EXCLUSIVE: Sony Pictures has identified its next exciting literary property for feature adaptation, snapping up rights to The Heartstring Duet, the bestselling dark fantasy romance series by Liv Zander.
The series consists of books Crown Me Dead and Crown Me Yours, blending dark fantasy, horror and romance, which went viral following their self-publication just one week apart this past April.
Here’s the logline for the book series: In a kingdom cursed by a deadly plague, Elara, the daughter of gravediggers, tends to the dead alongside what remains of her family. When her brother falls ill, a mysterious palace steward offers her a bargain that could save his life: seduce the reclusive king and make him fall in love with her, breaking the curse by dying at his hand. But as Elara uncovers the truth behind the curse, she must decide whether to become a willing sacrifice or fight for her own survival.
Upon publication this spring, Crown Me Dead climbed to No. 5 among all eBooks on Amazon. Together, the books have amassed more than 100 million Kindle page reads worldwide in just three and a half months.
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Requited, an imprint of Hachette, locked down U.S. rights following the success of the self-release, alongside HQ, an imprint of HarperCollins, for the UK. The books been translated into 14 languages and had print editions re-released in both countries just this week.
A USA Today and Amazon bestseller, Zander is also known for self-published works include the Court of Ravens and Pale Court series, both dark fantasy romances. She is represented by Untitled, Maggie Marr Legal and Park, Fine & Brower Literary Management.
Other high-profile literary properties recently set up for adaptation at Sony include Lindsey Anderson Beer’s Hollow (to star Sydney Sweeney), Michael Crichton & James Patterson’s Eruption, Freida McFadden’s The Surrogate Mother, Lynn Painter’s Fake Skating (to star Amelie Hoeferle and Graham Campbell), Katy Hays’ Home Economics (to star Julia Roberts) and Don Winslow’s City on Fire (to star Austin Butler), to name just a few.