Angelique Iles 2.0
Angelique Iles is from Ottawa, Canada. She works in an animal rescue shelter, enjoys gardening, and loves to read. Her love of nature and animals is on full display in her work, her writing often weaving her knowledge of plants into the tapestry of the setting.
In book one, Kentree’s Stolen Souls, twenty-eight-year-old Eliza Paladin discovers she’s a witch with the power to manipulate the elements. She and her talking cat, Pal, are invited to study witchcraft at Kentree Institute of Magic. As exciting as that is, Eliza struggles to master her studies, while a dark force threatens to take away the very magic which has given her life meaning. As she moves into her second year in book two, Kentree’s Haunted Halls, Eliza must discover what the witching world has been hiding. How does Eliza begin her third year at Kentree, in Kentree’s Wicked Witch?
Kentree’s Wicked Witch picks up exactly where Kentree’s Haunted Halls left off. Eliza’s explosive outburst has put the entire witching community at risk, threatening to expose them, and has resulted in her losing the home she fought so hard to build.
When she meets a coven of hopeful witches, Eliza makes the rash decision to recruit them; risking her place at Kentree Institute of Magic in favour of her pursuit of ambition.
Photo Credit Kentree's Stolen Souls Image - Susan, @ravenbooklover on Instagram.
The first two novels in the Kentree debut series, Kentree's Stolen Souls and Kentree's Haunted Halls are a must-read for anyone who loves Harry Potter and is craving more magic in their life. Will returning students in Kentree’s Wicked Witch learn and master greater spells and magic?
Third year at Kentree is a time when students reach mastery of certain magic, depending on the courses they are enrolled in. While students enrolled in Vibrational Resonance are learning to set bones with bells, and Necromancy students are learning to animate corpses, Eliza is faced with the challenge of learning to teleport, and to transform herself into an animal. Nothing worth having is easily gained, and Eliza discovers this every time she is faced with a new skill to master.
Photo Credit - Susan, @ravenbooklover on Instagram.
You use your love of nature, animals, and plants to weave a fast-paced fantasy tale of magic, witches, and the elements. I’m impressed with your writing style that gets to the point straight away. Kentree’s Wicked Witch begins with an inciting incident right out of the gate. Eliza finds herself faced with a deeply upsetting conflict at home with a crotchety old neighbor. This incident propels the plot forward. Was this something you mapped out ahead of time or did you just let loose, start writing, and see where the story took you?
We are all very good at noticing when a sequel is not consistent with the first, and from the outset I wanted the trilogy to flow together seamlessly. It was important that Eliza’s arch be decided from the beginning. That said, the details of exactly what triggers would have her reach certain milestones were never set in stone. Before writing this book, I had to ask myself what would push Eliza to where I needed her to go. A singular enemy? Would she butt heads with Kentree’s principal? When I looked at the way Haunted Halls ended it struck me that she had already chosen her fight; Witch Hunters would take her where she was always meant to be.
Your first two books had some interesting characters like the faery Faye and Mashu from the bigfoot tribe. What new characters can readers look forward to in Kentree’s Wicked Witch? Please share a few and tell us about them.
My favourite new characters are the mother-daughter duo, Robyn and Imogen. Robyn is a coven-leader based on several women in my life who have an inherent charisma they use to draw other women to them. Imogen is eight years old, she provides us a little relief after the book begins with such heightened emotions. She has a fluffle of rabbits, and thunders in and out whenever it suits her.
Eliza’s talking cat, Pal, is the voice of reason in books 1 and 2. Does Pal continue to dish out advice and be Eliza’s rock and sounding board in book 3? Does he have an expanded role in her life?
Pal is almost like Eliza’s conscience, the angel on her shoulder. Always a cat, he’ll be making biscuits and dishing out great advice at the same time. His role is crucial in the final chapter of the book, though if I say more I would spoil the ending.
