HJ Lawson Shares Her Writing Journey @hjlawson1 #AmWriting #YA #WriteTip

A few tips I have learnt on the way to becoming a writer.

Plan

1. Write an outline of what the book is about, around one – three pages. Start middle & end
2. Write out chapter outlines – one sentence per chapter.
3. Character build – write out simple things; name, age, hobbies, looks, features, education, dreams etc

Write

1. Take your chapter sentence and expand it to a full chapter.
2. You do not have to write chapters in order, some are easier, some are more difficult.
3. Don’t go back over your work to edit it, this wastes a lot of time, and you lose the rhythm – save editing to the end.
4. Write everyday – even if it’s only 100 words
5. The goal is to have first draft of the book completed - it will be very rough, and that’s okay!
6. Celebrate that you have written a story!

Edit

1. Leave your book for a couple of weeks.
2. Then read and review every line.
3. Then once you are happy, ask people which will be honest with you to read it. www.goodreads.com – Beta groups that can help.
4. Gather all feedback, and review/edit

Professional Editing

Hire an editor to review your book, it can start at $400 and depends on how much editing you need to be done.  They send it back to you and you approve their comments.

Professional Book cover

You have to make your book stand out and look professional, check out 99desgins, they offer a great service starting at $299.

Self-publishing and distributions

Amazon has a company called www.createspace.com where you can upload your word document, and they format it into an ebook or hard copy. They ship the products out and you get a royalty.

Interesting pod casts to listen to is www.selfpublishing.com

Hayley Lawson is the author of War Kids. She has written a young adult contemporary novel set in Syria; a story about the Syrian Civil war though the eyes of children.

She was born in Lancaster, England. Growing up in a single parent household with five other siblings; was hard, and also character building.

As a young child she found a passion for drawing, and continued this into adulthood, graduating from the University of Central Lancashire, England with a BA(Hons) in fashion design.

At aged twenty seven, Hayley and her husband packed up their belongings for a lifelong dream to move to California. Her America dream was complete with the birth of her daughter. Her love for traveling, continued after the birth of her daughter traveling around America with the family, and the best travelled dog.

A new job positioned opened up New York, and the family decide to relocate to Long Island, NY, which is where she currently resides.

On August 21 she was moved by the images of the Syrian conflict, and embarked on an unlikely journey of writing her first novel.

All profits from the book will be going to the save the children charity.

When fourteen-year-old Jada wakes up in a hospital, the last thing she thinks is that her life has completely changed forever. But when the very real civil war forces her to flee from every open space, she must use the firearm skills her father taught her to reunite with him and protect herself. Armed with a single gun and a key to an unknown locker, Jada crosses Syria on a journey with a group of children called the Fearless Freedom Fighters. With the leader, Zak, they mount a plan to rescue their fathers while they try to cope with the merciless murders of their families. As Jada and Zak lead the group together, love blossoms, but with soldiers hot on their tail, they need to stay vigilant in the face of war.

Reviews from Wattpad

Very interesting story, very powerful. I can really feel the emotion...Peter

This book really touches my heart because there is so much truth is in this book. The detail is so brilliantly displayed, its beautifuly written. There are pretty intense chapters, its good... scrap that its excellent. Loe the work ...although I am upset. I know this is a fictional story, but I just can't help but feel extremely bad for all the lost lives especially the innocent and young ones...Saddy

A REMARKABLE BOOK, DEMANDS TO BE READ Goodreads review from Joe Eliseon

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Genre - Young Adult 

Rating – PG-13

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@SMMceachern on Writing to the Storyline #YA #Dystopian #AmWriting

I knew absolutely nothing about being an author until after I published.  Yes, I realize that’s a bit like tying my shoes before I put them on, but that’s the point. If I have hard time putting on my shoes, odds are I’ll go looking for a different pair, which will probably put a different spin on what I’m wearing.

For me, writing by the seat of my pants gives me flexibility.  Don’t get me wrong. I’m not sitting down at my computer banging out whatever pops into my head (okay, that’s not entirely true…). I do have a plot in mind. But it’s the journey from the beginning of the story to the end that holds twists and turns even for me. How is that possible, you ask? It’s the characters that lead me.

