If you’re a lover of The Princess Bride like I am, you’re going to want to head to the bookstore and pick up The Princess Will Save You! It’s a swoonworthy romance full of thrilling adventure and a true love that will bring the patriarchy to its very knees. I had the amazing opportunity to interview Sarah Henning, author of The Princess Will Save You and its upcoming sequel The Queen Will Betray You. You’re going to want to get your hands on this book, it’s going to blow you away if you’re in the mood for some fierce women vying for the ultimate prize: control of the throne.
Sarah, can you tell us about yourself and about The Queen Will Betray You?
Hi there! I’m a former sports journalist who can’t quite seem to stop writing about royalty, swordfighting, and true love. The Queen Will Betray You is the sequel to The Princess Will Save You, which came out last summer and is a sort of gender-swapped damsel-in-distress tale inspired by The Princess Bride. It’s hard to talk about Queen without spoiling some of Princess, so I’m going to be kind of vague here, but: To stay together forever, a princess and her true love must part: him to find his destiny, and her to warn her kingdom of the revenge headed its way. But both find nothing how they expect it to be, and the limits of blood, power, and truth are tested in ways they didn’t see coming.
What was your favourite part of the drafting process of this book, and did it differ from when you wrote The Princess Will Save You?
Drafting is typically my favorite part of writing. I know some writers prefer to get it over with and then live forever in revisions, but I’m not that person. I’d much rather sit with it and make the first draft as close to the final as possible. I was able to do that with Princess but Queen was a much different story. The pandemic really through off my entire writing schedule and thus my process went out the window with it. I reworked this story over and over with my editor until the last possible second, and those changes included a major restructuring last summer. But I was so excited with that revision because suddenly the book was headed in the direction I really wanted—and where I couldn’t get it to go earlier in the year. During that rewrite, I got a chance to write a scene I hadn’t expected but ended up becoming one of my favourite in the whole series.
Which character has been your favourite to write and which has been the most challenging?
This may be completely surprising to people who’ve read both Princess and Queen, but my favourite character to write is Taillefer and my most challenging one is Luca! Taillefer is fun because he’s sarcastic and clever and says and does things I would never, ever do. Luca has been more challenging simply because he’s been tasked with a huge change in his life and has to accept both who he is and the expectations of others. He’d rather just sit there and have some tea and listen to others talk about their feelings, but he needs to lead, and pairing his cinnamon roll nature with the largess of what’s on his plate and make sure it was all true to his character was a challenge indeed.
What are some must haves when you’re sitting down to write?
I always need something to drink—water, fizzy water, or coffee or a combination of all three—plus lined 6×4 Post-Its, Sharpie pens, and, when I’m at home, my Bose noise-cancelling headphones.
If you could bring one of your own characters to life, who would it be and why?
Probably Ula because she would always tell me like it is and is loyal to a fault.
What is your favourite romance trope to read?
I think it would come as no surprise given both Princess and my debut, Sea Witch, but I definitely seem to really like the childhood-best friends-to-lovers trope. Watching the Shadow & Bone series on Netflix reconfirmed my membership to Team Mal, too, by the way!
Let’s say Ama was trapped on a desert island, what three things would she absolutely want with her?
One: Luca (duh). Two: Her boot knife. Three: And endless supply of lemon cake.
Do you have any special traditions or celebrations for when you finish writing a book?
I do! There’s totally a reason Amarande and Luca love their lemon cake—not only does it work well with the environment of the Sand and Sky, but also there’s a very delicious lemon cake made by our local grocery co-op that my husband and I call “celebration cake.” You can buy it by the slice, and when I get publishing news, we run out and get a slice to share.
Can you give us a little hint as to what’s to come in The King Will Kill You? It’s sounding pretty ominous!
Ha—it’s meant to sound ominous! The fun with these titles is that the meaning of “You” is always changing, right along with the identity of the Queen or King (we always knew who the Princess was!). I will say that basically the patriarchy is really, really hard to kill.
Is there anything you’re reading, watching, listening to that you would recommend to our readers?
I’ve been pretty obsessed with both Ted Lasso and Dickinson. I’ve watched all their episodes at least twice during the past few months. The writing on both shows is just phenomenal and they put me in a happy, creative mood! Can’t wait for their upcoming new seasons!
You can find Sarah at her website, and on Twitter and Instagram.
