Prince Charming grew up, became King, and married and murdered his way through six of the most famous fairytale princesses. Now the World of Story is torn by civil war, the Wall has been built, and the Doors closed.

Welcome to one of the July 26th stops on the blog tour for The Lost Princess of Story by Suzanne de Planque with Silver Dagger Book Tours. Be sure to follow the rest of the tour for spotlights, reviews, author guest posts, and a giveaway! More on that at the end of this post.
Please note that this post contains affiliate links, which means there is no additional cost to you if you shop using my links, but I will earn a small percentage in commission. A program-specific disclaimer is at the bottom of this post.

What are your top 10 favorite books/authors?
I read voraciously across many different genres, so it’s hard to pick. In honor of The Lost Princess of Story, here are 10 favorite books of magic and wonder. (Lots of series here.)
Wandering Children series by Seanan McGuire
The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis
Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling
Tales of Magic series by Edward Eager
A Great and Powerful Beauty series by Libba Bray
The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles by Julie Edwards
The Phantom Tollbooth by Norman Juster
The Magicians series by Lev Grossman
Five Children and It series by E. Nesbit
Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie
What book do you think everyone should read?
I can’t pick just one! This list changes all the time. Right now, I think I would say Harry Potter (see the books for what they are, not for what the writer may have said outside the books), The Chronicles of Narnia, The Great Gatsby, the Wayward Children series, A Prayer for Owen Meany, The Circus Mirandus, and The Boy, The Mole, The Fox, and The Horse.
How long have you been writing?
Since I could hold a pencil. Or was it a crayon? I read early—before two. And I would ask my mom how to spell words or learn them from books. I always made up stories in my head. And I always wrote them down.
Do the characters all come to you at the same time or do some of them come to you as you write?
When writing The Lost Princess of Story, I began with Lilla, Charlie, and Sophie. Characters came along as I wrote. Jamie showed up and tried to take over the entire book. Clarence was originally just a brief mention in the prologue until my husband asked that I expand his character. He was right. Sass originally wasn’t going to arrive until Book Three, but she couldn’t wait. And I’m glad she’s here now. Luke was going to be a background character. I had no idea that Bob would go in the direction he did.
Definitely, the characters grew and changed along the way, and that shaped the book.
What kind of research do you do before you begin writing a book?
That really depends on the book. For The Lost Princess of Story, the research was delightful. I immersed myself in children’s literature and fairy tales and portal fiction and books of magic. Other than that, this book didn’t need vast amounts of research. Half of it takes place in New York City, where I live. And the other half takes place in a magical world I invented.
I always find myself doing that peculiar kind of writer research, though—where if someone looked at my searches they would be bewildered. Why did she look up The Princes in the Tower, corsets, the recipe for Slurpees, antidepressants, royal pretenders, suturing, and hand-to-hand combat in one afternoon? Welcome to my writing world. At least it’s not as bad as mystery writers, who are looking up things like “would a body dumped in the East River float out to sea?” and “how to kill someone with a penknife and a Metrocard?”.
Do you see writing as a career?
It was a career for me for a time. I was a playwright, and my plays were commissioned and performed regionally. Films too, indies. And then I became a stay-at-home mom.
My son is growing up, and I think I’m ready to see writing as a career again. The nice thing about writing novels, as opposed to plays and films, is that I can do it myself, just me. I don’t need all those actors and creatives and crew. I can just pick up my computer, or pen and paper, and go to town.
What do you think about the current publishing market?
I think that there is more opportunity open to more writers than at any other time in publishing history. And that is so exciting.
Traditional publishing opportunities have become narrower and narrower. But independent publishing is booming. Just like how YouTube has given everyone their own TV channel, independent publishing has made it possible for so many more voices to be heard. Of course, with so many books out there, it can be hard to find a niche, to be seen. But it is easier now to write and publish your own book than it ever has been.
This is especially exciting because self-publishing is wide open to voices that may have struggled being heard in the traditional publishing arena. Writers of color, LGBT+ writers, women, writers with disabilities, young writers, older first-time authors—self publishing gives us a way to hear their voices.
It is a time of change. And no one knows where the publishing market will be in a year, or ten years. But the fact that so many new voices are writing and publishing can only be a good thing.
Do you read yourself and if so, what is your favorite genre?
