Stand in the Box by Noel Carracio

After the horrific car crash which killed their parents, twelve-year-old Kristin and nine-year-old Megan try to cope with a new world after their parents’ deaths. Their parents named an uncle on each side of the family as the Co-Guardians. The uncles are not related to each other by blood or marriage, nor have they ever been married or had children, so this is unchartered waters for everyone.

The two girls are caught up in a torrent of emotions as the conflicting lifestyles of the uncles clash as to how Kristin and Megan should be raised. This conflict may never be resolved and leads to problems and situations no one could have foreseen.

There are many plot twists which keep the story moving forward at a fast pace. Readers have said that this story is so enthralling that they can’t put the book down until they find out what happens to these two girls. 

Noël F. Caraccio is a full-time practicing attorney in Westchester County, New York, where she has lived her entire life. She was awarded a Danforth Fellowship for graduate studies in English, after having graduated magna cum laude, but decided to go to law school instead. She represents clients in Trust and Estate matters, commercial and residential real estate and Credit Unions.

She has served on numerous not-for-profit Boards. She is a member of several Bar Associations. She is an avid golfer, having won the Women’s Club Championship at Bonnie Briar Country Club.

She has three other published novels, Secrets Change Everything, Shattered City and Secrets and Revenge. The fifth novel has recently been completed.

Her author’s website is noelcaraccio.com where you can listen to excerpts from each novel.

Like Dust, I Rise by Ginny Rorby

Inspired by Amelia Earhart’s heroics, young Winona ‘Nona’ Williams tenaciously clings to the desire to become a pilot even after her father, with dreams of his own, dismisses the idea. When he quits his job in the Chicago stockyards to join other homesteaders settling the Great Plains, Nona finds herself torn between supporting her father’s vision for their future and her mother’s struggle to adjust to life on a desolate prairie.

Initially, things look up for the family as they settle into life in Dalhart, Texas. The wheat boom is in full swing, and it appears her father’s dream of providing his family with a home of their own is coming true. Too soon the effects of the depression impact her family, then the rains stop. Before long, Dalhart is the epicenter of the Dust Bowl.

Like Dust, I Rise transforms poverty into pride and reflects the heroism of endurance.

Ginny Rorby is the author 7 MG/YA novels: How to Speak Dolphin, Lost in the River of Grass, 2013 winner of the Sunshine State Young Readers Award, Hurt Go Happy, 2008 winner of the ALA’s Schneider Family Book Award, The Outside of a Horse, Dolphin Sky, Freeing Finch, (2019) and Girl Under Glass (2024). Like Dust, I Rise (2022) is a Coming of Age novel set in the epicenter of the Dust Bowl, Dalhart, Texas.

Journey to Everland Bay by Lynne Shaner 

Jemma Avalon, an unconventional mage-in-training, longs to return to Everland Bay, her ancestral homeland, and find a way to join the renowned magical research institute there, like the women in her family before her.

Daughter of a gentle part elf-fae mother and a father with fiery dragon blood, an unusual combination even in the magical world, ten years after her mother’s sudden death, she is working at a major museum in DC, where magic is all but outlawed. Her father wants her to assimilate and live without magic, but Jemma is determined to fully embrace her heritage.

When an ordinary day at the museum takes an extraordinary turn, Jemma is rocketed to an Everland Bay Institute under violent siege, where dark-arts mages threaten everything important to her. Once there, she joins forces with her companions and works feverishly to save Everland Bay from crumbling under enemy attack. In so doing, she finds a path to her own strength and mastery, and her heart’s true home. Journey to Everland Bay is also a book about friendship and the bonds of family—the families we are born into and those we connect with along the way. 

“A beautifully engaging fantasy teeming with dragons, fae, magic and the importance of family and friendship. A joy to read from beginning to end.” –Julie Boglisch, author, Elifer Chronicles

“Get ready to lose yourself in the magic of Everland Bay.” —Midwest Book Review

Lynne Shaner has been captivated by fantasy, myth, and fairy tales since childhood, when her mother first read Charlotte’s Web and The Wind in the Willows to her. She lives in Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin—close enough to Lake Michigan to walk to the shoreline every day.

Shelves overflowing with books line her home, and there is always a knitting project on her needles. Lynne lives with her husband, and Merlin, her small, adorable miniature schnauzer.

When not writing, Lynne can be found reading and knitting in her garden, where she grows herbs, flowers and story ideas. Her work has appeared in various literary magazines. She holds a master’s degree in creative writing from Johns Hopkins. This is her debut novel.

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This post is a sponsored collaboration with Black Rose Writing