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Real-Life Inspiration
Alice and Agapogo is centered around a brave and stubborn girl whose escape from a witch takes her into a mysterious underworld on an adventure involving ancient Miners, prophecies, and betrayal. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
This is the second book in Alice’s adventures. At the end of the first novel, the witch forces Alice into the Underworld.
From a writer’s point of view, that opened an entirely new world. Legends about mysterious underground civilizations appear in mythology, folklore, and classic fantasy literature. I wanted to bring to life my own Underworld with its own history, forgotten people, and ancient secrets.
But the setting itself was not the most important part of the story. The real question was: what would Alice do if she had only two choices? Stay in a safe place and wait for whatever fate had prepared for her, or leave that safety and walk straight toward danger.
Alice is scared, but she never gives up. When she realizes that even the witches fear the Dragon, her decision is: “Then I’ll find the Dragon.” That determination in the face of fear became the driving force behind the entire novel.
Alice’s relationship with Bella and Lola gives the story much of its emotional warmth. Were the dogs inspired by real-life companions?
Yes, there was a real-life inspiration, with an amazing girl and two huge dogs who absolutely adored her.
I decided to write a few stories about her adventures with her dogs. That became my first book, “Alice, Cricket and Two Dogs”.
In the second book, the three of them are still inseparable.
Cricket stands out among a cast filled with witches, dragons, and other fantastical beings. What makes Cricket such an important part of Alice’s adventure?
Cricket is the point at which the cosmos enters Alice’s story. The mysterious Lens transforms an ordinary insect into a being with extraordinary intelligence and the ability to read thoughts.
No one notices him, and that is precisely his strength. Cricket is the first to discover that Matilda intends to steal Alice. He speaks to the dogs, whispers a warning into Alice’s ear, and pulls her out of the witch’s grasp. A creature small enough to disappear in the grass changes the course of Alice’s life.
Later, Cricket becomes the invisible link between Alice and Agapogo, and ultimately defeats the Almighty. In a world of witches, dragons, and monsters, the smallest creature possesses the greatest weapon: knowledge.
Agapogo is both protector and friend. How did you imagine this remarkable creature?
I spent a lot of time in British Columbia near beautiful Okanagan Lake, where the legend of Ogopogo is part of what gives the lake its unique character. When you stand on the shore and look out over its waters, it is easy to imagine that a mysterious ancient creature lives somewhere in the depths.
It became the starting point for Agapogo, and I changed the name slightly as a nod to the legend. But in the novel, Agapogo is far more than an underwater serpent.
Alice manages to uncover his secret, and that discovery becomes one of the key moments in the story.
What is the next book you are working on, and when will it be available?
I am currently working on a dark fantasy novel for adults. Its working title is Angel.
At the same time, I am also writing the third book in Alice’s adventures. At the end of the second book, Alice returns to an ordinary school, and her family moves to another city. But can a girl who has survived such extraordinary trials simply settle down and live the life of an ordinary schoolgirl? The working title of Alice 3 is On the Trail of the Miners.
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But the Underworld is far larger and far more dangerous than Alice could have imagined.
Beneath the forests and lakes stretches a vast subterranean realm of enormous caves, dark tunnels, underground waterways, and abandoned cities built long ago by the mysterious Miners — a vanished people whose secrets were never meant to be uncovered.
The Sanctuary soon proves anything but safe. When Alice discovers that the witches have already spread their traps into the hidden world below, she makes a desperate but necessary choice. Alone with her dogs, she journeys deeper into the Underworld, hoping to find the Dragon feared by the witches themselves.
Instead, she encounters something unexpected — Agapogo, an ancient underwater Serpent.
While searching for the Dragon, Alice learns that the vanished Miners called Dragons Tael Morh. The name is strangely familiar… and when she finally remembers why, nothing will ever be the same for Agapogo.
Deep in the Underworld, Alice awakens the impossible—and finds the key to defeating the witches.
Alice and Agapogo
Alice and Agapogo: A Tale of Two Worlds follows Alice, a brave and stubborn girl hiding from the witch Matilda, as she escapes into a mysterious Underworld with her two loyal dogs, Bella and Lola. What begins as a flight for safety turns into a much larger adventure involving the Sanctuary, ancient Miners, prophecies, betrayal, a talking Cricket, and the dragon-like Agapogo, who becomes both protector and friend. It’s a big, imaginative children’s fantasy with danger, loyalty, courage, and a strong sense that a child can matter deeply in the struggle against darkness.
I found myself most drawn to Alice herself. She’s not a neat, perfectly behaved heroine, and I liked that. She makes risky choices, argues with fear, gets things wrong, and keeps going anyway. Her bond with the dogs gives the story its warmest heartbeat. Those moments where Bella and Lola protect her, sit beside her, or silently understand what she needs felt tender in a way that grounded all the magic. I also appreciated that the book doesn’t treat children as fragile observers. Alice is scared, but she’s also capable, observant, and morally awake.
