Bookwild - It Ends With Knight by Yasmin Angoe: Lovable Assassins, Endless Action, and Found Family

Episode Date: September 12, 2023

On this episode, I talk with Yasmin Angoe about the final installment in her Nena Knight series It Ends With Knight.It Ends With Knight SynopsisIn this thrilling conclusion of the Nena Knight series, the trained assassin will have to confront the ghosts of her past…before she becomes one herself. Until his untimely death, Nena’s mentor was the backbone of the Tribe. With his leadership position unfilled and despite the Tribe’s newfound misgivings about her, Nena has stepped into a new role she never wanted. Politics is an entirely new venture for her, and now one of the Tribe’s own has been kidnapped, forcing her back to her origins as an assassin. But the only person qualified for such a rescue mission is Nena Knight—and a new team whose trust in her continues to waver. Determined to harness the power of her former role to succeed in her new one, Nena must also face what she left behind. Old fears, resentments, and anger threaten the precarious hold Nena has on her new life as she realizes that the past—and the people from it—are never far behind.Learn more about Yasmin here Get Bookwild MerchCheck Out My Stories Are My Religion SubstackCheck Out Author Social Media PackagesCheck out the Bookwild Community on PatreonCheck out the Imposter Hour Podcast with Liz and GregFollow @imbookwild on InstagramOther Co-hosts On Instagram:Gare Billings @gareindeedreadsSteph Lauer @books.in.badgerlandHalley Sutton @halleysutton25Brian Watson @readingwithbrian 

Those of you who have been listening to this podcast from the beginning will recognize Ms. Yasmin Ongo, who is actually my first three-peat guest, which is really exciting to me. And you've definitely heard me talk almost incessantly about Nina Knight and how much I love the Nina Knight series. The third and final installment of the trilogy just came out. It's called It Ends with Night. it has another amazing cover like all of the other ones. Nina is struggling with something that happened at the end of the second book. I'm not going to say what it was in case you haven't read the other books.

But she's struggling with that and her father Noble asks her to smooth over some negotiations with a mining community in Tanzania. So she's thrust into kind of politics and business in a way that she hasn't been in previous. stories and when she gets there, it's very clear that someone is trying to manipulate the deal. The action scenes are so incredible. I love the heart of all of the characters in these books. I just, I don't know what else I could want from a spy thriller. So I hope you enjoy this final conversation with Yasmin Ongo about the Nina Knight series. Everyone who has listened to this podcast or my other one, Killing the Tea, hears me talk about these books obsessively,

like once a year every time they come out. So I absolutely love all of them. But what has been your favorite part of writing this series? Hitting the end after I'm done with them, right? Struggling over them. That checks out. No, but I think maybe talking to readers, talking to podcasters like like yourself about the things that were going on in in the book um hearing from everyone that uh the things that i was writing the things that i was thinking about translated well and and they received it and even getting new things that i wasn't even thinking about that that they received from from the stories those are my favorites yeah that that is really fun that's even even when i started this podcast like my favorite thing has been talking to other people

people about books where like I didn't necessarily, I wouldn't have met them like not online. So I kind of, I kind of know where you're coming from with that. Yeah. What was, so what was your favorite part about writing this third one? Was there anything that stood out about this one? What stood out about this one? I think by this one, because Nina has changed a bit, I was able to go further with her in terms of, you know, how she was going to be in, in her position with the tribe.

Her different dynamics between, sorry, I keep bumping into my desk, different dynamics between her and court in their relationship and with Georgia, how things are evolving. And then even like with herself, you know, as a woman and, you know, other factors that come into play, you know, after she spent all this time really not seeing beyond her job and her family. So I really enjoyed working with, you know, those different aspects. Yeah. That was, that was actually one of my questions, a couple questions forward. But I did, I kind of noticed that as well.

There was like, there's kind of as much like internal struggle in Nina as there was like external stuff in this one. And we all kind of know her and like we know the things that have been difficult for her. And now it's kind of like all unavoidable for her to kind of need to look at all of it. Yes, exactly. Yeah, I really, I really enjoyed that part of it. Was there anything, did you do anything different for the writing process of this book? And my more fun part of that question is do you still act out your fight scenes when you're writing them? Yes, I still act out my fight scenes.

them, especially the one that she, you know, has towards the end. I had to make sure that that whole sequence went right because it involved, you know, more than one person, you know, at a certain part. And then even, you know, just a couple of scenes. So those are always fun to do, even if I, you know, look a little wild doing them. What were, I think, I don't know, you asked me what. were like my favorite parts of writing this particular. Would there anything different about your writing process?

