Children and Young Adult Author | Official Website
Author: Ellwyn
I live with my loving husband, two children and dog in Philadelphia, PA. I discovered my passion for writing in second grade when I had to write a book report for school. I was so excited to write the report, until my mother told me that I had to write about someone else's book and not my own story. I became indignant and decided that once I finished the book report I would most certainly write my own original story. I have been writing ever since!
My self-published book Chris Kringle's Cops was a Finalist in The Reader's Favorite Book Contest for 2016. I am so happy to share this story with you.
My picture book Kamyla Chung and the Creepy Crawlies was given a 5 Star rating by Reader's Favorite Book Reviews in 2017.
GENRE: Children’s Search-and-Find Picture Book series
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BLURB:
Perfect for curious minds and sharp eyes, these interactive puzzle picture books encourage creativity and exploration while fostering a love of reading. Can you and your friends find everything that lurks in these places? Get ready for unforgettable adventures filled with magic, mystery, and a whole lot of fun!
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Fantasyland Blurb:
Join Evan and Page on an enchanting adventure in My Friends and I Spot Fantasyland: A Puzzle Picture Book! From creepy spiders lurking in shadowy corners to shimmering butterflies fluttering through sunlit glades, this captivating search-and-find journey invites readers of all ages to step into a vibrant world brimming with delightful surprises and mysterious wonders.
Perfect for curious minds and sharp eyes, this interactive puzzle picture book encourages creativity and exploration while fostering a love of reading. Can you and your friends find everything that lurks in this place? Get ready for an unforgettable adventure filled with magic, mystery, and a whole lot of fun!
About The Author:
Thuan Doan is an award-winning author of the Sophia Freeman series. He conceived his first middle-grade fantasy novel, Sophia Freeman and the Mysterious Fountain, during a trip to Gabriola Island, British Columbia in the summer of 2013. Then he took his work and settled in a small town of Enderby, where it’s peaceful and quiet.
Thuan is writing under a pen name of T.X. Troan. “X” stands for Xu, his grandmother’s name who passed away. And “Troan” is a combination of his parents’ names.
“No matter how this turns out, I want my family to be a part of this wonderful journey.”
;IGY6 is more than just a self-help guide, it is a beacon of hope for those in the military and beyond.
Whether you are a soldier, a veteran, or someone who supports them, this book provides invaluable insights and practical advice that can make a real difference.
Readers will find solace in the shared experiences and learn how to navigate the complexities of PTSD towards a better, more fulfilling life.
Excerpt:
I’ve wanted to write ;IGY6 for some time now. I have complex post-traumatic stress disorder (C-PTSD), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), Crohn’s disease, celiac disease, and I’m lactose intolerant. It’s a heavy list, and my doctor, a gastrointestinal specialist, calls me his medical miracle because he’s never had a patient with this combination. Lucky me.
PTSD can be extremely difficult, but doing nothing about it is a big mistake. If sharing my experience helps you to take a step I waited too long to take, then it’s worth every word.
“;IGY6” stands for “I got your six,” military slang for “I’ve got your back.” But there’s much more to it than that. The “6” is your six o’clock position—your back— and “got your six” is a pledge to be there for each other. The semicolon at the front is a symbol from the suicide prevention initiative called Project Semicolon, and it represents a pause instead of an ending, a reminder that your story isn’t over.1 When paired with IGY6, the semicolon sends a powerful message to those living with PTSD: “You’re not alone, and we’ve got your six.” A related movement, the ;IGY6 Foundation, highlights the sobering statistic that an average of twenty-two US veterans die by suicide every day.2 Imagine a world where we all watched out for each other. That’s the promise at the heart of this book.
Dean Sali is a resolute advocate for personal growth, resilience, and inner healing.
With a background in the military and law enforcement, he has faced intense challenges that tested his strength, confidence, and sense of purpose. He served on a UN tour in Rwanda in 1994, an experience that deeply shaped his perspective on trauma, recovery, and the human spirit.
His journey with PTSD has given him firsthand insight into the struggles of rebuilding from within, and he has spent years exploring methods of healing, including chi exercises, mindfulness, and reconnecting with nature.
Beyond his professional experiences, Dean is a devoted father of four, with a granddaughter on the way.
