Harper Voyager’s FEAST: HARVEST OF DREAMS, by Merri Destefano (pictured), is a book you don’t want to finish. The story is fast-paced and the characters are likable, but more than anything else, the setting is a place you don’t wish to leave.

Madeline MacFaddin is a science-fiction writer having a personal crisis. She’s in the midst of divorce from her young son’s father and stuck in the middle of the worst case of writer’s block she’s ever had. Seeking inspiration, Maddie takes her son and their dog to Ticonderoga Falls, a small town in the San Bernardino Mountains where she vacationed with her parents as a child—and a place where distant, half-remembered experiences of something in the woods lures her to investigate. Ticonderoga Falls is a beautiful village full of magic and creatures called Darklings—supernatural dream eaters. They are gathering for the hunt, a time where they feast on the dreams of mortals, which happens to take place on Halloween. The combination of the deep woods, a Victorian lodge, a sleepy mountain village, a snowfall late on Halloween, drama, crisis, murder and some romance make FEAST an highly enjoyable read.

Destefano tells the story from the first-person point of view of several characters, providing the reader with an omniscient insight into each of their thoughts and motivations. FEAST is the author’s sophomore work after the sci-fi mystery AFTERLIFE: THE RESURRECTION CHRONICLES, and it’s a fresh, different kind of fantasy novel set in our time and place. The novel feels homey and warm as well as dark and enticing—perfect reading to prepare for the upcoming harvest season.

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