L J Andrews on the Mythic Mic Podcast

This week, Mythic Mic host Bethany Amanda sits down with bestselling fantasy romance author LJ Andrews for a conversation about writing, resilience, mythology, special editions, and her dark romantasy duology, Broken Souls and Bones.

LJ shares her long road to becoming a full-time author, from writing as a way to escape postpartum depression to publishing her first book in 2016, reaching her first 50 readers, taking a pandemic-era step back, and finally finding the series and strategy that helped her career take off. She opens up about learning reader expectations, studying the market, embracing romantasy, and building the kind of worlds readers now see everywhere from bookstores to BookTok.

The conversation also dives into Broken Souls and Bones, LJ’s dark, Norse-inspired romantasy world filled with soul magic, blood magic, bone magic, a hidden Melder, a silent warrior who communicates through sign language, bodyguard tension, found family, and three major twists that readers still have not fully guessed.

Mythic Mic says…

🦴 What happens when the king wants to use your magic to build an unbeatable army?
🖤 Can forced proximity work when the person protecting you is also the one who stole you from your life?
⚔️ And what if the magic that makes you powerful also pulls you into the shadow world?
Whether you love Norse mythology, morally gray characters, dark magic, bodyguard romance, found family, special editions, or complete duologies with high stakes and no cliffhanger, this episode is packed with inspiration, honesty, and so much bookish chaos.
🔥 IN THIS EPISODE, WE TALK ABOUT:
✨ LJ’s journey from early writing dreams to becoming a full-time author.
✨ Writing through postpartum depression and using stories as an escape.
✨ Why LJ was not an overnight success and what changed in her career.
✨ Going from 50 readers to bookshelves, special editions, and a thriving reader community.
✨ How studying genre, covers, reader expectations, and the market helped shift her author path.
✨ Norse mythology, fairy tale inspiration, pirates, Vikings, and the worlds behind LJ’s books.
✨ The Broken Kingdoms, The Ever Seas, and the darker magic of Broken Souls and Bones.
✨ A mute bodyguard, sign language representation, and writing banter without spoken dialogue.
✨ Found family, forced proximity, bodyguard tension, and characters who refuse to stay side characters.
✨ The challenge of marketing book two when book one has major spoilers.
✨ The completed Broken Souls and Bones duology and the possibility of future spin-offs.
✨ Special editions, book boxes, direct stores, warehouses, and the behind-the-scenes side of being an author.
✨ LJ’s upcoming dystopian project and why dystopian romance may be making a major comeback.
✨ Imposter syndrome, comparison, and why the story inside you may be exactly what someone else needs.
🐔 Plus: chickens, warehouses, elder millennial marketing struggles, Holly Black love, spicy book two scenes, and why sometimes the characters start telling the author what the story really is.

-Mythic Mic Podcast
Season 2, episode 75
Original Air Date June 15, 2026