When I start to write my characters they almost jump up off the page and introduce themselves. Even the minor characters, like a guard who just needs to be in the hallway, has to have a story. I’m thinking of my character inSunset Rising, Bron Llewellyn.  Honestly, she was just a guard in the first chapter. Why? Because the Pit is guarded and I had to have guards. I made her one of the “good” guards because even in a dystopic world, not every single guard is going to be mean, right? Then I asked myself, why is she a good guard?  Why is she sympathetic to the Pit?  By answering those questions, I hatched a subplot that wove seamlessly into the main plot and spilled into the second book of the series, Worlds Collide.

I’m a member of local writer’s group and I’ve talked to authors who create an outline first and then write to the outline. I’m amazed at this kind of organization. I wish I could apply it to my Tupperware drawer because I’d save myself at least 15 minutes every morning trying to find containers with lids that fit for my kids’ lunches. Then again, if I could readily match lids with containers, I’d probably make chocolate pudding more often for lunch.  Chocolate pudding isn’t really that good for them.  An apple is better.  And an apple doesn’t require a container.

You see the logic?

The point is, if the story is already laid out for me, I’ll write to the storyline. I’ll stop asking myself questions—and if I do that, I’ll stop coming up with answers I didn’t expect.  For me, writing by the seat of my pants gives me the freedom to be creative.

February 2024: Desperate to find refuge from the nuclear storm, a group of civilians discover a secret government bio-dome. Greeted by a hail of bullets and told to turn back, the frantic refugees stand their ground and are eventually permitted entry.  But the price of admission is high.

283 years later…  Sunny O’Donnell is a seventeen-year-old slave who has never seen the sun.  She was born in the Pit, a subterranean extension of the bio-dome. Though life had never been easy, the last couple of months had become a nightmare. Her mom was killed in the annual Cull, and her dad thought it was a good time to give up on life.  Reyes Crowe, her long-time boyfriend, was pressuring her to get married, even though it would mean abandoning her father.

She didn’t think things could get any worse until she was forced upstairs to the Dome to be a servant-girl at a bachelor party.  That’s when she met Leisel Holt, the president’s daughter, and her fiancé, Jack Kenner.

Now Sunny is wanted for treason.  If they catch her, she’ll be executed.

She thought Leisel’s betrayal was the end.  But it was just the beginning.

“Sunset Rising” is Book One of a series.

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Genre - YA Science Fiction, Dystopian

Rating – PG-16

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Website http://smmceachern.wordpress.com

THE REALITY MASTER #Excerpt by @PMPillon #AmReading #YA #SciFi

DISCOVERY IN BIG SUR

Joey was unable to discern why he felt apprehension about traveling to Big Sur, which previously had induced nothing but pure joy for him. Frank stayed overnight at Joey’s to make sure they got an early start Saturday morning for the two-hour drive down the coast to Grandpa Karl’s digs. They brought along plenty of camping equipment. Grandpa Karl hated phones, so they weren’t concerned that he didn’t call to confirm he was back from his trip back east. They would manage at his place even if he wasn’t there, sleeping in a tent and shopping for groceries further south along the coast highway. Karl lived in a one-room shack, and although they could all fit on his floor with sleeping bags, it was more fun to pitch a large tent and manage their own schedules. Unlike his life at home where he struggled to get up for school, Joey always jumped up at first light when he was in Big Sur. He loved the smell of moist pines and redwoods, the frigid, misty mornings, being surrounded by forest, within earshot of loudly barking sea lions cavorting along the ocean’s edge. Joey didn’t have to go far from Grandpa Karl’s to where he could watch these exotic creatures, as well as seals and sea otters, gallivanting and floating among the rocks and kelp. 

Once he even saw Gray Whales passing by as they migrated south to their winter breeding grounds in Baja California. On their way to Big Sur they passed by Carmel where tourists actually pay a road fee just to drive around Carmel looking at the plush homes that they heard celebrities like Doris Day, Clint Eastwood, or Paul Simon lived in at one time. But the drive further down the coast to and along Big Sur is a completely different story from carefully carved Carmel. The winding road is flanked by guard rails that don’t always prevent a car’s plunge down a steep incline and even into the ocean. Just the previous week, a woman had gone off the road and down a steep embankment, and was only rescued two days later because she managed to get to her cell phone and call for help. 

