Blog Tour: Where Dreams Descend // Author Q & A

I had the honor of asking Janelle Angeles some questions about her debut novel Where Dreams Descend! I really enjoyed this book, it was so magical and atmospheric, and I really hope that all of you will love it too!

Where Dreams Descend follows Kallia, a powerful female magician, who hopes to win a competition to become the next big performing magician. In a world where female magicians never go into show magic, she has everything to prove. However, something seems bent on derailing the competition, with mysterious accidents occurring and contestants going missing.

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Author Bio:
JANELLA ANGELES is a Filipino-American author who got her start in writing through consuming glorious amounts of fanfiction at a young age—which eventually led to penning a few of her own, and later on, creating original stories from her imagination. A lifelong lover of books, she’s lucky enough to be working in the business of publishing them on top of
writing them. She currently resides in Massachusetts, where she’s most likely to be found listening to musicals on repeat and daydreaming too much for her own good. Where Dreams Descend is her first book.

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The magic and the ambiance of the world in Where Dreams Descend is so enchanting and
captivating, what were some things that inspired you when you were writing that world?

Janella: SO MUCH. I, of course, love the comps of this story—Phantom of the Opera, Moulin Rouge, and The Night Circus—and wanted to create a world that could slip into the lush, decadent seams of those stories while also being its own magical thing! I also was very inspired by the musical film Cinderella (1997) which was the first fantasy world I ever wanted to step into because it was the first world I felt like I could be welcome to walk around a ballroom in a gorgeous gown and be swept away in a romantic fantasy. I’d always wanted to create a world that had that same beauty and spirit and representation to it, and found the perfect opportunity in Where Dreams Descend.

Do you have a favorite line from the book? If so, what is it and why?

Janella: I think my favorite line might actually be the last line of the whole book, which sadly is a big spoiler! But I remember during edits, my editor kept pushing me to get that ending to stick the landing—and I’m glad she did, otherwise I wouldn’t have gotten to that line which feels like the end of something, but also the beginning.

What was the hardest thing about writing this book?

Janella: While I was writing this book, I was on submission to editors with another book I had worked super hard on that was getting rejected a lot. It was so disheartening, and for a while, I felt like I lost my ability to write which made jumping into this book a big struggle. But once I felt like I needed to finish this draft just for me, my main character, Kallia, truly started speaking to me. As cliched as it sounds, her strength became my strength, and it made all the hard parts of getting rejected and having to shelve that first book less painful because I was finally finding joy in another story.

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I hope this Q & A got all of you excited for Where Dreams Descend! It’s releasing this Tuesday, August 25th! Here are some links where you can pre-order!

Amazon // Barnes & Noble // Indigo // Books a Million // Indiebound // Powells // Bookshop

Are you excited to read Where Dreams Descend? Do you like books with competitions in them?