At times, the story’s rhythm feels almost like an oral tale being told around a fire, with direct sentences, repeated thoughts, sudden turns, and a strong forward pull. That gives the book urgency and a handmade charm. I did occasionally feel the story was crowded, with so many characters, attacks, plans, prophecies, and revelations that some emotional beats could’ve used more room. Still, the ideas stayed with me: chosen courage, the cost of betrayal, the possibility of repentance, and the way old stories can become real when a child is brave enough to step into them.
I thought this was an ambitious and heartfelt fantasy with a dark edge and a surprisingly emotional core. This is an exciting story overall, with witches, danger, pursuit, and some intense scenes. I can see it captivating confident middle-grade readers who like dragons, hidden worlds, loyal animals, and children who outthink adults. I’d recommend it for families who enjoy adventurous fantasy with danger, mystery, and a sincere belief in courage.
Pages: 231 | ASIN : B0H3GDKSX3
Fate of an Angel
Fate of an Angel, by Barb Jones, is a dark, prophecy-driven supernatural novel that throws Zaraquel, Marcus, Amber, Chloe, and their allies into a widening war against the Tall Dark Man. Set partly in Hawaii and threaded with bloodlines, gods, witches, vampires, angels, ancestral memory, and the dangerous arithmetic of sacrifice, the book centers on Zaraquel’s struggle to keep her light while forces around her try to bend her into something useful, broken, or doomed. It is Book Two in The Dark Prophecy Series and very much a continuation of the larger Blood Prophecy world.
I was struck by how much this book wants the supernatural to feel inherited rather than decorative. Magic here is not just sparkle or spectacle; it is obligation, old debt, family damage, and the residue of choices made long before the present characters were born. The Hawaiian setting gives the story a charged atmosphere, especially in the prologue, where myth, violence, and memory knot together before the modern plot begins. Jones is at her best when she lets dread seep into ordinary rooms: a cup of tea, a cottage floor, a museum case, a child who will not cry. Those moments have a sharp, uncanny pressure.
Marcus’s love for Zaraquel is fierce, but not clean. Zaraquel’s light is precious, but not invulnerable. Amber’s power carries history with it. Even victory feels provisional, as if every rescue has a shadow folded inside it. At times, the sheer breadth of characters, lore, and prophecy can feel dense for a newcomer, and I think this is not the ideal entry point for readers who want a standalone fantasy. But for readers already invested in the saga, that abundance becomes part of the appeal: the book feels crowded with consequence, like a storm system gathering over several bloodlines at once.
I would recommend Fate of an Angel to readers who enjoy dark fantasy, paranormal fantasy, supernatural thriller, vampire fiction, and mythic horror with a strong serial arc. Fans of Anne Rice’s The Vampire Chronicles may recognize a similar appetite for immortal grief, family entanglement, and beautiful damnation, though Jones pushes harder into prophecy and ensemble warfare. Fate of an Angel is a tense and emotionally charged installment about family, loyalty, and the cost of holding on when darkness keeps closing in.
Pages: 304 | ASIN : B0CYGPHS4Z
Bondwitch: Hybrid
Hybrid, book two in Chelsey M. Ortega’s Bondwitch series, is a paranormal fantasy romance about two sisters, Marianna and Annamaria Lyons, trying to find safety, family, and a place in a magical world that keeps redefining them. The book brings together witches, vampires, shifters, familiars, coven politics, arranged betrothals, old grief, and new romance, all while centering the sisters’ bond as they arrive in Concordia and face the consequences of Marianna’s transformation into a vampire and Annamaria’s role in the Lyons succession.
I liked how Ortega cares about the emotional cost of belonging. Marianna’s story, especially, has that ache of wanting to be accepted while knowing the room has already decided what you are. The early scenes in Concordia make that clear right away. She is welcomed, inspected, pitied, and judged almost in the same breath. I also liked how the book uses its genre elements without letting them sit there as decoration. Vampirism isn’t just cool teeth and night air. Witch politics are not just pretty spells. Shifters are not just muscle and mystery. The supernatural pieces carry real social weight, and that gives the paranormal fantasy side of the novel a stronger pulse.
There is a lot happening: family secrets, romantic tension, coven leadership, vampire ethics, magical law, trauma recovery, and threats still waiting in the shadows. Sometimes that abundance is fun, like opening a drawer full of strange, glittering objects. Still, Ortega’s choices kept me curious. I appreciated that Annamaria is allowed to be angry, messy, and blunt, while Marianna often moves through the story with a softer kind of fear and hope. Their differences make the sister relationship feel lived-in. I also found Libby frustrating in a productive way. She isn’t simply a villain, but she is absolutely someone whose love comes wrapped in control, tradition, and prejudice. That tension gives the book some of its best bite.
