RELEASE DAY & INTERVIEW: CONFESSED BY CANDLELIGHT by ALEXANDRA WENDT!

 Hey everyone! I'm thrilled to wish Alexandra Wendt the happiest release day for Confessed by Candlelight, the next book to release in The Candlelit Tales! This is a reverse retelling of Northanger Abbey! I also had the privilege of interviewing Alexandra Wendt for this release, so make sure you check that out as well. 

ABOUT THE BOOK

Sometimes things are exactly as they seem.

When Anna Clarikson arrives in Taunsbury, she has every intention of obeying her parents’ wishes for a quick marriage to Hector Wardsley. Which shouldn’t be difficult so long as she keeps everyone believing the Clariksons are still rich. Thanks to this misconception and Anna’s upbringing in high society, friendship in Taunsbury seems easy—until Anna suspects that her new friends, brother and sister Silas and Frances Bartlett, and even Hector himself, all seem to be keeping secrets of their own. 

She’s as curious to uncover their duplicity as she is to uncover why her fiancé’s manor, Dalithkane, seems to harbor exactly the sort of mystical dangers from her favorite novels—and why Hector’s Conservation magic is failing to keep them at bay. Perhaps her own lies are driving her mad. Perhaps everyone in Taunsbury is just as sinister as she believes. But Anna cannot know until she confronts the perils in Dalithkane, sorts fact from fiction, and learns the true price of insincerity.

Uncover the truth and shed light on the shadows in this reverse retelling of Northanger Abbey.

Release Date: Nov. 10, 2026

The Candlelit Tales series is a collection of seasonal historical fantasy novellas. Each story is written by a different author and can be enjoyed in any order.

Order Link: https://books2read.com/u/mdg0Nw

Check out The Candlelit Tales in full: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0HHQXSDZV

AN INTERVIEW WITH ALEXANDRA WENDT

1. Why did you choose to write a story based on Northanger Abbey? 

Alexandra: I've always wanted to write a Gothic story, along with a Jane Austen retelling, so this was my perfect opportunity to combine them! Northanger Abbey is also one of my favorite of her novels, and an underrated one, I think. 

2. What was your favorite part about integrating the fall season in your novella? 

Alexandra: Fall is my favorite season, and I tend to gravitate toward setting most of my stories in or around the season anyway, so it feels very natural to me. And of course in this case, it lends itself to the Gothic atmosphere very well! 

3. What is the heart, the core, behind Confessed by Candlelight? What do you want readers to remember? 

Alexandra: Being genuine and true to yourself doesn't mean blindly following what you want--or what others want--but rather conforming your desires and needs to a higher standard. Also the value of and inherently human aspect of the arts is important too. 

Thanks so much to Alexandra Wendt for sharing about her novella, Confessed by Candlelight!