Magic Heist
Mary Karlik
(Fairy Trafficking #2)
Published by: Ink Monster LLC
Publication date: July 9th 2019
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult
Layla rescued fairies that had been kidnapped and brought the human world. But now they can’t find their way back to the magic realm and time is running out.
Layla is a powerful fairy with magical ability that stretches beyond throwing spells. But with all that power, she still doesn’t know how to get over one-hundred fairies back to the magic realm. With their magic gone, the rescued fairies have no immunity to protect them from the toxins of the human world, and they’re slowly dying.
To find the path home, Layla knows she must team up with the one man who can make her insides quiver with an accidental brush of his fingertips. The same man who’s alter ego dragon is the natural predator of fairies. The man she knows will give his life to keep the fairies safe—Scotland’s finest Specialist Crime Division leader, Ian Cameron.
Ian has only been a dragon shifter for a few days. He struggles to control the dragon spirit locked inside his human form, doesn’t know what magical powers he may or may not have, and has never been to a magical world. But none of those things frighten him as much as the little spark that ignites in his soul when the half – human fairy is around.
But this little fairy is no Tinkerbell. She is brave, powerful, and can wield a sword like a medieval knight.
With growing feelings toward Layla, he couldn’t refuse to help her get the fairies back to the magic realm if he wanted to. The problem is the dragon who lives inside him would like nothing more than to feed his appetite with all of those little fairies—especially the half human one who killed its leader.
“Mary Karlik, is truly a hidden gem of a writer.” – I Am the Bookworm
Writing is the best job I’ve ever had. It’s
a dream come true. It’s hard to believe that all those years of getting into
trouble for daydreaming has paid off. But as much as I love my job, like
most—if not all writers, I hear a little voice in my brain telling me that I’m
not good enough, that the story isn’t right, that nobody will like my book.
When I wrote Magic Harvest, I personified
that self-doubt voice and gave it a name, Cràdh. It’s the Scottish Gaelic word
for torment or torture. In my world, the Cràdh is a parasitic spirit that
whispers messages of self-doubt to its host and then feeds on the resulting
negative emotions. In Magic Harvest, my heroine, Layla was infected with it.
And as I wrote Magic Harvest, I was too.
It took me four years to write the first
draft. Fairy Trafficking hasn’t really been done before. When I’d mention to
other writers, or readers, or family, that I was writing a fairy trafficking
series, their faces would light up either with excitement or confusion. But
always with an immediate image of what that meant. I was terrified that my idea
of fairy trafficking wouldn’t match the idea my readers had conjured. If it was
a gross mismatch, then I would have broken the story promise before I had
gotten started. So, I struggled with that book. Fortunately, I have a
wonderfully kind and patient publisher. She helped me through the weeds of the
book because she believed in the story and she believed in me.
Spoiler Alert! Layla got rid of her Cràdh.
As a writer, I don’t think I ever will and honestly, I don’t know if I want to.
As the Cràdh was leaving Layla, it said that it had guided her to become the
warrior she needed to be. And maybe the Cràdh was on to something.
Maybe those whispers push me to be the
writer I want to be. I’m curious, do you have a Cràdh? Would you keep it or
expel it?
Author Bio:
Mary Karlik has always been a dreamer. When she was a teen, she read The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, and then sat in every wardrobe in her Nanna's home, trying to open the door to Narnia. She didn't find it, but she did discover her voice as an author: one filled with her young adult self, and grounded in her roots as a Texan and her Scottish heritage, nourished by obscure Scottish folklore.
You can find her Texas roots in her YA contemporary romance Hickville series , which has been described as "100% solid storytelling," and begins with Welcome to Hickville High, a "lovely story about growing up."
She digs deep into her Scottish roots - there is magic there, she just knows it - for the forthcoming YA epic fantasy Fairy Trafficking series, beginning with Magic Harvest.
She makes her home in the beautiful Sangre de Cristo mountains of Northern New Mexico where she is a certified professional ski instructor, but she also loves visiting Scotland where she is currently studying Scottish Gaelic at the University of Highlands and Islands in Skye. Mary also earned her MFA in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University, has a B.S. degree from Texas A&M University, and is a Registered Nurse.
Mary currently serves as the President of the Young Adult Chapter of Romance Writers of America and looks forward to raising a glass or two of gin and tonic with her fellow writers every year at RWA's national convention.
