PRISONER OF THE CROWN
Chronicles
of Dasnaria #1
by
Jeffe Kennedy
Genre:
Fantasy
Pub Date: 6/12/2018
Guest Post from the Author:
Writing PRISONER OF THE CROWN was an interesting foray into history for me.
See, this book is the first in a trilogy that’s a spinoff from the world established in my Twelve Kingdoms and Uncharted Realms series.
The Empire of Dasnaria, where PRISONER takes place, is a foreign – and aggressive – realm encountered by the people of the Twelve Kingdoms.
And Dasnaria is a very different culture where women do not have the same rights and freedoms that they do in the twelve.
Part of that came from wanting a foil to my assertive and powerful High Queen of the Twelve Kingdoms, and the other part came from me
being aware of the political and cultural situation in our modern world.
I wanted to better understand how women can be happy raised in a culture where they’re kept “under wraps” in one way or another, where men decide their lives and provide escorts everywhere.
Dasnaria became that place in my fictional world.
With PRISONER, I got to write that story from the inside, through the character of Imperial Princess Jenna, born in the seraglio of the Imperial Palace of Dasnaria.
She’s spent her entire life there, surrounded by women and given a carefully crafted education. So, while I knew
the societal rules of Dasnaria from my people of the Twelve Kingdoms learning about them,
Jenna was my first opportunity to be in the head of a woman who grew up inside that culture, who knows those rules as immutable.
This proved to be a challenge, because the cloistered world of the seraglio is all Jenna knows to begin with.
It’s not until she leaves the seraglio to be married that she begins to seriously question whether she could have another life. At first, she utterly believes that men are smarter and stronger, that only through her husband and sons – and manipulating her daughters the same way she’s been groomed – can she gain any power. She takes at face value that women must learn to pleasure men, and she’ll offer her body with complete obedience and submissive grace to her husband, no matter what he demands of her. She even nurtures a romantic ideal that if she’s beautiful and perfect, then she will have a happy marriage.
We all know how that kind of thinking works out.
This story is not a romance. The beastly husband doesn’t turn out to be a wonderful man beneath.
This is entirely Jenna’s story, and how she discovers that how she’s been raised and what she’s been taught is only one lens on the world.
And that there’s more out there beyond the Empire of Dasnaria.
Guest Post from the Author:
See, this book is the first in a trilogy that’s a spinoff from the world established in my Twelve Kingdoms and Uncharted Realms series.
The Empire of Dasnaria, where PRISONER takes place, is a foreign – and aggressive – realm encountered by the people of the Twelve Kingdoms.
And Dasnaria is a very different culture where women do not have the same rights and freedoms that they do in the twelve.
Part of that came from wanting a foil to my assertive and powerful High Queen of the Twelve Kingdoms, and the other part came from me
being aware of the political and cultural situation in our modern world.
I wanted to better understand how women can be happy raised in a culture where they’re kept “under wraps” in one way or another, where men decide their lives and provide escorts everywhere.
Dasnaria became that place in my fictional world.
With PRISONER, I got to write that story from the inside, through the character of Imperial Princess Jenna, born in the seraglio of the Imperial Palace of Dasnaria.
She’s spent her entire life there, surrounded by women and given a carefully crafted education. So, while I knew
the societal rules of Dasnaria from my people of the Twelve Kingdoms learning about them,
Jenna was my first opportunity to be in the head of a woman who grew up inside that culture, who knows those rules as immutable.
This proved to be a challenge, because the cloistered world of the seraglio is all Jenna knows to begin with.
It’s not until she leaves the seraglio to be married that she begins to seriously question whether she could have another life. At first, she utterly believes that men are smarter and stronger, that only through her husband and sons – and manipulating her daughters the same way she’s been groomed – can she gain any power. She takes at face value that women must learn to pleasure men, and she’ll offer her body with complete obedience and submissive grace to her husband, no matter what he demands of her. She even nurtures a romantic ideal that if she’s beautiful and perfect, then she will have a happy marriage.
We all know how that kind of thinking works out.
This story is not a romance. The beastly husband doesn’t turn out to be a wonderful man beneath.
This is entirely Jenna’s story, and how she discovers that how she’s been raised and what she’s been taught is only one lens on the world.
And that there’s more out there beyond the Empire of Dasnaria.
She was raised to be beautiful,
nothing more. And then the rules changed . . .
In icy Dasnaria, rival realm to the Twelve Kingdoms, a woman’s role
is to give pleasure, produce heirs, and question nothing. But a plot
to overthrow the emperor depends on the fate of his eldest daughter.
And the treachery at its heart will change more than one carefully
limited life . . .
The Gilded Cage
Princess Jenna has been raised in supreme luxury—and ignorance.
Within the sweet-scented, golden confines of the palace seraglio,
she’s never seen the sun, or a man, or even learned her numbers.
But she’s been schooled enough in the paths to a woman’s power.
When her betrothal is announced, she’s ready to begin the
machinations that her mother promises will take Jenna from ornament
to queen.
But the man named as Jenna’s husband is no innocent to be cozened
or prince to charm. He’s a monster in human form, and the horrors
of life under his thumb are clear within moments of her wedding vows.
If Jenna is to live, she must somehow break free—and for one born
to a soft prison, the way to cold, hard freedom will be a dangerous
path indeed…
Jeffe
Kennedy is an award-winning
author with a writing career that spans decades. Her fantasy BDSM
romance, Petals and Thorns, originally published under the pen
name Jennifer Paris, has won several reader awards. Sapphire,
the first book in the Facets of Passion series, has placed first
in multiple romance contests and the follow-up, Platinum, is
climbing the charts. Her most recent works include three fiction
series: the fantasy romance novels of A
Covenant of Thorns, the contemporary
BDSM novellas of the Facets of
Passion, and the post-apocalyptic
vampire erotica of the Blood
Currency. She is
currently working on Master of the
Opera and The
Twelve Kingdoms, a fantasy trilogy.
Jeffe lives in Santa Fe, with two Maine coon cats, a border collie,
plentiful free-range lizards and a Doctor of Oriental Medicine. Jeffe
can be found online at her website: JeffeKennedy.com or every Sunday
at the popular Word Whores blog.
Follow
the tour HERE
for exclusive excerpts, guest posts and a giveaway!
The book cover looks very inviting. Awesome job!
ReplyDeleteSo glad you think so! :-)
DeleteI like the theme of discovery of different points of view other than what is taught.
ReplyDeleteAlways a big theme with me, for sure!
DeleteThe cover fits the title, and the synopsis seems to imply that the book will be an in-depth tale of how life can change a person's outlook, even if their entire background has to evolve into something completely at odds with what is necessary.
ReplyDeletevery true!
DeleteIt'a a fine looking crown.
ReplyDeletethe cover is pretty plain.
ReplyDeleteLooks like an interesting book.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the contest.
slehan at juno dot com
The cover is great. Sounds like a very interesting book!!!
ReplyDeletebrat52101 at yahoo dot com
it looks like a great read
ReplyDeleteI love the cover, it's gorgeous! Thank you for the great giveaway :)
ReplyDeleteI really like the cover and this sounds like a good book!
ReplyDeleteBook cover looks great.
ReplyDeleteI like the cover because it stands out and will catch peoples eyes.
ReplyDeleteI think the cover stands out
ReplyDeleteIt makes it look intriguing!
ReplyDelete