New Book Alert!

All the details about my second YA romantic fantasy, which releases this November.

1. title reveal (drumroll, please!)♥︎

2. plot summary (and character art! and an excerpt!)⚜️

3. even more book details ♠️

4. how to support the book (and yours truly) 🔪

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1. title reveal (drumroll, please!)

Hello, lovelies! First of all, welcome to the new subscribers joining us for this long overdue book reveal, and welcome back to those of you who have been on this Book 2 journey with me for so, so, SO long. I am finally able to share the details of my sophomore YA romantic fantasy. Ready to hear ALL ABOUT IT? Drumroll, please….

Title: ⚜️♥︎ Gilded in Vengeance ♥︎⚜️

Release Date: November 4th, 2025

How much I love this book: 1,000,000/10, best thing I’ve written to date.

Can I add it on GoodReads? Why, yes you can, right here! You might even be the first one to do so!

Okay but what is it about? Think: Taylor Swift’s Vigilante Sh*t in ballgowns. Need more? keep reading!

2. Gilded in Vengeance: all the deets ♥︎

Meet Emmy, who is determined to never trust a soul again, and Jack, who needs Emmy to trust him—and his dangerous plans to avenge them both. Artist credit: the brilliant Will Hatch

Here’s a description of the book we’ve been workshopping for the back jacket:

Two girls attended a magical ball, but one was never seen again.
At least that's what those who betrayed her believed.

Two years after being framed for magical fraud by the Society of the Charmed, New York's wealthiest—and most magical—citizens, eighteen-year-old Emmy Vallillo wastes away in prison, utterly alone. Until her cell door bursts open, revealing Jack Fontaine—once the Society's favorite son, now a fellow prisoner. He offers Emmy a deal: he'll help her escape, if she agrees to help destroy those who wronged them.

Using Emmy's magic to transform their appearances, they soon become the Society's new darlings. Now their enemies want to dine with them. Attend lavish balls with them. Marry them. But ruining lives requires Emmy to trust Jack with hers, despite his dark secrets—and the infuriating attraction between them.

When another betrayal brings their enemies to their doorstep, Emmy must choose: finish exacting revenge, or give up the money, the magic, and her safety for the most treacherous thing of all—love.

Ugh, I love this story so damn much. That was part of the problem of writing it: I had an idea of what I wanted it to feel like, yet every draft kept coming short of that. Until the last draft, when I started the first chapter in what had once been the midpoint (my editor’s idea. I cried). Finally, everything fell into place. I had to rewrite the entire manuscript once again, but with the proper start point, it practically wrote itself.

Gilded in Vengeance is about the harrowing risk of love in every form. How the more we care for others, the easier it is for them to hurt us. Badly. It’s about the human need for connection, even when we swear we’re better off alone. It’s about decadence and danger, grief and guilt, anger and passion. About doing terrible things for seemingly good reasons (something listeners of Turning to Story know all about). About hating someone who turned against you—yet missing them with your whole heart. It’s about healing, and found family, and resilience, and trying not to fall in love because it hurts too much.

And on November 4th, it’ll be out in the world!

3. even more about Gilded in Vengeance

• It’s set in 1882 New York, both in the city itself and in a faux Westchester town for the magical elite called Avalon-on-Hudson.

• The Gilded Age is more than just the backdrop of this story. Themes of opulence and extravagance (along with wealth disparity and immigration) are integral to the magic system and the revenge itself.

• Unlike Revelle, which was dual POV, Gilded in Vengeance is single POV. With the exception of the prologue and the epilogue, the story is told entirely through Emmy’s eyes.

• It’s also a close 3rd person narration (she this, she that) while Revelle was a 1st person narration (I this, I that).

• Regarding tropes, it’s not quite enemies to lovers; it’s more like Reluctant Allies to Lovers. Or, more accurately, it’s: “I don’t trust anything about you, but I’d rather go with you than rot in prison” to “I’m working really hard not to need you with my whole heart.”

• Unlike Revelle, magic is a secret in this world.

• The wealthiest magic wielders of New York all belong to a highly exclusive secret society known as The Society of the Charmed. Each summer, for the month of June, they gather in Avalon-on-Hudson to throw the most lavish, magical events of the year (while the gossipmongers follow the non-magical rich folks to Newport). Emmy and Jack only have June to win over their enemies and ruin them.

• The Society of the Charmed refers to magic as “conjury” to better safeguard its secret existence. Conjury tends to be inherited, but sometimes, it evolves into something slightly different. Here are a few types of conjury you’ll see:

  • Elemental conjury (air, earth, water, fire)

  • Transformation conjury (changing items into other items)

  • Prophetic conjury (brief visions of the future)

  • Illusionary conjury (make people see things that aren’t there).

  • Telepathic conjury (reading minds)

  • Suppression conjury (inhibiting other people’s ability to move, speak, and/or use their own conjury)

  • Bridging conjury (imbuing objects with the conjury of others so whomever is holding it can use its magic)

  • Potion conjury (nearly extinct)

• Like Revelle, it’s got some twisty twists I hope you won’t see coming.

• Emmy is a second generation Italian American whose father came to New York around the same time my grandmother’s family did. Elements of her family’s experiences here, such as their tenement housing and even their surname, are based in part on my family’s experience.

• My publisher is hesitant to use the term romantasy, because (A) the definition means different things for different folks, and (B) we can’t guarantee a happily ever after 😬. But it combines romance with a high stakes (and glittery) fantasy plot, so I’ll let you decide!

  

  A little GILDED aesthetic for you ⚜️🔪♥︎

4. How to support GILDED (and me)

If you’d like to show Gilded in Vengeance some early love, you can:

• Add it on GoodReads here. It’s a small thing that is huge for authors, because it helps us show our publishers, and the rest of the book community, that readers are excited for an upcoming book.

• Like and share my Instagram book announcement (tomorrow) to help me celebrate and spread the word. If you’re reading this before I post, you’re getting the early scoop because you’re the best.

• Continue to subscribe to my newsletter (seriously, thank you) so you can preorder the book once it’s available. I’ll also be sharing the cover soon, along with info on applying for the street team, for those who are interested.

Eek! That’s it! Thanks for reading, and let me know what you think about Gilded in Vengeance. Seriously, it helps my chatty, wordy self figure out how to talk about the book when I know what caught people’s attention, so let me know which story elements you’re most excited about!