The heroine of Kristin Cashore's second novel, Fire, is named for the color of her hair -- a prismatic red that mixes shades of ``sunrise, copper, poppy, fuchsia, and flame'' into a mane so dazzling she keeps it covered with a scarf to deflect attention.

That same word -- dazzling -- sums up Cashore's entry into publishing.

Her first novel arrived last year on a gushing wave of praise. Graceling was named a Best Book of 2008 by Publishers Weekly, School Library Journal and Kirkus Reviews. Foreign rights were sold in 21 languages. Advance copies of Fire were this year's must-have galley at bookseller trade shows.

``It's all been so surprising,'' said Cashore, 33, who wrote Graceling in Jacksonville before moving back to the Northeast earlier this year. She returns to Florida with a stop Sunday at Books & Books in Coral Gables. ``I never thought any of this would happen.''

Indeed, it took Cashore a while to figure out what direction her life would take. One of four daughters of a religion professor at a small Catholic college in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., the only thing she'd been sure of about her career path was that it ought to be lined with books.

``We would go to the library, and the number of books you were allowed to take home equaled your age. That way, we could make sure we got the right number of books back,'' she said. ``That meant, when I was 12, I was reading 12 books every two weeks -- Judy Blume, Beverly Cleary, Katherine Paterson, Madeline L'Engle, then onto 19th century British literature.''

She majored in English literature at Williams College and went on to Simmons College for a master's in children's literature, thinking she might be a librarian. A creative writing course, during which she completed a middle-grade novel (which ``still needs a lot of work'') kick-started her desire to write.

After graduation, she supported herself by writing elementary educational material.

Novel No. 2 was Graceling. The setting was ``vaguely medieval,'' and the lead characters -- Lady Katsa and Prince Po -- were defined by their mixed eye color, which signified they possessed a particular ``grace,'' a special skill that is not always immediately apparent. Early in her days in the king's court, Katsa's grace is identified when she whacks a visiting dignitary who has groped her and snaps his neck. Katsa's grace is for killing.

A first draft took a year and a half. A college friend knew an agent but the agent's website specified ``No fantasy.'' Cashore queried her to see if she would make an exception, and was given permission to send 50 pages.

``Then I got a call saying she wanted to work with me. A few weeks later we had an offer.''

Like Graceling, Fire is an absorbing fantasy, with romantic angst between the leads. That's not to say teen boys won't enjoy either book -- there's enough political machination and court intrigue to hold their interest.

Though Fire has been billed as a ``companion'' to Graceling, one need not have read the first book to enjoy the second. Set decades before Graceling in a neighboring kingdom, the special feature of its population is ``monsters,'' fabulously colored creatures with the power of mind control. Fire's late father was a monster and at his insistence, she has grown up far from the capital city, away from those who might want to use her unique powers of persuasion to further their own interests.

Fans of Graceling may initially be disappointed that Fire does not feature the heroes of the first book, but anyone who fell in love with Katsa and Po's story will be equally enthralled by Fire's romantic and political entanglements.

Cashore is at work on a third volume, but it is set in a period after the action in Graceling.

``Unfortunately, I don't have an overarching plan,'' Cashore said. ``I just have to wait and see what book is asking to be written.''

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