Adrien de Guillory may be the heir to the throne of Staria, but no one in court believes that the submissive, meek-minded prince will ever be king. What they don’t know is that Adrien is hardly the meek, shy creature he pretends to be and that he has his own plans for the future. To see those plans through, Adrien embarks on a journey to Mislia, the land of his mother’s ancestors, to seek an answer to controlling his magic of foresight.
The one thing Adrien’s visions don’t predict is Isiodore de Mortain, his father’s confidante and the subject of Adrien’s long-standing, deeply embarrassing infatuation. Isiodore intercepts Adrien on his way to Mislia. But it’s too late to turn back—the two of them are now stranded on foreign soil, forced to rely on each other in order to get home in one piece. With Isiodore set on keeping Adrien safe and Adrien determined to become the most troublesome prince in Starian history, a storm is brewing over Mislia…one that will surely sweep both of them out into uncharted waters.
(The Prince’s Vow is an m/m dark fantasy novel, set in a fictional world where everyone is biologically either a dominant or a submissive and compelled to satisfy those urges. As such, the biological imperative kink in this story is pure fantasy, and not intended as a representation of real-life BDSM practices or dynamics.)
Title: The Prince’s Vow
Series: Starian Cycle #3
Author: Iris Foxglove
Release Date: 6/22/21
Heat Level: 4 – Lots of Sex
Pairing: Male/Male
Length: 64,000
Genre: Romance, Fantasy, BDSM, AU
(The Prince’s Vow is an m/m dark fantasy novel, set in a fictional world where everyone is biologically either a dominant or a submissive and compelled to satisfy those urges. As such, the biological imperative kink in this story is pure fantasy, and not intended as a representation of real-life BDSM practices or dynamics.)
Amazon – Kindle Unlimited
Goodreads
When did you write your first story and what was the inspiration for it?
Foxglove: My family couldn’t afford a computer for some time, but we did have a typewriter for homework purposes. The big rule was that in order to use the typewriter, what you were writing had to be worth it. The first story of mine that was deemed worthy featured a group of fairies who caused a hurricane because they partied too hard, and a girl who told them to kindly knock it off, please. I wasn’t a big fan of hurricanes, to be fair.
Iris: I’m older than Foxglove and brought a word processor to college, LOL. But my first story was honestly very similar to Duke’s Demon — I joke that I’ve been writing some version of that story since I was twelve, but it’s true. I wrote a screenplay (I don’t know why it was a screenplay, to be honest) about a ballerina who was magically transported to an Irish castle and lived with a duke who was possessed by a demon. It was absolutely awful, but I still have it, and it makes me smile to think about how years later I published a (much better) version! I probably have had dozens of old Trapper Keepers filled with half-finished fantasy stories, but that was the first thing I ever finished in its entirety. It was called “At the Edge of Midnight” and my dad made me a cover on Print Shop on our family computer. To be honest, it would be a horrible movie but the concept was there, ha!
Where did the desire to write LGBT romance come from?
Foxglove: Well, I came out pretty young, which was rare in my conservative town, and I spent years carefully cultivating a small collection of LGBTQ fiction. It was important to me to know that there were writers out there who thought that people like me deserved love. Eventually, my room was searched and the collection was discovered—only one book remained hidden. I decided then and there that I would write my own stories to make up for the ones that were lost.
Iris: I’ve been a voracious reader all my life, especially of fantasy, and always wanted to see a story with someone like me in it. Especially because I always wanted romance in my stories, and the characters I wanted to get together were never the ones who did! I also wanted to write stories where people were accepting of all sexualities and genders, especially since so much of my love of fantasy is centered around the “found family” trope.
Briefly describe the writing process. Do you create an outline first? Do you seek out inspirational pictures, videos or music? Do you just let the words flow and then go back and try and make some sense out it?
Foxglove: We mostly babble at each other excitedly until a plot happens. There are a lot of moments that tend to go like this:
“So what IF, bear with me, but what IF this character…”
“Yes?”
“What if they did THIS?”
“OH MY GOD YES AND WHAT IF THEY DID THIS OTHER THING?!”
“AND THEN THIS OTHER THING HAPPENS?”
“YES!!!!”
It can get a little out of hand, but our brainstorming sessions are ridiculously fun.
Iris: It’s true!! We have so many books planned it’s unreal — the world that we’ve created is so fun, and we’re apparently going to write a story for the entire population 😀 We’re pretty good about writing a scene, then saying, “Hey, do you want to jump in, here?” and switching off. Usually we each gravitate toward a character and write their POV. Sometimes we outline, but it’s normally more of a general plot idea that we tweak as we go along.
We did write one of the books in the Starian Cycle out of order — look, we really love the pairing in The King’s Mage, okay — and after we went back and wrote Exile’s Gift, had to rewrite the fifth one!! So there’s two versions of book 5 floating around our Gdocs, lol.
I write best, personally, with music or thunderstorm sounds. Background noise is essential, but it can’t be anything I’m TOO interested in or I’ll get too distracted!
If you could sequester yourself for a week somewhere and just focus on your writing, where would you go and what would the environment be like?
Foxglove: Is this a magical place where I don’t have to cook anything? Can I go there? Also, my kingdom for a comfortable desk chair! I am a creature of simple needs.
Iris: Honestly if I could go somewhere it was raining and/or snowing constantly, with me in a comfy chair with sixteen blankets and a sweater with too-long sleeves and a huge mug of Earl Grey, I would still find a way to play a mobile game and be distracted. But I have such fond memories of finishing Traitor’s Mercy — I woke up at 5 am after I couldn’t sleep due to the excitement of nearly being done, and went to my then-office in our house and watched the sun rise with tea while I wrote Laurent being dramatic in the snow with Sabre. Then, I watched in real-time as Foxglove finished the epilogue, and immediately opened a doc to start Duke’s Demon! It’s such a happy memory, that feeling of excitement when you type “The End” (which I always do) is so satisfying.
I want to say right off that this is book three in the series and I haven’t read one or two. Which might have made a lot of nuances and sub-plots in this book easier to understand. I love fantasy and this had a really good start. In and amongst a fantasy plot the book had dominant and submissive tendencies which if that’s your jam was well done.
I think the plot got lost in detail a little in the middle, but there are a wealth of characters I am interested in discovering how their story progresses.
Adrien as a character is a delight and very well balanced. Isiodore is good for him even if a little too patient sometimes. I wished I had read the previous two books first.
4 pieces of eye candy
Iris Foxglove is a shared pen name between two longtime fantasy readers who are committed to writing fun, escapist dark fantasy featuring decadent, kinky stories, intricate world building and unforgettable characters.
Author Links
Twitter: https://twitter.com/irisfoxglove
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/21219026.Iris_Foxglove
Email: irisfoxgloveauthor@gmail.com
