The Story of How Shadow in the Sea Came to Be

Shadow in the Sea is probably going to come out within the next month, so I can finally share some things about it.

I never planned to write a sequel to Forbidden Sea. I originally wrote it to be a stand alone book which I felt ended perfectly. But as my writer's group finished reading the last chapter of Forbidden Sea they asked me a question.

"Who does the Sea Prince marry?"

At first, I just laughed the question off. What difference did it make, who the Sea Prince married? Denn was the only real choice for Adrianne. But that night, I found that couldn't stop thinking about that simple question. I kept rolling it over and over in my mind. Who DID the Sea Prince marry after Adrianne refused him?  After all, without Adrianne, Jendayi was now going to have to start all over again and find him someone completely new. But who would that be? Would it be someone like Adrianne? Or some other kind of personality all together? If you will remember from the first book, the Sea Prince was just a teensy bit of a rebel. He wouldn't allow himself to be forced into a marriage with just anyone--no matter what Jendayi and his mother might have to say about the matter. What kind of girl would the Sea Prince like? The more I thought about it--the more I could see Sadelynn Hanson in my mind. I could hear her voice speaking to me--telling me her story. And before I even knew what had happened, a whole new novel had begun to write itself inside my head . The story of Shadow in the Sea.

The thing I love most about Shadow in the Sea is that it also gave me a chance to finish up Adrianne's story the way I really wanted to.  Originally, I had included a final prologue chapter in Forbidden Sea that told exactly what had happened to Adrianne afterward. But eventually, over time, that chapter was edited out and didn't end up in the final version of the story.

Now readers will get to see what happened after Adrianne returned home from her adventures. Did things work out between her and Denn? Did they ever get to share a first kiss? Did Adrianne get to use her skills with horses? Did she get out from underneath the thumb of Auntie Minnah? Read Shadow in the Sea to find out all this and more!