Presenting The Reluctant Heroine And Two Estranged Friends

Forged Series: The main characters of Shattered

Tessa Wright

Shattered opens with the introduction to Contessa Wright, a fourteen-year-old whose life gets uprooted.

As the first character who presented herself to me, Tessa was adamant that I tell her story.

She starts out sheltered, naive, and quiet. When her circumstances change, she doesn’t retreat further into her shell but finds inner strength (and strange memories—voices speaking familiar phrases).

To give herself some separation for the painful memories of her family’s death, she decides on the spur of the moment to go by a nickname—reinvent herself—when she introduces herself at school.

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Isaiah Iverson

Next up, is Isaiah Iverson, the boy who saves her from being practically trampled on the sidewalk out front of school. Isaiah is a year older than her and becomes more than her knight in shining armor—he is her first friend at the new school (and tour guide, lunch companion, and all-around popular yet approachable kid). The thing is… he’s smitten at first sight. And our naive girl from the Wilds needs someone else to point it out to her.

The problem is that Isaiah is not the only one who has noticed Tessa. Not many ‘new kids’ show up in the urban center, so Tessa feels the full force of scrutiny by her new classmates. She has to find a way to deal with the drama that comes with the waves she creates in the school's social circles.

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Zeke Ryker

Some of the drama comes from the school’s ‘star-students’—a.k.a. the Elites. The Grand Governor’s son and his friends, who are the snobbish popular kids, are outright mean to Tessa. However, Zeke, their apparent leader (and Isaiah’s former best friend), takes a liking to her, much to Isaiah’s annoyance. If only Isaiah knew that Zeke’s awkward attempts at friendship with Tessa equally annoy her. But it is high school, and teens are not the best at seeing what is right in front of them. However, Isaiah doesn’t miss Tessa and Zeke standing a little too close together… right in front of him…

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In other news

Read The Sun and The Moon, the prequel to Shattered and one of 29 short stories in The Midnight Vault. Pick up this anthology in paperback or as an ebook through most major retail channels worldwide beginning March 15, 2024 (or you can preorder the ebook now).

Enter to win a free copy by adding The Midnight Vault to your “want to read” list on Goodreads by March 15th. Ten lucky winners will be selected to receive a paperback copy. Must be a resident of the U.S. or Canada.

Behind the beautifully designed cover, thought-provoking stories are nestled among the meticulously designed pages (courtesy of the talents of

Shane Bzdok

).

Included in The Midnight Vault:

A Six-Part Death - William Pauley III
The HALCYONIUM - Clancy Steadwell
Hector - Annie Hendrix
The Lonely Planter - Bryan Pirolli
Separate Memories - Author Michele Bardsley
All the World's Static - Jason Thompson
An Elegant Solution - Bridget Riley
The Creative Lives of the Lichtensteins - EJ Trask
Watched Pots - Will Boucher
Off Switch - Honeygloom
The Last Stop - Shane Bzdok
The Sun and the Moon - 𝐂𝐁 𝐌𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧
Sunbonnet Sue - Lisa Kuznak
Blink Twice if You Can Hear Me - Sean Thomas McDonnell
Vote Control - Andy Futuro
Soma’s Reflection - Edith Bow
Room 13 - Miguel S.
The Thing in the Box - A.P. Murphy
Amanita - Sean Archer
The Swing of the Pendulum - Adam Rockwell
In Capable Hands - Shaina Read
August’s Fog - NJ
The Zeno Paradox - J. Curtis
The Jokes on You - Stephen Duffy
Mail-Order Bride - K.C. Knouse
The Switchboard - Hanna Delaney
What You’re Made Of - Jon T
Conception - Bob Graham
Good Neighbors - Liz Zimmers

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What I’m reading

Due to the length of this message, this segment will return next week! Promise.