Author Carissa Broadbent revisits the War of Lost Hearts romantasy series

Once a book is written, edited, published and out in the world, author Carissa Broadbent doesn’t typically want to go back and look at her work. 

“You feel like you’re going to see something, and you’re like ‘Ugh, that’s stupid. I should have done something better than that.’ You want to correct it, but it’s already out there,” the Rhode Island-based writer said during a recent phone interview. “I don’t usually read my books after I publish them because it gives me anxiety.” 

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But after the BookTok success with her vampire-led romantasy series, The Crowns of Nyaxia, readers have been going back to explore The War of Lost Hearts series, which kicked off with “Daughter of No Worlds” in 2020. 

And now she is looking at them again, too.

The War of Lost Hearts books, which she self-published at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, are being republished with some editing and new covers by Bramble, an imprint of Tor Publishing Group. “Daughter of No Worlds” dropped in October, “Children of Fallen Gods” hit shelves in December, and “Mother of Death and Dawn” will be available again on March 17.

The War of Lost Hearts series, which introduced fan-favorite characters Tisaanah Vytezic, a dark magic-wielding former slave; and Maxantarius Farlione, a powerful fire-wielder and former soldier – changed the trajectory of her career, Broadbent says. The series enabled her to quit her day job working in cybersecurity marketing and make writing her full-time gig. 

And in preparing the series for republication, Broadbent looked at her work with fresh eyes and was surprised by her reaction to the process. 

“I was a little bit nervous about revisiting them, but there were no major changes; they did get a new copy edit and some minor things,” she said. “But I am very proud of this series and, in particular, the third book because there was a part of me that felt that I had peaked at that time.

“I know every creative feels that way sometimes when you’re like, ‘Well, it’s all downhill from here, and I’ve done the best work I’ll ever do.’ It was comforting for me to revisit the books, and I felt I had enough distance to appreciate them for what they were, almost as if I hadn’t written them. It was comforting to see that there were things I would have done differently now, but I didn’t change those because they should exist as they have existed for the past five years. It’s always comforting to see your own progression, and I could see that as I was revisiting them.”  

At the start, Broadbent said “Daughter of No Worlds” only sold about 50 copies in its first month of release. 

“Which is … not good,” she said with a laugh. “I mean, I was thrilled with that at the time because I was nobody and I was self-publishing these books. I knew I was in it for the long game and that I’d slowly build an audience, and that’s what happened. It was very organic because it’s not like I had a bunch of paid advertising behind the series. It always has been meaningful to me because it did build my career, and also, every reader connects with different books of mine, but the fans of this series in particular are really emotionally connected to it, and that’s so meaningful to me.” 

The rereleases also prompted Broadbent to reflect on her writing process. With that series, she started treating writing like a full-time job, with a goal to get good enough to gain an audience. She stuck to strict deadlines even though at the time, she insists she may have only been writing for “an audience of 10, if that.” She wrote “Daughter of No Worlds” as a side project because she had started a new writing group. But she was so excited about the new characters she created with Tisaanah and Max; she couldn’t get them out of her head. 

“I wrote the book with no external expectations, and I was struggling at the time with the state of the world, which now only seems to have gotten worse,” she said. “They came to me fully formed with their own opinions and approaches to so many of the big questions I was grappling with myself. I connected with these characters so deeply because I was exploring those ideas through them, and I think a lot of readers found that with them as well.” 

Last August, Broadbent released the fourth book in her Crowns of Nyaxia series, “The Fallen and the Kiss of Dusk.” The fifth book, “The Lion & the Deathless Dark,” comes out on Aug. 4, 2026. This series has been popular among romantasy readers, and Broadbent said she loves seeing and interacting with the online communities and book clubs that have supported her. 

“Groups of people come to see me at signings now, and they’ll say they started reading my books together and that’s how they became friends or they started reading books with their sister-in-law and now they have a book club with 17 people in it,” she said. “I think that’s incredible. I appreciate how much social media – as much as you have to take the good with the bad – has brought this sense of community to reading. I think it’s made reading feel a lot more accessible to a lot of people who really didn’t consider themselves big readers before the explosion of BookTok and book social media.”  

While she’s enjoying a little time off early in the year, she’s looking forward to getting back into her favorite local coffee shop – where they know her iced coffee and sandwich order by heart – to do some more writing. 

“I love writing in coffee shops,” she said, noting that she has a hard time working at home. “I’m a typical Rhode Islander, too, because I’ll get iced coffee year-round. I can be shivering, and I’ll still be clutching my iced coffee. It’s a steady stream of iced coffee and sandwiches while I’m writing, which is nice, because then I don’t even have to worry about feeding myself.”