As Joey contemplated the woman’s plight, he thought of the famous rock musician who was reputed to be a physics genius; found dead in his car long after it went off a road and fell into thick brush. But that accident was far from the coast, somewhere east of LA. There were rumors about the last communications from the musician darkly suggesting his possible assassination because of some great mathematical discovery that he was on the verge of achieving. While pondering this, Joey developed a feeling of cold on the back of his neck; it seemed his body might be communicating a warning to him. What warning could it be? I’m no genius like that rock star. He shook his head and tried to dismiss the thought by looking out the car window at the scenery. Then Frank engaged him in conversation, and he forgot the strange sensation. It was a typically sunny day in the Bay Area when they started out in the morning, but it was drizzling in Big Sur. This was actually ideal from Joey’s view point because the flora looked especially beautiful with drops of rain on it and puddles everywhere, and the moisture brought out wonderful fragrances.    

Eventually, they turned off the coastal highway, wending their way along the bumpy, pocked private road that brought them to Grandpa Karl’s abode. He drove an ancient 1948 Ford truck that he managed to keep going by scavenging parts wherever he could. Because of this scavenging, there were quite a few auto parts near his shack, enough to ironically mimic a junkyard in the midst of a natural paradise.
Many people in Big Sur were essentially bohemians who rebelled against pressure to conform to orthodox aesthetic standards. In this respect, they were like many residents of Bolinas on the coast above San Francisco, a town that is locally famous for its hippie and iconoclastic population, much of which likewise junkyard their otherwise picturesque properties. Bolinas is a beach town that isn’t tree-laden like Big Sur, but Mendocino, a short distance north, sports a mil ion of acres of dense forest. Big Sur residents became the subject of a school report by Joey after the one he wrote about San Francisco. Many of them could be described as relics of the old 60’s counterculture. 

His celestial companion was waiting for him

Precariously climbing a sea-side cliff near Big Sur, ten-year-old Joey Blake was as yet unaware that near his grasp was an object, so odd, mysterious and alien to earth that it would change his life forever and the lives of countless others in the next few astonishing days. Reaching up as far as he could for a handhold it was just there; it had subconsciously lured him, occupied his mind, and made him find it. It was like he was meant to see and discover this object of unimaginable power … the power to change reality.

Time travel and more

This young adult series of sci-fi fantasy novels begins with The Reality Master and continues through four other exciting and amazing stories about time travel and mysterious alien devices. Joey and the reader will face dangerous shadowy criminal organizations, agents of the NSA, bizarre travelers from other times and even renegade California bikers and scar-faced walking dead.

- Vol 1 The Reality Master
- Vol 2 Threat To The World
- Vol 3 Travel Beyond
- Vol 4 Missions Through Time
- Vol 5 The Return Home

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Genre – Science fiction, Fantasy, Young adult

Rating – G

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RISING TIDE: Dark Innocence by Claudette Melanson @Bella623 #Paranormal #Romance #YA

The bell rang, and we all moved to take our trays to the dishwasher.  I was trying to imagine whether Caelyn would be happy or not about my intended gift, so I really wasn’t paying much attention to where I was walking, my eyes focused on the half brownie I’d left uneaten in the corner of the tray.  I jerked my head up as I crashed into the back of the boy in front of me.  I watched in horror as my opened, but untouched, milk carton tipped over to soak the back of his dark, blue shirt, from the middle of his back to his waist.  It would be my luck that Wendy was right across from me in the second line.  She doubled over with laughter, dropping her own tray to the ground with a resounding clatter.  Every head in the lunchroom turned in our direction.

My face was so hot I felt like my head might explode.  I wanted to run away…desperately.  But my feet remained frozen to the floor, my face a mask of horror, waiting for the wrath of the human in front of me to rain down on my head.  He turned around slowly, his large, brown eyes full of shock.  I’d seen him around the school.  A senior.  My heart bounced out palpitations of fear.

