EXCLUSIVE COVER REVEAL of Maddie Rose Andry’s MORTAL END

Why a Cherry Blossom Tree?

By Maddie Rose Andry, author of Mortal End

What does a cherry blossom tree have to do with vampires you ask?

Back in 2008 the moment I glimpsed the arthritic and ancient cherry tree at the Owen Rose Garden in Eugene Oregon something in my heart cracked.

With each step I took, I was filled with so many overwhelming and conflicting emotions. The tree was beautiful and painful to look at; just like life can be at times.

Seeing the stilts and wires holding the tree together reminded me of all the times we as humans sweep the pain under the rug just to get through the day. We put that smile on our face and say “I’m fine” when our hearts know it’s a complete lie. Here this tree is marked fragile, and wears its pain and scars for all the world to see, and still it was world-shatteringly beautiful. AND I was like—damn so are we—in all of our brokenness.

That’s when I dropped to the ground ripped out my notebook and wrote the scene where Phenice loses her human life and begins the transformation into an immortal.

I channeled every bit of pain and beauty I felt from that tree, and in my heart, as the tears fell down my face and landed on the pages of my notebook. My heart bleed for that tree, for Phenice, for myself, and for anyone else who tried to hide their “scars” because they believed those scars made them ugly.

In Japan the cherry blossom tree symbolizes life and death—beauty and violence. In that moment I felt it—I understood it. We are all those things and all at the same time.

Every time something pushes us to grow, a part of us dies so we may be reborn—there is beauty and violence in that growth and death, and yet it is the dance and the fight we balance everyday as we choose to explore our human journey.

So many years ago I set out to write a vampire novel because I love gothic literature—then a tree changed everything. I still wrote about vampires but from a much more emotional place thanks to the strength and grace of one cherry blossom tree. 

 

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About the Author:

Maddie Rose Andry is a licensed nurse in private practice as a certified relationship and trauma specialist. 

Mortal End: An Opera of Cursed and Fated Vampires is her debut novel. 

Maddie is the founder of Gothic Medicine where she merges her two worlds—her therapeutic knowledge and the power of fiction. Healing can happen through storytelling, which was an original purpose of classic gothic literature. Our realities are shaped by the stories we hear and tell ourselves; reading increases our empathy and compassion for ourselves and others. 

Through her fiction, Maddie encourages readers to connect with themselves as they embark on otherworldly journeys that reflect real-life traumas, obstacles, and explore how to overcome, heal, and thrive. 

Maddie is a wife and a mother to two daughters and three stepsons, two goldendoodles, and two Maine Coon Cats. 

She resides in beautiful Bloomington, Indiana. She loves books, tea, yoga, and everything cozy. 

​MORTAL END: AN OPERA OF CURSED AND FATED VAMPIRES

What if vampires had a soul? 

In this fantasy romance where the passion of Romeo and Juliet meets the sacrifice of Braveheart, every night, Dr. Phenice Jones is terrorized by the bloody nightmares of a cursed Egyptian Queen who begins to haunt her waking hours. Slowly her carefully crafted life begins to crumble as her long forgotten heartbreak resurfaces and a forbidden attraction for a dark but captivating patient threatens her career as a psychiatrist. 

Her life capsizes when a late-night run collides with a group of supernatural hunters. Believing she survives a murder attempt, her fate unfolds as she descends into the ancient transformation process from mortal to vampire. Phenice’s past human incarnations merge into her now immortal body, filling her with life-altering supernatural powers. 

With the memories of her soul intact, Phenice must deal with her past, for the ritual made two things clear: First, she has been chosen to break a curse—an ancient and apocalyptic mistake made by The Divine Powers; second, she rediscovers the other half of her soul—her fated mate.  

To save her immortal life, Phenice will have to overcome her pain and find a way to open her heart. But in a world full of vampires, demons, gods, and goddesses, even an immortal life is a fragile thing . . . and if Phenice isn’t careful, it won’t be the only thing she loses.

Coming February 2025

 

Tags: featured, women writers

Category: On Writing