Like to anything change, yeah. No, I think I pretty much, you know, kept the same, waited to the last minute, stressed out a lot and then just, you know, knocked everything out and hope that it all worked out. That's funny. I stay on brand with that procrastination. Yeah. I imagine a lot of people do. Um, well, it was kind of one of the things I also noticed was it was a little bit more

political in like a business sense than the other two as well. Um, so her kind of going to Tanzania to, um, smooth over some negotiations in a deal that her dad is like interested in kind of having some control over. So was that kind of like, was that purposeful? Like were you kind of like wanting to like dive into that kind of a it was a little more spy of her than just assassin basically I guess is what I'm saying yeah that was part of her transition from just an assassin because she can definitely still be that that is the thing that she knows very well and so in her arc you know she has to the second one we saw a little bit of it where you know she had to start like transitioning into more leadership position she couldn't because she knows more right

she's aware of more things and so she couldn't be like a cog in the wheel like which is what she wanted to be just you know on the dispatch team just following orders um and then in the third one and it's always been her her father and her mother's um intent to even though this is what she wanted to be just on the dispatch team to move her into you know a position more of a position of leadership because they wanted her and elin to to work hand in hand um so this is part of Noble's grand scheme, right? And she's realizing it. But to move her away from being, you know, an assassin.

And I also wanted to, you know, since I had been talking about it in the past two books, I wanted to also show the tribe in one of the helpful roles, the support roles that they say that they do in terms of being the liaison between government and private industry. to facilitate something that could be helpful for all, but mostly helpful for the people that, you know, everyone claims that they're trying to serve. So I really wanted to show how the tribe figured into how they would like work with, you know, these different entities in my mind.

How it would happen in real life. I don't know because I'm not like into like politics and business and stuff like that. Well, I am into politics, but not in that sense of the word. But like in my mind, this is, you know, this is how I think that the tribe would try to be influential. And Nina definitely needed to navigate that. So as Nina is trying to navigate that in this little bit in Tanzania, we're also trying to navigate it with her because just like her,

this is not what we've known. And so we're learning again as she's doing it. So yeah, there are a few things that, you know, she's hit with this. she had to definitely be taken out of her comfort zone, you know, kicking and, and, and, you know, crying and everything. She didn't want it. Yeah. But she had to.

And so she has to kind of come into her own. Yeah, definitely. The other thing that, like, I've always liked about all of the books is you do have some, like, heartfelt moments with her. Like, there are some really, like, sweet moments. And, like, we really are invested at this point in her relationship. relationship with her family and her relationship with court. But it's also like you're kind of still switching off where like the pacing is still great and it's not all about her emotions either. So like it is

still a thriller. How did you like balance like having her like emotional growth and all of the action as well? Right. Thank you. That's a good question. I'm not too sure how I did it. But I guess I just really went with, uh, with my barometer, right? When I, when I was writing and I'm like, okay, I think I've had enough of her, you know, thinking about something. She's being way too cerebral now. Now we have to have to, you know, ramp it up and something has to happen. So, so the pacing for me, then sometimes I miss the mark and then that's when, you know, my, my editor, my editor will say, you know, hey, we need to, you know, put a little something here or what she feeling in this moment, you know, right here or whatever the case may be. But, but I really

tried to make it, you know, I don't definitely want, um, the reader or myself to always be like on that high, you know, always at the top of the roller coaster. Sometimes we have to have those, those lulls. And so I just really try to, you know, feel like through me when I'm writing and I'm feeling like, okay, it's enough of this high or this low. Let me do something else to kind of like, you know, even it out a little bit, then that's what I'll do. Yeah. Yeah, that makes sense. It would make sense, too, that just, like, I bet that you feel that way when

you're writing in general. Like, you can tell if, like, you're getting bored of something. And so then you're like, oh, okay, kind of time to switch. So, yeah, that totally makes sense. The other thing I thought was pretty cool, like, in relation to court. So, like, she does have a relationship with someone, but it's also, like, he's never 100%. her priority.