Despite that, I couldn’t help but notice how beautiful he was.

“Wow…that is cold!”  Not exactly what I was expecting, but he could have said way worse.

“I-I-Oh my god, I’m so sorry,” I stammered.

He smiled…smiled…at me then.  It was one of those smiles that you know the person is putting their whole heart into.  His brown hair fell over his forehead, to one side, in careless bangs, the rest was long, tied into a ponytail that fell halfway down his back.  Before he’d turned around I hadn’t missed that the ends of it were also milksoaked, like his poor shirt.  He had full lips that were the perfect shade of pink, like the inside of a seashell.  They were spread wide in that cherubic smile of his.  Despite my terror, I was instantly smitten.

CHOSEN AS ONE OF 400 FOR THE SECOND ROUND OF THE AMAZON BREAKTHROUGH NOVEL AWARD FOR 2014!!!

ARE YOU A FAN OF VAMPIRE ROMANCE?

Rising Tide will sink it’s teeth into you, keeping you awake into the wee hours of the night

Maura’s life just can’t get any worse…or can it?

Isolated and sheltered by her lonely mother, Maura’s never been the best at making friends. Unusually pale with a disease-like aversion to the sun, she seems to drive her classmates away, but why?

Even her own father deserted her, and her mother, before Maura was born. Bizarre physical changes her mother seems hell bent on ignoring, drive Maura to fear for her own life. And her luck just seems to get worse.

Life is about to become even more bewildering when her mother’s abrupt…and unexplained…decision to move a country away sets off a chain of events that will change Maura forever. A cruel prank turned deadly, the discovery of love and friendship….and its loss, as well as a web of her own mother’s lies, become obstacles in Maura’s desperate search for a truth she was never prepared to uncover.

Featured on one of the most popular health blogs on the internet as a giveaway!

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Offered as a giveaway on Goodreads!

Head over to Goodreads for a chance to score a free copy today!

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Genre – YA Paranormal Romance

Rating – PG

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Website http://claudettemelanson.wix.com/author

Leveling Up by @JR_Tague #GoodReads #YA #Fiction

From Chapter 1-

The electricity ran its course around my body in a matter of seconds, knocking me flat on my back and stopping my heart. And when my heart stopped, everything stopped. Movement and sound ceased. Darkness surrounded me. That enormous pain I’d felt in the seconds before? Gone.

I have no idea how long I floated there in the void; suddenly, time had no meaning. Space felt close and claustrophobic, and yet, at the same time, vast and infinite. It was totally weird.

A soft whisper of light formed off in the distance.

Then it started moving and growing, as the darkness was filled with a low, calm voice coming from all directions. It was a voice impossible to match to a face, to a gender, to a human even. It was not rough, but not gentle either.

“Max. You have arrived,” it said.

I suddenly remembered my dad saying something like that when I was a baby. How had I ever forgotten the way I was propelled from the womb into a shocking world of sensations—everything so loud and cold and bright? How awesome I felt learning how to scream and yell, how snug and safe it was in my mother’s arms. How stupid and endearing my dad looked making faces at me. My brand new brain cells had computed like crazy, trying to orient me to this new world. And now, entering this complete void was the same kind of shock, but in reverse. Everything taken away. Confusion reigned.

Yet I was able to detach myself from any fear or horror at being flung into this place. For a while I was able to watch it all as if it were happening on my computer monitor, to some soulless avatar.

But where was my quest master?

“Where am I?” I asked, hoping with everything I had that the voice would answer me.

“You are in-between,” the voice answered.

“That’s super informative,” I said under my breath.

The shape ahead of me stopped its advance. It glowed brighter momentarily, and then dimmed.

“Who are you?” My voice sounded strange to me. Unreal.

A pause. Then: “I am called by many names: Nergal, Anubis, Hades, Pluto, the Grim Reaper—”

“Holy crap, you’re death?” Anxiety washed over me.

It replied, “Death is a concept bigger than any individual. One cannot be death.”

“Well then, who…what are you?”

The light flickered rapidly. “I am an agent of death. I carry out the necessary procedures once a soul has entered this realm.”

