The time it was about The Sleeping Prince

I’ve been a fangirl for Melinda Salisbury since I first lost my shit fangirled all over her on Twitter after reading The Sin-Eater’s Daughter.  Since then I have wooed her with Jeff Goldblum photos, dinosaur gifs, and shouty caps.  So it goes without saying that as soon as I saw the sign up for The Sleeping Prince blog tour, I couldn’t type fast enough.

Before we get to Melinda’s interview, let’s check out the book.

Return to the darkly beautiful world of The Sin Eater’s Daughter with a sequel that will leave you awed, terrified . . . and desperate for more.

Ever since her brother Lief disappeared, Errin’s life has gone from bad to worse. Not only must she care for her sick mother, she has to scrape together rent money by selling illegal herbal cures. But none of that compares to the threat of the vengeful Sleeping Prince whom the Queen just awoke from his enchanted sleep.

When her village is evacuated as part of the war against the Sleeping Prince, Errin is left desperate and homeless. The only person she can turn to is the mysterious Silas, a young man who buys deadly poisons from Errin, but won’t reveal why he needs them. Silas promises to help her, but when he vanishes, Errin must journey across a kingdom on the brink of war to seek another way to save her mother and herself. But what she finds shatters everything she believed about her world, and with the Sleeping Prince drawing nearer, Errin must make a heartbreaking choice that could affect the whole kingdom.

Sounds good, right?

1. Please give the elevator pitch for The Sleeping Prince.

Errin is alone at the end of the world, with no money, no friends, and war is coming. But how far will she go to protect the people she loves, against a prince who wants anything but a happy ever after?

2. Why do you love Errin and Silas and why should we root for them?

I love them because they are both so resilient, and focused. Both of them are very good at identifying objectives and working towards them. They’re both very compassionate too. Errin is, like her brother, very clever. But she lacks Lief’s killer instinct. She tries to be ruthless, and then feels terrible about it. And Silas tries very hard to be objective, but can’t help getting involved.

3. You’ve created quite the cast of characters between the two books. Who was the easiest and hardest to work with?

Twylla is the hardest, because she has so many layers to spool through, and she’s so proud, and so damaged and so complicated. Writing her is always very sad for me, because I just want to hold her. She can’t catch a break, and I can’t give her one, because where would the fun be there?

The Sleeping Prince is, oddly, the easiest character to write, purely because he’s so wicked! It’s very cathartic to write someone so utterly reprehensible. I don’t have to worry so much about making sure the audience can identify with him!

4. Without spoilers, what was your favorite scene to write?

There is a particular sequence towards the end of the book, where it all comes together, and I still love reading it back. The weight of the whole scene, pulling everything together and directing what happens next is still fun for me to re-read, even though I virtually know it by heart now!

5. What can you say to readers who might be concerned about the shift in POV?

Nothing! I can’t reassure people, because I don’t know what they need from the book. Some people might not like it, some people might prefer it. All I can say is that I wrote the story in the way it needed to be written, and I couldn’t be happier with it. The only thing a reader can do is try it! {Okay, I’ll say it: it’s glorious}

Speed {ish} round:

1. If you could have dinner with any three fictional characters, who would they be?

Dorian Gray, Nikolai Lantsov, Celia Bowen.

2. What book would you want to read again for the first time?

The Night Circus.

3. Are you a pantser or a plotter?

Pantser, as a rule. I’ve tried plotting, but I always end up going in a different direction. I always have a beginning, middle, and end in mind, but I’m pretty loose about the inbetween.

4. If you weren’t an author, what would you be doing?

I’d love to be a zoo keeper.

5. Sirius Black or Dr. Ian Malcolm?

How dare you. Get out.

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Melinda Salisbury lives by the sea, somewhere in the south of England. As a child she genuinely thought Roald Dahl’s Matilda was her biography, in part helped by her grandfather often mistakenly calling her Matilda, and the local library having a pretty cavalier attitude to the books she borrowed. Sadly she never manifested telekinetic powers. She likes to travel, and have adventures. She also likes medieval castles, non-medieval aquariums, Richard III, and all things Scandinavian.

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Huge thanks to the ladies at Rockstar Book Tours for the invite and to Melinda for always taking the time.  Make sure you’re checking out Melinda’s website, following her on Twitter and Instagram, and adding all of her books to your Goodreads TBR shelf.

Definitely make sure you’re checking out the rest of the tour stops and keep scrolling for a giveaway!

**Good Luck!!**

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