Once upon a time, I had known nothing about my family. But then I went to Europe and discovered who I really was. And my new life...well, it was like something right out of a fairy tale. I was a member of the royal family of Dobrenica, a tiny, obscure European country with some very unusual attributes. Like magic. And ghosts. And vampires.
But for the first time in my life I was truly happy. I was engaged to be married to the heir apparent to the throne, and we were in love. So my mood was high as I walked under the triumphal arch in the center of the capital city and passed the off little painting of a door that had intrigued me ever since I first came to Dobrenica.
It was rendered so realistically that on first glance it seemed three dimensional, and I always ran my fingers over the amazing painting as I passed. But this time, my fingers closed on an actual cold metal doorknob, and the door swung inward, revealing a sun-drenched landscape and a teenage girl with honey-colored braids.
As I stepped over the magical threshold, she spoke.
"You are called to guide the child Aurelie,"she said. "But that is only half your task: to save Dobrenica, you must bring her here."
And with that, she disappeared, leaving me floating like a spirit in a strange world, two hundred years in the past.
Praise for the Dobrenica series:
“It’s a delightful romp, with just enough loose ends to leave some hope that the doomed romance might not be so doomed at all.” ―Locus
"Humor and rapier-sharp wit...a lively heroine, mysterious ghosts, and a complex and intricate plot." ―Publishers Weekly
“Highly recommended for all fantasy and general-fiction collections, as the potential readership is wide, from urban-fantasy readers looking for something lighter but still complex to young women who grew up reading the Princess Diaries series.” ―Booklist
“Sherwood Smith skillfully builds tension almost imperceptibly, and keeps the reader off balance and guessing until the final page.” ―Fresh Fiction
"From the very first page, I was swept into the story." —Night Owl Reviews
"Sherwood Smith is a world-building genius.... The detail didn’t just flesh out the world; it also made the characters and their motivations much more comprehensible." —Fantasy Works
