YA Cover Reveal!

Ahhhhhh LOOKIT at The Verdant Cage! Isn't it gorgeous? This is my young adult dystopian thriller that's been three years in the works and is finally...FINALLY ready for the world! It releases April 7, 2026, and People.com did the official cover reveal here! 😍

This book's been a labor of love. It's a dystopian thriller about a seventeen-year-old girl born into a walled community that she believes is paradise right until her mother is murdered and her twin brother is framed for the crime. What comes after is part thriller, part adventure, and all rebellion, with three massive twists that are gonna steal your breath. 💚💀💚

I'll post an excerpt below, plus a preorder link if you want to reserve yourself a limited edition deluxe copy with the sprayed edges. Stay tuned for more exciting news on this front!

The Verdant Cage excerpt:

The rosaries, the rule-following. It wasn’t enough. My twin is being Harvested.

“No!” I croak. The awfulness of it scrapes my veins, turning everything orange and raw. “Jonas is my brother,” I plead to Jarek upon the stage. My voice cracks, but it carries. “We’re Apothecaries.”

Jarek knows this, of course he knows this, but I can’t stop speaking, even though my brain is slippery with terror. “We cannot be chosen for Harvest. My—” I start to say “my mother” and choke it down. “I’m sorry, but all Apothecaries are exempt. The needs of treating another outbreak require our exclusion. You can find a different way to punish him, can't you?”

Jarek tips his head and beaks out his lips, the picture of sympathy. “Murder surely overrides your House’s Harvest exemption,” he says sadly. “And in any case, the Council has recently updated that directive. Our food shortage demands it.”

An icy wave of powerlessness threatens to drown me. Those were the rules. They can’t be changed. But then something unexpected happens. I feel a snap inside, and a burst of hot rage blooms in my chest.

I want to hurt Jarek.

Obedient, quiet Rose wants to rip out his throat. No. That’s not me. I do what I’m told. I try to push down the fury, but it won’t budge.

Jarek continues unaware. “Gryphon, guide Jonas to his ultimate sacrifice, won’t you?”

Gryphon’s exquisite face is a tight mask. His arms flex, and I have the wild hope that he’ll refuse, that he’ll reveal this is a cruel prank, a leftover from our childhood days, back when he and I used to be inseparable. But instead, he glides forward with the grace of a mountain lion. He takes Jonas from his handlers and begins to guide him toward the Wall.

They almost reach it when Jonas breaks free from Gryphon. Jarek cries out in rage as my brother races toward me, slipping between the other Guardians. “Rose,” he whispers when he reaches my side. The whites of his eyes are visible all around his pupils. He smells of iron and fear as he embraces me, speaking close to my ear. “I didn’t kill her. You’ll find the truth in the Record Keeper’s cottage. Go to the vault. But protect yourself, Rose. Let no one see you there.”

I sob and cling to him. Protect myself? All I’ve ever wanted was to keep him safe. Too soon, Gryphon wrenches him from me, and the hatred I had for Jarek finds a new home. I will never forgive Gryphon for leading my brother to his death.

“We’re not what we seem!” Jonas cries.

Those are the last words he speaks.

🌱💀🌱💀🌱💀🌱💀🌱💀🌱

Preorder your deluxe edition here!

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