“Like a death god?” I’d read comic books about such beings. I liked them better in 2-D.

“Death god? Hmm.” The light shape moved faster, sending out bright tendrils that quivered in the darkness before taking form. I waited, transfixed by the scene in front of me. “I will be a death god to you.”

A silhouette emerged from the darkness, still forming and evolving before my eyes. When it spoke again the voice was no longer in surround-sound, but emanated from a distinct point in space. It sounded more…human.

“There we go. How do I look?” A man lowered the hood of his long, black robe. A faint glow remained, outlining his body and casting reflected light between us.

Max McKay gets a second chance at life when, after a bizarre accident on his sixteenth birthday, he is reanimated as a new breed of thinking, feeling zombie. To secure a spot for his eternal soul, Max must use his video game prowess as well as the guidance of Steve the Death God to make friends and grow up. As if all that weren’t hard enough, Max discovers that he’s not the only zombie in town. As he enlists the help of his new friends, Adam and Penny, to solve the mystery of their un-dead classmate, Max discovers that he must level up his life experience in order to survive the trials and terrors of the upcoming zombie apocalypse. And, even worse, high school.

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Genre – YA

Rating – PG

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Website http://jrtague.wordpress.com/

The Wings of Dragons (The Dragoon Saga) by Josh VanBrakle #Fantasy #Excerpt #AmReading

Toah. Toah. Toah.

Iren Saitosan’s eyes snapped open at the sound of something he almost never heard, yet instantly recognized: the echoes of footsteps on the stone tower stairs leading to his chamber.

Toah. Toah. Toah.

He threw off his tattered blankets and leapt out of the hard bed. Almost no one came up here. Every so often, children would dare each other to see who could climb the farthest up the steps without getting frightened. They considered scaling the tower all the way to the top and knocking on the Left’s door the ultimate sign of bravery.

Toah. Toah.

These steps didn’t belong to children though. They were too heavy, and there was no associated chatter. Those not making the climb always teased the challenger, alternating between goading them on and threatening them with what the evil Left might do to them if they dared to continue. No, these steps came from an adult.

Toah. Toah.

Iren tensed. Since the day King Azuluu had decreed that he must live up here away from “normal people,” no adult had ever climbed the tower.

Toah.

That was odd. Iren furrowed his brow. The steps were slowing down, as though whoever made them were hesitating. It was probably just some gawker, no different from the children, coming to see the freak, the Left.

The sound of nervous breathing made Iren focus on his chamber door. Whoever had come had made it all the way to the top and now stood just outside. The door was already slightly ajar, just as Iren had left it. He grinned. This was his favorite part. He couldn’t help but glance above the door at the wooden bucket resting precariously against the top of the door and the wall. His little trick always worked on the kids; he wondered if an adult would be stupid enough to fall for it too. Folding his arms, he leaned against the windowsill and waited.

After a moment a loud grunt came from the steps, and then the door flung open as the intruder shoved his way in with a shoulder charge.

“Ow!”

The bucket slammed into the man’s head, dumped its load, and then rolled away, rumbling on the stone floor. Its former contents, a full load of water, now soaked the intruder. Across the room, Iren cocked his head sideways and smiled innocently, saying, “Should have knocked.”

The intruder put a hand to his head, feeling for a bruise. “Captain Angustion warned me you might pull a stunt like this.” He started to say more, but some of the water snuck inside his mouth, making him gag.

“That’s smart, Balear, spitting it out,” Iren said lightly. “Do you know how many times I’ve washed my clothes in that?”

Balear’s face paled, then just as quickly reddened as he shouted, “You left-handed demon-child!”

From fantasy author Josh VanBrakle comes an epic new trilogy of friendship, betrayal, and explosive magic. Lefthanded teenager Iren Saitosan must uncover a forgotten history, confront monsters inspired by Japanese mythology, and master a serpentine dragon imprisoned inside a katana to stop a revenge one thousand years in the making.

