Spotlight & Giveaway: The Younger Gods by Katie Shepard

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Katie Shepard to HJ!

Hi Katie and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, The Younger Gods!

Please summarize the book for the readers here:

An Orpheus & Eurydice-inspired romantasy where a rebel priestess sails to the Underworld to rescue the man she was going to marry, only to discover that he wasn’t who she thought he was—and he doesn’t remember her at all.
 

Please share your favorite line(s) or quote from this book:

“I’ll love you till the stars fall out of the sky.”

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

• There is a goddess who appears as a bird—any kind of bird. Nine separate birds over the course of the book, from hummingbird to ostrich. I had a “bird facts” folder with nothing but bird pictures as inspiration.
• I had three different versions of ‘Never Tear Us Apart’ on the writing playlist and two of ‘Dancing in the Dark.’
• I re-read all of D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths for the first time since I was a kid and still loved every page of it! Those beautiful drawings!
• The main character plays the kithara, an ancient instrument that’s like a more complex lyre, and if you look up videos of it you’ll discover that it’s astonishingly beautiful and unlike anything you’ve ever heard.

What first attracts your Hero to the Heroine and vice versa?

The book starts in the middle of the action, at the end of a war, when they’ve been betrothed for two years and are about to get married, but initially he was attracted to her beautiful singing voice and she was attracted to his compassion in caring for wounded soldiers.

Did any scene have you blushing, crying or laughing while writing it? And Why?

There’s a scene where the main characters are getting dressed up to go to a banquet, and it was so fun to write because the heroine has been going ‘Taran, the war! What are we going to do about the war?!’ for the past chapter, only to suddenly realize that his mind has been entirely focused on getting her into this scandalously transparent dress.

Quote:

“He used to tell me I was beautiful. Not from the beginning. Later. After he’d already told me I was brave and clever and good. After I’d promised to marry him and after he’d promised to love me past the end of the world. You’re beautiful because I love you was what I’d heard.

His hands had never touched the places his eyes brushed now, but my body tingled just the same.”

Readers should read this book….

If they were mythology nerds and they like a lot of danger with their romance.
 

What are you currently working on? What other releases do you have in the works?

The Younger Gods is January 13, 2026, and the sequel (whose title is a mild spoiler) is out in December 2026. I’m currently drafting an unannounced book that involves necromancy and fancy wigs.
 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: 1 print copy of THE YOUNGER GODS, US only

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: Would your favorite romance pairing still fall in love if they met under completely different circumstances?

 
 
Book Info:

Danger looms when a former priestess sails to the realm of the dead to find her fallen lover, only to discover the gods she thought she defeated are preparing for war.

Iona Night-Singer thought she’d overthrown the gods. Her mortal rebellion eked out a painful victory by using the gods’ own powers against them—though she lost her betrothed, Taran, in a final battle with the god of death. Months later, the war doesn’t feel over. Not with Taran gone. Especially not when the gods still answer the prayers she sings.

Angry, grieving, and with a gnawing dread that the gods will return, Iona strikes a deal with her former patron goddess: if Iona can convince Taran to follow her home from the Underworld, he’ll be free to live again. If she fails, they’ll both be trapped there forever.

No sooner does she find him, she makes a horrible discovery. The dead gods have been reborn, they are plotting revenge—and Taran, it seems, was always one of them. This reincarnated trickster god with Taran’s face no longer remembers her or the war they fought together, and she doubts not just his loyalties but his love.

Determined to stop the next war without revealing her part in the last one, Iona enters her deadliest battle yet, one where she fights to bring Taran home without him even knowing it.
Book Links: Amazon | B&N |
 
 

Meet the Author:

Katie Shepard is, in no particular order, a fangirl, a gamer, a bankruptcy lawyer, and a romance author. Born and raised in Texas, she frequently escapes to Montana to commune with the trees and woodland creatures, resembling a Disney princess in all ways except age, appearance, and musical ability. When not writing or making white-collar criminals cry at their depositions, she enjoys playing video games in her soft pants and watching sci-fi shows with her husband, two children, and very devoted cat.