How to Melt a Frozen Heart

Valentine’s Day Special

I wanted to write this story since I started rewriting my old fantasy project that then became what is now “The Eternal Stones”.

What I mean is that if it weren’t for these two characters that are very dear to my heart, this version of the Eternal Stones books would not exist (second one is coming soon!). I would probably have kept the old Italian edition in a drawer and moved on with my life.

But I wanted to write about them. I wanted to write a better story. Not just for them but also for the other characters in my world, and I wanted the world to make sense, to be better, the whole plot to improve and be more in line with what I learned in 25 years of writing. So, here they are, in English even.

If someone had told me 20 year ago that I would be here now, writing this, in another language, I would not have believed it. But what can I say? Such is the power of Love.

Because this is a Love story. And what better time of the year to post it if not right now?

First let me say that this is not supposed to be what they now call a “Romantasy”, since the main story remains an Epic Fantasy with some romantic subplots. But this extra story in particular, which I’m about to share, will be more focused on the romance than the others. This doesn’t mean it will be a smutfest or extra graphic. I’m not even there with the chapters I wrote so far, because book 2 is not out yet and more things will happen during that one. Also my main goal is always to keep the characters realistic and the story believable (plus I’m an old school lady). So far everything is SFW, 16+, like the rest of the books, even if there are some moments of intimacy and sexual tension (or it wouldn’t be a romance story, duh). I haven’t decided yet how far to push it but we’ll see when we get there.

I’ll post the chapters on the official website, mainly because I want a better control over the accessibility and I have more formatting options there. (Seriously, Substack, where’s the align center/right option?) Also since I will be posting daily for a while I don’t want to send constant spam emails to my kind subscribers.

The first six chapters will be free to read for everyone, while the following will be still free but only visible to the logged in users, since they will feature more spoilers and sensitive content. I’m at chapter twelve now, (and I already crossed the 80 pages mark!) and will probably post until that point, then move to another story, but more chapters will come in the future.

I wish I could’ve found a way to have my email subscribers from here access the restricted posts directly but unfortunately Substack doesn’t offer enough integration with other sites. The good news is that I managed to set up a Google authentication login, so if you have a Google account (I assume it’s the most popular since you need one to even access Youtube) you can simply use that to login to my website and see the exclusive posts without having to remember yet another password (but you can if you want to use a different email XD). Don’t worry, I won’t get any other data from you beside the email address (which I already know if you’re subscribed here), the Google thing is only to identify the users and log them to the site and nothing else. You know I’m not a spammy lady if you’ve been following me for a while.

Anyway... You’ll find more info on the story in the intro of the first chapter, which you can already find HERE.

I must admit I’m a bit hesitant to share this with the rest of the world because, again, it’s something I care about and I don’t want “mean comments” to ruin it for me, but at the same time, I want to share it because I care about it and it’s not something made for money or to follow a trend. And I want others to feel the feels and get close to the characters as if they were true friends, and have a moment of escapism where not everything is depressing and bleak or activism bingo.

Even if you’ll find some of the classic romance tropes, I did my best to make the characters different from the usual romance MCs and give them their unique personality. Since I’m the first one to giggle or shake my head when silly things happen in the “popular books”, I really tried to add more realism to the situation. Imagine a male protagonist that’s not a brooding bad boy and doesn’t immediately jump in the heroine’s pants but tries to act like a decent human being. And the two don’t even pretend to hate each other. This doesn’t mean that conflict, drama, and other stuff won’t happen anyway. XD

If you read Flower of Light, you’ll probably already know where the story is going, but here you’ll get more insight on the characters actions, some new scenes, and other details that were not known before. For example we’ll finally meet Yuri’s family and have some info on how he got that special dagger. And if you haven’t read anything yet, you can still give it a try and read the first chapters to get a feel of the story and se if it’s your cup of tea.

Lastly, be advised, that Mirror of Darkness is coming soon, and this two will go through some rough stuff...

But enough with my ramblings.

Just one last thing, regarding the upcoming book. If you are subscribed here, keep an eye on your email in the next weeks because you’ll get a free, exclusive, and signed digital copy of Mirror of Darkness right to your inbox a few days before the official release, in a zip package along with the full resolution illustrations and images that complement the text. And if you’re not subscribed, you still have time to do it now!

I hope you’ll enjoy the journey.

» Now you can go read The Ice Warden. «