I am a voracious reader. I read so many genres, but some of my favorites include urban fantasy, retold fairy tales, portal fiction, historical fiction (especially War of the Roses and Tudor), children’s, YA, women’s fiction, nonfiction, history, and anything that is a big, juicy, epic read that takes me out of my own life and to a fascinating place.
Do you prefer to write in silence or with noise? Why?
Usually I write with music. But The Chronicles of Story has found me preferring silence. That doesn’t mean I get a lot of it—as I write this, we are going on 15 months of lockdown here in New York. The bright side: more family time that we have ever had before. The downside: hard to find silence or peace.
I think I haven’t been writing to music with The Chronicles of Story because it’s been hard to put together a playlist. My other writing it was easy. But I just haven’t really found the right internal playlists for the characters yet. Maybe for Book Two?
Do you write one book at a time or do you have several going at a time?
I always have several writing projects going. When I’m heavily into one project, I focus mainly on that, but it can be really helpful to take a break and work on something else for a while.
If you could have been the author of any book ever written, which book would you choose?
There are so many books I love deeply, and I would be proud to have written them. I love The Great Gatsby and Little Women and Pride and Prejudice and The Secret History and A Prayer for Owen Meany and so many others. There is, of course, the temptation to say I wish I had written Harry Potter… I have deep love for those books, and the thought of having that kind of financial security is amazing, not to mention all the lovely charitable things I could do with the money.
But I think I’m going to say that I’m happy to be the author of my book, The Lost Princess of Story. This book is really special to me, and it means a great deal to me that I wrote it during a very difficult year.
My book became my way back from severe health problems. I had a severe case of COVID. Still struggling with long haul symptoms. And I had chronic health problems before that. Being able to write got me through months in bed. Being able to finish and publish a book helped me to see that even though I can’t do everything I did before I got sick, I can still accomplish things. And that means the world to me.
Pen or typewriter or computer?
I love to write longhand on a legal pad with the beautiful fountain pens my husband has bought me. But I also do a lot of work on the computer. When I have the time, I like to write by hand and then enter it on the computer, because I find it is a useful editing process.
Tell us about a favorite character from a book.
Oh, it is so hard to pick just one! I always fail at these “pick your favorite” things, because each time I make a choice, it reminds me of all the others I love. I am exceedingly fond of Jo March, from Little Women and the rest of that series. Jo, like me, like so many of us out there, did not necessarily fit the mold of other women. She lived her life by her rules, she loved fiercely, she was a writer who supported her family, and she was funny and awkward and outspoken and real.
I love Elizabeth Bennett in Pride and Prejudice. Now that is a perfect book. Clever and witty and funny and oh! The library! As a general rule, I love all the smart girls with their nose in a book. Anne of Green Gables, Emily from Emily Climbs, Judy from Daddy Long Legs and Sally from Dear Enemy and Tish and Saranne from the Keeping Days series, Hermione—what J. K. Rowling did for book girls when she created Hermione. Hermione even had uncontrollable hair like me.
What made you want to become an author and do you feel it was the right decision?
I was in first or second grade when the idea that people could get paid money to write books, that they could spend their life doing it. That sounded pretty great to me. Library day was the best day of the week. I was a book kid. My class watched a movie about an author—one from the 1960s that had every stereotype possible in it. Authors making huge advances, being taken out for long, fancy lunches in expensive restaurants, the glamorous city with men in hats and sharp suits and ladies in high heels and fancy dresses. It looked great. Then a few months later, a real live writer came to talk at our school and told us how easy it was.
Of course, now I know this was all smoke and mirrors. That publishing world is long, long gone. But it looked pretty great to a first grader.
But the core of that dream hasn’t changed. The idea that I could make up stories and that people would read them. That idea had power. Still does.
I love books. Love them. And the idea that I could write them was wonderful and exciting and empowering.
This is my first published novel. I have had all kinds of other writing jobs, but this is my first novel. That dream waited a long time. And you know what? It feels great.
It was definitely the right decision, even if that little five-year-old had no idea what they were getting into.
A day in the life of the author?
Right now in lockdown, there is a lot of every-day-the-same in my life. It’s summer, and my son is out of school and of an age that he can be allowed to stay up a bit at night and sleep in a bit in the morning. I have waited years for this! I am definitely a night owl. So while my husband (who is still working at home) gets going early, we sleep in a little.
