With each new danger, she must decide what she is willing to sacrifice for the fate of two kingdoms.

The shadow of war hangs over Forstur. In a kingdom where magic is seldom encountered, a conflict with their magic-wielding eastern neighbors would be a disastrous. Gemma finds unexpected love in Forstur's crown prince, Ebenezer, but as her fairytale starts, the rest of her world comes crashing down.

Long held secrets come to light and Gemma learns she has been at the center of the brewing war for almost half her life. A lost friend she barely remembers is the key to gaining vital intelligence that could help her new husband defend their kingdom. There's a problem - the last sighting of her friend was in the magically-formed glacial regions of their foe, the kingdom of Morforst.

Now Gemma must leave everyone she loves and journey beyond the enemy's borders to rescue her friend from the spellcasters who control the region. The journey promises to be fraught with danger - highwaymen, river monsters, spellcasters, and the elements. With each new danger, she must decide what she is willing to sacrifice for the fate of two kingdoms.

Fun Facts

I never intended to write a fairytale retelling, let alone one based on Anderson’s The Snow Queen. The opportunity came up to join the Broken Mirrors Collection, and I decided to give it a go. I learned which environments are the most conducive for writing, and how my creative process works.

Although I outlined and started drafting in the fall of 2021, I did most of my writing over the spring, summer, and fall of 2022. I keep a spreadsheet to track what days I write, for how long, and how much I wrote. If I don’t, I’ll look at the year and tell myself I accomplished nothing. In the end, my trusty spreadsheet informed me I had written 74,000 words over a cumulative 56 days.

I have a series planned for the beginning of Flamesend’s history, as well as one for the demise of magic toward the end, but Of Ice and Roses takes place almost squarely in the middle, and I had knew absolutely nothing about the state of the world at that time.