Author Event: Leanne Schwartz

Celebrate the release of the latest book by local author, Leanne Schwartz on July 24th at 6:00 PM! We are so excited to spend an evening with Schwartz moderated by Angela Montoya and to hear them discuss To a Darker Shore, a YA fantasy novel.

About the Author
Leanne Schwartz is an autistic author, teacher, and bookworm. She grew up in Davis, California, reading piles of books and acting in local theater productions. In high school she cemented her status as a massive nerd, running a local theater company, attending the California State Summer School for the Arts for creative writing, and taking three literature classes senior year. She has played Lady Macbeth, Lady Capulet, Clytemnestra, and Hera—perhaps one reason she writes such vengeful, murderous girls. Leanne completed her English degree and master’s in education at UC Davis. When she’s not teaching English and poetry, she can be found baking pizzelle, directing scenes for the student Shakespeare festival, and singing along to showtunes. She lives in San Diego with her family, and is the author of the young adult fantasies A Prayer for Vengeance  and To a Darker Shore.

About the Book
When her best friend is sacrificed to the devil, she’ll go to hell and back for him

Plain, poor, plus-size, and autistic, Alesta grew up trying to convince her beauty-obsessed kingdom that she’s too useful to be sacrificed. Their god blessed their island Soladisa as a haven for his followers, but to keep the devil at bay, the church sends a child sacrifice to hell’s entrance every season—often poor or plain girls just like Alesta.

With a head full of ideas for inventions, Alesta knows her best shot at making it to adulthood is to design something impressive for the festival exhibition so she might win a spot in the university—acceptance could guarantee her safety. But Alesta’s flying machine demonstration goes awry, a failure that will surely mean death. What happens is worse: Her best friend and heir to the throne, Kyrian, takes the blame expecting leniency but ends up sacrificed in her place.

To stop the sacrifices forever, Alesta plans to kill the monster that killed her friend. Prepared to save her kingdom or die trying, she travels to the depths of hell only to find Kyrian—alive, but monstrously transformed.

There is no escaping hell or their growing feelings for one another, and the deeper they descend into hell, the closer they come to uncovering a truth about the sacrifices that threatens to invoke the wrath of not only monsters but the gods as well.