My third novel, Orphan Wish Island, is published today, Feb. 1, 2021! It’s a young adult realistic fantasy novel, but middle grade readers and adults would enjoy it, too.

Orphan Wish Island was inspired by the street lamps lining streets in our city’s downtown in 2016. They flashed one night while I was driving by and the idea of an attic door that opens to a magic island came to me. “If only there was more magic in the world,” the fairies would wish.

I wrote the book in 2018 and had a good process in place as it was the third novel I wrote. I took notes so I would know the characters and timeline as I was writing. I tried to write almost every day so I would keep the flow of the story. I started querying the book to publishers in early 2019.

Histria Kids showed interest in the book and I signed with them in late 2019 for a 2021 publication date. I edited the manuscript in late 2020, which gave me something to do after I had finished the draft of my fourth novel (more on that coming soon). The book will be released in hardback first and then after six months will be available as a paperback and ebook versions.

I enjoyed writing about Miriam in Orphan Wish Island. She grows from a young girl to a young woman through the story and learns lots of life lessons along the way. She is an orphan as her parents both died in a car crash. Her aunt and uncle take her in, but at the start of the book, she moves in with her grandmother as her aunt and uncle are heading to Africa for missionary work. The night of her birthday, words appear on the attic door in her new room and when she opens the door, she finds a tropical island. On the island, fairy-like creatures guide orphans to make wishes and hear messages from their parents. They can visit once a year.

The book can be purchased on most book buying sites like Amazon (ships Feb. 8) and Barnes & Noble. It can also be ordered from Histria and on my blog (if you want it signed).

I hope my readers enjoy reading Orphan Wish Island! Please let me know what you think after you read it and leave a review on Amazon!