Birthday, Book Release, Brooklyn Event

An exciting week ahead!

Sending my release email a day early because: it’s my birthday! I’m turning 42 today, and in two days I’ll be celebrating both book release and birthday week at the Ripped Bodice! I’m not sure when I’ll get to New York again, so if you’ve been asking when I’ll make it to NYC: right now!

I’ll be in conversation with my friend and amazing romance author Xio Axelrod: expect fun book discussion and birthday swag bags!

Get your tickets here: How to Catch A Queen Release Party Tickets

Alyssa’s Emo Journal

I know that newsletters about your upcoming books are supposed to be feel-good, but 1) this is a re-release (during mercury retrograde) in a new format and 2) the initial release of the trade paperback edition of How to Catch a Queen was, frankly, traumatic for me. I won’t go into all the details, but I will say it was a bit ironic given that Shanti, the heroine of the story, believes that if she just does everything right, all her work will be rewarded. Needless to say, she learns the hard way that this isn’t true—it is, in fact, her breaking of the rules that allows her to become the queen she’d always dreamed of being.

Like so many authors, I’d written what I needed to hear, before I knew I needed to hear it.

I didn’t read the story after it was published—unusual for me, since I write my stories for myself first. Writing itself became harder. The creativity was still there, but it had become a little harder to tap into once “finishing a story” became hardwired with “publish and promote a book” in my brain.

Lots of other things were going on, of course: a pandemic, extreme isolation, and a general garbage-fire vibe that suffocated many of the good feelings we all need to write good books, and especially good romances.

I’m glad to say that my creative well has been tapped once again, thanks to some rewiring on my part. I’m looking forward to what 42 will bring, both personally and creatively.

So, now that I’ve re-read and surprisingly enjoyed How to Catch a Queen, I can tell you what it’s about. In short: It’s an arranged marriage contemporary royal romance between the king of a kingdom in the African highlands and a commoner from a another African kingdom, one that could be perceived as an enemy. It draws on elements of Bluebeard and 1001 Nights: a king with a stream of disappearing wives, and a queen who uses her smarts—and nightly meetings with her husband—to foster a connection.

It’s a story about a driven, ambitious woman who wants to ascend to the highest seat of power—the throne—so that she can have enough power to make the world a better place. Once she arrives, via a quickie royal marriage, she learns that in her new kingdom, queens hold no power.

But it’s also a story about a king trapped in the tower of tradition, or more simply of a man imprisoned by toxic masculinity, who can only be saved by his queen—and by love. I know this all sounds serious, but it’s also pretty funny and Shanti and Sanyu also bang against a giant vase.

I really love this book. If you haven’t read it yet, I hope you will too!

You can get your copy here: How to Catch a Queen trade paperback edition