Cover Reveal of Awakened
It’s Time!
For Another Cover Reveal!!
Up until now, all of my books have been either historical…or at least with a historical thread (like my Guideposts books). And I LOVE historicals, both writing and reading them.
But I have another literary love too. I’ve long been a sucker for a good fantasy romance, and in the past few years, that’s where I’ve often turned for my reading while I’m juggling a lot of contracts, in large part because it’s not my primary genre. Harder to compare and second-guess myself with reading that’s not too much like my writing!
Of course, when you read something a lot, as a writer, it’s not uncommon to decide to “play” with that new genre. I started playing with fantasy, and I loved this story so much that it was soon finished too!
I polled readers to help me come up with the title, Awakened, and I also did a poll for some cover options…none of which I ended up using. Why?
Because the winner by far was a photographic-style cover with a woman on it, which was fun for me to make, but…well, but NO successful fantasy romances in today’s market have a photographic image of people on them. While that’s what my historical readers expect, it’s not what romantasy readers expect.
So I went back to the drawing board. Or rather, had an artist friend go to the drawing board for me. And I am SO in love with what she created!
Let’s meet…
Arden Bleu
Arden is the daughter of the High Guardian of the Barrier Banks, but it’s her stepsister, Jade, who is the special one. And when Jade is kidnapped by the mer, Arden will do anything to save her, even if it means facing down the one man she’s long lived in fear of–King Seidon, who is the only person in the empire who could take her father away from her.
The mightiest king Daryatla has ever known…
Seidon
Seidon has already been king for 200 years, and it’s taught him a lot about judging people. He knows as soon as Arden demands help in finding her sister that she’s going to be a friend, just as her father is. What he doesn’t know is how to find the young woman the mer have seized…though he knows exactly why they took her. He felt her blood in the water during the scuffle, and the magic in it was more powerful than any he’d felt before. Is Jade the one he’s been waiting centuries for?
An evocative setting
Daryatla
In a post-cataclysmic Earth many thousands of years in the future, technology and gift from God have combined to create power over the elements that is called “magic.” In what used to be the eastern seaboard of North America and the Atlantic, a new empire has emerged–Daryatla, the land ruled by the Sea King. But under the waves, humans who have evolved to withstand the pressure of the ocean depths live in an undersea kingdom called the Sunken Cities. And the mer rulers are known for their ruthlessness. If they unleash the power they all suspect lies dormant in Jade’s veins, it could mean devastation for them all.
Roseanna’s first
Fantasy Romance
A unique take on mermaids, a powerful but down-to-earth king, an overlooked heroine, and a young woman desperate to just be normal all combine to bring you the world of Awakened.
Ready? Here it is!
The cover of Awakened!
What do you think??
I LOVE how this turned out! The beautiful drawing of Arden comes to us courtesy of the amazing Caroline Smith of Caroline Calligraphie (one of my P&P ladies). I added an overlay of ocean waves to her skirt, combined it with oceanic colors for the background, we super-imposed the Awakening mark (which appears on the palm of all Awakened people in the book), and then of course had the title in a fun gild.
“The speculative fiction bug has been awakened in prolific author Roseanna White, and her fantasy debut does not disappoint! With a refreshing and imaginative spin on mermaid lore, Awakened offers a richly woven tale of love and loyalty in the collision of two vibrant worlds. White’s masterful storytelling and vivid world-building will draw readers into an epic adventure that explores the depths of sacrifice and the power of unity. A thoroughly enjoyable and captivating read—I eagerly await her next foray into the fantasy genre!”
—Jill Williamson, Christy Award-winning Blood of Kings author
The Official Description
Where sea and land meet, two worlds clash in a fury of wind and waves.
Arden Bleu has always known that her stepsister, Jade, was destined for great things. In a world where beauty follows magic, she has no doubt that their upcoming Awakening ceremony will reveal that gorgeous, kind, compelling Jade is far more than a mere mortal. But when Jade is kidnapped by a mysterious sect of mer on the eve of the newly-returned king’s ball, Arden will do anything to save her sister. Even face down the man she’s always dreaded meeting because of the power he holds over her family, the man to whom her father swore loyalty long before she was born. The Sea King.
Seidon, the Sea King of Daryatla, has grown only more powerful as the centuries have gone by, but lifetime after lifetime have failed to give him what he most yearns for: a family. He knows that it will take a woman of extraordinary power to match him enough to create a child, and no such woman seems to exist…until he feels her magic calling to his one day in the water. And when Arden Bleu, daughter of his most trusted official, arrives to tell him about her missing stepsister, he knows this Jade, with a new magic so coveted that the mer would risk war with his kingdom to steal her away, may be the one he’s waited centuries for. But how can he and the determined Arden ever hope to find one young woman trapped beneath the waves? Perhaps the Great Golden Sea Hawk who has guarded the sisters all their lives holds the key.
In a world on the brink of war between the mer and the land-dwellers, friendship, faith, and love demand the ultimate sacrifice as both kingdoms seek to unlock the prophesied magic waiting to spring forth: the magic of wind and sky. To the mer, it would mean the freedom to return to the land. To Seidon’s court, it would mean safety from every storm. But how can any human hand wield the wind?
Roseanna M. White is a bestselling, Christy Award winning author who has long claimed that words are the air she breathes. When not writing fiction, she’s homeschooling her two kids, editing, designing book covers, and pretending her house will clean itself. Roseanna is the author of a slew of historical novels that span several continents and thousands of years. Spies and war and mayhem always seem to find their way into her books…to offset her real life, which is blessedly ordinary. 
