**Sequel to THE BRIGHT AND THE LOST** A YA Historical Fantasy set in 1922 that mixes romance, magic and mystery! Following the upsetting events that disrupted her London Season and changed her life forever, eighteen-year-old Vita is ready to spend a quiet winter at her country estate with her fiancé. Newly wed to the handsome son of a Hong-Kong businessman, Vita's best friend Izzy can't quite believe all her dreams are finally coming true: she's escaped her ruined family and she's traded the horrid English weather for the Californian sunshine. However, when an unexpected event disrupts Vita's routine at Weatherly, she has no choice but to leave behind her home and go in search of Holden - the stranger who turned her life upside down during the summer and knows the answers to all of her questions. Her quest leads her to New York, where new dangers lurk in the shadows of the city's skyscrapers and speakeasies. From Hollywood to Manhattan, darkness soon engulfs the lives of both girls, who find themselves in a race against time to locate Holden, unravel the mysteries surrounding Vita - and avoid getting caught in a thousand-year-old secret war that threatens to destroy them all. Copyright © 2017. All works posted here are the property of EM Castellan. Please do not use without permission. Any duplication or reproduction of all or part of the work without explicit permission by the author is illegal. Cover artist: Amalia Chitulescu

(Featured Story 2016 & 2017) Oregon, 1940s: Eve Miller, a young war widow, rebels against the ordinariness of womanhood in the post-war era. Eve is enlightened as she succumbs to the sensual temptation of an adulterous affair. In its aftermath, Eve Miller's life unravels and leads to unexpected violence and moral isolation. Exuberance Is Beauty, is a contemporary interpretation of Adam and Eve's biblical allegory and Eve's fall into desolation. The story examines the consequence of erotic obsession and the repentance the female protagonist must pay for her sins of the flesh. Exuberance Is Beauty has been described as "an intense psychological thriller," "hauntingly beautiful," and "terrifying." WHAT WATTPADERS ARE SAYING ABOUT JEFF: * controlling, heartless, psychopath man! * I really don't like Jeff, he's a bully and controlling her life. * Manipulation then seduction, a typical narcissist. Poor Eve. * Jeff is such an evil narcissistic...I bet he does mistreat his wife...physically and threatening to dump her if she doesn't back his projects and that he has had affairs regularly...It will all come out eventually. I just loathe him WHAT WATTPADERS ARE SAYING ABOUT EVE: *Why do I feel Jeff will ruin her chance of happiness? * I am trying to understand Eve but to be sincere I just cant. Jeff's behaviour is disgusting but it was wrong for her to follow him to his bed. I understand that she feels she now has control over her life but I just have this bizarre fear that she'd go back to him again, it seem as if they are obsessed and dats not love * I felt bad for her knowing that the only reason for all of this is a man- a controlling, heartless, psychopath man! * She didn't deserve any of this * What a frightening life this character led. I only hope some of the women that were tortured during this time frame were able to recover to some degree

(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.