Stephanie Garber’s highly anticipated new release, Alchemy of Secrets, finally hit shelves this week, and according to the author, “if you’re looking for a novel that pairs well with crisp fall nights, mugs of cider and crackling fireplaces, you might want to add [it] to your TBR.”
With a peek behind the curtain like that, we couldn’t resist downloading it to our Kindles immediately. Now, as fans lock in with her new read, we caught up with Stephanie to discuss this spooky season read, her jump from YA to adult fiction, and what’s on her TBR.
Can you give us a non-spoilery look into what Alchemy of Secrets is about?
Dark academia and old Hollywood collide in this supernatural thriller, where a graduate student obsessed with urban myths and legends gets caught up in a deadly race against the clock after discovering the magic she’s been studying is actually real.
We've loved all of your YA books, but what made you make the leap to adult fiction?
I started writing in my twenties. At the time, it made the most sense to write young adult books because I felt closer to a teenager than I did to an adult. Now, over a decade later, being a teenager feels further away, and being an adult sounds much sexier.
I think the biggest difference between Alchemy of Secrets and my YA books isn’t the age of the characters but the world that they live in. Alchemy of Secrets is my first book set in our world—I was tempted to say that it’s set in the real world, but it’s not really. Alchemy of Secrets is set in a magic-tainted version of our world, and I’m really excited to take readers into this new world and introduce them to my new main character, Holland St. James. Holland is a graduate student who has never found a rabbit hole she wouldn’t like to jump down—or a dangerous man she won’t follow—which, in my opinion, makes her the perfect character to kick off a series.
You're known for particularly magical fantasy books. What drew you to the genre, and what is your writing process like?
I started writing because of Twilight. I love to say that the book changed my life, because it’s true. Reading Twilight made me fall head over heels in love with paranormal romance, which is why I started writing fantasy.
My writing process changes a little with every book, but it is always chaotic. When I first start a project, I like to explore every possibility for a story. I begin with brainstorming. I write down all the story elements that I’m currently craving—tropes I want to explore, situations I want to experience, twists that I hope to pull off, characters that I want to bring to life, bits of magic that I find fascinating. I go on and on, sometimes for months. Then, after I feel as if I’ve dreamed all of my storytelling dreams, I try to make sense of what I’ve written down. That’s when I look for the story in the midst of the chaos. I take out elements that don’t seem to fit, and then I expand on the ones that do, until I feel as if I’ve found the story equivalent to buried treasure.
What's the best book you've read recently? What's on your TBR?
My last five-star read was The Knight and the Moth by Rachel Gillig. I loved the world-building, the characters, the romance—the gargoyle! The gargoyle alone is enough to recommend this book.
I have so many books on my TBR right now. I just started reading Broken Country—almost everyone I know has recommended it, so I can’t wait to dive deeper in. I’m also really excited to read Wild Reverence by Rebecca Ross and Secret of Secrets by Dan Brown. My dad just finished Secret of Secrets, and I’m really excited to read it so that we can chat about it together.
We know Alchemy of Secrets
