The Promise

Fifty-six days ago, Ellyce Jensen's father vanished. Now, two men are tearing her house apart looking for what he left behind-and she's hiding in his closet, seventeen and completely alone.Ellyce was never supposed to be anyone special. Her mother walked out when she was four. The popular girls made sure she never forgot it. All she ever wanted was a simple, ordinary life.But her father wasn't an ordinary man. Thomas Jensen wrote novels about prophecy and hidden worlds, and now Ellyce is learning they were never fiction. He left her a key. A riddle. A stack of manuscripts that turn out to be maps. And a promise made before she was born-she is the last heir of a broken Kingdom, destined to reunite the fractured realms before a centuries-old war finally breaks loose.She doesn't want any of it. What she wants is Benson-her ex-best friend, the boy who walked away without a word and somehow knows far more than he should. The boy who's with Sydney Parker now, of all people. Ellyce is sure Benson is part of her story. She's sure of a lot of things.She has no idea how wrong she is.The choice was never whether the realms were real. It's whether she's brave enough to fulfill her father's promise-or walk away and watch everything she loves fall to darkness.There will be a war. There will be a wedding. Choose whom you will serve. I grew up in a tiny, magical town in Illinois-total population: 800. In 2014, I brought my love of books, a Midwest hankering for a good Horseshoe Sandwich (also known as fat-on-a-plate), and Southern Sweet Tea to sunny SoCal.About an hour north of Los Angeles, I live with my husband, Craig, two of our three kids, and our sweet, slightly neurotic, standard poodle, Eisley. My oldest daughter flies the friendly skies, so if you see a super cute flight attendant named, Elyssa, be sure to say, hello!When I'm not chasing Eisley, or chauffeuring my teens around town, I'm writing. For seventeen-year-old Ellyce Jensen, the world is spiraling out of control.The week before her birthday, her father disappears. Then, by accident, she finds a secret room in his closet. But she can't tell anyone, including her best friend, Benson Monroe, because he's now her ex-boyfriend. He's also dating her nemesis, Sydney Parker. And if that wasn't enough, a solar flare erupts, plunging the entire world into darkness and chaos.As Ellyce uncovers the truth about Thomas' life, she discovers the ancient prophecies and the stories of the seven realms he wrote about are true, and a war is coming. With no time to lose, Ellyce will have to choose which kingdom she's willing to serve as she prepares to battle against the people she thinks she can trust-and the supernatural forces trying to stop her.You're invited to embark upon a story ripe with ingenuity and intrigue as Ellyce Jensen unlocks the secrets of the seven realms and finds herself entangled in an epic battle between two ancient kingdoms.