And copy edits for THE QUEEN’S RESISTANCE are done! ✨This book is so close to being a final draft and I can’t even believe it. Taking a moment to celebrate with wildflowers in my hair and a cloud on my shoulder before I jump back into cleaning up my messy first draft of Book Three. 🌼☁️✨ * * * * * * #thequeensrising #thequeensresistance #bowtonoking #letthequeenrise #wildflowers #braids #summer

⚡️You guys....It’s almost that time! One week from today, I’ll be joining Victoria for two of her WAR STORM stops—Tulsa, OK and Woodstock, GA! ⚡️Swipe for more details and to see where else she’s headed on this tour. But also...who else is ready for WAR STORM?!? 🙋🏻‍♀️⚡️#TeamMare ⚡️ * * Photo credits to the amazing @epicreads 💙 * * * * * * * #warstorm #warstormtour #redqueen #victoriaaveyard #thequeensrising #letthequeenrise #bowtonoking #bookstagram #book #booklover #bibliophile #bookworm #bookish #queens #ireadya #ya #yafantasy

“She could feel magic in the quiet spring day, like a sorcerer’s far-off voice, and lines of poetry floated over her mind as if they were strands of spider-web.” —Stella Gibbons 🌿✨ Spring comes tomorrow, and I’m preparing to send my second author newsletter out. Do you have a question you’d love for me to answer about writing or TQR or books in general? Comment below or DM me and I’ll pick one to answer in the newsletter. And if you’d like to sign up, the link is in my bio. ✨ • • • • • • #thequeensrising #bowtonoking #letthequeenrise #bookstagram #books #booklover #bibliophile #authorsofinstagram #spring

My mom surprised me with these beautiful roses for my publication day. She handed them to me and said, “You’re having a book baby!” And I was like, “Yes. I’ve only been in labor with this book for three years now.” 😂✨🌌 But honestly, as I look back on my life, on all those days I wrote and wrote and wrote as a girl and then as a teen and then in my 20’s...I realize now that all those moments were never wasted, even though sometimes I felt like they were. Sometimes I felt as if I would never write anything worthy. 🌌 And so I will never forget the night three winters ago, when I clearly envisioned Brienna sitting in a sunlit library across from Cartier. He was looking at her, intently, waiting for her to respond to something he had said to her. And in typical Brienna fashion, she did not speak to him; she spoke to me instead, saying, “The summer solstice is in eight days and I have yet to master my passion.” And I was like, WAIT! Who are you and what are you talking about!? 🌌 That was the beginning, the very first spark of this book. And sometimes I feel like Brienna was waiting for the right moment to appear, that in some ways, she was with me throughout all those years that I was writing and learning how to craft a story. 🌌 All of this to say... if you are an aspiring writer, I want to encourage you to keep writing. Keep reading. Because you might just have a character waiting for the right moment to spark that book in you. 🌌✨ • • • • • • • • • #thequeensrising #bowtonoking #letthequeenrise #authorsofinstagram #authors #bookstagram #book #books #bibliophile #ya #yafantasy #fantasybooks #amwriting

MY AUTHOR COPIES ARRIVED TODAY ✨😭💙😍😭✨❤️ Three years ago to the day, I was just beginning to draft this book. I had no inkling what would come out of it, if I would finish it, if it would even be worthy of being read by others. All I knew is I really liked Brienna, and I wanted to see where she would lead me. Well, Brienna, you definitely took me on adventure. 😂💕⚔️👑🌌 This is such a surreal moment. I have no words other than to say THANK YOU to my family and friends (for being there for the highs and the lows and everything in between), to the amazing readers and bloggers who have read this book and reached out to me and helped me spread the word, to other authors who have taken the time to encourage and guide and support me, to my wonderful editor and publishing team at Harper, and most of all to my fearless, incredible agent @sztownsend81 who changed my life with an email, and then another email. 💕👑🌙 I know my name is on the cover, but this book belongs to each of you. THANK YOU again. And thank you for reading my gushy caption. ✨💙 Also... true story: when I was taking these pictures in my front yard, I literally had two people walk by AND a sketchy van pull in my driveway to turn around. And I was like, “Don’t mind me. I’m just an author trying to take a billion pictures with her book in the yard.” 😂 • • • • • • • #thequeensrising #bowtonoking #letthequeenrise #ya #fantasy #authorsofinstagram #author #thankyou #bookstagram #book #bibliophile #booksofinstagram

It's hard to believe that THE QUEEN'S RISING comes out three months from today!! To celebrate the countdown, here's a little teaser of the first line 👑 • • • • • • #thequeensrising #BowToNoKing #LetTheQueenRise #bookquotes #booklover #fantasy #ya

Portrait of an author holding her first Advanced Reader's Copy ✨🌌⚔️😭💙 #surreal • • • • • #thequeensrising #BowToNoKing #LetTheQueenRise #authorsofinstagram #bookstagram #bibliophile #yafantasy #author

“Little by little, one travels far.” 🌿 This morning, I rummaged through my old manuscript bin and found this—the very first draft of TQR (it was originally titled IMPASSIONED). 🌿 I took a moment to leaf through it only to laugh and think... oh my word. 😂😅 My writing was all over the place back then!! But while it’s amusing (and quite humbling), it reminds me that I am not the same writer I was back in 2015. And a year from now, I don’t want to be the same writer I am today. 🌿 And how amazing it is, that writing is a skill that grows a little each day. That the more you give to it, the stronger and fiercer it becomes. 🌿 I want to continually be improving my craft. And I’m posting this for my own perspective. My first draft is sitting next to my final draft. That is three years of my time and soul and energy and agony and progress on paper. 🌿 In 2015, my mom found this lovely “follow your passion” art at the store the week of my book sale, and so she of course bought it for me. And I remember holding it in my driveway standing next to her, almost crying because I had just sold three books to HarperCollins, something I would have never believed would happen to me. 🌿 I need these visual reminders, to see how far I have progressed, but also to look forward to what is yet to come. • • • • • • • #thequeensrising #bowtonoking #letthequeenrise #authorsofinstagram #author #passion