Valerie - Welcome to Bookworthy. Today we're talking with author Candice Yemnitz. Candice was with us back in season one about her early reader, Desi, and Ky Go Poof, but today we're making the jump to YA to talk about the second book in Candice's YA Agata Sea Duology Untamed. Welcome to Bookworthy Candice.
Candice - Thank you for having me.
Valerie - I am so glad to have you. So we're going to start with our random question of the week. Now, your Agatha series, the Unbetrothed, and the prequel Ruthless and Untamed all have a magical element to them. If you could have a magical power or a superpower, what would it be?
Candice - Definitely would be teleporting. I'd love to travel in an instant.
Valerie - I was just talking with my 10-year-old today. He was like, Mom if I could teleport, I could just put my clothes on and then snap of the eye. And it like, I don't think that's how teleportation works, but he was like, no, I just move into my soccer cleats. I was like, okay, but you keep dreaming. So fun. Well, that would be a power. Think I would want, I don't know. I go back and forth between the superpower of being able to fly places or speed up time, like the Flash, because there's just always so much to do. I could do this just a little bit faster.
Candice -I’d want to slow down time. Like in the morning when I'm like having like a busy day, I'm like, okay, we'll just keep it at this pace because it's what I can handle. But at nighttime, I want to slow it down so can like, have more time to write.
Valerie - Stretch it out. Yes. Okay. I think I'm on board with that power. So fun. Well, Candice, tell us a little bit about the second book in your Agata Sea series, Untamed.
Candice - Though Untamed is the sequel to Unbetrothed. Unbetrothed takes us, with Beatrice, who is struggling with inadequacy. So we get to the end of the story and we're wondering, is she going to stay with her beau? And in the next one, they have to get a treaty to be together. And it's, do they get a treaty or do they not? And it ended up becoming a dual perspective. So the best friends, not the love interest, but the two best friends and how they're handling things. And I kind of love it. I don't know. It's a little bit different because it's not just about the love story and it's what happens after you've changed. Okay. Now you've changed. Then you're, you are a better person. You understand where you stand in your adequacies and everything like that. But yeah, what next? Like, where do you go?
Valerie -I like that. And I like that you're kind of putting a spin on YA where it isn't the two love interests, but the two best friends and kind of, that plays a very large role in our own lives. It's not just, the young bows that we fall in love with, but also our friends and how they influence, you know, how we feel about ourselves and even about the people that we like or, you know, in those types of things. How does magic play into this series?
Candice - Well, Beatriz was, well, everyone gets a magical gift when they're, by the time they're five years old, give or take. Beatriz didn't get one and that's the come she feels incredibly inadequate, especially as a princess. She's supposed to have more powers to help her people and she has less. So we come to this story and she doesn't want to use what she has. And she's adamant about not using it. And for good reason, you find out if you read on the trip, there are good reasons. So it kind of is like, Should I use them? And how do know I don't want to though, even though I want what I want, like I still want to end up with the person of my dreams, but I have to use this gift and I'm not willing to. So that kind of sent me going back and forth.
Valerie -I love that we all come to those places of who do we want to be? How do I want to be perceived? What gifts do I have? What gifts do I want to use? How to use them for good and not evil? That's kind of what I have three boys. So we talk a lot about using our powers for good and not evil.
Candice -Yes, I think there's always that tipping point. Like, I don't know if you've read.
Ruthless, but Ruthless is the prequel to Unbetrothed. So it's the mother's story and how she came to be. Her gift is supposed to be a healing gift, but she uses it to kill. So it's kind of like a thread throughout, like, are you going to use your gifting for good? Are you going to use your gift for bad? There's actually, it's always a double-sided coin.
Valerie - And it's something we face in our world daily, you know, it's like, how am I going to respond to this? What happens on social media? What happens on the news? What happens in our own homes? Because there is a lot of division in, you know, families and our nation. And it is, you know, kind of that question we have to ask ourselves a lot. And I appreciate you kind of walking that road with these two books and these characters making us ask those hard questions because that's kind of the fun of YA or the undertone, maybe not the fun, but.
Candice - I'll say it's really fun. The fun part is that you get to deal with these issues in a foreign world with foreign rules and even the physical rules are different. Like over here, we obviously cannot teleport. That's not what we can do. We have to get into a vehicle or an airplane, which probably felt like teleporting if you go back to the Middle Ages. But over here, it's like they physically can say, I want to teleport right now. And that person can do it. So it's fun playing with it when you have different rules.
