Book Title: Untethered (Shielded #2)

Author: Kaylynn Flanders

Publisher: Delacorte Press

Release Date: July 20, 2021

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy

Synopsis:

For fans of Sorcery of Thorns and Furyborn comes the thrilling sequel to Shielded about a world in a deadly magical war and the newly crowned king and feisty princess who must defeat the deadliest of foes before there’s nothing left to save.

Although King Atháren’s sister, Jennesara, saved Hálendi from the Gray Mage, the reprieve came at a steep price–the life of their father. Now Ren rules over a divided kingdom, with some who want him dead, and a Medallion that warns of worse trouble brewing in the south.

As second born, Princess Chiara is the perfect Turian royal–perfectly invisible. She longs to help restore peace on the Plateau, but with no magic and no fighting skills, she doesn’t stand a chance against a mage. So when a member of the Turian royal family goes missing and Chiara finds a clue about the rumored resting place of the mages’ long-lost artifacts, she decides it’s time to be seen.

As Ren’s and Chiara’s paths cross, they find the depth of the mages’ hold on the Plateau is more powerful than anyone suspected, and that they must learn to trust themselves, and each other, before the mages retrieve their artifacts and become too powerful to ever defeat.

Order Today!

Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Indiebound | Book Depository

Author Information

 

KayLynn Flanders has a degree in English Language and editing, and has been a freelance editor and book designer for over twelve years. Her debut novel, Shielded, was published by Delacorte Press/PRH, with the sequel, Untethered, forthcoming. KayLynn and her family live in Utah between some mountains and a lake, and she is directionally challenged without them. She loves reading, writing, traveling, and volleyball, and thinks there’s nothing better than a spur-of-the-moment road trip.

Website | Goodreads | Instagram | Twitter

Author Interview

I am so excited to host Kaylynn Flanders on A Court of Coffee and Books today! Thank you so much, Kaylynn, for stopping by and don’t forget to order a copy of Untethered!

Congratulations on your next book! What inspired you to write Ren and Chiara’s story?

I always knew I wanted to use different point-of-view characters to tell the sequel to Shielded. Ren is such an interesting character to me—portraying one thing on the outside, yet feeling something else entirely inside, the struggle of feeling like a failure and continuing on anyway. And for Chiara, I was so excited to tell her story. There are so many different kinds of strength in the world, and her story is about how you don’t have to be loud or wield a sword to be strong. 

Did your writing process change with Untethered compared to Shielded?

I worked on Shielded for about five years before it was published. For Untethered, the timeline was a lot shorter. I’d thought about Untethered as I worked on Shielded, and while I had the beginning and ending planned, the middle eluded me. I waited about a month before lightning struck—it was like one detail unlocked the entire middle, and I scrambled to write it all out. Some of that changed during the revision process (I always change a lot during revisions), but having that light-bulb moment was a really cool experience. The fact that the world was already established was also different—it felt more like playing in the world, and focusing on the main characters, because a lot of world building work went into Shielded.

What was your favorite part of writing Untethered?

I loved writing the finale scene—taking the build-up of both books and packing the scene with as much tension as I could. I also liked writing the romance aspect of the book because romance.

What was it like writing about Ren and Chiara compared to the first book , which focused on Jennesara and Enzo?

It was fun! I got to explore the world from different perspectives and dive into new characters dealing with new things. It felt like playing in the world I’d created.

What advice would you give to aspiring authors?

Keep going. Figure out why telling stories is important to you, why you write, and hold on to that when the writing/publishing waters get rough. There will always be creative ruts, rejection, and self-doubt in a creative field like writing, but if you know why writing is important to you, you can push through until you get to where you want to go.

Is there anything else you would like to tell readers about your book?

I put all of my heart into this book, and it stretched me in all the best ways. I hope you love it!

Tour Schedule

Check out the amazing bloggers on this book tour!

Giveaway

One winner will receive a finished copy of Untethered. This giveaway is open to USA residents only.

Giveaway starts: July 19, 2021

Giveaway ends: July 26, 2021.

Thank you, TBR and Beyond Tours, for having us on this wonderful blog tour!