A Wicked Magic

Modern witches must save friends stolen by an ancient demon in this YA fantasy-thriller."A cinematic, page-ripping debut." -Kirkus Reviews"A modern day version of The Craft." -BooklistDan and Liss are witches. The Black Book granted them that power. Harnessing that power feels good, especially when everything in their lives makes them feel powerless.During a spell gone wrong, Liss's boyfriend is snatched away by an evil entity and presumed dead. Dan and Liss's friendship dies that night, too. How can they practice magic after the darkness that they conjured?Months later, Liss discovers that her boyfriend is alive, trapped underground in the grips of an ancient force. She must save him, and she needs Dan and the power of the Black Book to do so. Dan is quickly sucked back into Liss's orbit and pushes away her best friend, Alexa. But Alexa has some big secrets she's hiding and her own unique magical disaster to deal with.When another teenager disappears, the girls know it's no coincidence. What greedy magic have they awakened? And what does it want with these teens it has stolen?Set in the atmospheric wilds of California's northern coast, Sasha Laurens's thrilling debut novel is about the complications of friendship, how to take back power, and how to embrace the darkness that lives within us all.

A CONTEMPORARY WITCHY THRILLER: This book combines the suspense and mystery of today's modern thrillers like The Cheerleaders and Karen McManus's bestselling books, and blends that with an eerie fantasy sensibility, like the cult-classic film The Craft and the dark magic of New York Times bestselling The Wicked Deep. It's the best of both worlds of what is working in our market.WITCHES ARE HAVING A TV MOMENT: With the success of the hit Netflix series The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina and the Charmed reboot, witches are back in the cultural consciousness in a very immediate way.DEBUT AUTHOR WITH A CAPTIVATING VOICE: Snappy prose, clever writing, and an engaging voice propel the narrative forward. Sasha Laurens's debut is energetic and atmospheric, an auspicious start to her career as a YA author.THE BEST KIND OF CREEPY: There are some elements of horror, a segment of our market that's growing, as seen by our own Danielle Vega. But there's no gore or blood or (too many) guts: just genuine, spine-tingling moments with some freaky characters, like the demon's proxy, who is best described as a creepy old bird lady.