Lodian culture declares lefthanded people dangerous and devil-spawned, and for Iren, the kingdom's only known Left, that's meant a life of social isolation. To pass the time and get a little attention, he plays pranks on the residents of Haldessa Castle. It's harmless fun, until one of his stunts nearly kills Lodia's charismatic heir to the throne. Now to avoid execution for his crime, Iren must join a covert team and assassinate a bandit lord. It's a suicide mission, and Iren's chances aren't helped when he learns that his new katana contains a dragon's spirit, one with a magic so powerful it can sink continents and transform Iren into a raging beast.

Adding to his problems, someone on Iren's team is plotting treason. When a former ally launches a brutal plan to avenge the Lefts, Iren finds himself trapped between competing loyalties. He needs to figure out who - and how - to trust, and the fates of two nations depend on his choice.

"A fast-paced adventure...led by a compelling cast of characters. Josh VanBrakle keeps the mysteries going." - ForeWord Reviews

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Genre – YA epic fantasy

Rating – PG-13

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Website www.joshvanbrakle.com

Haunted by @EileenMaksym #Paranormal #YA #Giveaway

The real estate office was bright and cheerful, with large potted plants in each corner and flowers on the counter.  The young receptionist was happy to buzz the agent for him, and a minute later, a woman with dark, perfectly coiffed hair and a red business suit strode out from the back.

“Mr. Trent?”

Steven stood and offered his hand, which the woman shook firmly.  “Ms. Smithe,” he said.  “Thank you so much for taking the time.”

“Not that much time, Mr. Trent.”  She held out a single key on a ring.  “This will open the front door.”

Steven took the key from her.  “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.  The electricity and water are still on, and the heat's set warm enough so the pipes won’t freeze when the temperature drops.  It is a little chilly in there, though, so if you’re spending the night, I’d recommend dressing warmly and bringing a good sleeping bag.”

“Will do.” He debated briefly, then decided that he had nothing to lose (he had the key in hand, after all).  “Ms. Smithe, have you experienced anything in the house?  Anything supernatural?”

The young woman behind the desk looked up.

Ms. Smithe glanced at her, then back at Steven, her eyes narrowed.  She stepped closer and smiled tightly.  “Mr. Trent,” she said in a low voice, “It is a house.  It is a property that I am trying to sell.  And that is all.  Mr. Lacey has requested that you be granted access, and that’s his right.  But I would appreciate it if you left me out of it – and didn’t go blabbing your mouth and making my job harder.”

Steven tilted his head.  “You did see something, didn’t you?”

Her smile vanished, and she turned around.  “Slide the key into the mail slot tomorrow morning.”  Then she walked back to her office.  “Good day, Mr. Trent.”

Steven heard a door slam.

The woman behind the desk watched her go, then looked back at Steven.  “This is about the Lacey place, huh?”

Steven shifted his eyes to her.  “Yes, it is.  Why?”

The woman nodded.  “I figured.  She doesn’t like that house.  She’s supposed to show the house and everything, but every time someone wants to see it, she has some excuse why she can’t show it, and has one of our trainees do it.”

“Has she said why?”

“Not as such.  I do remember her saying something about a baby…but I’m pretty sure the Laceys don’t have any kids.”

Steven nodded, pressing his lips together.  “Well.  Thank you for telling me this.”

“No problem.  Only…”  She craned her neck to look down the hallway, then turned back to Steven.  “Just don’t tell her I told you, okay?”

Steven smiled.  “You got it.  Have a great day.”

She sighed.  “I’ll try, but I’m guessing she’s in a foul mood now; she’s a total bitch when she’s in a bad mood.”  She again glanced quickly down the hall.  “Don’t tell her I told you that, either.”

Tara Martin – exceptionally accomplished neurobiology major with a troubled past. Steven Trent – confident political science major with an irresistible attraction to Tara. Paul Stratton – history major who is able to hear spirits. Together, they make up the Society for Paranormal Researchers at their prestigious New England University. When they’re not in class or writing papers, the three friends are chasing their passion….ghosts.

When the group learns of a local retired couple trying to sell a house they claim is haunted, they decide to investigate. As the clues unfold, a familiar spirit interrupts their investigation and Tara finds her life in danger. Can her friends save her before it’s too late?

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Genre – YA paranormal, NA paranormal

Rating – PG-13

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Website http://eileenmaksym.wordpress.com/  

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