Valerie -And I love that about fantasy and that it can make us look at our everyday issues in new ways and see how, you know, even characters that are dealing with teleportation and different, you know, worlds that they're still facing the same struggles that we face on the everyday. And I love that about fantasy itself and what that can do, not just for YA readers, but middle-grade readers and young readers. Also, I think that's always an area where books are fun. Now, there is a romance element to Untamed and Untamed. What made you step into writing these YA books?
Candice - I used to read YA all the time when I had my babies, okay? So actually, let's go back, okay? I'm gonna admit something, shh, don't tell anyone. I loved the Twilight series. Yes, poor
Writing and all. It wrapped me up and I thought it was really fun it was the beginning of my career, and I just wanted to sit down and enjoy an easy to read, but a book with romance elements and everything in it. So I didn't wanna read just the younger Harry Potter books. I wanted to read something for me. I love coming-of-age stories too. And I think every person who grew up with Disney kind of has a little bit of that in them. They love coming of age. So I started reading those and as I'm reading them and as it's coming along, I realized these are not, I mean, they're becoming less and less appropriate or they don't have some of the storylines I'd like to see. I would love to see Christians and I'd love to see a faith element that isn't something that looks like mythology, but that looks a little bit more like monotheism and the God is like our God. And I decided to write Unbetrothed. Well, I should say I started writing another book, then I went to Unbetrothed and I finished Unbetrothed first. So that technically is the first full book that I wrote.
Valerie - Now you also have an element of these books that is part of your family history. So a little bit of Latin inspiration in your books. Can you tell us a little bit about that element in your stories?
Candice -Yes, so I just wanted to have characters who look like my family, who had mannerisms like my family and spoke like my family, like we're a little sassy, okay? So I put that in there because I think I could relate to it more. And I wasn't saying that in books. It's not that I don't like other books that have, I don't know, they have different elements. Okay, let me give you an example here. We're at the airport, okay? So the first time I went on the trip with my family and my husband. We're at the airport, we're about to go to Puerto Rico and we're looking at one of the lines and they're going to Zurich. They're all in line, they're nice, they orderly, they come back, you the next person comes up, they go right behind in line. Everything is just nice and organized and you're like, okay, wow, yeah, that's settled, it's great.
Then it's time for us to board. We're going to Puerto Rico. Everyone, not everyone, but most of the people are Puerto Rican. We all get in line and we are like a ball. We're all together. Grandma is elbowing my husband and my husband's bag. And we are like pushing ahead and people are giving sass and everything. And I'm just, you you have to almost laugh like, okay, that was the Zurich line. And this is our Puerto Rican line. And I'm just like, okay, like this is, this is what it is. It's just different. Would I prefer being on the Zurich line? Part of me is like. I mean, I do enjoy the organization, but I also like being able to push ahead, which is probably why everyone is having issues here, okay? So, I think showing those little cultural elements. One thing that I always got knocked out on for my writing was that like, what do you mean that they put their lips together and they point, you can't point with your lips, that looks weird. Well, it's, you know, in some cultures. That is how you do it. Think there must have been something in the Spanish culture because I talked to people from the Philippines and like, yeah, we point with our lips. Yeah, you do it like this. So in Puerto Rico, you point with your lips. You're like, hey, look at that person behind me. You know, I'm like, it's just what you do. So I'm putting a little bit of those little mannerisms and the thing, like just the interactions in there. It's just refreshing. It's like, okay, yes, we do exist. And this is a little bit different. Granted, we all have the same heart struggles, but you just have them in different contexts. So I wanted to include that into my writing.
Valerie - I love how you've done that because there is a need in not just the Christian book world, but the general book world to have different cultures show their personalities. I know I've been to a few book events where I've had people of different cultures come up and be like, I just don't see any books that celebrate my culture. Like, well, I know a few. So I usually point them to, depending on which culture they're at they're from, you know, with, from Latin culture, then I usually point them to your books. And then, you know, it's, it's been neat to say there are books out there that do focus on the unique qualities of different cultures. And because you know, whether we have the same heart problem, there is something familiar and something we enjoy about having our own culture in the books that we read for sure. Now, Candice, what if, let's see YA is kind of that teenager, which is always funky, but what would you hope kids to walk away from with these books?
