Blog Tour: Mysteries of Thorn Manor by Margaret Rogerson (Interview!)

Happy Sunday and welcome to my stop on the blog tour for MYSTERIES OF THORN MANOR! I’m so excited because today I have an interview with Margaret Rogerson to share with you! This book is truly amazing and I’m so excited to for you to find out more about it!

Mysteries of Thorn Manor by Margaret Rogerson
Series: Sorcery of Thorns 1.5
Published on January 17, 2023 by Margaret K. McElderry Books
Genres: Fantasy, Romance, YA
Pages: 192
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Author Links: Website, Twitter, Goodreads, Instagram, Tumblr

In this delightful sequel novella to the New York Times bestselling Sorcery of Thorns, Elisabeth, Nathaniel, and Silas must unravel the magical trap keeping them inside Thorn Manor in time for their Midwinter Ball!
Elisabeth Scrivener is finally settling into her new life with sorcerer Nathaniel Thorn. Now that their demon companion Silas has returned, so has scrutiny from nosy reporters hungry for gossip about the city's most powerful sorcerer and the librarian who stole his heart. But something strange is afoot at Thorn Manor: the estate's wards, which are meant to keep their home safe, are acting up and forcibly trapping the Manor's occupants inside. Surely it must be a coincidence that this happened just as Nathaniel and Elisabeth started getting closer to one another...
With no access to the outside world, Elisabeth, Nathaniel, and Silas - along with their new maid Mercy - will have to work together to discover the source of the magic behind the malfunctioning wards before they're due to host the city's Midwinter Ball. Not an easy task when the house is filled with unexpected secrets, and all Elisabeth can think about is kissing Nathaniel in peace. But when it becomes clear that the house, influenced by the magic of Nathaniel's ancestors, requires a price for its obedience, Elisabeth and Nathaniel will have to lean on their connection like never before to set things right.

What would you do if you spent the day with Elisabeth, Nathaniel, and Silas? Where would you go to eat, hang out, relax, etc.?

Oh,I would love to go to the art museum with them. I can see it now. Elisabeth would become single-mindedly fixated on the suits of armor and swords in the medieval costuming exhibit. She would press her face against the glass like a starving child at a pastry shop, thinking feverish thoughts about the broadswords. Nathaniel would take photos of her to post on Instagram, one of his favorite pastimes, as he loves to brag about his tall, hot girlfriend and her alarming proficiency with sharp objects. (She wouldn’t notice; she doesn’t use Instagram.) Then he would catch sight of a nude statue and pose with it seductively, also for Instagram. Meanwhile Silas, who has a true appreciation for fine art, would be doing his very best to ignore them both. In fact, he would probably wander off on his own to enjoy some nice Rembrandt so he can be far away when they inevitably get escorted out by the security guards.

If Elisabeth, Nathaniel, and Silas were to hang out with other fictional characters, who would they be and why?

I love this question!

Elisabeth would like to spend time with butt-kicking, resolute heroines like Garth Nix’s Sabriel, Lyra from His Dark Materials, Vasya from the Winternight Trilogy, and Brienne of Tarth.

Nathaniel would enjoy discussing magical theory with Wizard Howl and Jonathan Strange, but only for a short time, as they would all get into a raging argument and accidentally transfigure a government building into a grapefruit.

Lastly, Silas would love to hang out with Benoit Blanc. They share weirdly specific interests, including fashion and enabling chaotic young women to tear down corrupt systems. They would have a fantastic time at a coffee shop, carrying on an engaging conversation as Nathaniel’s fireballs whizzed past the windows outside.

If there was one fictional place you could travel to for a day, where would it be and why?

I would travel to Lyra’s Oxford from His Dark Materials, because I would love to find out what my daemon is. My prediction is that it would be an aye-aye.

If you buried a time capsule with three items inside, what three items would you choose and why?

I would include my favorite ever edition of Sorcery of Thorns—a grimoire bound in real leather that a friend of mine made for me by hand. She learned bookbinding from scratch to make it, and it’s a true masterpiece. If my house caught fire, it’s the first non-living object I would rescue.

Secondly I would include a copy of All Systems Red by Martha Wells, because I recommend it to everyone, and there might be sentient robots in the future who would enjoy reading it too.

Lastly I would include a cool rock I found on the beach. It amuses me to think of future scientists analyzing it for its potential importance to human civilization, when it’s really just a rock that I thought was neat.

What was your favorite bit of research you ended up not using?

Ooh… this is a tricky one because I do plan on using all my favorite bits of research at some point eventually, even if they didn’t fit into Sorcery of Thorns or Mysteries of Thorn Manor, and I don’t want to spoil readers in advance. How about this—a piece of research I ended up not using in Sorcery, but got to include in Mysteries? If I can cheat and answer your question that way, the accident in which Nathaniel’s mother and brother died is based on a real incident that happened in Victorian London, and I go into a lot more detail about it in Mysteries of Thorn Manor. (In Sorcery, their exact cause of death was never explained.)

What is your favorite quote, scene, or moment from Mysteries of Thorn Manor?

This is a minor spoiler, but I love the scene in which View Spoiler »Silas reveals Thorn Manor’s hidden ballroom to Elisabeth and teaches her how to dance. « Hide SpoilerI love how layered it is emotionally. There’s the physical dance happening between them, and then there’s the emotional dance, which is a delicate balance of humor, tenderness, and pathos. Their relationship with each other is a joy to write.

Thank you for hosting me, Kaity! Your questions were so much fun to answer.

What do you think about Mysteries of Thorn Manor? Have you added it to your tbr yet? Let me know in the comments and have a splendiferous day!