Episode Details
Back to Episodes
S.2 Ep. 93: Beauty, Beasts, and Bewitching Bonds: Elizabeth Helen on Beasts of the Briar
Description
🎙️ Welcome back to The Mythic Mic Podcast, where enchanted rosebushes lead to other realms, cursed princes come in groups of four, and sometimes the villain wants to join the love story too.
This week, host Sara Santillan and Mythic Mic rep Teresa Diaz sit down with sister writing duo Elizabeth Helen to discuss their bestselling fantasy romance series, Beasts of the Briar.
Elizabeth and Helen share their journey from aspiring teenage authors and early traditional publishing attempts to building a devoted indie readership and becoming successful hybrid authors. They reveal how writing a why-choose Beauty and the Beast retelling purely for fun changed their careers, and why embracing their humor, passions, and strangest ideas helped the series connect with so many readers.
We also dive into the world of Beasts of the Briar, where bookstore employee Rosalina O’Connell travels through an enchanted rosebush and becomes trapped with four cursed Fae princes. The sisters discuss creating a relatable heroine, balancing multiple romances and character arcs, and adding unexpected twists to beloved tropes, including “who did this to you?” times four, one-horse and one-bath scenes, and boyfriends who may also fall for each other.
Elizabeth Helen also takes us inside the darkness awaiting readers in Stolen by Shadows, teases the emotional seventh and final book, and introduces Her Dark Empire, their upcoming epic romantasy inspired by Dune and Revenge of the Sith, featuring rival chosen ones, living storms, and a princess who might actually agree to join the dark side.
🌹 What happens when the woman searching for four princes’ fated mates begins falling for them herself?
👑 Can a villain consumed by darkness still become part of the family he desperately wants?
🖤 And why choose one Fae prince when an entire enchanted court is waiting?
This is a must-listen for why-choose romance readers, Beauty and the Beast fans, lovers of sprawling fantasy series, and anyone who believes epic fantasy could always use more kissing.
🔥 IN THIS EPISODE, WE TALK ABOUT:
✨ Elizabeth and Helen’s twelve-year journey through traditional, indie, and hybrid publishing.
✨ Writing books as sisters and maintaining one cohesive storytelling voice.
✨ How Dungeons & Dragons influenced their characters, villains, and collaborative process.
✨ Why writing Beasts of the Briar without expectations helped the series find its audience.
✨ Creating Rosalina as a relatable heroine rather than a traditional fantasy warrior.
✨ Four cursed Fae princes, six magical realms, and a seven-book romance.
✨ Why-choose relationships, MM romance, and the many dynamics within the central group.
✨ Putting unexpected twists on popular tropes.
✨ The surprisingly complicated logistics of writing multi-character spicy scenes.
✨ Their best advice for aspiring authors: be too stubborn to quit.
✨ What awaits Rosalina, Caspian, and the princes in Stolen by Shadows.
✨ The emotions and fairytale inspiration behind the seventh and final book.
✨ Her Dark Empire, fallen chosen ones, living storms, and joining the dark side.
✨ Favorite princes, fairytales they want to retell, current reads, and rapid-fire chaos.
CONNECT WITH US
🎙️ The Mythic Mic Podcast – @MythicMic
👤 Bethany Amanda – @BethanyinFantasyland
👤 Sara Santillan – @the_magical_quill
📚Elizabeth Helen – @Author.Elizabeth.Helen
✨ If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review. It helps more fantasy readers and aspiring authors find their way to The Mythic Mic.