Bondwitch: Hybrid will work best for readers who enjoy character-driven paranormal fantasy romance with family drama at its center. I would recommend it to someone who likes witches, vampires, shifters, complicated sister bonds, magical communities, and romance threaded through larger questions about choice and identity. It’s dramatic, emotional, and busy in a way that suits its world. Readers who enjoy supernatural stories with heart, tension, and a strong “found and fought-for belonging” theme will probably have the best time with it.
Pages: 350 | ASIN : B0GP23FLMY
Dunya: The Mages of Ersa
Dunya: The Mages of Ersa is a work of fantasy, more specifically epic or high fantasy, built around a fractured realm, old magic, political struggle, and the burden carried by a handful of powerful figures trying to hold peace together. The book opens in a world shaped by past wars and prophecy, then moves through the lives of mages, witches, rulers, and ordinary people whose fates keep crossing as conflict grows across Ersa and beyond. What stayed with me most is the sense that this is not just a story about magic as spectacle. It’s a story about inheritance, duty, loss, and the hard question of what kind of power protects a people and what kind destroys them.
What I responded to first was the book’s sincerity. Author R.A. McKee writes like someone who genuinely loves the old building blocks of fantasy: maps, lore, lineages, rival realms, ceremonial moments, named chapters, and characters whose journeys feel tied to something larger than themselves. There is a handmade quality to the novel that I found appealing, especially with the inclusion of the author’s own artwork and the attention given to place and atmosphere. The writing feels almost oral, like a tale being told beside a fire rather than polished into something cool and distant, and I think that works in the book’s favor. It gives the story warmth. Even when the plot moves into war, coronation, and darker magical intrigue, I kept feeling that human thread underneath it.
I also liked that the book seems more interested in moral weight than in empty grandeur. The mages are not treated as shiny fantasy pieces on a board. They carry history, responsibility, and damage. The glimpses of characters like Fionn, Orin, Elias, and Primus suggest a world where magic is bound up with kinship, choice, and consequence, and I appreciated that the story gives room to both large political events and quieter exchanges between people trying to understand what they owe one another. This is the kind of fantasy that asks the reader to lean in and accept its cadence, names, and lore on their own terms. It’s not trying to be brisk. It wants immersion. For me, that made the book feel earnest and distinctive.
I would recommend Dunya: The Mages of Ersa most strongly to readers who enjoy classic-feeling fantasy with deep worldbuilding, mythic stakes, and a clear affection for the genre’s traditional pleasures. If you like fantasy that values lore, kingdoms, mages, prophecy, and the slow gathering of larger destinies, this book will probably speak to you. For someone who wants a heartfelt fantasy novel with ambition, atmosphere, and a genuine sense of lived-in magical history, this is a worthwhile read.
Pages: 421 | ASIN : B0GML5J38Q
The Keeper’s Code
Barb DeLong’s The Keeper’s Code, the second book in her Keepers of Magic series, is a romantic urban fantasy that mixes danger, desire, and a secret magical world just beneath the surface of Manhattan. It follows Skye Parker, a determined journalist with a haunted past, and Ash Hunter, a reluctant magical enforcer tasked with protecting the secrecy of the mage society. When their paths collide after a strange street incident and Skye begins investigating her mother’s suspicious death, they become entangled in a web of secrets, surveillance, magical politics, and unexpected feelings. The story builds on DeLong’s rich world of modern magic, complete with familiars, portals, memory wipes, and a hidden society trying to stay off the grid in a world of nosy journalists and viral videos.
I really enjoyed the character work here. Skye is fierce, smart, and emotionally raw. Her skepticism, fire, and relentless need for truth make her so easy to root for. I liked how DeLong let her flaws stand alongside her strengths. Ash, on the other hand, is this brooding, conflicted mix of noble and guarded. The dynamic between them felt fun, a little sexy, and believable. They get under each other’s skin in all the best ways. The writing is snappy with flashes of humor, especially in the dialogue, and I found myself smiling often. Soot the cat was a quiet standout for me, witty, magical, and the emotional glue in a lot of scenes. The pacing moved fast, sometimes almost too fast, but never dull. The romance had that slow-burn, “we definitely shouldn’t but we definitely will” vibe that I love.
The magical world-building can get a little heavy with exposition. There were a lot of terms, secret bureaus, memory wipes, shadow organizations, and portal jargon that could overwhelm readers not familiar with the first book. The story doesn’t shy away from pain and moral gray zones, either. Ash’s internal battle over saving lives versus staying hidden hit hard, and Skye’s grief is raw and real. DeLong didn’t just write a love story; she wrote a story about choosing what matters most when the stakes are personal and magical.
