Books for kids, teens, & those who are young at heart

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WITCH TEST Cover Reveal & ARCs

It’s here! The cover for my upcoming middle grade WITCH TEST is such a mood. I love Liza’s stance and the glowing moon reflecting off of everything. It’s got the corn maze and the crows, which are so important to Liza’s story. Big shout-out to MiblArt for creating the cover!

WITCH TEST will be out on September 13, 2022. I’m working on getting it up for pre-order on all the usual book retail sites and scheduling events for the fall. In the meantime, ARCs (advanced reader copies) will be going out in the next few weeks. If you’re interested in receiving an early copy to read and review, you can fill out the ARC form here.

WITCH TEST blurb:

Liza is sinking in a bubbling cauldron of middle school rumors.

When the entire eighth grade begins studying the Salem witch trials, it seems everyone is on a witch hunt…with Liza as target number one. Worst of all, her ex-best friend is the one who started a rumor that Liza bewitched a boy with a love potion.

As the bullying intensifies, Liza’s loneliness grows. More than ever, she wishes her mother were still alive. A glimmer of hope arrives when Liza finds her mother’s diary…until she actually reads it. Turns out Liza’s family connection to witches goes back for centuries. So much for the witch stuff being rumors!

If Liza can channel her inner witch at the Halloween night corn maze, she might find the strength to stand up for herself. If not, she risks losing a piece of herself to a growing depression and any hope of happiness.

WITCH TEST is an upper middle grade Mean Girls meets The Craft novel for pre-teens and young teens.

Doesn’t it look so pretty next to PIRATE ISLAND? I love how my two middle grade book babies complement each other.

ELIXIR SAVED Cover Reveal (Finally!!!)

I’ve been promising the cover reveal for ELIXIR SAVED, and that day has finally arrived!!! I was hoping to have it up for pre-order before I revealed the cover, but I’m not quite there yet and thought we could all use some beauty in our lives right now. Plus I’ve been sitting on this cover for months and decided it was time all ready.

Please feel free to share the cover image or the video reveal (seriously, let’s paint the Internet with this gorgeous cover). And, of course, send all the props and love to my amazingly talented cover artist Susan Tait Porcaro.

Three lives saved by the Elixir; three lives bound by it.

The Elixir entwines the lives of those it touches. Once upon a time, Kylene, Zelenka, and Devon tasted it and escaped death. None were left without scars. Now, a shocking message from the Ice Queen—one of Mother Nature’s higher beings—sends each survivor on a quest. Kylene travels to the frozen depths of Blanchardwood, Zelenka heads back to the wilds of Faway Forest, and Devon journeys to a reclusive mountain temple. The three paths converge in a war against an ancient and tricky foe. And even the Elixir cannot save everyone. The fate of the world balances on the edge of a sword, and the outcome depends on whether the survivors will sacrifice their second chances.

Escape back into the world of the Great Peninsula in this much-anticipated sequel to the award-winning ELIXIR BOUND.

And here it is in all its snowy glory!!!

My YA Fantasy ELIXIR BOUND Is Now Available

The pretty, new version of my YA fantasy ELIXIR BOUND (with the gorgeous cover by Susan Tait Porcaro) is finally hitting all the online vendors. It’s been a bit of a thing to make the switch from the old version to the new one with reverting the rights back to me and getting the new cover, blurb, and actual book up on the sites, but you don’t need to know all the nitty gritty details of that.

(Or maybe your do want to know about that stuff. If you’re interested in learning more about indie publishing…I could blog about it…let me know in the comments if that sounds like something you’d like to read about. Mostly I feel like I don’t know what I’m doing 😉 but I’m doing it, so that’s something.)

