The Books

The Cavendish Home for Boys and Girls

middle grade dark fairy tale | tumblr | goodreads | soundtrack

coming from Simon & Schuster BFYR, August 28, 2012!

Victoria hates nonsense. There is no need for it when your life is perfect. The only smudge on her pristine life is her best friend Lawrence. He is a disaster–lazy and dreamy, shirt always untucked, obsessed with his silly piano. Victoria often wonders why she ever bothered being his friend. (Lawrence does, too.)

But then Lawrence goes missing. And he’s not the only one. Victoria soon discovers that Mrs. Cavendish’s children’s home is not what it appears to be. Kids go in but come out . . . different, or they don’t come out at all.

If anyone can sort this out, it’s Victoria, even if it means getting a little messy.

International

Germany, Heyne

Request an ARC here!

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The Year of Shadows

middle grade ghost story | tumblr | goodreads | soundtrack

coming from Simon & Schuster BFYR, Fall 2013!

13-year-old Olivia Stellatella and her father have sold all their belongings to keep her father’s orchestra from going bankrupt. Now, they live out of suitcases in the back rooms of Emerson Hall, where the orchestra performs.

Olivia hates it there.

She hates her squeaky cot and shabby clothes. She hates her father, too, for being so obsessed with music that he drove Olivia’s mother out of the house and got them into this mess. Most of all, Olivia hates the orchestra. It’s the orchestra’s fault that her father’s the way he is. She can’t wait for it to fail.

Until the ghosts come.

They’re lonely, frightened, and stuck in our world. Only if Olivia and the 14-year-old usher, Henry, can help the ghosts solve the mysteries of their deaths — deaths that are somehow related to the Hall’s past — will they be able to move on and find peace. But time — and money — is running out. The mayor wants to bulldoze the Hall to the ground, which would put Olivia and her father out on the streets and trap the ghosts in our world permanently. And other ghosts — bad ones — will do anything to keep them here. As the “ghosts of Emerson Hall” craze sweeps the city, Olivia faces life-changing family secrets and must fight for her life when her world, and the world of Death, collide.

The Year of Shadows is a middle grade ghost story about loss, magic, music, and the power of friendship.

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Winterspell

young adult retelling of The Nutcracker | tumblr | goodreads | soundtrack

coming from Simon & Schuster BFYR in 2014!

To find her abducted father and keep her sister safe from the lecherous politicians of 1899 New York City, 17-year-old Clara Stole must journey to the wintry kingdom of Cane. There, Anise, queen of the faeries, has ousted the royal family in favor of her own totalitarian, anti-human regime. Clara’s only companion is 18-year-old Nicholas, Cane’s rightful prince, whom she freed from a curse that left him trapped in disfiguring faery magic — but time is running out, for both Nicholas and Clara’s family. A deadly secret threatens to destroy Clara and Nicholas even as it binds them irrevocably together. And the land of Cane is anything but sweet.

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Untitled YA #2

coming from Simon & Schuster! more information TBA!

Earthshine

young adult post-apocalyptic/high fantasy trilogy | tumblr

Two girls. Two times. Two countries.

One family.

One war.

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Don’t forget to check out my Tumblr, where I post inspirational photos for each project! (Not inspirational like thank you Jesus, but inspirational as in they inspire me to work. But you probably figured that out on your own.)