His writing is deeply personal, offering practical guidance and heartfelt encouragement to those seeking clarity, confidence, and peace.
Through his work, Dean hopes to inspire others to embrace their own healing journey and discover the strength they already carry inside.
When Sheylla discovers she’s the host of an ancient ocean spirit, she’s thrust into a battle that could destroy everything—including the fragile friendships she’s just begun to build.
The tide is rising… and time is running out.
The First Tide is Book One in the Grimwood Academy series—a gripping coming-of-age fantasy filled with magic, mystery, and a heroine torn between duty and her heart.
A raw and unflinching memoir of survival, truth, and transformation. Phillippa Mann takes readers deep into the fractured world of a girl who grew up living with a monster–a world where love and fear shared the same face, and silence became a means of survival.
Through heartbreak, chaos, and betrayal, Phillippa’s voice emerges from the shadows as she begins to piece together a life that was never hers to begin with. Her journey is one of courage and reckoning, of facing the unbearable truths that shaped her, and finding strength in vulnerability.
More than a story of pain, House of Cards is a testament to the power of healing and self-forgiveness. It reminds every survivor that bringing hidden truths into the light is not the end – it’s the beginning of reclaiming your story and rebuilding the foundation of who you were always meant to be.
Excerpt:
My parents were married in England in June 1969. They emigrated to Canada in 1970, had my brother in September 1972 and me in October 1974. Both sets of my grandparents emigrated to Canada shortly after this to be closer to us.
I was born in Northern BC. My mother separated from my dad and moved to the Lower Mainland in 1976, approximately 900 km away, with her boyfriend at the time.
While I have no recollection of that period as I was quite young, I’ve come across photos of my younger self with my dad and brother, and I can see the joy on my face.
In those times, I truly felt happy. I remember camping with my dad, fishing, pretending to shave with him, and the smell of the Coleman stove. It was returning home to my mother after spending time with my dad that was the toughest part.
Even though I was so little, I knew that something at home wasn’t right. I always felt such intense sadness and anxiety when my dad brought us back home after summer camping, winter break, or his weekend visits.
I didn’t know how to articulate what I was feeling, and I struggled to express my emotions at such a young age, but I just knew that I hated it when my dad brought me back home. This is the first recollection I have of the abuse.
Naturally, at such a young age, I didn’t see it as abuse, and it took me over two decades to realize it.
My dad would drop me off at my mother’s house before returning north, and even though I knew I’d see him again in a few weeks, to a three- or four-year-old without a grasp of time, it seemed like an eternity.
I would cry when he left because I loved him so much and didn’t want him to leave. After my dad left, my mother would be so unkind to me, often ignoring me for days.
I do not remember a single word being spoken to me. I recognize she must have said something to me; however, I remember the silence more than anything—the absence of good nights, hugs, or any trace of warmth.
It continued until I finally begged her to say something, anything. Eventually, once she got what she wanted, she’d pretend nothing had happened, slipping back into normalcy as if the hurt had never occurred.
About The Author:
Phillippa Mann is a Canadian author who is passionate about helping others find healing through shared experience.
Her memoir, House of Cards:
Surviving Munchausen by Proxy and a Mother’s Web of Lies, explores the emotional journey of growing up in chaos and reclaiming strength through forgiveness and self-discovery.
Family is at the heart of everything Phillippa does. She and her husband share a love of creating together, and their children and grandchildren inspire her every day to live with gratitude, laughter, and purpose.
When she’s not writing, Phillippa can be found playing with her Corgi, Glenn, crafting handmade gifts, baking cookies and cupcakes for her family business, Sweet Lavender Designs, which she started in memory of a dear friend.
She is currently working on her next creative project, a heartwarming children’s book titled Hop Hop and the Great Garden Adventure, inspired by the wonder and imagination of her grandchildren.
A Gripping Tale of Royal Betrayal and Hidden Romance
When darkness falls on the kingdom of Ardanthia, readers will find themselves caught up in a story where nothing is what it seems. Princess Eloise faces impossible choices as murder and betrayal tear her world apart.
Her secret love for the Prince of Caladorn adds another layer of danger to an already deadly situation. This isn’t just another royal romance – it’s a heart-pounding adventure where love and loyalty clash in the most dangerous ways possible.
