Earlier today I finally got to announce the title of my upcoming YA novel:

I’ve been working on this book and unable to say much about it for more than two years, so it’s exciting to finally be able to share more!  Here’s what I can tell you about it so far:

• Dagger and Coin is due out in Fall 2018.
• Dagger and Coin picks up about 30 days after the events of Sword and Verse. However, I prefer to think of it as a companion novel rather than a sequel, because it focuses on a different protagonist and can be enjoyed even if you haven’t read the first book.
• The cover is just as beautiful as the cover of Sword and Verse and was done by the same artist, Colin Anderson. Hopefully I will be able to share it soon!
• The main character in Dagger and Coin is Soraya Gamo, the heiress who was engaged to Mati and was all set to become queen. We saw in Sword and Verse that Soraya was much more than just a pretty rich girl, and in this book she has thrown her lot in with her former enemies in order to pursue her ambitions.
• Many of the major players from Sword and Verse appear in this book, especially Raisa, Mati, and Jonis. We also get to know some minor characters from the first book better: Deshti (Raisa’s adversary in the Arnath Resistance), Alshara (Soraya’s younger sister), and Gelti Dimmin (that handsome guard captain).
• Decisions made in Sword and Verse come back to haunt our characters in Dagger and Coin, particularly a big one made by Mati. Sword and Verse was about upending an unjust system; Dagger and Coin is about the messy, seemingly impossible task of constructing a better one in its place.
• This book is unabashedly, fiercely feminist. In 2016, I thought, “Oh, I wish this book were out now! It’s so relevant!”  In 2017, I thought the same thing. Sadly, I don’t think this story is going to get any less relevant in coming years.
• I like to think of this book as a tale of a well-educated female policy wonk battling her misogynist foes. In case you are wondering about my politics. 😉
• I’m just going to put this out there right now, because some people have mentioned it: Soraya and Jonis are NOT EVER going to be a couple. Just not going to happen.  Soraya’s relationship with Jonis is arguably the most important one in the book, but don’t look for kissing there.  Just don’t.
• Look for kissing (and more) elsewhere, though. There is romance in this book, just not with Jonis.
• Like Sword and Verse, Dagger and Coin can be read and enjoyed as a standalone. Of course, it also features lots of rewarding tidbits for readers of both books!  And yes, if you read Dagger and Coin first, it will give you lots of spoilers for Sword and Verse, so be warned if that sort of thing bothers you. (Personally, I love spoilers, but I am weird that way.)
• I’m seriously considering making myself a bingo card of all the things that Soraya will undoubtedly be called once the book is out in the world.  I mean, she’s an ambitious woman, see, so of course that means she must be inviting the whole world to comment on what’s wrong with her.  A few of my predictions: too proud, too strong, too passive, too emotional, too icy, too ambitious, too shrill, too slutty, too prudish, too petty, too demanding, too calculating…
• The story of the gods comes into play in Dagger and Coin, but in a different way than it did in Sword and Verse, because Soraya’s relationship to the gods is completely different from Raisa’s.
• I really, really love this book and I can’t wait to share it with you!