There’s a bit of promising romance between Eliza and Professor Kent with an enemies to prospective-love-interest vibe in books 1 and 2. Without giving too much away, what can readers expect from this relationship in Kentree’s Wicked Witch?
Eliza and Kent’s rivalry in book one was never meant to become as big as it has! The undercurrent of attraction was only meant to distract Eliza enough not to dismiss Kent and his bigotry altogether. I liked having him around, and if he was too repulsive Eliza would have brushed him off immediately.
Never did I imagine how much readers would love to hate Kent, and so many of the reviews of Kentree’s Stolen Souls mention him specifically! No one ever mentions Mashu!
At it’s core, this trilogy is about the question: what is good and what is evil? Kent has always been there to raise the question in readers “Who is evil, the person who says evil but does none, or the person who says good but does evil?”
Kentliza shippers might have something to celebrate at the end of this one (shh).
Debut authors often struggle with how to reach an audience and get their book noticed. You decided to take the indie route to publish your trilogy. Are you happy with your choice? Have you found an audience and success?
If you are applying for a literary agent and have no following, no previous works, nothing, you’re more likely to be ignored than signed. If I had tried to go traditional instead of self-publishing, I doubt I would ever have finished the trilogy.
It’s been just under two years since I published Kentree’s Stolen Souls, and when I do book signings now, I am always greeted by at least a few people who rush up to tell me they read the book, loved the book, just bought the book, or were gifted the book. A few Indigo/Chapters locations (the big bookstore chain in Canada) have even added my books to their Staff Picks wall! That’s amazing! And when Kentree’s Wicked Witch was published on October 24, 2024, I was surprised at the number of pre-orders I received! I’m not going to pretend it was in the hundreds, but it means my book and its content resonated with people and reached its target. To me, that makes my trilogy successful.
Did you experience any struggles while writing and publishing your trilogy? What did you learn while writing each book that made things easier?
Honestly, I wish I had hired someone to design a nicer cover from the first. I lacked confidence and was afraid of investing in a project that might be a total failure. As the reviews rolled in and more and more people were reaching out to tell me they enjoyed the book, I became more comfortable investing a larger amount of money into the series.
The writing process becomes easier with practice. My advice: get the first draft done as quickly as possible, cover the main plot points, and get to the second draft. It’s easier to fill in the blanks between scenes than it is to write perfectly from the first.
Adding a chapter at the end of Kentree’s Wicked Witch that was the original chapter you drafted when you sat down to write the first in the Kentree trilogy, Kentree's Stolen Souls is something I’ve never seen an author do. I think it made for a unique and interesting addition. What prompted you to include this?
There is a special sort of melancholy that comes when you finish reading a book you’ve been enjoying. You’re not ready to put it down, and reaching the end always feels a little too abrupt. That chapter is meant to ease the pain of saying goodbye, and it might subtly invite readers to start back at the beginning again. You’re always welcome to escape back to Kentree whenever you need it.
Whether to include a prologue or epilogue in a book is something authors often mull over. To help aspiring authors with this dilemma, please explain your reason for including an epilogue in Kentree’s Wicked Witch and why you chose to write it from the point of view of Avery, a minor character in the story?
Marvel movies mastered the end-of-credits scenes with hints of potential future story lines. Avery’s part in Wicked Witch makes for an interesting back door into another series. Hopefully readers will remember those few paragraphs a few months down the line and check in to see if A. Iles is publishing something new!
You set an ambitious goal to create a magical trilogy and met that goal which is quite an impressive accomplishment. What’s next for you? Will you begin a completely new series or write something in a different genre?
I’m a fantasy-lover to my core, so while I start a new series you can be sure there will be magic. This time, I will make the effort to go down the traditional publishing route. Armed with my sales numbers, enthusiastic fans, and a confidence earned by going through the publishing process on my own, I hope I can break into that competitive space. In the meantime, I am planning to spend a year touring with my trilogy, traveling farther afield to spread the world of Kentree!
To learn more about Angelique Iles or to purchase her books click the links below:
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