Her trilogy finale “Fearless” came out in April, but she’s not done just yet – Roberts will publish a new companion novella “Fearful” Sept. 2, she shared exclusively with USA TODAY. We’ve also got a peek at the cover, chock-full of Easter eggs for fans.
The “Powerless” series follows a forbidden romance between a prince and an ordinary girl who’s been masquerading as someone far more powerful than she is. In the series finale, a character close to the heart of the series – Kitt – dies. “Fearful” will hear from Kitt directly, as well as another new perspective, exploring Kitt’s fear of dying and losing his loved ones.
New ‘Powerless’ novella ‘Fearful’ to publish in September
Anticipating readers can look to Roberts’ last novella, “Powerful,” as a guide. “Fearful” should also be read either in tandem with or after its similar namesake novel, “Fearless.” The idea is to answer burning questions from the novel through a new perspective.
Roberts, whose career took off on BookTok after sharing her work with readers, wants to bring fans (at least some of) those answers.
“I love having almost a face-to-face interaction with the readers and I can ask them, ‘What do you want?’” Roberts says. “It’s really cool for them to actually tell me, ‘We want to hear about Kitt’ or ‘We want to hear about this story’ or ‘What does this mean?’ and getting to answer it for them. I think it’s really beautiful to have that connection.”
Roberts has known she would write a “Fearless” novella since she wrote “Powerful” at the suggestion of her publisher, Simon & Schuster. The series has been wildly successful, with “Fearless” setting a Simon & Schuster record for young adult fiction sales. The series’ first novel was the most pre-ordered YA title in Simon & Schuster’s history.
“When an author becomes this big, this fast, at such a young age, publishers often use words like ‘extraordinary’ and ‘phenomenon’ and ‘blockbuster.’ All of that is true for Lauren Roberts, but what matters most of all, and what is proven by the way her sales have been building through word of mouth, is that readers really love her books,” said Jonathan Karp, President and Chief Executive Officer of Simon & Schuster, in a statement.