Ah, Catherine, you problem-child, you. Why can’t you write between the lines? Why can’t you focus on romance and help build readership in an
expected genre?
Oh. Because you’re stubborn. Which makes sense, since you’re part of me. So, okay…
As Catherine Dale, I write Dystopic YA, I write contemporary monster-hunters living bleak lives with only the hint of romance, I write… I writes what I wants! And I will share at least some of it with readers…
Cory Steen is tough; she’s had to be. But when a school fight gets her expelled and charged with assault, being scrappy isn’t too useful.
As probation, she’s assigned to a program at a local gym, but soon after she arrives she realizes there’s more to the gym than she suspected. And there’s definitely more to the owner, charismatic Andrew Frost. He draws Cory into training, then romance, then… well. Had she thought she was at the gym to leave her life of crime behind?
It’s tempting to trust Andrew and give in to temptation. He’s offering a life Cory could never have dreamed of before meeting him. But can she trust him? Or will she end up having to use all of her toughness just to survive?
The stories say The Old Ones built wonderful cities, flew through the air and could send messages across the globe in the time it takes for an arrow to find its target. Caylen’s seen enough relics to believe at least some of that, but she doesn’t regret living in her world instead of theirs. She’s a nomad, making her home in the Wildlands between the “islands of civilization” in the fortified cities. Her world can be dangerous, but she can’t imagine living any other way.
When her band of nomads rescues a young nobleman from Yorkton, Caylen’s mother wants to deliver him to the nearest waypost, collect her reward, and move on. But Caylen is intrigued by Logan, and worried that his predictions of trouble for the nomads may be accurate. In order to protect the Wildlands she loves, Caylen has to leave them behind. In the city, she’s not sure if she can trust anyone, not even Logan. And the more she learns, the more she realizes that she’s far from the only one in danger. Her enemy is powerful and ruthless, and the cruelty she sees makes Caylen dream of the simplicity of the Wildlands. But she can’t walk away from the suffering, so she’ll have to stay and fight. It’s the nomad way.