The Keeper’s Code is a great read for anyone who enjoys magical realism, romantic tension, and stories with hidden societies and ethical dilemmas. I’d recommend it especially to fans of Leigh Bardugo, Deborah Harkness, or early Buffy vibes with more grown-up edge. If you love snarky banter, a healthy dose of longing, a bit of mystery, and magic that crackles just beneath the surface of reality, then this book is for you. I’ll definitely be keeping an eye out for book three.
Pages: 318 | ASIN : B0DZ6X6FJ1
Leaping Beauty
In Leaping Beauty, Rebecca Fox transports readers into a world brimming with fantasy, intrigue, and a touch of mystery. Red Felian, the last princess of a crumbling kingdom, is cursed, her strength slowly drained by a spell that keeps her imprisoned within the palace walls. But Red, a symbol of resilience and courage, refuses to let her fate be sealed. With only days left to live, she breaks free, determined to explore the world beyond and uncover the truth behind her parents’ disappearance. Outside the palace, Red encounters a kingdom rife with peril—shadowy forests, corrupt guards, and a ruthless nobleman’s son who’s hellbent on capturing her. Yet, she remains unwavering in her quest. Her journey takes an unexpected turn when she meets Robbie, a captivating and enigmatic traveler whose involvement complicates her already dangerous mission. With time slipping away and threats looming, Red must seize control of her destiny before it’s too late.
Fox masterfully captures readers from the first page, blending elements of fantasy and mystery in an enticing narrative. The story opens with Red boldly declaring her intent to follow in her father’s footsteps on a dangerous quest to find her missing mother. The dialogue is crisp, immediately pulling readers into a world of fog-drenched castles, vanishing royalty, and legendary adventures. Red’s character, with her fierce determination and quiet resolve, is the beating heart of this tale. She reminds us that even the most unlikely hero can challenge destiny.
Unlike traditional tales of epic quests, Leaping Beauty takes a fresh approach, showcasing how quests are not always filled with triumph and glory. They can be a test of endurance, a theme that Fox explores beautifully. Red’s discoveries reveal that courage isn’t just about fighting battles but about pushing through uncertainty and loss. The novel’s atmosphere is rich with tension and symbolism. The persistent rain that falls after the Queen’s disappearance mirrors the kingdom’s grief, while the creeping fog that winds through the castle grounds hints at the uncertainty of the journey ahead. Red spends her time poring over ancient texts in the castle’s vast library, searching for answers to her mother’s vanishing and the strange fog engulfing her world. These scenes add depth, showing that Leaping Beauty isn’t just a fantasy tale but an exploration of familial duty, perseverance, and the battle between hope and despair. As the story builds to its thrilling conclusion, readers are treated to a heart-pounding moment of truth. Red and her companions face the mystery that has haunted them, leading to a surprising and emotional climax. The eerie atmosphere, combined with moments of humor and camaraderie, strikes a perfect balance. Fox weaves together the fantastical and the human, reminding us that in a world of magic and danger, it’s the strength of friendships and human connection that ultimately triumphs.
Leaping Beauty is a must-read for fans of epic quests, magical realism, and character-driven stories. It invites readers into a world where bravery is defined not just by vanquishing monsters but by holding onto hope even when the path forward is uncertain. The journey itself, and the bonds formed along the way, make this story both thought-provoking and deeply resonant.
Pages: 442 | ISBN : 1739356101
The Witch Whisperer
The Witch Whisperer by Barb DeLong is a fun and exciting adventure-filled story following a young witch, Willow Gladstone, on her journey to harness control of her powers. Willow Gladstone’s magic has not been very kind to her. From random broken dishes to causing physical harm, she’s more than convinced that her magic is broken. To avoid being banished and sent to the Haven, Willow seeks the help of Never Ravenwood, the sexy yet frustrating Witch Whisperer who isn’t too fond of her either. To find a cure for Willow’s magic, the two characters must traverse realms, which take them through one adventure after another while they figure out if they genuinely hate each other or develop a mutual connection.
Both Willow and her companion are desperate for a solution, and despite their differences, they must find a way to put aside their dislike to achieve their personal goals. Between a desperate girl who needs to fix her magic and a brooding, bitter man who wants nothing more to do with her than advance his own goals. I enjoyed how both characters were written, their development, and how well the author portrayed their points of view. Seeing their relationships unravel and the lively, intense dialogue was thrilling.
The Witch Whisperer by Barb DeLong is a truly enjoyable read with many twists and turns. I enjoyed the awkward, entertaining dialogue and personable traits that most readers can relate to. It’s a well-written book that’s witty and fun.
ASIN B0BKYGTGR6 | Pages: 316
