ilk here they are beautifully rendered by Yenthe Joline.

 

The Rose Blade:

 

 You can find more of Yenthe's personal artwork here:  https://www.yenthejolineart.com

Official book art merchandise is available at:

https://www.redbubble.com/people/yenthejoline/collections/953201-forgotten-sister-series