Debut Novel
Reverie & Ruin
If you like…
Secret, enchanted cities and magic colleges tucked within our modern world.
Dark and twisty horror that rides shotgun with wonder, magic & lore.
A Discovery of Witches
Magic wielders & unique monsters with their own hierarchies + star-crossed romance
The Legendborn Cycle
A supernatural crime that connects to a much bigger conspiracy + legacies + curses
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Found family, humor & heart + big destiny vibes
Meet the Characters
DANI VALE
A talented thief and con who thinks magic is for Hollywood movies, not heists. Tormented by night terrors so real she has to pad the furniture when she sleepwalks through violent dreams. Dani will do anything—possibly even make a deal with darkness — to pay her debts, earn her freedom, and find a link to her missing family.
THE OUTCAST
Curse worker and ruthless crime boss in the Argentum, the shadow market for malum, and monsters outlawed by the Magisterium. A mysterious immortal who dreams of meat-lover’s pizza and 24/7 vengeance. Making a deal with the cocky thief who sees beyond his mask could set them both free…or set the world on fire.
CASSIUS KING
Second-born son in a family that values first place above all else. Obsessed with proving his father wrong. To redeem his reputation and save his brother from a death curse, he will either have to betray his family or double-cross the thief with the crooked smile who stole his heart.
The Dilemma
There are devils in the darkness that know her true name.
Liar. Cheater. Thief.
Dani has been called many things, but never a quitter. When her fake foster parents and full-time criminal employers saved her from certain death, Dani learned that life only gives you two options at any given time: survive or surrender. At nineteen, Dani is a professional survivor who can con the most jaded marks, pick any lock, and outrun the cops (and most of her bad decisions). Until the day her reckless mouth writes a check her life can’t cash, and Dani makes a bad deal with an enigmatic crime boss who traffics in the occult.
murder & MYSTERY
But when she steals the right relic at the wrong time, Dani is mysteriously transported behind the gates of Three Kings, an enchanted city hidden within the mundane world. A city where those born with magic in their blood serve the Eight Everlasting—houses of arcane power that protect the world from the forsaken, monsters born of the eight original curses. When the relic binds to her body, Dani is not only arrested for theft but also becomes the number one suspect of a murder she did not commit and the anchor to an ancient, lethal curse.
A Second Chance
Fate delivers a second chance when the House of the Weaver, the most mysterious of the Eight Everlasting, bound to the magic of destiny, sends an emissary, Cassius King. Though Cassius claims to be a noble apprentice at Whipple & Walker Arcane Investigations, a firm known for taking on impossible curses and unsolvable cases, he has a list of secrets as long as Dani’s and twice as deadly.
The Con of a Lifetime
With only eight weeks until the curse claims her life, Dani will have to pull off the con of a lifetime—working with the good guys, including Cassius and his genius, time-cursed employer, to play the role of hero long enough to find the source of the dark hex and break it. But to free herself, Dani will have to free the other victims from a forsaken, the Beast of Ruin, a parasitic monster that controls the hearts and minds of its victims using fear and desire.
Unlocking the Truth
As the curse digs its claws into Dani, it challenges everything she thinks she knows about herself and her history. Just when she begins to follow her heart and believe she could earn a home and a place on Team Hero for real, her criminal past resurfaces with revelations that threaten to destroy everything. Now Dani will have to choose once and for all. Survive at all costs. Or surrender to a wild, dangerous calling that could free them all…or wake a far greater evil at the center of Three Kings.
THE EIGHT EVERLASTING
Magic is real. Magic is everywhere. Unfortunately, so are the monsters.
Thankfully, the eight everlasting houses of arcane power, located in hidden cities tucked into the modern world, protect us all from the forsaken, the monsters born of the eight original curses.
Why I wrote this story
A Story That FightS Back
I never outgrew my fear of the dark. During one particularly tough time in my life, when I felt certain that my terror and the darkness were the same, when I spent countless sleepless nights wondering whether the best I could hope for was to survive my life instead of live it, wild, messy, and without apology, I screamed out loud:
What did I have to do to live free?
Of course, it was a stormy New England winter night, the kind where the wind had teeth, and the darkness spoke with stolen mouths.
“Give the fear to us,” said the devils in the darkness of my imagination. “Open the door. We will take your terror and show you the path to freedom.”
I felt a door present itself within me, but I wasn’t ready to open it. I wanted to reverse course and clutch the life jacket of fear to my chest…but why?
The Mystery
That night, I had a rare, vivid dream of a cottage in a mystical wood with a glowing eight-pointed star and mysterious sigil at its center. In the cottage, a young woman with fire-lit scars looked up at me and…I woke up mid-dream. Desperate to solve the mystery, I found a notebook and wrote down the bones of a story about a young woman chained to fear, caught between her criminal past and her will to survive, and surrendering to a path that could change her life for the better…or end it.
The Stakes
If you stole a relic to pay a life debt, but that relic made you the anchor to an ancient and lethal curse.
If that curse was a key that opened a door…that should remain locked.
In a city where magic and power are not the same thing, and those born with both will do anything—even kill—to protect their secrets, how far into the darkness would you go to unlock the truth?
What would you sacrifice to claim freedom for yourself and others? To change your fate for the better, despite a world that tells you that you don’t deserve it?
In writing Reverie and Ruin I learned the secrets that fear and dreams both keep. Secrets I hope you discover for yourself as you rise in your own unique magic.
✺ Frequently asked questions ✺
Q: What is the genre and tone?
A: Contemporary fantasy-horror with mystery and romance elements. For fans who like magical cities, dark academia, morally grey characters, enemies-to-friends-to-lovers, found family, intricate magic, unique monsters, and humor to accompany a fighting heart.
Q: What is the hook?
A: To pay a life debt, a thief and con with missing memories of her past steals the right relic at the wrong time. But when that relic binds to her body, she becomes the prime suspect in a murder she did not commit and the anchor to an ancient curse.
Q: Who is the intended audience?
A: Readers who enjoy young adult and adult fantasy-horror with one foot firmly planted in the world we know. Readers who enjoy genre mashups that combine magic with terrifying monsters, murder mysteries, and romantic tension.
Q: What are your comps?
A: For fans who enjoy the supernatural hierarchies of a Discovery of Witches, the secret societies of monster-fighting magic wielders, and the grand conspiracy of the Legendborn Cycle and the found family, humor, and heart of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Q: Is there potential for a series?
A: Yes. Though the story stands alone, there is also a plan for an expanded series.
Let’s Start a New Chapter
Available for interviews, articles on writing, book fairs, and personal appearances.