Author Guest Post: Rogue Princess

Rogue Princess will be in stores tomorrow, and I can’t wait to pick up a copy of this gorgeous book (I mean, just look at that cover 😍)! I’m excited to host author B.R. Myers today as she talks about what inspired her to write a gender-swapped Cinderella.

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The Making of Rogue Princess

The idea for Rogue Princess came to me while I was writing a story in which the main character was working on a perfume campaign. The ad was a reimagining of Rapunzel, but instead of a princess being kept in a tower it was a businessman trapped in a high rise office building. After those characters found their happily ever after I started thinking about my next project. The notion of another gender swapped retelling appealed to me and right away I thought of Cinderella. I hadn’t intended to have a sci-fi angle to the story, but I clearly remember the ‘shoe fits’ scene coming to me fully developed, and I was intrigued.

The characters flowed from that one image; Princess Delia and her overwhelming responsibility to Astor, and Aidan, a silver tongued thief caught up in a destiny neither one of them saw coming.

From the beginning the story was always intended to be told in two voices. I wanted to showcase Princess Delia’s unwavering loyalty to the crown against Aidan’s crass, yet charming wit of a commoner who has little respect for royalty.

Princess Delia is at the mercy of her birthright to rule over her resource strapped planet, having to consider the best possible option for her world with every decision­­­­­­…including which prince to wed. She has never questioned her obligation and is expected to continue to put the crown first, never her own feelings. As her mother, the queen, tells her, “Contentment comes from wisdom and making choices that are based on logic. That is where you will find your true fulfillment. Immersing yourself in your emotions is a luxury a queen cannot afford.”

But then she meets Aidan, and soon her belief system is uprooted. She is soon faced with evidence the crown she has honored her whole life is tarnished with injustice of the very people she perceives to be protecting.

Aidan’s story on the other hand is about his desperate need to escape his cruel stepfamily, all the while giving the impression he is aloof, and unaffected by the neglect. At heart, Aidan has an impressive capacity for kindness and charity, which he keeps well hidden under his sarcastic armour. However, when he meets Princess Delia, something deep inside ignites, making him rationalize the choice to put his own plans on hold to help her, thereby setting up a string of events that bring them unwittingly closer to a fatal destiny.

I’m currently working on another fairy tale retelling inspired by the western frontier…plus there’s a dragon or two.

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About Rogue Princess

Release Date: January 21, 2020
Find it: Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble

A princess fleeing an arranged marriage teams up with a snarky commoner to foil a rebel plot in B. R. Myers’ Rogue Princess, a gender-swapped sci-fi YA retelling of Cinderella.

Princess Delia knows her duty: She must choose a prince to marry in order to secure an alliance and save her failing planet. Yet she secretly dreams of true love, and feels there must be a better way. Determined to chart her own course, she steals a spaceship to avoid the marriage, only to discover a handsome stowaway.

All Aidan wanted was to “borrow” a few palace trinkets to help him get off the planet. Okay, so maybe escaping on a royal ship wasn’t the smartest plan, but he never expected to be kidnapped by a runaway princess!

Sparks fly as this headstrong princess and clever thief battle wits, but everything changes when they inadvertently uncover a rebel conspiracy that could destroy their planet forever.

About B.R. Myers

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B.R. Myers spent most of her teen years behind the covers of Stephen King, Ray Bradbury, and Lois Duncan. When she’s not putting her characters in awkward situations she works as a registered nurse. A member of the Writer’s Federation of Nova Scotia, she lives in Halifax with her husband and their two children.