Elm Vince is a UK-based romantic fantasy author. She grew up reading Philip Pullman, Jonathan Stroud, J.K Rowling, Lian Hearn, and Tamora Pierce, which pretty much set her up for a life-long love of YA fantasy. In particular, she loves strong female leads, fairy tale retellings, dragons, enemies-to-lovers romances, fae heroes, and scenes set in libraries. When she’s not hunched over her laptop doing irreparable damage to her lower back, you’ll find her road-tripping around Scotland, freaking herself out with true crime podcasts, and befriending other people’s dogs.
Elm’s series
Elm has written seven books, and counting! She has three YA romantic fantasy series:
- Her co-authored Desert Nights series is inspired by Aladdin and Arabian mythology and is filled with feisty, sword-wielding princesses, sorcery, and a snarky djinni.
- Her Star Cast series is filled with celestial mages, fey, and political intrigue with an empath heroine who has to disguise herself as nobility to rescue her friend
- Her co-authored A Court of Fairy Tales series is an interconnected series of fae fairytale retellings with plenty of action, magic, clean romance, and happy ever afters!
Q&A
Let’s get to know each other a little better…
What sort of books do you write?
I write what I love to read, which is YA epic fantasy and fairy-tale retellings with a hefty dose of romance. I love magical secondary worlds, hate-to-love romances, strong female heroines, fae, and libraries. I’ve yet to write a series without all of the above! I’m also partial to the odd dragon.
Where do you live?
Edinburgh – AKA the most magical city in the world!
Who’s your favorite YA author?
Probably Sarah J Maas. Her books are like the Friends of fantasy for me – I could read them on a loop.
Other favorites include Leigh Bardugo, Laini Taylor, Margaret Rogerson, Holly Black, Samantha Shannon, Naomi Novik, and, of course, my friend and co-author Helena Rookwood.
Favorite YA romance of all time?
This one is hard! If we’re talking books, it’s between two Sarah J Maas classics: Feyre/Rhysand from ACOTAR, or Elide and Lorcan from TOG. I also really loved Lara and Aren from the Bridge Kingdom by Danielle Jensen – I know how hard it is to write a hate-to-love in the format of an arranged marriage (as I did it for Desert Nights!) – she totally nailed it.
From my own books, it has to be Cassia and Zebediah from Tapestry of Night <3
For TV series, either Damon/Elena from The Vampire Diaries…or Buffy/Spike.
When did you become a writer?
I worked as a journalist from 2012, but only started writing books in 2018.
Top three Disney movies?
- Aladdin
- Beauty and the Beast
- Hercules
(with Mulan a close number four!)
Favorite TV show?
Buffy, every time.
Image by Kathy Anne Lim