About the Book

Book: The Star-Blessed

Author: Angie Dickinson

Genre: YA Fantasy Retelling

Release Date: March 10, 2026

Three legendary origins of power. Two royal bloodlines. One deadly curse.

The kingdom of Stelauris is slowly dying. A season of poison infects the air, earth, and water with increasing deadliness each year, and a deep love of gold and power infects the failing mind of the king. His only daughter and first in line to the throne, Princess Seren, lives in tightly controlled isolation. When she is suddenly thrust into royal society, she struggles to hide the strain of untamed magic awakening in her blood.

Seren’s newly appointed personal guard, Sir Corin, resents the exile of his people. As heir to a long-banished line of succession and the last of the land’s legendary protectors, he holds no loyalty for the current royal family and their history of unhinged cruelty.

As death steals over the kingdom and the schemes at court grow deadlier, the princess and the guard are forced to face their fears, their troubled pasts, and the cost of personal freedom.

The Star-Blessed is a reimagining and reinventing of two fairy tales: “Rumpelstiltskin” and “Cat-Skin” by the Brothers Grimm.

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About the Author

Angie Dickinson is a lifelong lover of magical stories that point to truth, hope, and redemption. She is the author of Truth Cursed, a YA fantasy with Enclave Publishing. Angie especially loves to read and write historically inspired fantasy, mystery, and fairy tales. She enjoys Earl Grey tea, reading too late at night, and spending time with her husband and children at their home in the woods of Michigan.

More from Angie

If you’re like me, I suspect you can still remember the soft sounds and smells of the local or school library that you visited in childhood. You can probably remember the thrill of finding a book that you longed to spend time paging through in peace. For me, the greatest thrills came whenever I found a beautifully illustrated fairy tale. Fairy tale collections were always my favorite, and finding illustrated versions by talented artists made my heart sing.

Reading and re-reading fairy tales as a child eventually led to writing my own retelling as an adult. I began with an unusual tale that was very familiar to me via its illustrated retelling: “Cat-Skin” by the Brothers Grimm has been gorgeously retold (and mercifully sanitized) by Charlotte Huck, and illustrated by Anita Lobel. This picture book for children is titled Princess Furball, and is one of my old favorites that never left me. I chose this story and its original source for my retelling, lightening the darker original elements in my own way, but including the story beats, themes, and motifs that were so dear to me. I put my own twist on the tale, which surprisingly (even to me) included a subplot that was a retelling of its own: “Rumpelstiltskin.” I have loved many versions of this familiar story over the years, but my favorite is an illustrated retelling by Paul O. Zelinsky. I have read this one to my children countless times, and it has always set my mind whirring with the different ways that it could be told again.

For my retelling, I lovingly mined these two stories, “Cat-Skin” and “Rumpelstiltskin,” and worked them together into a foundation for a new fairy tale. The frame holds pieces of the old tales, but it’s wrapped up in something brand new. This is a story of a young woman and a young man whose paths cross and wend down a road marked by destiny, shadowed by grief, and lit by courage. Their story is a new fairy tale, reflected in gold and fortified by the faithful gleam of the stars.

Interview with the Author

Which character did you connect to best in this book?

I connected on different levels with both main POV characters, Seren and Corin, as well as with Estrid and Meline. It was important to me that those supporting characters should not be stereotypes, and I enjoyed infusing them with traits that I felt were relatable. I often felt connected to Corin’s frustration, anger, and searching for purpose, and I found him to be a joy to write. But the character I connected with the most was Seren. Her story is about earning courage to the point of sacrifice, and reflected the type of traits that I admire most.

Which part of the book was the most difficult to write?

This is a novel in three parts, and perhaps it’s cliché, but Part II gave me the most trouble! I knew how I wanted the story to begin, and I knew how I wanted it to end. I knew what kind of development I wanted my characters to undergo before arriving at Part III, but getting there was very tricky. When I know the end of the story, I tend to want to get to it and write it as soon as possible. But this story forced me to slow down and allow the necessary developments to unfold before I could write the satisfying pay-off.

What inspired this book?

A few years ago, I saw a writing prompt to write a short story inspired by the tale “Donkeyskin,” which had many folkloric variants such as “Cap o’ Rushes,” “Tattercoats,” and “Catskin.” This tale had been retold in several ways, and I saw this as my turn. I remembered the illustrated version that I had read as a child (Princess Furball) and how much I loved the detail of the rather absurd coat, the princess in disguise, and the dresses that shone like the sun, moon, and stars tucked away (somehow) into a nutshell. I wrote a short story, which expanded in my head to include the “Rumpelstiltskin” retelling that I had always wanted to write, and thus the idea for The Star-Blessed was born.

What is your favorite Bible verse or life verse?

Isaiah 40:31. But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. I was probably about ten years old when I first read that verse and it filled me with such a beautiful sense of hope and peace. Rather like what Lucy or Peter felt when they first heard the name of Aslan in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. I have leaned on that verse and its promises ever since.

Describe your view as you’re sitting in your writing chair.

My “office” is on the attic-level of our home, and I share the space with family bookshelves, homeschooling materials, and toys. On and around my desk I have notebooks, pens, and pencils, some artwork by my husband and myself, copious sticky notes, the ever-present cup of cooling Earl Grey tea, a child’s drawing, and some encouraging notes from my kids. Beyond my desk, I can see bookshelves and the wall that I’ve adorned with Narnia maps and a painting of a hippogriff that my husband made for me.