SATA

PERSONAL

Married; children: five.

Pepperdine University, B.A.; also earned teaching credentials.

ADDRESS

• Home - Nashville, TN.

CAREER

Writer and educator. Previously taught high school; instructor at writing workshops. Speaker at schools, libraries, conferences, and festivals.

WRITINGS

• “DEFIANCE” YOUNG-ADULT NOVEL SERIES
• Defiance, Balzer + Bray (New York, NY), 2012
• Deception, Balzer + Bray (New York, NY), 2013
• Deliverance, Balzer + Bray (New York, NY), 2014
• Outcast (e-novella), Balzer + Bray (New York, NY), 2014
• “RAVENSPIRE” YOUNG-ADULT NOVEL SERIES
• The Shadow Queen , Balzer + Bray (New York, NY), 2016
• The Wish Granter, Balzer + Bray (New York, NY), 2017
• The Traitor Prince, Balzer + Bray (New York, NY), 2018
• The Blood Spell, Balzer + Bray (New York, NY), 2019
• "RISE OF THE VICIOUS PRINCESS" DUOLOGY
• Rise of the Vicious Princess, Balzer + Bray (New York, NY), 2022
• Return of the Vengeful Queen, Balzer + Bray (New York, NY), 2024

Also author of Query: Everything You Need to Get Started, Get Noticed, and Get Signed (e-book), Amazon Digital Services, Inc., and the novella, The Disappearance of Emily Downs, 2021; Coeditor of anthologies with Mary Weber, including Meet Me at Midnight, 2023, and All the Promises We Cannot Keep, 2024.

SIDELIGHTS

A former high-school teacher, C.J. Redwine is the author of Defiance, the first work in a dystopian young-adult fantasy series of the same title. Redwine followed her initial success with Deception and Deliverance, companion novels that continue chronicling the adventures of two bold and daring teens as they challenge the authority of a despotic leader. Redwine pens a female-driven fantasy with the “Rise of the Vicious Princess” duology. She also created the “Ravenspire” series of standalone companion fantasy novels that are set in neighboring kingdoms.

In Defiance, Redwine introduces readers to Rachel Adams, a strong-willed teen living in the male-dominated, walled city-state of Baalboden. When Rachel’s father fails to return from a mission ordered by Baalboden’s tyrannical commander, he is declared dead and Rachel falls under the protection of Logan McEntire, her unrequited love. Convinced that her father is still alive, Rachel ventures into the Wasteland, a dangerous region inhabited by criminals and bloodthirsty creatures. When her plan is discovered by the commander, he vows to kill Logan unless Rachel locates her father and retrieves a device that controls the Cursed One, a terrifying monster responsible for devastating the area. According to Voice of Youth Advocates critic Lynne Farrell Stover, in Defiance “concepts of emerging technology, absolute evil, and mindless destruction [are] interwoven into a story that centers more on social, political, and romantic themes.” The monsters outside the city walls “are effective representations of human arrogance,” wrote April Spisak in appraising Redwine’s debut in Horn Book.

Deception finds Rachel and Logan working together to save the surviving citizens of Baalboden now that the city lies in ruins. Facing destruction from a rival army as well as the wrath of the commander, the teens gather the survivors and enter the Wasteland, hoping to find refuge in the city-state of Lankenshire. As members of their group are killed one by one, however, Rachel and Logan suspect that the murderer may be one of their own. In Deliverance, the concluding novel of the trilogy, Rachel is abducted by enemy forces and plots the downfall of her captors while Logan devises an intricate plan to defeat the commander and acquire the device controlling the actions of the Cursed One. Reviewing Deliverance in Voice of Youth Advocates, Brandi Young remarked that Redwine’s novel reminds “readers that fighting for what you know is right is honorable and important in life.”