Candice- I hope they walk away and realize, yes, we all have issues. Yes, we do feel inadequate at some point. And no, we can't just lash out at other people. Like actually, the authorities might be mean some days, you know, I understand I've been there where I'm like, yeah, I can do that. Yes, we do need to repent from that. And God is the answer. Even though we see that there is a bow, and a lot of times in these fairy tales you see like, the bow stops all the problems and the truth is no, they're just there along for the ride. We're there to go through the problems together. They're not actually the solution.
Valerie - I love that kind of change. I remember, what was it? Think Wreck-It Ralph breaks the internet. They kind of have that scene where it has all the Disney princesses and then Villanotte, I can't remember her name, but you know, the little character that Wreck-It Ralph is always with, and if they're all like, does a man solve your problems? And it's just funny because it is kind of that stereotype of Disney films and I love the stories that are kind of breaking the trope, the mold a little bit and making us step out to like, no, there's, know, men can be helpful and they can also be a part of the problem as much as they are the solve the problem. So I love how your books are kind of stretching the romance and fantasy genre a little bit to make it a little bit more realistic, I think. Very neat. Now, Candice, did you always want to be an author?
Candice - No, no, you know, honestly, I love stories. I've always loved stories. When I was a little kid, I wrote my first book, which was Jack Loves Girls. So I was always a romantic at heart. But it never occurred to me that I'd be an author. I mean, in school, reading and writing were
Not my best subject. They were just subjects I did. I didn't enjoy reading until I was I became a Christian in my senior year of high school and I started reading. Bible and I'm like, okay, Christians have to do something else besides read the Bible. Why don't I try Lord of the Rings? So I started reading Lord of the Rings and after Lord of the Rings there was Pride and Prejudice and of course, those two had a huge impact and my writing life and the stories I enjoyed after that. So I'm like, what if we could put this story and put it together and we add some Latin flavor there? So that would be great. Let's put that all together.
Valerie - I love how you've done that. Can definitely see little hints of the Lord of the Rings and Pride and Prejudice in your stories for certain. I love how you've brought that love of those types of stories to a new world and a new set of books for sure. Now, you have a history of working with young adults, correct? In working with young adults, what led you to want to write books for them?
Candice -Well, there are multiple things here. I became a Christian when I was 16. So I think that my heart's always been there. I made the most important decision of my life when I was 16. And when I was in my twenties, I made all of the most important decisions. Thinking my husband, like I met him at 24. So I wanted to write to that crowd. And when everyone's making probably the biggest decisions of life today, most of the time, a lot of times. So I started helping out with youth group and I've always helped out with youth group, even through college. Like I would go to camp over the summer for inner city kids and I would help out with that. And then I helped out with youth group and then I decided to make a bigger commitment, help out with my youth group that would go from sixth grade through 12th grade, being the leader for that group of kids as they went up. Now they're adults, but I started sometime in the middle there when they were in high school because I was reading the same books as them. And I wanted to write something that was kind of for them. Like, okay, this would be fun for you. It's the same issues that you're going through. And I had a heart for that because I know that in the future, these are formative years. They won't be as receptive, maybe. I don't know. I just thought that it would be kind of fun, something fun. And I think they would take this and this book and these stories in these themes and they would kind of take them to heart and put them in there and hide them away.
Valerie - There are a lot of books that form us in that teenage. For me, it was Piercing the Darkness, Lord of the Rings, and even The Chronicles of Narnia, which is a little far younger, but I could talk about that all day. These books do form us shape us and help us define who we want to be as we continue to make these big decisions. Because yeah, 16 to 24 a lot is happening in that time. I have a 16-year-old and I'm kind of like, we have to start looking at college. Can we not? Right, right, no, we have to.
Candice - You have to pick a career. And not to say that you won't change your career later in life, but you don't, at a certain point in life, you're like, okay, this is kind of who I am unless Jesus comes into your life and completely shifts it. This is who you are. Little changes left and right, but this is who you are, yeah.
Valerie -Yeah, it's an age that needs good books, especially in the Christian market. Just to say that, know, we Christians, we still have troubles. We still have questions about ourselves, our faith, and the world we're a part of, and to be able to face those questions and come up with not a solution, but, you know, a stance, a conviction that is based on biblical truth. And I love that you're doing that in that space. Now you mentioned the Lord of the Rings is kind of one of Pride and Prejudice is one of your kind of favorites, but what is another favorite book of yours?
