The 8th Island Trilogy Series

When frumpy senior citizen Archie goes in search of his missing son in the Spanish Canary Islands, he stumbles upon a higher mission: locating a magical cure for his ailing fourteen-year-old granddaughter, Ella. Using a portal-jumping device called the Tillastrion, Archie and a stone-headed creature named Zeno are transported to Jarr-Wya, a magnificent yet terrifying island in a connected realm—along with Ella and her strong-willed mother, Tessa, who accidentally stow away on this not-so-secret quest. What they find on Jarr-Wya is an island tortured by a wicked Star anchored in the sea, and a raging three-way battle for dominion between the stone-wielding Bangols, the fiery Olearons, and the evil Millia sands. Ella’s wit and resourcefulness emerge in this new world, while Tessa is forced to confront her long-buried secrets and a confusing new love triangle. When Ella is captured, Tessa and Archie—with the help of a company of peculiar allies—set out to save her and unravel the terrible mystery of her cure. A mesmerizing, stay-up-all-night adventure of three unlikely heroes, Above the Star reminds us that even the smallest act of bravery can transform our lives and the fates of the worlds around us.

KEY SELLING POINTS: • Stories about ill and dying teenagers and young adults are overwhelmingly popular right now (think The Fault in Our Stars, Everything, Everything, Me Before You, Five Feet Apart, All the Bright Places); many have been made into major motion pictures within the last few years. • The first book in the series Above the Star (June 2018) won the 2018 IPPY Bronze Medal Winner in Fantasy, and was a finalist in three categories in the 2018 International Book Awards: Best New Fiction, Fiction: Fantasy, and Fiction: Young Adult. • The teen fantasy adventure genre—series specifically—sells well, as is evidenced by Veronica Roth’s Divergent trilogy, which sold a combined 6.7 million copies in 2013 alone and Laini Taylor’s new fantasy series and Stephanie Garber’s Caraval series. • Below the Moon appeals to both YA and adult audiences. This book will be purchased by readers 12-18 years old, but also by adults, who make up 70% of all YA books purchased. • The first in the series was described as "A Wrinkle in Time meets The Princess Bride" by the publisher of The Perpetual You magazine and "a young adult fantasy with teeth" by the US Review of Books. • Readers today are hungry for books with strong female characters, including The Hunger Games trilogy and Divergent trilogy. These have inspired archery lessons, makeup campaigns, and fashion spreads, not to mention inspired activism such as “We are the Districts” campaign and the “Girls on Fire Leadership Camp” in Kenya, inspired by singer Alicia Keys. AUDIENCE: • Young adults • Adults who enjoy young adult fiction • Teens searching for their meaning in the world, trying to make sense of their lives • People who love portal fiction (stories that transport them out of their ordinary lives and into something extraordinary) • Young adult readers who enjoy other worlds, epic quests, and coming-of-age stories • Adult women who read for pleasure and an escape from work and home life • Adult men who read for entertainment and grew up enjoying the fantasy genre • Dreamers; those that love travel, creativity, new experiences, and games • Readers who enjoy stories of people with dynamic, complicated relationships who are thrust into situations where they must overcome obstacles and come together • Readers who are struggling in some way and need to be inspired toward personal bravery and self-growth

All worlds are dying, and it’s up to one broken and dysfunctional family from Earth—the Wellsleys—to save the day. Cancer-ridden Ella celebrates her fifteenth birthday beneath an enchanted mountain, but it is what lies even farther below—the mysterious Star in the sea—that demands she grow up quickly. While Ella grapples with the sacrifice she must make and the lies she is forced to tell, her mother, Tessa, is hell-bent on protecting her. Through bizarre encounters, love-sick Tessa realizes that she is not the lonely orphan she believes. Her husband, Arden, and father-in-law, Archie, are not the only ones with magical bloodlines. This revelation changes everything. As Archie chooses to embody his unexpected ancestry, he learns that leading the charge in the ultimate battle against evil won’t be as easy as he thought. He’ll need his family—and the strange allies he has gained—by his side to give Ella enough time to set things right. Can they defeat the unstoppable Millia sands—and another unexpected foe—before everything they hold dear is destroyed? Or will their adventure tear them apart for good? The finale to The 8th Island Trilogy will hold you spellbound until the final page, and long after.