You’ll feel every moment of tension as Eloise walks the razor’s edge between duty and desire.
Mystery and Investigation That Keeps You Guessing
Sir Cedric Blackthorn brings detective skills that would make any crime solver jealous. His brilliant mind works to solve puzzles that could save or destroy an entire kingdom.
As Ambassador Zafir arrives with hidden motives and Baron Gorgo schemes from the shadows, every character becomes a suspect. The investigation twists and turns through palace halls filled with secrets.
You’ll find yourself trying to solve the mystery alongside Cedric, picking up clues and second-guessing every revelation. The chase scenes will have you on the edge of your seat as our heroes race against time through a kingdom ready to explode into war.
Fantasy Adventure That Brings Legends to Life
The Broken Crown Saga starts with this incredible first book that mixes political drama with fantasy elements that feel fresh and exciting.
Secret groups work behind the scenes, pulling strings that control the fate of nations. The world-building draws you in completely, making you believe in a place where magic and politics dance together in dangerous ways.
This story proves that sometimes solving one crime can prevent an entire war – and that the most important battles happen in the shadows.
For readers of David Eddings and Terry Brooks, this sweeping tale of betrayal, magic, and destiny will leave you breathless.
The peace was always a lie. They just didn’t know whose.
Queen Eloise of Ardanthia has done everything right. She negotiated the alliance with Caladorn, married the prince, held her court together through blight and borderland attacks and the whispered threat of an ancient secret order. Now, with villages vanishing overnight — crops blackened, livestock dead, people simply gone — she does what any good ruler would do. She sends her best.
Sir Cedric Blackthorn, the precise and principled knight-investigator. Captain Elira, a soldier who has survived too much to flinch at anything. Tomas, a scholar more at home with footnotes than fistfights. Ryn, a street thief from the Saltspire docks whose instincts are worth more than anyone’s education. And Auralias — the Court Mage, brilliant and unsettling in equal measure — who brings knowledge of old magic that none of the others possess, and who may be the only thing standing between Ardanthia and the League of the Moon.
Together, they are hunting the League before the League can finish what it started.
What they find will change everything they think they know — about the attacks, the conspiracy, and the true scale of what is being assembled in the dark. There are artifacts, older than any living kingdom, whose power was thought lost to history. There are secrets buried so deep that uncovering them will cost more than anyone is prepared to pay. And there is a question, growing louder with every mile: who, exactly, is the enemy?
Twilight’s Dominion is a story about loyalty tested to breaking, courts where every smile hides a calculation, and the particular horror of realising that the enemy has been in the room all along. It is about a queen learning that the peace she built was built for her — and a company of mismatched, battle-worn companions who keep fighting even after the ground gives way beneath them.
Set across mountain fortresses carved from living rock, fog-wrapped port cities, a besieged royal palace, and the treacherous corridors of two kingdoms in collision, this is epic fantasy for readers who like their politics sharp, their magic consequential, and their betrayals earned.
Perfect for readers who love:
The political intrigue of A Song of Ice and Fire
The ensemble loyalty of The Lies of Locke Lamora
The world-building depth of Robin Hobb
Characters who are competent, scarred, and worth caring about
“There’s no certainty in what’s ahead. But I’d rather die among friends than watch the world go to monsters.”
The Broken Crown Saga: Book One: The King’s Fall Book Two: Twilight’s Dominion Book Three: Echoes of Kings – coming soon
I am a new author writing under the pen name Orlan Drake, my real name is Chris Hills Farrow. I’ve worked as a freelance writer for magazines in the past but have always wanted to write fiction, and after having more free time during the lockdowns, I have made some progress. I enjoy fantasy because it opens my mind to other worlds or ways of life that do not exist in real life, or have ever existed.
Diagnosed with epilepsy at 13, Jane’s life took a wild turn full of seizures, specialists, and some seriously strange hospital adventures. But instead of letting it break her, she learned to laugh—at the chaos, the cringe, and even the curveballs. Laughing Through the Storm is a hilariously honest memoir about finding resilience, ridiculousness, and unexpected joy in the middle of life’s messiest moments.
