| | Wattys 2025 Shortlist | | Iris is the oldest of a group of orphans, working hard and without complaint to help bring in money to feed and clothe the younger children. Everybody knows and loves her. She wants nothing more than a normal, safe life―but war looms on the horizon, threatening her plans. Char is a dragon and a certified troublemaker. He and his brother are a pain in their commanding officer's side and a favorite at parties, especially among the girls. But when Char's familiarity with humans earns him a routine scouting mission, he meets Iris―and finds more trouble than he ever expected. She's suddenly at the center of a war, shackled with a magical amulet she doesn't understand and can't control. He's too impulsive to stay out of the tangled web tightening around her, even if that means lying to his brother and risking his life to keep her out of the hands of a psychotic mage. Nowhere is safe. Nothing is normal. And Iris may hold the power to end the war and save them all. ***** A Song and a Storm: Book One

The aliens kill every human they catch, or in rare cases, put trackers on them to discover their hidden villages. When Natalie is caught in an ambush, she is unexpectedly released. But there is no tracker. The Saursunes have an entirely different motive this time. *** Run. Don't look back. When Natalie is trapped in an alien ambush, she is unexpectedly released. The first human to ever be let go. The Saursunes invaded centuries ago, and everyone knows that getting caught is certain death. Natalie is confused but grateful to be alive. As a porter, one of the few humans with the rare ability to teleport between special crystal formations, she must leave the safety of her desert village every day to help gather food. When other villages increase their raids on the Saursunes' farms, the aliens retaliate by hunting down every human they can find - except Natalie's group. Instead of trying to kill her and those helping her, they bring them food instead. Is it a trap? Or something else? Natalie isn't sure, but one thing is certain: the Saursunes aren't done with her yet.