Behind the Scenes of Hajar’s Hidden Legacy

Some of you might know the hero of Hajar’s Hidden Legacy, Zahir, as Beast Sheikh.

I did a blog post on this site about what The Beast from Disney’s Beauty and the Beast taught me about alpha males. And after that…I couldn’t get the image of the beast as a romance hero out of my head. I know I’m far from the first romance writer to be inspired by that story, but I couldn’t resist the chance to write my own take on one of my very favorite stories.

There’s a scene in the book where Zahir and Katharine Dance. I listened to Slow Dancing in a Burning Room on repeat through that scene. In my mind, that’s the song they danced to.

I have a hard time naming countries. But usually I search for a work that has a specific meaning in the native language of my country and try to do a spin on it. Hajar, Austrich and Katharine’s last name are all related to rock and stone. So much of the book centered on strength, and I wanted it to be a part of the place and people names too.

Zahir was another one of those heroes who made me cry. A lot. (Maybe I’m a wimp?)

Katharine’s clothes were inspired by Kate Middleton, but her looks were inspired by the lead singer of A Fine Frenzy who I think has such a wonderful, strong, unique beauty.

The working title for this book was The Unwanted Wife.

My dad took me to see Beauty and the Beast when it first came out in theaters. I think I was seven. It’s one of my favorite memories. So not a huge surprise I ended up inspired to do a take on the story.