So hopefully all this trouble wasn’t for nothing and it actually sells a few copies. So here are some places where you can find it (the new version isn’t up on IndieBound yet, but I’ll update my homepage and the books page once that link is ready):

Amazon paperback & ebook – https://www.amazon.com/Elixir-Bound-Katie-L-Carroll/dp/099892542X

Amazon ebook – https://www.amazon.com/Elixir-Bound-Katie-L-Carroll-ebook/dp/B07DHB5WRM

Barnes & Noble paperback & ebook – https://m.barnesandnoble.com/w/elixir-bound-katie-l-carroll/1117532812

Kobo ebook – https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/elixir-bound-1

If you do read it, I’d be ever so grateful if you left a review on any (and all) of these vedors and also over on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40489385-elixir-bound) if you’re there. And also just spread the word if you liked it. Buy it as a gift for the pre-teen or teen in your life (or the YA loving grown-up you know). Request it at your local library. Word of mouth is one of the best ways to get a book noticed. I’d love to keep making more books, and the more copies I sell, the more I can focus on creating more books. That goes for giving my MG adventure PIRATE ISLAND (Goodreads link https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34818093-pirate-island) a little love as well!

ELIXIR BOUND blurb:

Katora Kase isn’t the firstborn son nor does she possess the type of magic that can conjure spells or bewitch others.

In the land of the Great Peninsula—an epic fantasy world ruled by the Great Mother Nature and her offspring—those things aren’t a measure of one’s worth. And what Katora does possess is the subtle magic running through her blood that marks her as the next guardian of a secret healing Elixir that is her family’s legacy. It is such a highly guarded secret that Katora doesn’t know of its existence until a rare snowstorm blows through with a message for her father, the current guardian.

Katora sets off on a quest into the wilds of Faway Forest to find the flowers that give the Elixir its potency. Even though she is accompanied by her sister, her brother, an old family friend, and the handsome son of a mapmaker, she feels alone. For it is her decision alone whether or not to bind herself to the Elixir’s magic to serve and protect it until a new guardian is chosen. The forest hosts many dangers, including wicked beings that will stop at nothing to gain power, but the biggest danger Katora may face is whether or not to open up her heart to love.

Book Spotlight on GHOST TOUCH by LA Dragoni

I’m shining the spotlight on LA Dragoni’s paranormal romance GHOST TOUCH. You may have seen LA here on the blog with her kidlit alter-ego Kai Strand (fellow #InkRipples founder!). Let’s give her a big welcome!

GHOST TOUCH blurb:

For fifteen minutes each night a portal opens in Tamara’s barn and a horde of ghosts spills into her yard. She and Dex work together to find a way to help Cal and the thousands of spirits stuck in the void to cross over. When she learns she has the ghost touch—the ability to touch the ghosts as if they were corporeal—and she accidentally helps a little boy cross, she believes it might be possible. But not all the spirits play nice and when they learn they can sip energy from her ghost touch, they become greedy putting her life at risk.

Each time Cal has to pull her from the mass of ghosts, her touch restores him more and more until he is at danger of being stuck on earth—forever, which is very enticing to Tamara the better she knows him. Will she and Dex figure out how to help the spirits cross and if they do, will she be able to let Cal go?

Available in print, ebook, and audiobook from Amazon,

Also available on Barnes and Noble, Kobo, iTunes, and other e-tailers.

Excerpt:

Tamara rubbed her hands together then held them toward the fire. The air had an extra chill to it. “Hurry up, they should be here soon.”

She’d barely finished speaking when bright light burst through the barn. Tamara spun back around. “Dex!”

She shielded her eyes with a hand searching for Dex’s familiar silhouette, but couldn’t make him out in the chaos of ghosts streaming from within the building.

“Dex!” she shouted again, leaping forward and running toward the door. A stabbing pain of cold sliced through her upper arm when she knocked against the ghost with the shovel in his hand. He stopped to stare at her with a surprised expression on his face. She pushed forward, ignoring the increasing pain as she jostled up against the ghosts.

A knot of ghosts hunkered together where she last saw Dexter. She pushed through them, her warm touch surprising enough to make them jump back. Dex lay crumpled in a quivering ball at the center of the group. Tamara kneeled beside him and clutched his shoulders.

“Dex! Are you okay?” He didn’t respond, just rocked to and fro, mumbling incoherent words. She shouted. “Dex! Can you hear me?”

His gaze finally lifted, a wary look colored with terror.

“Oh my God.” Tamara wrapped her arms around him. His body was ice cold. She pressed as much of herself against him as she could and buried her face in his hair. “I gotcha. You’ll be okay.”

Then she became aware of an ache worming through her muscles and realized hands pawed at her, clutched her, and were trying to pull her away. She raised a furious glare at the eager crowd of ghouls and snarled. “Stop! Leave us alone.”