My son tackles summer homework while I get the day’s writing knocked out. I write in two places. If I am having a good day health wise, I write in our basement at my tiny little desk. I have a corner in the basement hall with a writer’s chair like Roald Dahl that is jiggered to my wonky spine, and my baby desk. There are index cards (color coded!) all over the walls with the plots of my books, and pictures stuck up of characters and inspirations.
I also take some time to maintain my social media and do marketing.
I make time for my cardiac rehab and I have quite a few doctor’s appointments to fit in—a minimum of three a week.
We meet up as a family for meals (I do the cooking) and in the afternoon and evening.
Advice you would give new authors?
Write. Write. Write.
I have had a lot of different writing jobs over the years. I wrote plays and saw them produced. Wrote screenplays and saw them shot. I wrote publicity, and did minor stringing for the newspapers, and was an artist’s assistant with their publishing, and I worked as a reader for agents and publishers.
And people always ask me for advice. I tell them the same thing. Someone told me this years ago, and it helped me so much.
Write every day.
Every single day.
If you don’t have time, get up an hour early. Or stay up an hour late. Or turn off Netflix and write for an hour.
If you write a page a day, at the end of the year, that’s 365 pages. That’s a novel.
You will be amazed how your work grows and changes if you just put in the work.
I have talked about writing on career day at my son’s school for years, and I taught playwriting there as well. I always tell the kids this secret. I usually hand out pads and pencils and tell them to write. And it delights me when the kids come up to me—sometimes months or years later—and tell me they are writing, and about what they wrote.
I would also tell a young writer to give themselves permission to make mistakes. Don’t worry about first drafts. Just get it down—you can go back and fix it later. Don’t self-edit so much that you lose the joy of writing, or the creative drive behind it.



The Lost Princess of Story
The Chronicles of Story Volume One
by Suzanne de Planque
Published 16 July 2021
Bond Street Publishing
Genre: YA Fantasy
Page Count: 546
Add it to your Goodreads TBR!
“The magical land of Story meets Brooklyn in this unconventional fairytale reminiscent of Narnia…a masterpiece…” San Francisco Book Review
“…an epic, imaginative portal fantasy touched with welcoming whimsy…” Publisher’s Weekly BookLife Reviews
Prince Charming grew up, became King, and married and murdered his way through six of the most famous fairytale princesses. Now the World of Story is torn by civil war, the Wall has been built, and the Doors closed.
Knights and princesses, heroes and magical creatures are refugees in Brooklyn, the place in this world most hospitable to magic. They thought they would be home soon.
Fifteen years later, Brooklyn girl Lilla is chafing at her guardian Gus’s strict rules. Why home school? Why can’t she walk two blocks without a chaperone? And why won’t Gus answer questions about her parents?
Lilla escapes the rules in her beloved books. She is convinced she can find a way to the worlds between the pages.
She is right. Everyone around her has kept one giant secret. Magic is real. On both sides of the Wall, in Story and in Brooklyn.
Can Lilla find the Door that will take her to Story, the World that knows her wildest wishes and her deepest hidden damage, where reward is limitless and danger is beyond all she can dream?
MAGIC IS NOT BIRTHDAY CAKE WISHES. MAGIC IS POWER AND TRANSFORMATION.
FIND THE DOOR.
The Lost Princess of story is YA crossover. All ages book of multigenerational urban fantasy/portal fiction/ retold fairy tale with a Tudor twist. LGBT+ characters.
Recommended for readers of Seanan McGuire’s Wandering Children series, Lev Grossman’s The Magicians series, Melissa Albert’s The Hazel Wood, Hafsah Faizal’s We Hunt the Flame, and books by Gregory Maguire and Terry Pratchett.
Amazon US | Amazon CA | Amazon UK
Reviews
“The magical land of Story meets Brooklyn in this unconventional fairy tale reminiscent of Narnia. Exciting action, fun (and sometimes messy) adventures, and of course, wondrous magic awaits readers as the fine line between fantasy and reality is explored. An homage to refugees who find themselves in a world harsher than what they have left behind, The Lost Princess of Story is a masterpiece that is representative of the real-world issues we face today.”
