Hey'a, everyone! Welcome to the blog tour for An Echo of the Fae, Jenelle Leanne eSchmidt's latest release! This book is absolutely delightful, full of fae and magic and summertime vibes, and I'm super excited that I get to take part in its promotion. Today, I have an interview with Jenelle herself, in which we discuss some of the behind-the-scenes of the book. But first, a little about the book and author . . .

About . . .

Echo of the Fae

Echo enjoys the peace and solitude of the Faeorn forest, regardless of how strange spending time in the "haunted" wood seems to others.

But on the cusp of her thirteenth birthday, the discovery of a family secret reveals why Echo has never been drawn to the sea like her mother. This discovery shakes the foundations of her world and sends Echo on a quest, not merely into the forest, but into the heart of the fae-lands themselves, to rescue the sister she didn't know existed.

Elves, dragons, and fairy courts will put Echo's wit and resolve to the test. But with time running out for her sister, will Echo even be able to save herself?

A fairytale adventure perfect for fans of The Secret of Roan Innish and The Girl Who Drank the Moon.

Find it on: Amazon || Goodreads

Jenelle Leanne Schmidt

Jenelle first fell in love with stories through her father’s voice reading books aloud each night. A relentless opener-of-doors in hopes of someday finding a passage to Narnia, it was only natural that she soon began making up fantastical realms of her own. Jenelle currently resides in the wintry tundra of Wisconsin—which she maintains is almost as good as Narnia—with her knight-in-shining armor and their four adorable hobbits. When she is not writing, she homeschools said hobbits and helps them along on their daily adventures... which she says makes her a wizard.

Find her online at: Author Site || Facebook || Twitter || Instagram || Goodreads || Newsletter || Amazon

Interview with Jenelle

Welcome, Jenelle! First, where did the idea for this book come from, and were there any additional sources of inspiration along the way?

Originally, I was trying to think of a story I could write to participate in Kendra E. Ardnek’s multi-author release of Rapunzel retellings. But other than a vague idea for mixing it with selkies and the fae, I couldn’t come up with a story in time.

Then I met a young cashier at Menards. Her nametag said, “Jana” and I struck up a conversation with her by asking how to pronounce her name. As a fantasy author, I’m always on the lookout for unique and interesting names. We chatted for a while about books and she gave me permission to use her name in a book if I ever wanted to. As I was leaving, she called out, “My middle name is Echo, if you want to use that!”

Well, something about that conversation stuck with me, and the next thing I knew, I had the glimmerings of a story idea. “Jana” and “Echo” became sisters and the main characters of the book.

That's such a cool origin! What were some of the biggest challenges you had in writing this book, and how did you deal with those challenges?

Honestly, this was the easiest book I’ve ever written. It practically wrote itself. However, the ending was a major struggle, and probably made even more difficult because the rest of the story came so easily. I went through 12 different versions of the end before I hit on the right one.

Thankfully, I have an incredible team of editors around me, and my developmental editor refuses to let me settle for sub-par. I rewrote the ending six times before I sent it to my line editor, who helped me hash out yet another ending idea. I made the edits and rewrote the ending (which I absolutely loved... it made me cry as I was writing it) and then sent it back to my developmental editor to see what he thought, and he didn’t like it. At all.

I edited the ending another couple of times, each time, trying to figure out a way to salvage what I had already written, but it never felt quite right.

Finally, after several more back-and-forths with my editor, I scrapped the whole ending and started over, replacing the epilogue with three separate chapters. Taking more time on the end allowed me to tie up some of the loose ends, but it also changed the ending quite a bit from what it had been before and really made the whole story feel more completed than it ever had.

When I sent this version to my editor, he wrote back and said, “I think this is the one!”

My goodness. That's a lot of endings! To finish up, if you could spend an afternoon with one of your characters, either in their world or ours, who would you pick and what would you do?

I think I’d want to hang out with Jana. She’s just such an impetuous little ball of fun. When we meet her in the story, she’s become very ill, so you don’t get to see her at her best, but when she’s healthy she’s a chatterbox which means I wouldn’t have to carry the conversation, always a plus when I’m hanging out with anyone.

Nobody could ever be bored hanging out with Jana. She might not be the most adventurous on her own (climbing trees is apparently something she’s never thought to try), but she’s up for any suggestion, and she does have the ability to think outside the box and sometimes acts without thinking.

What would we do? I don’t know. I’d have her show me around Faerthain and maybe we’d play a couple of harmless pranks. Or climb a tree, because that’s always fun and something I’m already good at.

Jana sounds a lot of fun! And I get to interview her in a week, so I'm excited for that! Thanks for your time!

Thanks, everyone, for reading! Make sure you check out the rest of the tour stops, and stop by this blog next Monday for an interview with Jana! (Also, hop over to Light and Shadows on Friday for my thoughts on the book!) Have a fabulous day!

-Sarah (Leilani Sunblade)