The Rose and The Briar

There are many tales that travel through the lips of the inhabitants of Montisola; more legends than real stories.
Tales of an ancient golden age, technologies so advanced as to be incomprehensible, cities claimed by the sea and wars.
Some of these are closer to reality than they seem, such as that of monsters: gigantic, bloodthirsty creatures waiting just beyond the island's shores.

Alma is well aware of the dangers of the mainland, but she can no longer bear to feel like a shadow in her own home.
Dreaming over the pages of books had always been her way to escape a reality she didn't belong to, until a wrong decision leads her to respond to the call of adventure, and fall into the hands of a powerful monster.
Now she must come to terms with a world much larger than her and learn the difference between legends and reality.

Warning: English is not my first language, so feel free to correct me if there is any grammatical or syntactical error.