However, hunger showed in the eyes of those who’d been dead a short enough time to still have them. Actions became more insistent and then combative. The group shoved and swayed until she worried she’d be crushed beneath them when they fell. She kept her arms wrapped around Dex, hoping to keep the spirits off him, but many simply reached through him to get to her. He shuddered violently and had grown quiet.

Each individual touch drained her of warmth and energy, yet they continued to grope at her arms and back, tug on her hair and clothing. She grew weaker and weaker until the edges of her vision dimmed and she could barely feel the boy she was trying to protect. Just before she passed out, a roar penetrated her frozen mind and she sensed more than saw the crowd spring away. But she was already too far gone and lost consciousness just as lukewarm hands gripped her upper arms.

Reviews:

“The writing’s terrific, the storyline compelling. Truth be told, I rushed to the end to find out who Tamara would end up with.”

-Stuart R. West

About the author: 

LA Dragoni isn’t too particular about who falls in love or where they fall in love. She simply considers it her job to capture the story about their love. Whether it’s paranormal, mythical, or time travel, LA will be there to divine their story for you. She lives in Central Oregon with her husband and children, but haunts ghost towns and cemeteries up and down the west, in search of the next adventure to sift through her storytelling brain. Follow LA on Facebook and Twitter. Subscribe to her mailing list and learn more about LA and her work at www.ladragoni.com

January #InkRipples: The Cover Process for ELIXIR BOUND by Katie L. Carroll

I originally wrote this post back when I did the blog tour for my YA fantasy ELIXIR BOUND. I don’t think I’ve ever posted it on my blog, and I thought it would be fun to highlight the cover process of my book during the January #InkRipples theme of book covers.

I was lucky enough as a MuseItUp author to have a little input (mostly in the form of an author questionnaire) when it came to the cover of ELIXIR BOUND. That’s not to say that I can take any credit for how gorgeous it is. All that credit goes to my cover artist C.K. Volnek.

The beauty of what she did was to take some of my thoughts on what types of covers I like (I happened to cite the American cover for Melina Marchetta’s Froi of the Exiles as one that caught my eye of late) and a few key elements of the story and integrate them into an engrossing and detailed cover that in no way looks crowded or busy. If I knew how she was specifically able to do this, I would probably quit writing and become a cover artist myself (not really, I would never quit writing).

What I can tell you are some of the details I gave her and how they showed up in the cover. (I’ll be honest, this post is really just an excuse to let me point out all the cool things on the cover!) ELIXIR BOUND is essentially about Katora’s quest to retrieve the main ingredient to her family’s secret healing Elixir so she can take over as guardian.

Let’s start with character. Katora is definitely the central element on the cover. I expected to be asked about how she looks, but what I didn’t expect was to be asked about her personality. The three words I chose to describe her: stubborn, confident, independent. I think the model depicting Katora was a great fit. Her expression and body language were just right. So character: check!

Let’s move onto plot. The subject of the quest is the Elixir, which is prominently represented in the left-hand corner near the title. The objective of the quest is to find the Elixir’s main ingredient, which just happens to come from the tiny white flowers vining their way along the edges. So plot: check!

Next let’s discuss setting. Most of the journey takes places in a forest. The background gives you a sense of the rustic setting with the tree to the right and the mysterious doorway-type thing behind Katora (is it a cave, the entrance to a tomb?). I like how it sets a mood, but doesn’t get too specific because when I read, I like to let my own imagination fill in those details. Have you noticed the mountain range at the bottom of the cover? Did you notice its shape? The mountain range is aptly called The Sleeping Giant and I was so thrilled to see it included on the cover. So setting: double check!

And finally, my favorite aspect of the cover…my name, of course! It’s been my dream for so many years to see my name on the cover of a book and I couldn’t be more pleased with the result.

#InkRipples is a monthly meme created by Katie L. Carroll, Mary Waibel, and Kai Strand. We pick a topic (January is all about book covers), drop a ripple in the inkwell (i.e. write about it on our blogs), and see where the conversation goes. We’d love to have you join in the conversation on your own blogs or on your social media page. Full details and each month’s topic can be found on my #InkRipples page.

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