Title: Salt Kisses Series Author: Josie Demuth Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Starfish Island, a place where the human world and the magic world collide…
Seventeen-year-old Crystal White is the new girl on Starfish Island. Dragged to the remote community by her environmental activist father, she is eager to find fun that doesn’t involve touching fish guts or listening to local folklore.
During a midnight swim with some new friends, Crystal is pulled out to sea by the waves. Convinced she’s going to drown, Crystal is rescued by Llyr, a handsome stranger. As she searches for him in the following weeks, she finds there may be more truth to the Starfish legends than she thought.
Over a sizzling roller-coaster summer, Llyr introduces Crystal to magic she’d only ever dreamed of. But as Crystal comes to love Starfish Island, it begins to drive her family apart. A nearby power plant is devastating local marine life, and her parents are stuck in the middle. As the magic and mundane parts of Crystal’s life converge, she finds herself risking everything to save Llyr, her family, and herself.
Mine @2 I double-checked the message again. I was restless, I wanted to see Rosie now. What is this big secret? What does it have to do with Llyr?
I would now have to wait until two o’clock to find out.
I have a vivid imagination and it was rattling around in my skull like a hurricane right now. Is Llyr some kind of criminal on the run? Does he have to hide in the sea or something? Maybe he was a Starfish native and that was why only islanders knew of his hiding place… Where does he sleep?! He must get really cold out there all the time… Surely, he would drown at some point or catch pneumonia. What had he done anyway, and should I turn him in? Surely I couldn’t let my insane crush on him get in the way of justice.
I did a Google search on my phone, typing in ‘Most Wanted’ and ‘Coney Bay’.
A jokey news article came up about a kid who had released their goldfish into the sea and now wanted it back.
I screamed with frustration and threw my phone on the sofa, storming out into the back garden and down the ocean stairway.
It was a blazing hot June Sunday, but I didn’t care. I would search for answers. When I got to the jetty, I marched to the end of it, and I stood there gazing out to sea.
I must have looked a little strange to the neighbours standing so determined on the edge of the jetty, fists clenched at my sides, my hair yellow in the sun.
I was a woman on a mission, but with nowhere to mission to.
My eyes scanned the sea, begging for something, but asides from a fishing boat and a couple of gulls, the surface was barren.
“Darling!”
It was Mum. She was making her way down the stairs.
I sighed. “Hi Mum”
“Are you alright, standing around in the boiling heat like this?” she shouted.
“Yeah, I’m fine Mum,” I said distractedly.
She made her way down the jetty. She wore a big floppy black sun hat and a black fitted strappy dress.
“Are you off to a funeral?” I joked as she neared. It was surely not normal to wear such dark colours in the summer.
“I suppose I’m mourning London, Crystal,” she said putting her arm around my shoulders.
God, she’s so melodramatic. She’s probably trying to give Dad a guilt trip.
“It’s nice here,” I said reassuringly, as we looked out to sea. “I missed London to start with, but I’ve not thought about it one bit in the past few weeks.”
I was still scouring the waters.
“That’s great,” she said watching my face carefully. “But you don’t really seem yourself.”
“Oh… well, I’m fine,” I pretended.
My mum was silent, and I knew she was waiting for me to explain myself.
“Oh, it’s just this guy.”
“Oh, well, say no more,” she said, looking relieved. “Now, my motherly advice is keep cool, kid.”
I laughed, “Okay Mum.”
“Let them do the chasing.”
No danger of me chasing Llyr, I thought. I wasn’t even totally sure if he existed.
Josie is an author who writes the occasional article. She loves all things gothic and magical, but particularly a story which is fun, intriguing and says a little something about the world. She loves to write about weird and wonderful happenings in her hometown, London but also sets her tales in the mystical lands of the Westcountry, England and more recently, Iceland.
