Excerpt from my forthcoming book, The Dream Tree:

“The house became perfectly still, waiting. Ruby held the knife with a trembling hand as a small blue flame spread out beneath the burner. The tip of the knife turned orange and then, gradually, crimson. Her five-year-old granddaughter, Cassin, sat on the table beside her, shivering. The little girl’s face was splotchy and pink from crying, and her blue jeans were dirtied from kneeling in the chicken coop. Ruby looked at the tender flesh of her granddaughter’s neck and wondered how she was going to do it.”

This begins Cassin’s journey with a magical tree who will do anything to get what it wants. It will take more than a decade for Cassin to return to Idlewild and her grandmother, Ruby’s, house. When she does, she arrives with a group of traveling transients called the Strangelings, who make their home in forests and steal from everyone they meet. In Idlewild, Cassin is thrust into a life-or-death chase to find the last magical Rowan tree before the Strangelings do, or their cult-like leader, Lenny, will harness the tree’s power for himself.

The Dream Tree is the first of three in a young adult fantasy series. I can’t wait to share more—but in the meantime you can listen to my Spotify play list to set the mood.