(Chapter 1 only) In the winter of 1941-1942, Leningrad is under siege, and Karen Hamilton, a seventeen-year-old American musician, finds herself trapped and struggling to survive. Throughout the city, people are dying of starvation and frostbite, and Karen knows that if she doesn't escape immediately, she will share their fate. If she has any hope of leaving Russia and reuniting with her fiancé, Bobby, in New York, she must do the impossible: cross enemy lines and then stow away. On her harrowing journey, Karen encounters Petr, a young conscripted Russian soldier. She isn't sure she can trust him-he is equally wary of her. But as the two join forces in order to stay alive, an unexpected romance takes root. Now, as Karen gets closer to the reality of escape, she has a choice to make: Will she return to a safe life in America with Bobby, or remain in war-torn Russia with Petr? This is a sample chapter of the book that will be available October 18 from Lake Union Publishing.

( Cover Art by RaidenTyson ) After escaping the Dark land of Tenebrass, Shade Meadows is determined to get away from the kingdoms of Lumia and Tenebrass and find a place where she isn't treated differently because she's Dark, but meeting a Lumian guard and running into a sinister man changes all of that. Now teamed up with Richard Lit, a soldier for the Light, they're starting to form a ragtag group of "heroes," made up of two Outcast thieves and two Light and Dark mages who hate each other. And if the group can't get it together, the quickly rising evil forces will consume them and everything else.

Before I could comprehend what was happening he snaked his hand behind my back and pulled me closer, "I really mean it" He whispered and shifted his gaze to my lips.I couldn't help but shift my gaze to his lips too. "Looks like I got your weakness peaches" He whispered again while smirking. As he started closing in and our lips almost brushed I felt like my heart could have burst. ************************************** Sidney Colt lives with her dad and her two brothers after her parents got divorced. Her mom got married to a rich bloke. She grew up to be the tomboy of their small town, but what happens when her dad thinks she should live with her mother to spend more time with her for the rest of the high school years. Will she remain the same tomboy Sidney, or will she change?