Josie’s novella Liggers and Dreamers was published by Thin Man Press in 2015 and was described as ‘beautifully written’ in a critique by bestselling author and radical poet Heathcote Williams. Meanwhile her YA Salt Kisses series – a new-age eco ‘mermance’ – has garnered nearly four million reads on story-telling site, Wattpad and tens of thousands on Radish Fiction app. The first three books are now published and can be purchased through Amazon.
Josie has appeared on the ‘Wattpad’s most successful authors tell you how to do it’ panel at WattCon, Foyles, SoHo. Her former zine, La Bouche, has also featured on the BBC Today Program on a feature about literary sub-culture; in LOVE Magazine’s TOP TEN ZINES, and in Thames and Hudson’s FANZINES. In 2009, it was selected as the ICA bookshop’s first ever ‘Zine of the month’.
Josie also writes short stories and articles. She hosts fantasy writing competition ‘Under The Sea’, which last featured NY-Times bestselling YA author Danielle Paige as the celebrity judge.
Gwen Foster has never been kissed. But when she gets the chance to finally see what all the hype is about, it’s with her best friend’s crush. Embroiled in relationship drama she doesn’t understand, and ostracized from her friend group, Gwen escapes the angst by using her favorite femme fatale as a role model… and makes snooping on her classmates her new pastime.
Gwen’s detective work appears to be going well, until an unknown social media account starts spilling all the scandalous personal details she’s uncovered. Now this wannabe spy must stop whoever is behind it before everyone’s dirty laundry is aired, and Gwen is forced to finish high school without any friends.
Other People’s Butterflies is a coming-of-age contemporary mystery about not needing to find your first love – but yourself – and how to mend the relationships that matter to you.
Now it’s just me and Big Jimmy in the den, and I realize with mounting discomfort that his arm is resting behind me on the back of the sofa. Is that a move? Maybe his arm’s just tired. I turn to look at him, hoping I can read his intentions on his face. As I turn, a straggly bit of hair falls across my face. Big Jimmy reaches out and tucks it behind my ear.
Okay, that was definitely a move. I shake my head so that the lock of hair falls again, to show him that I don’t appreciate him tidying me up. I’d probably be more convincing if I weren’t grinning, but I can’t help it – it’s some kind of nervous reaction. He grins back and tucks the hair behind my ear again, and I shake it free again. Now I’m grinning because I’m actually kind of enjoying this. It feels like a game, and it feels like I’m winning somehow.
We carry on. Tuck and shake, tuck and shake. I think he’s going to kiss me. If he does, I’m going to kiss him back. I don’t particularly want to, but I have to kiss somebody sometime and I may as well get it over with. I’m assuming the desire to kiss will kick in once I’m actually doing it. Like in a romantic comedy, when one character kisses another out of the blue. Maybe they’re arguing, or waiting for a train, and the mood isn’t noticeably romantic but then the guy kisses the girl and there’s a little bit of music. Sparkly sounding, with the notes rising upwards, and you can almost feel it in your stomach. Tingly.
His hand cups the side of my face, I close my eyes automatically, and then it’s happening. Our mouths slide slickly over each other, like our lips are coated in oil or something. Romantic comedies have lied to me – kissing does not feel like the music sounds. Maybe the music is only there to cover up the embarrassing squishing noises coming from between two faces.
Cora Ruskin is a part-time MSc student of Science Communication, and works for a charity that helps victims of crime. Writing gets squeezed in between the two. She lives in Bristol, England, with five housemates and a very messy kitchen. “Other People’s Butterflies” is her debut novel.
Title: Mimic Author: C.L. Denault Series: The Prodigy Chronicles #2 Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction Romance
Three simple rules. One secret skill. Let the game continue.
In 2012, one cycle of an ancient calendar system came to a close. Humanity predicted its downfall, but it wasn’t the end of their evolutionary climb. It was the beginning.