Redwine embarked on her new “Ravenspire” young-adult fantasy series with The Shadow Queen, inspired by the classic story of Snow White. Heir to the throne of Ravenspire, young Lorelai finds herself on the run after revealing that her stepmother, Queen Irina, has wielded magic to take control of the kingdom. With her father killed, Lorelai must gain control of her own magic before returning to reclaim the throne. Meanwhile, Queen Irina tries to use the desperate Kol, who is part dragon and whose own kingdom of Eldr is under siege by ogres, as an assassin against Lorelai, directing him to bring back Lorelai’s heart. Kol and Lorelai, however, prove to have an instinctive bond and team up to defeat Irina.

Booklist reviewer Frances Bradburn affirmed that the “complex characters, imaginative and horrible consequences, and sharp twists” help The Shadow Queen stand out among fantasy romance novels. A Kirkus Reviews writer asserted that as “a full-bore fantasy fairy tale with magic slung around with abandon and battles aplenty,” this series opener amounts to “undemanding fantasy fun.”

The “Ravenspire” series continues with The Wish Granter, which harkens to the tale of Rumpelstiltskin. In the kingdom of Sundraille, the illegitimate royal twins Ari and Thad have risen to the throne after the latter made an unwise Faustian bargain with Alistair Teague. Teague, the fairy-kind Wish Granter—and a criminal ringleader—has thus secured the freedom to terrorize the people without punishment. Teaming up with Sebastian, a weapons master from the town’s underbelly, the intelligent Ari hopes to put a stop to Teague’s reign of terror. Amy Duffy, in School Library Journal, asserted that this “welcome feminist revision” of the classic story “will delight fairy-tale fans.” Meghan Oppelt, writing in Booklist, found The Wish Granter to be marked by “a cast of interesting and complex characters, … several fascinating plot threads, and an effective conclusion.”

The next novel in the series is The Traitor Prince, derived from a lesser-known fairy tale called “The False Prince” as well as Mark Twain’s novel The Prince and the Pauper. Set in Akram, part of a legendary Arabic culture, the novel finds Javan finishing up his ten years of academy education—his mother’s dying wish—and preparing to finally return home. In his absence, however, a faction of schemers have poisoned the king’s mind, allowing them to install Javan’s second cousin, the illegitimate Rahim, as the “real” prince and send Javan to prison. There, he is befriended by a slave who is secretly half dark elf—an unfairly demonized race—and must compete in a series of life-or-death gladiator-style competitions to win an audience with his father. In Voice of Youth Advocates, Elizabeth Matson observed that “the action largely focuses on Javan, his struggle against injustice, his battles in the arena, and, unusual for fantasy, his religious faith.” A Kirkus Reviews writer found the romance “compelling,” the action scenes “inventive,” and The Traitor Prince as a whole “an exciting, entertaining series companion.”

Taking inspiration from Cinderella, Redwine furthered the “Ravenspire” series with The Blood Spell, in which Blue de la Cour, an alchemist, is trying to turn lead into gold for the sake of the poor. After Blue’s father is murdered, a nefarious aristocrat, Dinah Chauveau, lays legal claim to Blue’s quest. She must team up with an antagonistic acquaintance, Kellan, who as crown prince is reluctantly obliged to choose a bride from among nine chosen families before his nineteenth birthday. Together, they hope to determine their own lives—and, in the end, bring them together.

A Kirkus Reviews writer, appreciating that the majority of the novel’s characters have shades of brown skin, wrote, “The expected romance is slow burning and satisfying, with some fun fairy-tale twists as the danger crescendos.” In Booklist, Stacey Comfort remarked that Redwine’s re-envisioned tales “are infused with enough originality to bring readers back again and again.”

