I recently finished editing my new book project WILLOW AND THE WELLSPRING. W&W is a villain fantasy romance that has:
- An enemies-to-lovers trope twist
- Elemental magic as a resource
- Post-war setting
- A healing HEA
- Y e a r n i n g
- A huntress as the main character & amputee rep
- A villain love interest
- And a redemption arc that doesn’t end in death
Main characters = VIVIAN + THE WARLOCK PRINCE.
I am quite pleased with how these character mood boards turned out (images below), which authors sometimes use to promote their books and give potential readers a sense of the story’s vibe. Finding the right stock images is kinda hard.

I churned out WILLOW AND THE WELLSPRING faster than I have ever written a book before. From conception to first draft, I wrote it in two and a half weeks in January. Those first words just poured out of me.
It’s come a long way since then. I initially intended it to be a novella; the first draft was around 24K words. Now it’s 63K. While I’ve spent most of this year fighting my way through edits, I have NEVER written the first draft of a book in less than a year. Let alone finalized it. Now it is in the hands of my agent (still so cool and weird and totally surreal to say that) and wow. Just wow. I never knew I had this book in me. It completely took me by surprise.
Huge shout outs to my critique partners and beta readers: Kyle, Alex, Katie, Laura, Stacia-Fe, Lizzie, Vicky, and Mom 😉 Yinz are the best bunch of manuscript heroes, and I am so grateful to have you in my life.
And thank YOU so much for your support! I can’t wait for you to read it.
xoxo
Desirée