Willow Kent is discovering that life as a second-phase prodigy comes at a price. Trapped in the London Core, her choices are limited, made difficult by her forbidden romance with Reece and the presence of a new commanding officer who establishes harsh rules. With unpredictable skills and a growing distrust in her birth parents, she is struggling to play the Core’s game. But when opportunity arises in the form of a mysterious shapeshifter, Willow realizes there’s more to her own evolution than meets the eye. She soon learns that keeping secrets is a key move, and the more dangerous they are, the greater her need to evolve into the powerful prodigy nature intended her to become.
But those closest to her have their own secrets, and her status has made her an easy target for betrayal. Who will she turn to…when nothing is as it seems?
Mimic is the second book in The Prodigy Chronicles, a Hunger Games meets X-Men dystopian romance series about a young girl struggling to control her immense powers and find her place in a city filled with enemies.
The blow shouldn’t have stunned me. I’d grown up in a tavern, defending myself, and had spent plenty of time training with Kane and Tem. I knew how to take a hit.
This was more than a hit. Kristoffe’s swing was fast and brutal, with a force behind it that rivaled my own—enough to knock me off my feet and send me flying down the hall.
Sensations took over. There was the feel of backward motion. Loss of control as my body hit the floor. More motion from sliding, and the hot sting of my flesh scraping tile. Ceiling lights blurred into white lines. Pain throbbed in my cheek.
But it was the tightness in my throat that hurt most. The tiger clawed like mad as we slid. Her screams pierced the fog in my brain, parting it, carving out a path. If I didn’t stop her, she would use it to climb up and take control.
Let me in!
I managed to shake my head.
You need me!
“No,” I whimpered, bumping into the limp body of an elevator guard. One of his arms stopped me, and I sat up quickly, recoiling. He was spread-eagled, face down among his comrades, his fingers wrapped around a retinal scanner. I cringed. Was he dead? Had the tiger killed them all? Then my eyes fell on the laser resting at his hip.
Take it.
I couldn’t. I’d never fired one before.
He’ll kill us!
Not sure who she meant, I jerked my head around. The man with the sabre was still gone. But Kristoffe and his patrol were marching in my direction, dragging Toby with them. He struggled violently until one of them drove a fist into his stomach. A savage tug tore through my belly. Gasping, I leaned over, fumbling for the guard’s laser.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” Kristoffe signaled for his men to stop, but continued walking toward me. He didn’t waver, not even when I grasped the laser in both hands and aimed it at him.
“That’s far enough,” I said.
He kept coming.
“I’ll shoot.” My finger instinctively hugged the trigger. “I mean it.”
Spreading his arms, Kristoffe made a target out of his broad chest. His smile was icy. “Go ahead, then. Shoot.”
Was he bluffing? I couldn’t tell. He might have a defensive shield. On the other hand, he might go down with one shot. There was no way to know. But somehow, he’d survived the tiger. This laser was my only hope.
Do it, the tiger spat.
My pulse spiked. “I will shoot.”
He kept coming.
Shoot him!
“Stop,” I cried, my hands shaking.
But he didn’t stop, and the closer he came, the harder I choked on the tiger’s fury. Her strength was more than I could handle. He was only a few feet away when her hissing cry forced me to pull the trigger. A matching cry left my lips. The laser clicked, shuddered—
C.L. Denault is a speculative fiction writer who loves dreaming up tales of adventure and intrigue. A former systems analyst, she gave up her nerdy code-writing skills to care for her family (including a son with special needs) and currently lives among the vast stretches of cornfields in Illinois.
Writing and working out are her biggest passions, along with coffee and sci-fi. When she’s not hanging out with her husband and kids, she can usually be found at a library or tucked away in the shadowy corner of a hip coffeehouse. She’s also been glimpsed sneaking into her garage, late at night, to work on her time machine.
She enjoys connecting with people—especially those from other planets, nearby dimensions, and the future. To find her, just visit her website or social media pages. Or use a Stargate. Whichever is easiest.