And it's not totally a spoiler. I don't think to say that she even cares about his daughter, Georgia, like would run to her faster sometimes. But it kind of, I don't know exactly how to say it, but it kind of like made it more reminiscent of even like male spy thrillers where like sometimes maybe there is a relationship. But that's not the entire focus of it. And like she does have other things that like she is very focused on doing.

So do you think that was intention? or was that kind of something that like you just felt it out as well? Yeah. No, that was very intentional because, you know, I'm a firm believer that, you know, all of one thing is in our everything. And so everyone has to have, you know, like people can't make you happy. You make yourself happy and people like play into that. And so because she's been through so much, I had to be true to,

and that's not to say any other character wouldn't be that way because everybody is, you know, different and feels. different, but especially for this character, since she's been through so much, she's been on her own. It was very hard for her to give all of her everything to, you know, to a man and to entrust that he's going to provide happiness or whatever. She still very much is true to, you know, her job, her family, you know, comes first, you know, Georgia is also extremely important. And her ultimate goal with Georgia is for for Georgia to be the same in that you know one person or you know she never will feel that someone else can can bring her joy you know happy can make her happy completely

or she'll she has to depend on someone else and so I think what it is is Nina and then you know that's also something like a life learning for me also that you know you can't depend on one person to provide everything and so therefore you have to be ready to fill the those, you know, areas that are missing for yourself and bring yourself joy and be helpful, happy in what you're doing and have your focus, you know. And then everyone else who comes into play adds to that. And so that's what she's, you know, Nina always goes by, which is why her, whoever she's dealing with, when it comes to outside relationships, you know, outside of family and stuff like that will always, you know, they're very important to her. He's, you know, one of the most

important people in her life but he's just not he will never be her everything. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. I feel like that was like very obvious and you could you I would still really enjoy the scenes with him too, but then it was like she would just kind of go on and do her own thing still. I don't think that's going to change for her. Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. When it's time for work, it's time for work. Yeah. For sure. Um, so I was going to ask you some spoilery questions next. So if people have not read it, don't keep listening, basically. But so one of the things I noticed is because the book picks up after her betrayal from by wit and her having to, I can't remember what the word is that you use. Retire him.

Yeah. Retire him. So she had to do that. So she kind of has all of that going on. processing all of that. And then her dad sends her to deal with these negotiations. And then kind of later, she finds out he knew that Bridget was probably going to be there and still

asked her to do it, which on some layer or on some levels is also a bit of a betrayal. Did you like pair those up to kind of like push her through all her feelings of betrayal or did that just kind of like happen in the story? Yes and no. I felt like I had to have, I definitely wanted to have a recall, you know, to the first book. And I was like, well, dang, I've like pretty much killed everyone, but there's more person left, you know. And it's, and I, you know, I was thinking about like betrayal.

And in everything that she's done, if, you know, we're definitely talking about spoilers now, anyone who's betrayed, she's, you know, taken them out, right? They haven't been around to, to survive that, you know, betrayal. And so in her journey, and this is also something that she has a discussion about this with Georgia, right? And her mother also asked her of this. And the theme is, you know, if you are faced with a choice where you can do something just because you can do it, should you do it? And she asked that of Georgia when Georgia, you know, gets into the fight and she really hurts someone because of the training that she's had with. with Nina. And so when Nina is faced with Bridget after all this time and Bridget hasn't, you know,

Bridget had Bertritch, you know, became befriended her and turned her over to Robach, the Frenchman. Now seeing her again brings her all the way back to those places. But Nina is like, but is it, am I in this place where I need to kill her? Does she have to die, you know, because of. what she's done. And just because I can kill her very easily and, you know, make it easier for me in life, should I do that? Is that the best thing to do? And, um, and her father, he probably wasn't thinking that deep, you know, uh, he was thinking again about the business. The business is,

we need to get this thing done. This lady is still here. We can't afford to, you know, to kill her and, and mess up these negotiations. Why? Whereas her mother, because as women always do, they're a little bit more deeper. She's like, she's more thinking about, um, Nina in that if you do this thing, it's going to take you even in darker places than you already are because of what you

had to do with wit, because of what you had to do with your brother, Ophori, you know, and all of these things. So be careful with your decision because I don't want this one thing, this, this other thing on your,

on your soul. So she has a lot of things to do. And yeah, it's definitely about betrayal, but about how you move on from, betrayal and the choices that you need to make. Yeah. For yourself.

