TONIGHT, I BURN

When everything a young witch was taught about Death turn out to be false, she starts questioning everything she knows about Life.

Thorn witch Penelope Albright’s upcoming 21st birthday means she’ll finally be of age to cross into Death and fulfill the duties of her coven—protecting the veil between Life and Death and guiding souls through Death to the horizon. Imprisoned within the walls of the Colligerate, thorn witches have two paths: They can serve the High Warden as death-walkers by periodically being burned on a pyre, or they can release their identities and become part of his soulless Gilded army. When Penny’s sister Ella walks in death and doesn’t return on schedule the next morning, Penny decides to go against the first rule of crossing: "always walk alone." She burns in secret to retrieve her sister. The sandy plains of Death are cold and vast, and as Penny follows Ella’s lifeline, she finds a manor that shouldn’t exist. What’s more, the occupant, who shouldn’t be there, is the bewitching Lord Malin. To free her sister and cross the veil before it's too late, Penny agrees to a deal with Malin that will have her crossing into Death for 30 nights with information on the High Warden—breaking yet another rule, because the more you walk, the more you risk losing yourself entirely. The result is a story that struggles to balance a family drama, a complex magic system, and multiple romances between characters, though there are dark and twisted delights like book sprites—haunting library creatures that will consume a person if they feel like it—to keep it from getting too bogged down in lore. Nevertheless, a hard-fought ending sets the stage for a sequel that impatient readers will crave.

Readers will find themselves at the center of a magical rebellion and delight in the power of many kinds of love.