{"id":3056,"date":"2025-09-11T13:46:13","date_gmt":"2025-09-11T12:46:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/londoncomicconwinter.com\/YALC\/?p=3056"},"modified":"2025-09-16T14:14:30","modified_gmt":"2025-09-16T13:14:30","slug":"cat-doyle-qa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/londoncomicconwinter.com\/YALC\/cat-doyle-qa\/","title":{"rendered":"Q&A with Catherine Doyle"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hi Cat, Thank you so much for joining us here at YALC!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

– The Rebel and the Rose is the follow up to the acclaimed The Dagger and the Flame, could you introduce your new book to us?<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Rebel and the Rose picks up a few months after Dagger and the Flame. Ransom is the new head of the Order of the Daggers, while Seraphine, now head of her own Order of Flames, is hiding in the mountains of Halbracht making lightfire, while also secretly trying to figure out the strange new magic that has taken root inside her. <\/span><\/span>Elsewhere, the king\u2019s nephew, Prince Andreas Mondragon Rayere, has happened upon a strange new power too, and is using it to try and seize the throne for himself. When the king gets word of a stirring rebellion, he enlists the help of the Daggers and the Flames (on pain of death) to assassinate his nephew. And so, Ransom and Sera are drawn back together. Still enemies, they must try and put their ideals aside to complete the king\u2019s task, but there\u2019s only so long Sera can keep her new magic hidden from Ransom, and indeed her plans to betray the king and join up with the prince once they finally track him down. Their quest takes them across the rolling plains of Valterre, where they must once more fight that intoxicating push and pull between them, as the kingdom at large tips into a new, dangerous era of rampant magic and renegade saints.<\/span><\/p>\n

– And if you had to do it in just 5 words or less, what would they be?<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Fiery, adventurous, romantic, magical and surprising!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

– Can you fill us in on some of the tropes the readers might find within the story? Do you have any favourites to write?<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

In the Dagger and the Flame, enemies-to-lovers turned into enemies-<\/span>and<\/i><\/span>-lovers. Here, we see what I like to refer to as <\/span>enemies-with-benefits<\/i><\/span>\u2026 what could possibly go wrong?! Then, of course, my other favourite traits, Found Family and Unexpected Magic, are heavily featured too.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

– What is your favourite thing about the world you\u2019ve built?<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The ever-expanding sense of <\/span>possibility<\/i><\/span>\u2026 after the storm that toppled the Aurore tower, any one anywhere can become a saint. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

-Who is your favourite character – tell us something unexpected about why they are so?<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

I have a soft spot for Ransom. Originally, when I was drafting The Dagger and the Flame, Ransom didn\u2019t even have his own POV. The novel was entirely Seraphine\u2019s narration, but I couldn\u2019t get him out of my head. I wanted to tell his backstory, to write of his enduring love for his mother and little sister, his dreams of being an artist, his tender heart, even beneath all those ravenous shadows inside him. <\/span><\/span>I also love Madame Josephine Fontaine because she\u2019s a bad ass who says and does whatever she feels like. She\u2019s lived long enough to be utterly and unapologetically herself, and as a direct descendant of Saint Oriel herself, Fontaine has a sixth sense for destiny. Her tarot cards always speak true\u2026<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

– There are some great surprises in The Rebel and the Rose, without spoilers, can you tell us a bit about writing in twists and unexpected moments for the readers?<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

I LOVE a good twist, so usually, I try to include at least one big one in every book I write. There are a few in The Rebel and the Rose that I hope readers won\u2019t see coming, and maybe one or two that they\u2019ll guess!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

– What was the book that made you a reader, and was there one that made you a writer? When did you know you wanted to be a writer?<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The book that made me a reader was probably The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by CS Lewis. The book that made me a writer was Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor. I\u2019ve always known I wanted to be a writer \u2013 in primary school, I used to write terribly boring poems about trees and read them out to my class at lunch time (sorry fellow alumni!!). I always had that dream. It was just a matter of figuring out if it was possible \u2013 and then taking a very big leap of faith!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

– What is your favourite genre to read\/ write in?<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

I love, love, love writing romantasy. And I think I\u2019ll always have a soft spot for magical middle grade. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

– What\u2019s next for you?<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019m hard at work on the third book in the City of Fantome trilogy! <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi Cat, Thank you so much for joining us here at YALC! – The Rebel and the Rose is the follow up to the acclaimed The Dagger and the Flame, could you introduce your new book to us? The Rebel and the Rose picks up a few months after Dagger and the Flame. Ransom is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":3059,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3056","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-qa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/londoncomicconwinter.com\/YALC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3056","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/londoncomicconwinter.com\/YALC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/londoncomicconwinter.com\/YALC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncomicconwinter.com\/YALC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncomicconwinter.com\/YALC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3056"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/londoncomicconwinter.com\/YALC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3056\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3069,"href":"https:\/\/londoncomicconwinter.com\/YALC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3056\/revisions\/3069"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncomicconwinter.com\/YALC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3059"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/londoncomicconwinter.com\/YALC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncomicconwinter.com\/YALC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncomicconwinter.com\/YALC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}