-San Francisco Book Review
“The sweeping first volume of de Planque’s Chronicles of Story, created as a ‘valentine to children’s literature and fantasy‘, invites readers to sink into an epic, imaginative portal fantasy touched with welcoming whimsy…There’s amusing banter, an adorable and hungry teacup-sized dragon, and an enthusiastic narrator given to wordplay and allegory… Lovers of fairytales and epic adventures will enjoy this dangerous quest filled with loveable heroes and magical creatures.” A grade.
-Publisher’s Weekly BookLife Reviews
“Author Suzanne de Planque weaves a marvelous new world for fairy tale and high-fantasy lovers alike. This endlessly creative novel is an immersive new chapter to the fairy tales we’ve known for generations. The narrative voice is charming, and there are continuously smart turns of phrase and plays on words. A tremendous creative achievement, The Lost Princess of Story will thrill anyone who has ever fallen in love with a story.” ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 1/2
-Self Publishing Review
“… a great read, with subtle nods to fairy tales and more current fantasy fiction… carefully skewers and pays tribute to how fantasy tales work... Recommended for readers who prefer works by Gregory Maguire, Terry Pratchett, and works such as Ella Enchanted.”⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
-LibraryThing


All look, but few can truly see.
So, let’s say you had something to hide. Something particularly important. You could even say life-and-death, the-fate-of-the-world-depends-upon-it important.
What has always been the go-to spot to hide something than can never be found?
New York City, of course.
If you think about it for two seconds, it becomes so obvious. Everything is there. Truly everything. And there are so many millions of people, so many hundreds of streets, so many unmapped, even untold miles of tunnels underground. The sheer scale makes it possible to hide anything.
Besides, New Yorkers have seen it all. They pride themselves on it.
Imagine, if you will, the average person on first spotting a werewolf on the subway. Panic, hyperventilation, hysteria.
But in New York, it plays more like this.
“Saw that werewolf on the F again today.”
“Panhandling?”
“Well, it is the end of the month. Government checks won’t hit for a few days. Still, you’d think he could take the Q once in a while.”
“Could be worse. Could be SHOWTIME!”
SHOWTIME, for all you non-New York natives, being a traveling troupe of acrobatic breakdancing buskers who burst upon unsuspecting trains with their deafening performances, obviously designed to menace riders trapped underground. The message was clear—if enough money was not coughed up promptly, they might do dreadful things; like maybe even perform again.
How much more interesting SHOWTIME becomes once you know that the majority of their performers are actually a group of minor fey elementals, evacuees who wound up on this side when the Wall went up and the Doors closed. Hiding in plain sight.
And once you start to look, the magic is everywhere. Just ask the Billy Goats Gruff who live behind the doors of those mysterious Brooklyn Bridge anchorages. The bridge can never fall, as long as there is a Gruff in residence. Three were better, but magic could be reasonable about that kind of thing.
Like in the midst of the craziness of World War II, where worldwide shortages of everything included a virtual dearth of Gruffs. There was a three-month period where the bridge’s protection Gruff in question was Clarence, a remittance dwarf from the land of South Grimm. Clarence pitched in to hold down the fort, approximating the billy goat part by donning a set of fuzzy donkey ears not unlike those seen in Disney’s Pinocchio. He did, however, manage to be Gruff enough to pass. (He usually accomplished this in between drinking bouts by shouting “I’ll huff and I’ll puff and I’ll blow your house down”, and no one ever had the heart to tell him it wasn’t quite the thing)
The best magic is not cut-and-dried and leaves plenty of wiggle room for interpretation. And he was certainly Gruff of heart. Still, he did his best in a pinch, God bless him, and the Bridge still stands today to guard Brooklyn.
Brooklyn, oh Brooklyn, fabled land of broken things. No, really—Breucklyn = Broken Land. That’s what the Dutch named it. In fact, examination of Brooklyn’s diverse communities—
CLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!
Sorry, used the cymbals I borrowed from my friendly neighborhood subway busker.
(No, not the werewolf. He’s more of a panhandler than busker.)
But I had to recapture your attention. I know, you heard the word magic back there. And it was so much more interesting than anything I said next. So, let’s make a deal. You try to stick with me, I’ll try to keep the wandering tangents to a minimum. That should drastically reduce the need for cymbals to focus your attention.
For this, after all, is a story about magic. A story about Brooklyn and a girl named Lilla, and magic. On both sides of the Wall.
You’ve been past the Wall before, most of you only in dreams. But a few of you already know the way back through the Doors. As people have stopped seeing, stopped believing, the portals grow fewer. But the worlds still wait for you.
