From the New York Times bestselling author of When Dimple Met Rishi comes the second installment in a brand-new series set an elite boarding school that’s a contemporary spin on fairy tales, this one a delightful, romantic twist on The Frog Prince.
We had the pleasure of chatting with author Sandhya Menon about her latest novel Of Princes and Promises, as well as writing, book recommendations, and more!
Hi, Sandhya! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
Hi, hi! I’m Sandhya Menon, author of When Dimple Met Rishi, Of Princes and Promises, and many other books full of swoony kisses and HEAs!
How is your 2021 going in comparison to that other year?
Haha, gosh, literally ANYthing would be better than reliving 2020, I think. I feel this sense of freedom and joy and the random, uncontrollable urge to just run outside my house and yell, “It’s over!! It’s all over!!” (Well, almost.) Tell me that’s not just me.
Quick lightning round! Tell us the first book you ever remember reading, the one that made you want to become an author, and one that you can’t stop thinking about!
Stephen King’s Cujo. I was about nine years old and absolutely mesmerized by how I couldn’t stop turning the pages and how absolutely terrified I was of a dog—me, a diehard dog lover! I knew King had created magic and I wanted to do that for other people.
When did you first discover your love for writing?
I’m one of those authors who came out of the womb clutching a pencil and a notebook. I don’t remember a time when I didn’t love writing or telling stories. I think blood and ink are mixed together in my veins!
Of Princes and Promises is the second installment in your Rosetta Academy series and it releases on June 8th 2021! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Glamorous, intriguing, swoony, mysterious, enchanting!
What can readers expect?
Of Princes and Promises, like Of Curses and Kisses (Rosetta Academy #1), is a loose, contemporary fairy tale retelling. This time, I chose to “makeover” The Frog Prince. It’s literally a makeover story, but gender-bent: the hero is the one who gets a makeover to win over the girl of his dreams. There’s a magical (or is it?) hair gel at play, and some very interesting twists and turns I hope readers won’t see coming!
Can you tell us about any challenges you faced while writing and how you were able to overcome them?
This was my first time writing a protagonist who’d been portrayed as a minor antagonist in book one! I expected it to be a lot more challenging than it was; once I got to know Caterina LaValle and what really made her tick, she easily became one of my most favorite heroines I’ve ever written. My editor, too, told me the same thing—that she was surprised by how much she absolutely adored Caterina—and that makes me so happy!
Were there any favourite moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring further in this new installment?
See my note about Caterina above! I love that feeling as a writer, when characters you think you know surprise you so completely. Those are the times when writing feels truly magical, as if these are real people running around in an alternate universe and I somehow have a pipeline in to them (or maybe that just makes me sound totally weird!).
Can you give us a little tease as to what’s to come in the third book without torturing us too much?!
Haha, absolutely! Book three will follow DE (who we met in Of Curses and Kisses and see more of in Of Princes and Promises) and a brand-new hero I’m having so much fun dreaming up! It’s going to be a retelling of Sleeping Beauty—but don’t worry, DE is very much awake for the duration of the book! I’m playing with the concept of “being asleep” and how that might affect not just DE, but Rosetta Academy as a whole…
What’s the best and the worst writing advice you have received?
One of the best (there are too many to list them all!): Don’t save your best lines/jokes/ideas for a future book. Write them into whatever book you’re currently working on. You’ll have more and better ideas in the future!
Worst: Write what you know. No, no, no. Write what you dream. Write what fires you up. Write your passion. Just do your research first.
What’s next for you?
I’m currently working on plotting and drafting book 3 in the Rosetta Academy series and after that, I have something simmering that’s a bit of a departure from my usual fare—but that I hope will have readers as excited as I am!
Lastly, do you have any book recommendations for our readers?
- A Song Below Water by Bethany C. Morrow
- Slay by Brittney Morris
- Anything by Becky Albertalli or Mackenzi Lee
…And so many more!
