Lauren Roberts to publish 'Powerless' novella 'Fearful': Cover reveal
Reader beware: This story includes spoilers for 'Fearless' by Lauren Roberts, the last novel in the romantasy 'Powerless' series.
Lauren Roberts, bestselling author of 'Powerless,' has something to get off her chest.
Her trilogy finale 'Fearless' came out in April, but she's not done just yet – Roberts will publish a new companion novella 'Fearful' Sept. 2, she shared exclusively with USA TODAY. We've also got a peek at the cover, chock-full of Easter eggs for fans.
The 'Powerless' series follows a forbidden romance between a prince and an ordinary girl who's been masquerading as someone far more powerful than she is. In the series finale, a character close to the heart of the series – Kitt – dies. 'Fearful' will hear from Kitt directly, as well as another new perspective, exploring Kitt's fear of dying and losing his loved ones.
New 'Powerless' novella 'Fearful' to publish in September
Anticipating readers can look to Roberts' last novella, 'Powerful,' as a guide. 'Fearful' should also be read either in tandem with or after its similar namesake novel, 'Fearless.' The idea is to answer burning questions from the novel through a new perspective.
Roberts, whose career took off on BookTok after sharing her work with readers, wants to bring fans (at least some of) those answers.
'I love having almost a face-to-face interaction with the readers and I can ask them, 'What do you want?'' Roberts says. 'It's really cool for them to actually tell me, 'We want to hear about Kitt' or 'We want to hear about this story' or 'What does this mean?' and getting to answer it for them. I think it's really beautiful to have that connection.'
Roberts has known she would write a 'Fearless' novella since she wrote 'Powerful' at the suggestion of her publisher, Simon & Schuster. The series has been wildly successful, with 'Fearless' setting a Simon & Schuster record for young adult fiction sales. The series' first novel was the most pre-ordered YA title in Simon & Schuster's history.
'When an author becomes this big, this fast, at such a young age, publishers often use words like 'extraordinary' and 'phenomenon' and 'blockbuster.' All of that is true for Lauren Roberts, but what matters most of all, and what is proven by the way her sales have been building through word of mouth, is that readers really love her books,' said Jonathan Karp, President and Chief Executive Officer of Simon & Schuster, in a statement.
See the cover of 'Powerless' novella 'Fearful'
Roberts knows her readers appreciate a well-curated bookshelf.
'Every time we make a cover, I'm like, OK, 'What are the girls saying?'' Roberts says, laughing.
The 'Fearful' cover flows seamlessly with the rest of the series' dark design but also incorporates a few Easter eggs hinting at past scenes in 'Fearless' and plot elements to come – a character's key that unlocks an old home, a burning ribbon as a callback to a scene between characters Paedyn and Blair.
'Fearful' will be the 'capstone' to 'Powerless' series but not the end of the world
'Fearful' will be the capstone to the 'Powerless' series, Roberts says. But she's got a lot more lore to the world she's built, teasing a spin-off series.
'(Fearful) really does conclude everything,' Roberts says, warning readers not to fret over unanswered questions. 'But there is more to tell within the world, and you can see in 'Fearless' that there's a new map and some new places. So there's definitely more to be said about the world. But as for these characters and this story, this is the conclusion as of right now.'
It's 'very bittersweet' for Roberts, who started writing the series at 18. She's now 22. She often gets asked whether she would go back and change parts of the series she wrote when she was just barely an adult. She says yes, but that only propels her to make each new book better.
'These books are a mosaic of who I was at each age,' Roberts says. 'It's really beautiful to look back and see myself grow. And so I'm excited to take what I've learned from this series and put it into something new.'
Amazon to produce new fantasy series 'Powerless'
Still, there's more news from the series to come – Prime Video is adapting 'Powerless' into a series from Will Gluck's Olive Bridge and Lyrical Media. Gluck's production company did the Sydney Sweeney romantic comedy 'Anyone But You' and is currently adapting 'Funny Story' by Emily Henry.
The first season of 'Powerless' will follow the first novel, Deadline originally reported.
Romantasy reigns on spicy BookTok: Best books from the internet's favorite genre
Clare Mulroy is USA TODAY's Books Reporter, where she covers buzzy releases, chats with authors and dives into the culture of reading. Find her on Instagram, subscribe to our weekly Books newsletter or tell her what you're reading at cmulroy@usatoday.com.
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