Dystopian Stories: A Guest Post by Dani Francis
In a world this unforgiving, falling in love is strictly off limits — especially when it’s with your commanding officer. For fans of Fourth Wing’s vivid world-building and Jennifer L. Armentrout’s slow-burn romance comes a post-apocalyptic tale with an enemies-to-lovers twist. Read on for an exclusive essay from author Dani Francis on writing Silver Elite.
Hardcover
$27.99
$32.99
Silver Elite
Silver Elite
By Dani Francis
In Stock Online
Hardcover
$27.99
$32.99
In the first book of a sizzling dystopian romance series, psychic gifts are a death sentence and there are rules to survival: Trust no one. Lie to everyone. And whatever you do, don’t fall for your greatest enemy.
In the first book of a sizzling dystopian romance series, psychic gifts are a death sentence and there are rules to survival: Trust no one. Lie to everyone. And whatever you do, don’t fall for your greatest enemy.
I’ve always loved dystopian stories. You know the kind—the crumbling world, the impossible stakes, the heroine who finds strength she didn’t know she had. But all the stories that made me fall in love with the genre were Young Adult fiction, and while I still adore them, as a reader I was craving something a little more heated on the page. In YA, those longing glances and intense slow-burns often culminate in kissing—hard-won and written exceptionally well, mind you—but when the world is burning and everything is literally life and death, I wanted to read something that matched those stakes.
That’s part of what led me to write Silver Elite. I wanted a dystopian story that has all the grit and danger and tension but also turns up the heat. I wanted characters who are shaped by their world, scarred by it, and who make messy decisions—not just in battle, but in love too. In a world where everything is on the brink of destruction, emotions run high, and desire can be just as powerful as fear or fury. I wrote this book for readers like me, the ones who devoured books like the Hunger Games but wished the romances were more front and center.
Silver Elite is about power, rebellion, and identity, along with messy, complicated love in a broken world. The heroine, Wren Darlington, is not perfect, and I didn’t want her to be. I had been going through a reading stretch where in book after book, every main character was flawless, even their weaknesses framed as secret strengths. And since Silver Elite is the first book in a trilogy, I thought it would be more fun to write a character who has room for growth.
Wren makes questionable decisions sometimes, acts on impulse, and has issues that she both recognizes and is unaware of. She is twenty years old and still has growing to do. I’m hoping as you follow along on her journey, you start to see Wren turn her weaknesses into strengths and learn from her mistakes.
I’m so excited to share Silver Elite with you. It’s a story about finding agency when everything is falling apart. And yes, it’s a little steamy, but when the world is ending, sometimes you just need a little spice!
With love,
Dani Francis