Love and Memory Release – Interview with Kendra E. Ardnek

It is here! Love and Memory, book three of the amazing Rizkaland Legends. this book has been a long time in coming and I’m just so excited. The book will be released on Thursday, though I’ve heard there’s been some Amazon Shenanigans that might mess that up. It’s still gonna come though and later in the week I will have a a review for you all. For now I have an interview with the author herself.

Kendra E. Ardnek is the self-proclaimed Arista of Fairy Tales. She lives in the Piney Woods of East Texas with her dragon babies and massive herd of mini-giraffes, and she is still waiting for one of her fifty nutcrackers to come to life and marry her. When not writing, you can usually find her sitting in a random box, and she’s frequently known to act before she thinks.

Hello Kendra. Welcome. How are you today?

(So I didn’t actually ask Kendra that question and don’t have her answer, but I imagine she’s pretty excited and tired. Bringing books into the world is a lot of work and now I’m making them sound like babies which is slightly weird.)


What’s your favourite procrastination method?

All of them? Reading and video games are my “active” preference, though I also easily fall down the YouTube rabbit hole. 

YouTube isn’t exactly a rabbit hole, it’s multiple interconnected rabbit warren with a couple of wombat holes in the mix as well. So, yes.

Did you listen to music while writing Love and Memory? If so, what kind of music? Do you have a playlist, or some specific songs that were part of the inspiration?

I have a spotifiy playlist for the series? It’s not really something I listen to while writing (I’m actually more likely to put Gordan Ramsey or a Star Trek episode on in the background), but there are songs on there that are specific to this book. 

If someone who hasn’t read any of your books before, where might be a good starting point?

Honestly, any book 1 or standalone is good. Most have some flaw or another, but each has its own charm. Sew, it’s a Quest was my debut and was meant for a preteen audience, though very rough and I later wrote Honor: A Quest In to be an acceptable starting place if you’d like to jump straight in to where the series gets “good”. (That series being the Bookania Quests.) The Worth of a King and Water Princess, Fire Prince are both good entry points for that multiverse (Rizkaland/The Lauraverse), because yes, it’s the same world. Worth possibly has the strongest cliffhanger I’ve ever put in a book – but it was actually built to lead into the Rizkaland Legends rather than its own sequels. 

Having read The Worth of a King, I can say that the book wraps up neatly and then has the cliffhanger. It’s nice really. I’ve read some trilogies with huge cliffhangers in between and the wait is unbearable enough that I just stop caring. I’ve rather be eager for the next book than anxious and your books do that.

Why did you want to write this book? I’ve heard something about a friend demanding more of characters, but beyond that what about the book motivated you?

This was actually a plotline that I had toyed with for #5 of the series, but I ultimately dismissed it in favor of … something else. I’m dancing around spoilers, but I find amnesia plotlines fascinating, and I’ve wanted to play with it with this character for a long time. Honestly, if I hadn’t pulled it out to be the plotline of this book, I was going to incorporate it into the fourth book of the series. 

Nice to know this was unavoidable. 🙂

You’ve got a crazy number of main characters converging in this book? How did you figure out a story that you could actually put them all into?

It’s more accurate to say that I brought in a plot and then everyone else showed up and demanded I tell their story. I mean, the main plot boils down to “everyone re-adjusts to being back home” and … well, there’s a lot of “everyone.” Just … one person (not naming names), went a bit too far and dragged them all back to Rizkaland for another (“shorter”) adventure.

And that’s just what you need when you’re trying to re-adjust. (It probably is for closure and catharsis reasons.)

Are the future Rizkaland books going to this level of heartrending?

Maybe? Some more than others? Like, I know the final book of the series is going to hit hard in the feels, because … reasons. But then there’s … yeah. This is my feelz(TM) series, and that’s honestly why it’s slower to release than some my other books. They take a ton out of me.

I’m not sure I could cope if I had them all to read in one go for that very reason. And yes, those reasons regarding the last book. i know what you mean.

What’s a favourite random scene or line that you love from Love and Memory?

“Reuben was insufferable.”
This was the halfway point of the book, and lemme just say, this chapter was INTENSE. I can’t really say what happened in it, because spoilers, but it involved a confrontation between the amnesiac and their spouse and … was definitely the reason I wrote the book. These poor characters….

Those poor characters… Reuben, I wouldn’t call him insufferable, but he can be a bit much at times. For me at least.

You write some really thick books and also some pretty thin books. Do you prefer one or find one kind easier? 