Yeah. Yes. Yeah. I always, it's like a fun, like, a storyline in all kinds of books of like revenge and like, revenge feeling the best. And sometimes it does. But like, typically the books that stick with me are the ones where then it makes me think about like, but do you really want to become that person? Like, do you want to do that just because you?

you're angry. And it's, it's like a more nuanced approach to looking at like, yeah, how we deal with our past for the most part. Yeah. Yeah. Um, she that you kind of also, I know there was a highlight that I had as well where kind of throughout the whole book, you, or the whole series, you've, she even kind of sees herself as a nina, a nina, or a nina and nina. Um, and that, um, and that, kind of has always like shown her struggle between her past and kind of present self. And do you feel like with the way things played out, she has kind of like been able to integrate both of them? Yeah. For the most part, she has. But honestly, I feel like, you know, there's always a bit of our past selves that creep up when it's triggered. So we never know when things will, you know, bring up

things, you know, how we used to be a little bit, a little bit of a recall. I think she has a better, a much better handle on it. I think with the decision that she makes in this, in this book, it helps her to see that she is capable of, you know, walking away if she needs to. Yeah. And that she's capable of even more than just being, you know, the lay person, you know, that there is a bigger role for her and that she could do it. So she has more confidence. in herself in that regard, but she, but she also has more confidence in being able to control that angry part of her as a 14 year old that is the one that was betrayed as now as a 30-something year old. She's able to kind of, you know, stamp that down a bit. Yeah. And, and, but it will always be

there. It just will come out in, you know, moments of just being really, really triggered and and she'll deal with it, you know, as it comes or whatever. But for the most part, I think, think she's she's really come to terms with with how things are and how things used to be. Yeah. That's a good point to you because it was making me think of like when you said she can keep herself from like acting on it. But also she can kind of like protect yourself if she needs to. That is then still how that kind of plays out. Like she does try to give Bridget a chance.

Like she's like, I'm trying to be better. but sometimes other people just can't be better with us. Right. They won't let you be great, right? Bridget wouldn't let her be great. Bridget should let her be great. I guess you should have. But if we're talking spoilers,

even though, you know, Nina made that, you know, made the choice, you know, Nina was not the one to make the final choice, right? When faced and that was very purposeful of, you know, who made that choice. choice and and who did that for her for the same reasons why you know i had told you about you know why her mom you know wanted her to be careful about what you choose because she didn't want that on her yeah yeah i loved that that because then delphine got to be both too so we got to see that like she could still advise that and like not want there to be death but like if it needs to happen

she's going to protect her kids absolutely she's the mom extreme and was like i need i need delph to like just do a little something so you can get a little taste of what what delphine can really be like you know why she has the power that she has to influence noble and you know to be all these things because I truly believe that you know the strongest women you know in the world are ones that could do what they need to do when they need to do it no questions asked and and so that is delphine yeah I loved that I loved the ending and just I like to too back to my point about like court wasn't everything like you didn't feel the need to like completely make their relationship like perfect and understandable by the end either like it's like

he just is in her life and like george is definitely always going to be in her life so i thought that was cool too yeah um did you this isn't totally spoilery but did you know you were going to write three from the beginning like did you know you wanted it to be a trilogy um when i finished the first one I didn't know that. It had a different ending and I had, you know, completed everything, at least I thought. But I still didn't feel like, you know, I was like, oh, there could be more. But I didn't know at that time because that was before it had been, you know, I had a deal for it or anything like that. So I didn't know if people would want it to, you know, to be a series.

So I try to just make it like a standalone. But my agent was like, you know, would you be interested in, you know, making it a series? And I was like, yeah, because there's so much more I could do, I could take my time with, with Nina. So I felt like when I finished writing the first one that I might, that I rushed myself a little bit and try to, you know, tie everything up as best as possible, you know, in a boat. But I was able to like really, you know, flesh out the relationships that we grew to like love and to, yeah. And especially the relationship between her in court because they were in, you know, these totally different roles, her being an assassin and him being, you know, a DA. How are they going to do that? And how does Georgia come to play? And, you know, how do Nina and Eileen get past the fact that, you know, she had to kill the man that Aline loved, who was her also, her brother?

