My Own Fairytale: A Guest Post by Elizabeth Lim

By Elizabeth Lim / June 9, 2025 at 12:02 am

Fairytales, mythology, magic, romance and a main character who’s as compelling as she is empathetic. This rip-roaring adventure is a charmer — read on for an exclusive essay from author Elizabeth Lim on writing A Forgery of Fate.

Hardcover $10.49 ~~$20.99~~

A Forgery of Fate

By Elizabeth Lim

In Stock Online

Hardcover $10.49 ~~$20.99~~

Beauty and the Beast meets Six of Crows in this romantic fantasy about a girl who paints the future and a cursed dragon lord, bound by love and deception in a plot to bring down the gods.

When I was a teenager, I secretly wrote and posted Sailor Moon fanfiction online instead of doing my homework. My most popular story retold The Little Mermaid with Serena as the eponymous character, and the Sailor Scouts as her sisters. It was just for fun, and by high school I forgot about it, my floppy disks collecting dust in the bottom of a cupboard for years. But little did I know, this was an experience that began my love for writing, and 20 years later, I’d publish my own fairytale, A Forgery of Fate.

A Forgery of Fate is an underwater Beauty and the Beast, with mermaids and sea dragons, art heists and a marriage of convenience. After her father is lost at sea, Truyan Saigas, our hero, becomes an art forger, and discovers she can paint the future. She will risk anything to locate her father, and after several twists of fate, she meets someone who can help: the exiled “demon prince” Elang, who is cursed with half the face of a dragon.

While there are several nods to the classical Perrault version of Beauty and the Beast, A Forgery of Fate also pays homage to the rich Chinese folklore I grew up with: of golden carp that turn into dragons, of mermaids who cry pearls instead of tears, of magic paintbrushes and enchanted castles, and all powerful gods that you aren’t sure whether or not you can trust. Blending my favorite western fairytales with the mythology I grew up loving has become something of a signature of my fantasies, and has also inspired me to create immersive new worlds among the familiar.

At its core, A Forgery of Fate is a love story, and the most romantic book that I’ve written to date. The connection between Tru and Elang is driven by the slowburn romance in Beauty and the Beast, married with the Chinese legend of the red string of fate, which is similar to the notion of soulmates. There’s a sense of deep yearning in this relationship: a secret, budding love that is hindered by the presence of a terrible curse.

This is the book I would reach for if I wanted to laugh aloud and cry within a few chapters, if I wanted a whimsical fairytale that intersects the realities of sacrifice and tragedy, and a love story that leaves my heart aching and bursting at the same time. It was a joy to write—a story that my teenaged self would have adored, and my adult self will relish—and I hope you love it too.