Welcome to Ivy's Author Newsletter!
Your place to connect with me and all of my creative pursuits
Hello and welcome to my very first newsletter as a romantasy author. For those of you new to me or Romantasy Realms, I’d like to introduce myself and share some very exciting news!
My full name is Ivy Charlotte Dally, but please just call me Ivy.
📖 I’m an author, public librarian, and certified book coach.
👨🏻👩🏻👧🏻👧🏻 I’ve been married for over 22 years to my amazing, loving, videogaming hubby. My eldest daughter has flown from the nest and I couldn’t be more proud of the adult she’s become. My youngest daughter is an amazing autism kid who has been the greatest teacher of my life. Our family wouldn’t be complete without our rescue mutt, Abby Mae, and our new puppy, Penelope, named after my favorite Bridgerton character.
😻I run a cat hospice from my house. When my local shelter calls to say they have a leukemia positive kitty, I take them in and let them live out their short but happy lives. While there are times it has taken a toll on my heart, the joy I get from inviting these little kitty angels into my life more than makes up for any sadness.
🍭 I LOVE CANDY.
🌷I recently moved to a 1/2 acre plot with built in garden beds. When I’m not writing, I am digging in the dirt. The house was built in 1948, but was remodeled with a number of elements salvaged from a 19th century church. I am working to turn it into the Grandma-Chic home of my dreams.
🐦I love to bird and take nature pics. Mountains make me weep at thier majesty.
🗣️For the entire year of second-grade, I had to sit in the corner of the coat closet because I talked too much. It did not cure me of the chatty gene.
And now, onto that exciting news!
Rowena’s Song will be Republished in Hardcover on April 24, 2025!
I am over the moon to be bringing Rowena back into the world with all romance scenes restored to their original glory. Here is the new blurb:
Her song is forbidden. But laws never bound her...
Denmark, 435 AD.
With the political destruction of her father Hengest — and the deaths of countless others — on her conscience, nineteen-year-old Rowena has hidden her magic for decades. Life as an unwed peace-weaver has since been uneventful, until a neighbouring tribe proposes a marital alliance, and Rowena’s powers overtake her attempts at silence.
On the run from her abhorrent bridegroom and the desperate power-grabs of her father, Rowena is soon tangled in the threads of a dangerous vendetta. And when she seeks the help of the Norns — the weavers of fate — she summons an evil force instead.
When two handsome soldiers from Briton cross her path with a bold request, the pull in Rowena’s heart feels like destiny...but magic has tricked her before. And as the song within her grows louder and more insistent, she must discover if it seeks to protect her homeland or destroy all she holds dear.
Rowena’s Song is the romantasy retelling of the legend of Hengest and Horsa from a female perspective. With lush imagery drawn from Beowulf, Gildas, and Norse myth, this lush story will transport you back to a reimangined European Dark Age where magic is real. Perfect for fans of the literary style of Rebecca Ross, the fairytale retellings of Naomi Novik, and the Norse-inspired setting of Danielle L. Jensen’s A Fate Inked in Blood.
Are you excited yet?
When I first published Rowena’s Song, I was not ready to have my acutal name on the cover of a romantasy book. This might seem odd to many of you considering the books I’ve reviewed at Romantasy Realms, but I truly did fear getting judgement from my family.
It’s taken me a long time to finally say, “Fuck it”. I will write what I want.
It also took me a long time to allow myself to invest in my writing. While I had gotten a development edit for the fantasy edition, I used ProWritingAid software in lieu of a human copy editor. That was the BIGGEST MISTAKE I’ve made in my author career, one I will never repeat.
My editor, Margaret Morris, has a talent with words that is unsurpassed. I hope she will edit anything and everything I publish from here on out. I had assumed she would just be looking at the grammar, but refined my word choices when they were clunky or telling rather than showing. She pointed out areas where I veered ever-so-slightly from the character’s arc of growth and gave hints for fixing it. My book went from good to the stuff of dreams.
As far a production goes on the book, I am in the last 1/3 of approving the copy edits and re-writing the few sentences here and there. As soon as that process is over, I will be laying out the book myself using software called Atticus.
Once that is done, I’ll be open to pre-orders!
If you would like to follow along on the journey from manuscript to published book and beyond, make sure you are subscribed to Ivy’s Author Newsletter, which is a section of Romantasy Realms on Substack.
Wish me luck! There is a LOT to finish up in the coming months.
This is so exciting, Ivy!!