Seventeen-year-old princess Charis Willowthorn must choose between romance and her royal duties in Rise of the Vicious Princess, the first in a duology. The teenager is going to be queen of Calera someday, and with her mother’s help she prepares for her royal duties. After almost being assassinated, much of her staff is executed which leaves Charis feeling alone and traumatized. When she meets her new bodyguard, Tal, the two become friends. Ultimately, a romance between the two blossoms and Charis must decide between her duties to Calera and her love for Tal. A Kirkus Reviews writer found Rise of the Vicious Princess to be a promising first book in the duology and took note of its “brisk pace.” The same critic appreciated that “Calera is multiracial, and women and men serve on equal footing.” “An engaging introduction to a female-forward fantasy world,” concluded the Kirkus Reviews writer.

(open new)Return of the Vengeful Queen is the sequel to Rise of the Vicious Princess. Now the queen of Calera, Charis is doing well at maintaining balance between the different factions in the kingdom. However, the Rakuuna attacked, forcing her to flee after her parents were killed and Tal was kidnapped. Along with her cousins, Charis ventures across the land to gather allies to take on the Rakuuna. She willingly gets captured by them in hopes of saving her people. But her heart still hurts after discovering that Tal had been spying on her for a rival kingdom.

In writing about Charis, a Kirkus Reviews contributor noted that “at key moments her success owes almost as much to chance as any intentional action on her part.” The same critic found the novel to be “unremarkable.” Writing in the Carina’s Books blog, Carina Olsen concluded that “Return of the Vengeful Queen was an exciting final book in a great duology. I did not fully love them. But I liked them well enough, and I’m so glad that I finally read them both. The writing was pretty much perfect. I liked the setting as well.”(close new)

BIOCRIT

PERIODICALS

• Booklist, September 15, 2012, Francisca Goldsmith, review of Defiance, p. 69; December 1, 2015, Frances Bradburn, review of The Shadow Queen, p. 57; November 15, 2016, Meghan Oppelt, review of The Wish Granter, p. 53; November 1, 2018, Stacey Comfort, review of The Blood Spell, p. 48.

• Horn Book, November 1, 2012, April Spisak, review of Defiance, p. 105.

• Kirkus Reviews, July 1, 2012, review of Defiance; July 15, 2013, review of Deception; July 15, 2014, review of Deliverance; October 15, 2015, review of The Shadow Queen; November 15, 2016, review of The Wish Granter; December 1, 2017, review of The Traitor Prince; December 1, 2018, review of The Blood Spell; April 15, 2022, review of Rise of the Vicious Princess; May 15, 2024, review of Return of the Vengeful Queen.

• Publishers Weekly, August 6, 2012, review of Defiance, p. 57; November 30, 2015, review of The Shadow Queen, p. 63.

• School Librarian, June 22, 2016, Lorraine Ransome, review of The Shadow Queen, p. 122.

• School Library Journal, December 1, 2012, Alissa J. Bach, review of Defiance, p. 128; December 1, 2015, Beth Wright Redford, review of The Shadow Queen, p. 126; January 1, 2017, Amy Duffy, review of The Wish Granter, p. 104; November 1, 2017, Molly Saunders, review of The Traitor Prince, p. 90.

• Voice of Youth Advocates, August 1, 2012, Lynne Farrell Stover, review of Defiance, p. 285; August 1, 2014, Brandi Young, review of Deliverance, p. 87; June 1, 2016, Kristi Sadowski, review of The Shadow Queen, p. 80; February 1, 2018, Elizabeth Matson, review of The Traitor Prince, p. 69.

ONLINE

• Carina’s Books, https://carinabooks.blogspot.com/ (October 11, 2024), Carina Olsen, review of Return of the Vengeful Queen.

• C.J. Redwine website, http://cjredwine.blogspot.com (February 2, 2025).

• Epic Reads, https://www.epicreads.com/ (October 6, 2022), “10 Things You Don’t Know about C.J. Redwine.”

• J.T. Ellison website, https://www.jtellison.com/ (February 18, 2016), “7 Minutes with … C.J. Redwine.”

• Rutherford County Schools website, https://www.rcschools.net/ (February 16, 2018), Elim Jo, “RCS Student Q&A with Young Adult Author C.J. Redwine.”