A Teacup Toast for AMAROK and DEADWOOD, Angie and Kell!

It has been an amazing week for Operation Awesome authors.

Two fabulous books came out, representing two of my favorite genres, two of my favorite authors, and two of my favorite people.


First I got this dramatic, mystical YA gem in the mail:

Amarok by Angela J. Townsend

And then I got this magical, thematic MG debut:

Deadwood by Kell Andrews

Blurb for Amarok:

Emma's life has been hell since she moved from sunny California to a remote Alaskan town. Abandoned by her father and living with the guilt of causing her mother's death, she makes a desperate dash for freedom from her abusive stepfather. But when her car skids off the icy road, her planned escape leads to further captivity in a world beyond her imagining.  

Dragged across the tundra by an evil mountain man and his enormous black wolf, she learns that love can be found in the most unexpected places. Amarok, as she's nicknamed the wolf, is a young man from the gold-rush era enslaved by an ancient shaman. Emma's gentle touch and kind heart win his love and devotion. When a vicious madman--trapped in bear form by the same Shaman--attacks the travelers and injures Amarok, Emma must find the strength to face her fears and free the wolf she's come to love. But that means she must face down the evil shaman, a Siberian mammoth hunter from the ice age, and he has no intention of giving up his power to her.

Blurb for Deadwood:

There’s something evil in Deadwood Park.  

Martin Cruz hates his rotten new town. Then he gets a message from a tree telling him it’s cursed — and so is he. It’s not just any tree. It’s the Spirit Tree, the ancient beech the high school football team carves to commemorate the home opener. And every year they lose. 

But the curse is no game, and it gets worse. Businesses fail. Trees topple like dominos. Sinkholes open up in the streets, swallowing cars and buildings. Even people begin to fade, drained of life.  

Martin teams up with know-it-all soccer star Hannah Vaughan. Together they must heal the tree, or be stuck in Deadwood Park at the mercy of the psycho who cursed it.

Though different in tone, voice, and target audience, these books have one thing in common: both are gripping stories with truly evil bad guys and truly heroic heroes. I'm so proud to be associated with the authors through Operation Awesome.

Seeing these books finished and presented in this beautiful way makes me all kinds of happy. They now sit side by side on my bookshelf where every time anybody points to them I'll be able to say, "I know the author; she's amazing."

Join me in a toast of two very talented women who started writing one day and whose hard work has given the world new characters to love and fear, and new worlds into which to escape.

Photo source: KayEllen

Cheers!

p.s. Also look for other Operation Awesome author titles coming soon: Treasured Lies by Michelle McLean, out very soon; and The Emissary by Kristal Shaff, out next December (2013).