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Excerpt:
It was a frosty January morning in 1981 when I decided to make my dramatic debut in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. As the latest addition to the family line-up, I was a calm and easy-going baby, quietly lulling everyone into a false sense of security. Classic me— always setting up for a twist.
My dad worked for the Health of Animals, a branch of the Canadian federal government, as a veterinarian in Prince Edward Island. They were responsible for the control, prevention and eradication of certain animal diseases.
As the district veterinarian for the entire province, he had responsibilities for the health and well-being of all livestock, from pigs and cows to chickens.
His days were a mix of travelling to farms to test animals for serious diseases like tuberculosis and rabies; visiting auction houses to ensure only healthy animals were sold; attending meat-packing plants to collect samples; and making safety diagnoses to ensure that animals entering the food chain were safe for human consumption.
When I was two, my parents decided to move us to Riverview, New Brunswick, a town that became the stage for my happiest childhood memories. We lived on Hamilton Court, a little slice of suburban heaven with one particularly glorious feature: hills.
Our backyard sloped gently, but our neighbours’ yards were even steeper, perfect for sledding. Every winter, kids from all over the neighbourhood would arrive armed with sleds, ready to turn those snowy slopes into the ultimate playground.
We would shriek with laughter as we careened down the hill and tumbled into a snowbank. Gravity may have been our accomplice in the winter, but in the summer, it was the architect of our joy. My friends and I would roll down those same hills, giggling uncontrollably, dizzy from both the spinning and the laughter.
About The Author:
Jane Rogers is an accidental expert in epilepsy, diagnosed at 13 and living with it ever since. She’s spent over three decades navigating seizures, side effects, and hospital adventures with grit, sarcasm, and a solid sense of humor. Laughing Through the Storm is her first book—a tribute to resilience, ridiculous moments, and finding light in the darkest places.
She lives in Ottawa with her supportive husband, Pascal, and their two mischievous chihuahuas, Junior and Bailey.
Fun Fact: Jane once had a seizure during a comedy show— and still insists the comedian owes her one.
A mouth-watering home run of a beach read where a newly widowed woman finds second chances through a funeral catering business and the magic of Chicago baseball.
Last Bite
by Amy S. Peele
Genre: Cozy Mystery
A mouth-watering home run of a beach read, this lighthearted romantic comedy featuring a newly widowed fortysomething takes the reader on a joyful romp through-out some of Chicago’s finest eateries—with a dash of Cubs baseball on the side.
In the heart of Chicago, forty-five-year-old Angie Sortino finds herself at a crossroads. Recently widowed, she discovers that her deceased husband, Vinnie, has left her penniless. Until his City pension can be cleared up, she’s on her own.
Angie has just taken a job at Chicago City Hall as a cleaning woman when her spirited twenty-two-year-old niece, Gina, and Gina’s best friend, Kim, approach her with the idea of starting a catering company targeting funeral parlors. Seeing a chance to reawaken her own culinary aspirations, Angie gets on board. As the three women embark on this new venture, they face the challenges of the catering business, from securing clients to perfecting their menu. Angie and Gina’s love for the Chicago Cubs adds a playful twist to their journey; they often find inspiration in the vibrant atmosphere of Wrigley Field. Gina’s youthful enthusiasm, meanwhile, contrasts with Angie’s cautious nature, leading to hilarious mishaps, unexpected romantic encounters, and heartfelt moments.
Through late-night brainstorming sessions and spontaneous cooking experiments, Angie begins to find her voice, both in the kitchen and in her life—and ultimately, with the support of a respected funeral director, Gina and Kim, and an unexpected new love interest, she learns to embrace her worth and pursue happiness.
“Last Bite is a deliciously layered novel that mixes humor, heart, and mystery in equal measure.” —Chicago Book Review
Amy S Peele was born and raised in the Chicago area, and now lives in Marin County in California. Having spent thirty five years working in the field of organ transplantation, she brings a fresh, knowledgable, and humorous new voice into the world of mystery novels.
In addition to killing people in her murder mysteries, she enjoys meditating, teaching yoga, swimming, and pursuing her spirituality by studying the teachings of Deepak Chopra. Amy invites you to her website www.amyspeele.com to learn more about her.