Candice - Voice in the Wind. I fell in love with that series. I think my mom was reading it she was super caught up in it. So I started reading it she told me, needed the second book. Boy, was she right? I mistakenly pulled an all-nighter with it and I stayed up even later because I had to know what happened after that and read part of the second book. And finally, when I started hearing birds tweeting, I was like, maybe I should go to bed. Like this is a book. I need to go to bed.
Valerie - Yes, A Voice in the Wind, that whole series is amazing. You know, those were kind of some of my first as an adult book to read and to kind of get into that Christian historical fiction space. And so it's very powerful writing.
Candice - I mean, I like to also give a warning about that. If anyone's hearing this and like a voice in the wind, this is an adult book. I would say that. And if you struggle with sexual sin, this probably isn't for you, but it's still appropriate, but it's, and I think it pushed me to consider my prayer life because one thing in that book is you see that prayer is a constant. It's a thing that pushes you. And I love that about the book and you fall in love with the characters and the romance, but you also see their sinful vents and you know, like I've had friends who told me, no, that was really bad for me at that moment because of this bent that I had. And it's like, I can see that. But I reread it and I'm like, I, it didn't affect me that way. And that wasn't the intention of the author. The author was just trying to show a person struggling with sin and you see another person resisting that. So it's really, it's a nice, fun adult book that is encouraging and pushing you to Christ.
Valerie - Definitely, it's not a YA book, but it is a good read for certain. Now, what can we expect next from you, Candice?
Candice - So I just purchased the rights to Unbetrothed, which means that I'm re-releasing Unbetrothed in October. So right now I am busy formatting, making sure everything is beautiful, and sending that out again. And then I'm releasing a book with co-writers. So five
Friends decided to write a steampunk fantasy murder mystery, One Must Die. It's a story about them getting these invitations and now invitations to go and win the prize of a lifetime. The only thing about it is they're going to be in a flying mansion and one person has to die for someone to win. So it is a story that deals with the heart and money and they have a lot of issues. It was really fun to write. It was very different because I mean you're coming up with a plot with everyone else. There's a lot less writing so that's the nice part but there are a lot more Zoom calls. Like, yeah, I finished the chapter. This doesn't match up with your chapter. No, no, I didn't. So, you know, smoothing out those edges. That was really nice, being able to do that, coming up with new characters that all, people who are readers can look at and follow who is who. Like that was the other thing. Like, okay, are they going to understand these seven characters? There are six of us, but there are seven characters.
Valerie - And you write two of them, correct?
Candice - I do, I do write two of them. So, I wrote Jessie and Camilla. I got two girls.
Valerie - Very fun. It's one of those I've seen a lot of traction on, but Instagram with that steampunk mystery and it's just kind of fun and looks like a very engaging read for sure. I had a kiddo just finish up a theater production that had a similar premise and it was a whole lot of fun just to try to figure out who had done it in the I think we all still love those types of books for sure.
Candice - Definitely. Mean who didn't love, well, there's like Scooby -Doo those types of books. You know that someone, something's gonna happen, you know, you kind of have a formal-like thing. So that's the good part about it when you're doing it with a bunch of people. So someone dies and someone does it. So.
Valerie - And you got to find out who it is never who you expect, right? Maybe. Okay. Okay, this is where can people find out about you and your books.
Candice - You can find me on my website www.CandiceYamnitz.com. You can also find me on Instagram CandiceYamnitz. So, I'm there. I'm always hanging out. You can DM me. You could contact me, and I'll send it to my author email.
Valerie -So we'll make sure to have those links in the description. And you always do such a great job with all your reels of being just so engaging and just having a lot of fun. And also you suggest a lot of other YA reads that are in that kind of a Christian space or just wholesome in some words, really good books.
Candice - Yes, I didn't know they existed, so I just want to help other people.
Valerie - That's kind of why we're here at Bookworthy too, is just trying to help people find good books for their kids. And I love that you're doing the same in your genre too. Well, thank you for being with us today, Candice.
Candice - Thank you for having me.
Valerie - And thank you for joining Candice and me on this episode of the Bookworthy Podcast. Check the show notes for any books or links that we discussed, and, in the comments, what magic or superpower do you wish you had? Be sure to like and subscribe so we can discover more great books together.
Happy reading.
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