17 days until A Crown of Thorned Fate
Seventeen days.
I am not sure how that happened.
For months, A Crown of Thorned Fate existed as a manuscript on my laptop, a world in my head, and an alarming number of conversations with fictional fae who have absolutely no respect for normal sleeping hours.
Now actual copies of my book sit in readers’ homes.
People are opening packages from me. They are holding Elara and Caelen’s story in their hands. They are sending me pictures, making unboxing videos, messaging me about their favorite characters, and leaving reviews.
And somehow, in just seventeen days, this book officially belongs to all of you.
That sentence still does not feel real.
From My Laptop to Your Bookshelves
When I started writing this story, I knew I wanted to create the kind of fantasy world I love getting lost in—the kind that makes you say one more chapter when you should be sleeping.
I wanted a dangerous fae king. A heroine who has no idea just how important she is. A bond neither of them asked for. A sentient castle. Ancient magic. Secrets. Betrayal. A little touch her and die.
Okay. Maybe more than a little.
What I did not expect was how much this world would grow beyond the pages.
Now 600+ readers have added A Crown of Thorned Fate on Goodreads. More than a hundred incredible ARC readers have stepped through the Veil with me. I have watched the first reviews come in. I have seen people choose Caelen as their newest book boyfriend before the book has even officially released—which, frankly, is exactly the kind of ego boost that man does not need.
And now my Special Editions are almost gone.
I genuinely do not know how to properly explain what that feels like.
The Special Edition
Creating the Special Edition has been one of my favorite—and occasionally most stressful 😂—parts of this entire process.
I wanted it to feel like something that could have come straight out of the world of Solaryn. Something you would want to display on your shelf before you even opened it.
The sprayed edges. The foil. The artwork. The endpapers. I've obsessed over every tiny detail more times than I care to admit.
Seeing the finished book for the first time was surreal.
Seeing you want it has been even more surreal.
Only a handful of copies remain from this first printing, and knowing these books will be sitting on readers’ shelves all over the country is just…wild.
And Then There Are the ARC Readers…
You guys.
The ARC readers have been absolutely incredible.
Watching people meet Elara, Caelen, Owyn, Isolde, and the rest of this ridiculous little family I created has been one of the strangest and most amazing experiences of my life.
For so long, I was the only person who knew them.
Now people have opinions about them.
Strong opinions. 😂
There have been messages. Reactions. Reviews. Theories. Book-boyfriend and Book-girlfriend declarations. Threats regarding certain characters.
Basically, exactly what I hoped for.
And every time someone tells me they stayed up too late because they needed to read one more chapter, a tiny evil author part of me is delighted.
Sorry.
Kind of.
October Is Going to Be Wild
October 13 is release day.
And apparently releasing my first novel was not enough chaos for one month, because I also have my first author events coming up.
I am going to be standing in actual bookstores and libraries talking about a book that I wrote.
Again: WHAT IS HAPPENING?!
There are moments when this whole thing still feels completely insane.
Then another box of books arrives at my house.
Or someone tags me in an unboxing.
Or I see A Crown of Thorned Fate listed somewhere I used to shop for books long before I ever imagined seeing my own name there.
And suddenly it becomes very, very real.
One More Thing…
While all of this has been happening, you might assume I have been calmly preparing for release day.
That would be reasonable.
That would also be incorrect.
Because Caelen and Elara were not finished ruining my sleep schedule.
Book Two is already underway.
Its title is:
A Kingdom of Forgotten Light
And that is all I am telling you.
For now. 😏
There are things coming that I desperately want to talk about and absolutely cannot without spoiling A Crown of Thorned Fate.
Just know that crossing the Veil was only the beginning.
Seventeen Days
Seventeen days until release.
Seventeen days until this story I have lived with for so long officially goes out into the world.
I am excited. I am terrified. I am probably going to cry.
And more than anything, I am unbelievably grateful to every single person who has preordered, shared a post, joined my ARC team, left a review, sent me a message, told a friend about the book, or simply followed along while I figured out how the hell to become an author in real time.
Thank you for stepping through the Veil with me.
The Thorn Court is waiting.
— K.C. Hawthorne
Author of A Crown of Thorned Fate 🥀👑