Beyond that Wall lie your most heartfelt dreams and your most dangerous nightmares. What this world calls make-believe is reality there. That world can make you braver, stronger, and more beautiful than you ever dreamed possible; and it can turn out the darkest, most hidden secrets of your heart.
Others have been there and returned, to bring the stories we all know so well that we have half-forgotten them. Stories of a world that turns pain to beauty, faceless monsters under the bed to fierce dragons that exist only to help you to become glorious and brave. Stories of a world that knows your wildest wishes and your deepest hidden damage, where reward is limitless, and danger is beyond all that you can dream.
So—if you dare—turn the page.
And welcome to Story.



Suzanne de Planque is a writer, actor, and a stay-at-home mom.
Theatrical credits include off-Broadway and other New York, regional, and tours; everything from Shakespeare to Sondheim. A few highlights from her years in the theatre include enacting what must be
every Grimm’s fairytale in her years as the self-proclaimed Queen of Children’s Theater, playing cut-rate Disney princesses at birthday parties, inspiring a generation of high school students as the DON’T examples in a series of job-seeking educational videos, and breaking her neck falling out of a giant teapot dressed as the Dormouse.
The latter resulted in a career change to playwriting, and a healthy respect for teacups. Her plays have been commissioned and performed in New York and regionally. This is her first novel.
She lives in a little white house in Brooklyn with her husband and son, an impressive array of costumes, swords, and Original Broadway Cast albums, and a world-class collection of children’s books. She is an avid collector of antique and vintage children’s literature and a fan of literary
tourism in person and on Pinterest. She has never passed a wardrobe without checking, just in case.
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Amazon | Goodreads


Enter for a chance to win a swag bag!
LILLA—THE READER
$100 Amazon gift card
Lost Princess of Story t shirt
Lilla t shirt (Book theme)
Large stuffed Tickey Ding (the mini dragon character in Story)
Coat of arms personally created for you by the Royal Designer of Story (book illustrator), suitable for framing
More reader and Story swag
SOPHIE—THE PRINCESS
$50 Amazon gift card
Lost Princess of Story t shirt
Sophie t shirt (This Princess Saves Herself) I
Medium stuffed Tickey Ding
Coat of arms personally created for you by the Royal Designer of Story (book illustrator), suitable for framing
More princess and Story swag
JAMIE—THE KNIGHT
$25 Amazon gift card
Lost Princess of Story t shirt
Jamie t shirt (Knight in Shining T Shirt)
Small stuffed Tickey Ding
Coat of arms personally created for you by the Royal Designer of Story (book designer), suitable for framing
More knight and Story swag
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Suzanne de Planque is new to me, but I love meeting new authors. Thanks to this blog for the introduction.
Hi, Audrey! This is my first novel, but I’ve been a writer for years. My plays have been commissioned and produced in New York and regionally.
I’m thrilled to have published my first novel. It’s been a dream of mine since grade school. I always loved books where kids discover a door to a magical world. In Lost Princess, some very modern Brooklyn kids discover a world of books, with magic and wonder and fairy tale twists… and danger. They also discover their parents have been keeping some secrets. Once upon a time, their parents were the heroes, princesses, and knights.
Lost Princess was #1 Hot New Release yesterday on Amazon in Teen and YA Family. It’s been #1 on New Release in categories and in the Top 100 category charts.
Special low series launch price, just $2.99 e book. FREE on Kindle Unlimited.15.99 paperback.
Thanks for commenting!
Thanks, Westveil Publishing, for hosting The Lost Princess of Story and the giveaway!
You have a great blog. I love how many bloggers I am discovering while on book blog tour.
Thanks again for helping me get the word out about The Lost Princess of Story.
Thank you for sharing your author guest post and book details, I love the cover, synopsis and excerpt. Do you have many more stories planned for this series?
Hi, Bea!
Thanks for commenting. Yes, the plan is to do six more books. The next one will be out this fall, or maybe early winter. It is called The Towered Prince of Story. Lilla, Charlie and Luke have more adventures in the World of Story… and there just might be some hero-style adventures for their parents, too. Plus new characters and our old friends from Book One… and another fairy tale queen like Book One’s Queen of Secrets.
After reading Book One, sign up on my website suzannedeplanque.com for a sneak peek at Book Two! An early look should be ready to go later this week!