Instead of trying to find your perfect match in a dating app, we bring you the “Author-Reader Match” where we introduce you to authors as a reader you may fall in love with. It’s our great pleasure to present MarcyKate Connolly! Writes: Fantasy novels with undertones of classic stories. MarcyKate’s most recent book, TWIN DAGGERS (out August 25!), is a fantasy spin on Romeo + Juliet . . . if Juliet and her twin sister were magic-wielding spies out for revenge in a world of magic versus machines. About: MarcyKate loves books, dogs (especially pugs!), and caffeine, and has minor obsessions with Jane Austen, Shakespeare, and Grimm’s fairytales. She’s a night owl who enjoys staying up late plotting all the terrible twists that will befall her characters, researching strange and/or paranormal things, or reading an unputdownable book until dawn. What I’m looking for in my ideal reader match: • Loves confident, mission-driven girls • Enjoys being immersed in complex fantasy worlds • Sucker for star-crossed lovers • Doesn’t mind a betrayal or two What to expect if we’re compatible: • Feminist spins on classic stories • Girls who know their own worth and the boys who love them • Ancient conspiracies…

Welcome to Fresh Fiction, Janella! Please introduce yourself and tell us about your debut novel, WHERE DREAMS DESCEND. Thank you so much for having me! I’m Janella and my debut, WHERE DREAMS DESCEND, is the first in a YA fantasy duology that is pitched as “Phantom of the Opera meets Moulin Rouge with a twist of The Night Circus”–and in it, we follow a powerful, ambitious showgirl named Kallia whose pursuit of fame, glory, and freedom leads her to a magician’s competition that becomes a risky game behind the scenes as contestants start disappearing, and all is not what it seems. It’s got a ruined city, a fierce circus, glam aesthetics, romance, magic, and dazzling performances–which in my opinion, make for a perfect escape. The world you’ve built feels so vivid and alive – it’s fresh and detailed, but still feels “lived in.” How did this magic world develop for you? What were some of your inspirations for it? Thank you, I’m so glad it feels that way! I’ve always been a fan of cities that come off as forbidden or shrouded in a bit of mystique, places that feel as if they were built more by stories and legends…

S: Summer E: Evie A: Alpha S: Sweetgrass O: Opening up to N: Nature * O: Orrrroooo! F: Forever Wolf * T: Tenderness H: Home E: Endures * W: Wildness O: Our L: Love is F: Fierce — Read on for an exclusive excerpt from SEASON OF THE WOLF: Pups spend their first years wild. Then comes the dreaded Year of First Shoes when they have to begin to learn how to be in skin. The First Shoes are supposed to wait for the adult wolves to come before they get into the water, but they are too anxious. . . Something splashes, followed by excited yips and yells made by children who aren’t used to the form until one of the older ones calls out: “Tasha felled!” Leonora starts to run, hampered by sandals. I run, too, hampered by the jostling of injured ribs, but Constantine races past me, wolf-fast on two legs. The children huddle to the side of the dock as his feet pound down the dock and he launches himself far out into the water, cutting through it like an otter. At the edge of the dock, I lie down, my arms in the water where…