Longer books take longer to write, but they also give me more space to fall in love with the characters understand them as people. So, really, it’s a toss-up? Depends mostly on my mood. 

Both, both is good.

What was a good book you read this year? I’d say favourite, but I know how hard picking favourites is.

I have somehow already read over fifty books this year. So, um … I’m going to sidestep and instead shout out the series that I’ve been binging – Melanie Cellier’s Four Kingdom Books. I just started the last book of the second series, and I am loving this world and what the author does with fairy tales. I don’t think any of them individually top any of my favorite retelling lists, and there have been a few that greatly underwhelmed me, but they’re warm and cozy with True Love, a bit of magic, and awesome heroines who save the day. 

I have also read at least that many, I think, Kindle Unlimited… But I wasn’t writing a book, so it’s not entirely crazy? Melanie Cellier’s Four Kingdoms (and beyond and returning) books are good. I especially love her Sleeping Beauty story.


What else are you writing now, or what are you going to be working on next?

Don’t mind me, I’ll just be diving head-first into Snow White and Rose Red with a dash of Austen

I am looking forward to that. I’ve been in an Austen mood lately and well fairytales, what can I say? I like them.

Thank you Kendra, for all your answers. It was so good to have you here.

About Love and Memory

When a Queen forgets, 
Her enemies rejoice in her weakness. 
But when the Queen remembers, 
They tremble in fear. 

When a King loves, 
His country rejoices with him. 
But when that love is broken.  
The land is broken, too. 

Can Water and Fire join again? 

Can Love and Memory be restored? 

They spent years in Rizkaland. They ruled the land, forged friendships, built families, and made it their home. But then it was time to return to Earth, and their former lives just don’t fit anymore. Clara and Andrew struggle to reevaluate their priorities when hundreds of miles separate them. Reuben and Petra are lost as they seek a balance between their old friendship and their Rizkan marriage. And Ashna and Noraeto never planned to return, so what life is there for them on Earth?  

When the unthinkable happens and a new enemy arises, they’re all thrown back into Rizkaland, into a young prince’s rise to power and struggle to build alliances for his kingdom. But they no longer belong in their other world, either. 

Are good memories too much to bear? 

Available now on Amazon, including through Kindle Unlimited!

Add it on Goodreads.

Kendra is running a paperback giveaway for anyone who buys the ebook this week. Click over to her blog to find out the details.

If you need to catch up, here’s books 1 and 2.

Water Princess, Fire Prince (The Rizkaland Legends Book 1)

Lady Dragon, Tela Du (The Rizkaland Legends Book 2)

You can find Kendra E. Ardnek on all these places on the internet.

 Website || Blog || Goodreads || Facebook 
Twitter || YouTube || Newsletter
 Instagram || TikTok || Amazon 

Tour Schedule: 

April 19th â€“ Monday 
Knitted By God’s Plan: A Post of Tantalizing Snippets 
Fantastical Notions: Interview – Kendra 
Resting Life: Review 

April 20th â€“ Tuesday 
Knitted By God’s Plan: 12 POV’s and How I Managed 
Madi’s Musings: Interview – Petra 
Katherine A. Massengill: Review 
 

April 21st â€“ Wednesday 
Knitted By God’s Plan: Every Reason You Need to Read LaM 
Madi’s Musings: Interview â€“ Kendra 
Live. Love. Read: Review 
Safe Return Doubtful: Portal Fantasy and the Doorkeeper 

April 22nd â€“ Thursday *Release Date* 
Knitted By God’s Plan: IT’S HERE, GUYS! 
Lands Uncharted: Interview – Kendra 
Fantastical Notions: Review 
Rachel Rossano’s Words: Motherhood in Fiction 

April 23rd â€“ Friday  
Knitted By God’s Plan: Book 4 Title Announcement 
Dreams & Dragons: Interview – Kendra 
A. R. Silverberry: Interview – Andrew 
Light & Shadows: Review 

April 24th â€“ Saturday 
Knitted By God’s Plan: Next on the Horizon 
Dreams & Dragons: Interview – Sorei 
Katherine A. Massengill: Interview – Kendra 
Madi’s Musings: Review 

3 Comments

  1. Sarah

    I am terrified for the final book in this series. xD Great interview!

    • Brielle Andela

      Worrying about the ending stops me from being too impatient for the next book. I want more, but I don’t want it to be over.

      • Kendra E. Ardnek

        *glances at all of the books I have planned in the expanded universe* It’ll never be over.

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