Think Romantasy, but funnier…
An interview with Josie Johnston, author of our new, short-length cosy, romantasy series, Seven Brides for Seven Boggarts
So, what’s a boggart in your new series? Are we talking frightening shape shifters, like in Harry Potter? Who’d fall in love with one of those?
No, oh goodness no… please ignore all the misinformation! My Seven Brides boggarts are heroic, hard-honed, honour-bound, built-for-battle brawn-lords. But they’re also butter-soft on the inside, with big, lonely hearts. They’re just waiting for true love to grab them by the leather armour and haul them in for a kiss.
Where is the Kingdom of Boggart? Could I get to it from here?
There are hidden, carefully-guarded portals between our human world and Boggart. The boggarts are a human-friendly, human-adjacent species, but they rarely enter the World of Men. People get weird about their horns. In Seven Brides, King Arren, Prince Drefan and Prince Einar all pass through the portal for true love’s sake, and they all have to disguise themselves.
And what is Boggart like?
It’s much more medieval in many ways than our world – horses, castles, swordplay – with magic, and mythical beings. Oh, and at the beginning of the series Boggart is suffering from an unfortunate curse. But thanks to Arren and Milly, by the end of The Cupcake Queen Boggart can look forward to easier times… and when Prince Einar is sent to rescue The Reading Room Rapunzel, Boggart even has email!
So why boggart princes, Josie? And why seven of them?
When I was growing up, my dad loved a very old film called Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. We watched it together, and I still watch it sometimes around New Year. The dancing is amazing! I wanted to take the idea of seven gorgeous but lonely brothers and give it a royal, romantasy spin. Each of my princes finds his own road to true love, facing adventure, magical curses, sewing, danger, libraries, winter, trickery, shape-shifting, cursed ice circuses, flatulent ponies, rom com, ravens, acrobatics, goblin diplomacy, gypsy caravans, flamenco, wort-men, were-trolls, wyrms, sea pixies, goldfish, amber sprites, attack ferrets, cupcakes….
And much, much more.
And the brides? Tell me about the brides?
Oh goodness, yes, my amazing brides. They’re strong, feisty, independent and diverse… and they more than hold their own in Boggart, kingdom of machismo and leather. And their princes adore them. To give you a flavour, one of my favourite Meet Cutes is in The Pincushion Princess, when Willa, who is a petite sea pixie seamstress, meets big Prince Brynn. Her gypsy caravan, the Fashion Wagon is about to sink into the mud, so she orders him to get his oversized arse off his oversized horse, and help to save her business. And in story three, The Dancing Duchess, the dauntless heroine has two left feet, but she’s determined to dance flawlessly, to avert a war.
If you had to sum up Seven Brides for Seven Boggarts in seven words, what would they be?
Warm-hearted, funny, surprising, banter-filled, exciting, cosy, a hint of spice. Yes, I know that’s twelve, sorry. I always struggled with maths. But I do know there are two ways to read the stories. You can either download them as they are released on Amazon (starting 13th October, then regular drops into December). Or you can download the complete, collected tales on 22nd December for your perfect cosy Christmas read.
I also know there’s a special, bonus, exclusive epilogue tale in Seven Brides for Seven Boggarts: the Complete Tales, which might just make your Boggarty Christmas complete!