About
Author of So Sang The Dawn
...and the sequels to come!
AnnMarie Pavese lives in the rocky, forested mountains of Arizona, under the towering shadow of the Mogollon Rim, which was a huge inspiration in the creation of Frostholm, the fantasy world of So Sang The Dawn. Her writing journey began at 21 years old, when, during a season of heavy loss and deep grief, she was encouraged to write down her daydreams as a form of self-therapy. What followed was a battle scene depicting two captive girls with swords, refusing to surrender and driving back hordes of enemies — the very first of a set of scribbled scenes that would go on to become So Sang The Dawn, five years later.
AnnMarie now spends her days writing, studying wildlife, adopting as many dogs as she’s able, and counseling the young women around her through the highs and lows of life. While at ease in both the desert and the mountains, she is especially obsessed with the cold and always writes best when it’s raining or snowing.
Featured Work
So Sang The Dawn
Orphan, outcast, outsider. These are the labels that seventeen-year-old Aurora Ballern has worn all her life. Abandoned as an infant, she’s been sent to live out her existence at a boarding school in the city of Luxton, New-York, while waiting to be adopted. The only family she’s ever known is her best friend and boarding school roommate, Raine Fording. As the two girls approach their final year of school, they find themselves longing more and more for escape from the confining walls of the academy, but when escape comes in the form of a kidnapping, everything they’ve ever known changes in an instant.
Aurora wakes in firelit darkness to find that she’s now captive in a foreign land called Frostholm, and that Raine is badly injured. Not only has her best friend been kidnapped because of her, but now her life has been drastically changed — forever.
The world of Frostholm is harsh — it’s cold, unforgiving, and the jagged mountains and dense, snowy forests are completely impassable, making escape a foolish impossibility. The warlord responsible for Aurora and Raine’s capture is as ruthless as the land he governs. It’s his demand that Aurora become a warrior and take lives for his kingdom, on the grounds that if she refuses, Raine will pay the ultimate price. Becoming a warrior, wielding a sword, going to battle… it terrifies Aurora, but in her mind, Raine has already lost too much because of her.
Thrown into a world of warriors and weapons, brutal cold and battle scars, Aurora must learn to overcome what makes her weak, and find a way to survive in the strange, new world. And above all, she must find a way to win back Raine’s life from the hands of the warlord — even if Raine’s freedom comes at the steepest of sacrifices.
