Tavern Tale
by Kristina W. Kelly
Released: Jan 07, 2025
Genre: Fantasy Romance
Why this book and why now?
Tavern Tale is inspired by RPGs and how I love to do side quests before the main quest. I got inspired by the concept of a classic start of a quest – a character sits in a tavern and the worker leans in to tell them about something they need help with. I decided I wanted to write a story set in autumn as I hadn’t really done that before, and I was loving the cozy vibes of stories like Legends and Lattes. So I wrote what was going to be a short story that evolved into the book, Tavern Tale. It has a lot of little easter eggs from the games I love, including a TTRPG type card game that some of the characters play during the story.
Do your character names have special significance or meaning?
Divine’s birth name is something only her family knows, and she hasn’t gone by it for some time. She chose her name and it connects to one of the themes of the book which is magic from deities. Trelvania, the world of Tavern Tale, has a plethora of gods and goddesses. The main love interest is Saph and her name started off as a nod to “sapphic” and her tavern is called the Sultry Sapphire!
What’s your main character(s)’s favorite book and why?
Divine loves the bestiary from her temple, the Goddess of Souls. It’s full of information about all of the creatures of the world and it’s paired with interesting morality lessons. Think Aesop’s fables surrounded by migratory charts of birds. Divine loves nature and since a young age felt drawn to the book. She nearly memorized it and loves the purple and gold cover. The knowledge within has come in handy on many occasions.
One of your main characters is planning a romantic night. Tell us about it.
Divine would take Saph on a picnic near a waterfall. Saph loves adventures and surprises, but doesn’t like going on long travels so having something within a short distance would be perfect. Divine would lead them and refuse to tell Saph their end destination, which Saph would love while guessing the whole time. Saph usually cooks, being a tavern owner and everything, so Divine would have made little snacks for them and probably singe the quiche bites a bit. They’d watch the last rays of the sun light the waterfall before plunging everything into beautiful darkness under the light of the moon. The last time they ate near a body of water things heated up but then…got a little complicated. This time, Divine would make sure everything was perfect.
Publishing a book is a huge accomplishment and it’s time to party! Choose a celebratory beverage for one of your main characters to toast the release of your new book.
Divine would drink tarrow root beer. It’s like our root beer but a little frothier and lighter, like cream soda took a swim in the bottle for a minute. It’s non-alcoholic because, as Divine would say, she’d rather her brain not get addled as she’s experiencing everything around her. And she likes the sweet taste.