And how do they all get through that and stuff like that? So, so there were, there was much more. that I was happily wanting to, to dive into. Yeah, I love that we got to see the, yeah, like the personal dynamics play out long term as well. Yeah. So do you know what you're working on next? Are you able to talk about it or if you can't, that's fine too? Yeah, no, I could talk about it, but I'm like, but it's in the process. So I feel very, very, like, insecure about it.

I feel insecure about every work that I do. while I mean. Because I'm like, I don't know if it's trash. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But I mean, but then everybody tells me it's good. And I'm like, well, I hope it's not just because you're paid to tell me or whatever. But. Oh my gosh.

Yeah. But it's going to be, it's not going to be like an action thriller like these. Yeah, that's kind of what I was asking. Yeah. It's not going to be like spy espionage. It's going to be more of a psychological. And it's going to be based in a small. southern town in South Carolina, so I'm bringing it closer to home, but it's a fictional town in

South Carolina. So yeah, it's going to, it's definitely going to be something that definitely different, but also it's going to have that character that is, you know, one that has a lot of struggles that she has to deal with on top of the outside struggles because I do like to talk about struggles and it's going to have, you know, a villain that, you know, that you don't know quite, you know, what's going on with that person, but they are some, I mean, very much, there's someone that I think will, will stick with people, I think. That's really cool. I feel like, I mean, I feel like your spy or your action thrillers also, like, still have

a lot of psychological suspense to them. So I think it'll be great is what I'm trying to say. Like, I feel like that will be. a fun thing to read. So I'm excited. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. The other thing I've been asking people is if they have read anything recently that they loved, but I know sometimes if you're writing, you're not reading. So either way. I have been listening. I usually listen to audio books, because then it's just something I can do like while I'm cooking or driving or something like that. I'm trying to think of what I have read recently.

I've been reading a little bit of Y.A. So the one that I've, oh, yeah. That I've been reading is called, um, the king is dead. Long live the scandal. Uh,

which is about, um, the first, he's biracial, the first black, uh, English king. His father,

um, it dies. And so he now has to take the crown. And so he, he's and he's like maybe 19, 20 or something like that. So he has to assume, you know, take the throne and he's the first, you know, black king. And so how does that all? And then there's this whole scandal that is, you know, comes to play with it.

So how is he going to be received by the people? And on top of that, you know, he's gay. And so how are they going to, you know, receive a gay king and, you know, who's black and and all this other stuff. So I've been enjoying it. It's, you know, it's like a palate cleanser. Yeah. And I just really, really loved the premise.

I was like, ooh, a black king, that's interesting. Right. How are they going to do a black gay king? That's really interesting. How are they going to do that? You know, so that's what I've been listening to. That's really cool. I just had Kim Giarritano on the podcast, and she used to, like, work in a library and, like,

young adult acquisition. So we were talking about young adults. She, like, reads a lot of them, too. And she was bringing up, like, part of what she loves about it is that, like, a lot of the YAA fiction is a little more like cutting edge than some of the adult fiction for like similar things like that like oh a black and gay king in england like they're a little more bold and like what they'll like go into storywise so that's really cool yep yeah i agree with that yes that's awesome i'm gonna have to check that out um where can people follow you to stay up to date

with everything. Yeah, you can definitely follow me on Instagram, author, author underscore yes. I'm also on Facebook, Yasminongo underscore, I'm sorry, Yasminongo author. And still on, I guess, what's formerly known as Twitter on occasion. So that's Yaz, A writer, because you know, we've got to be on pretty much all the socials of post things. Yeah. So yeah, or you can go to my website and you know, hit the contact me form and contact me there. And I'm, and I'm happy to, to respond in between writing and, and, you know, stressing about writing. You know, I'm happy to have a change and write to someone. That's awesome. I will put all those links in the show notes so that maybe people will give you a break from writing. And thank you for being on the show

again. Oh, thank you for having me. I hope you enjoyed this episode of Between the lines. And if you did, the biggest thing you can do to support the podcast is to go rate and review it on whatever platform you listen on. You can also follow me on Instagram at The Girl with the Book on the couch. And if you still need more thrillers in your life, check out Killing the Tea, my other podcast where I talk to my friend Gare about literally everything we read.