I’m Vanessa Barneveld, and I’m so excited take on the famous Fresh Fiction Title Challenge! UNDER THE MILKY WAY is a paranormal YA romance that’ll make you believe in – and fall in love with – aliens. I can’t wait for you to meet the stars of my book, Cassidy and Hayden.    U is for unidentified flying object. Also more fashionably known as unidentified aerial phenomena. N is for nefarious black-ops projects, the kind that seem too outlandish to be true… D is for dance floor. When Hayden takes Cassidy for a spin at the homecoming dance, it’s not his two left feet that freak her out. Nope, she sees something much more frightening and otherworldly.  E is for extraspecialterrestrials, aka humans, who believe we are not alone in the universe. R is for risk. By getting involved with Cassidy, Hayden puts his whole existence at risk. At first, he vows to keep her at arm’s length, but… * T is for the virtual tractor beam that draws Hayden to Cassidy. He can’t drag himself away from her. But sticking together could endanger them both. H is for Hayden, who’ll move galaxies to save Cassidy. E is for extra-special-terrestrials…

A new school year is starting, and thoughts typically would be on the fun new school clothes, the location of one’s locker, the squeak of tennis shoes on the gym floor, or if a best friend or favorite teacher is in one’s classroom. Instead, we find ourselves stuck with another wave of Covid and so many uncertainties about what to do and how to stay safe. I work in the school system and the fear and uncertainty are real, especially for someone like me with an underlying health condition that already impacts my breathing. Rather than focusing on the negative, and all of the things that are out of my immediate control, I’ve instead indulged myself in reading and enjoying books centering around the school system. Any time favorite books featuring a school theme are mentioned, Denise Swanson is the first author who comes to my mind! Denise Swanson was a school psychologist before she became an author, and her wealth of knowledge and empathy for students and teachers shows in each one of her books (with the exception of that horrid social worker in MURDER OF A ROYAL PAIN lol). BODY OVER TROUBLED WATERS features school psychologist Skye Denison-Boyd…