Roz Maclaren

Teen Fiction with a Dark Twist

Roz MacLaren

Are you going to hate the ending of Forgotten Skye?

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Spoiler: possibly.

Forgotten Skye isn’t a cosy romantasy read. Happy-ever-after is not in its vocabulary. And the ending is intended to feel more like a gut punch than a warm hug.

What you will get

Art by KatArt
  • A dramatic island setting (with real-life places you can go and visit!)
  • A strategic, relentlessly independent FMC
  • An isolated, smart MMC
  • Side characters with zero filter (Pep steals the show)
  • Twists and turns galore (you won’t see what’s coming next)
  • An ending that will rip your heart from your chest and stamp on it (you might need to stare at the wall for five minutes contemplating life)

Forgotten Skye is out THIS SUMMER

…and if you can’t wait for release day, then you don’t have to.

Ally yourselves with the Skyedivers, my loyal group of ARC readers – willing to dive headfirst into this dark world before everyone else.

SIGN UP

Remember to check the trigger warnings before diving in. You can find them here.

Cover reveal for Flame and Phoenix

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It’s time to tear away the metaphorical wrapping. The cover for Flame and Phoenix is now revealed!

Full cover

Flame and Phoenix is the fourth book in my YA dark fantasy series, The Mirrordom Legends, set in a world where everyone is born Good – but with an evil twin. While most books in the series can be enjoyed as standalones, I do think Flame and Phoenix would make more sense to readers who have followed the other stories.

Sprayed edges

I’ve collaborated with fantastic artist, Jess Rollins, to have the books created with sprayed edges. These bespoke collector’s items are only available upon request. As soon as Flame and Phoenix is released, Jess and I will conceptualise its sprayed edges too.

SHOP SPRAYED EDGES

Want a free early copy of Forgotten Skye?

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⚔️ ARC READERS WANTED ⚔️

She wants to destroy his world.
He’s sent to destroy her.

Forgotten Skye, my YA dark romantasy, is available to ARC readers and reviewers.

Centuries after a radiation leak on the Isle of Skye wiped out thousands, the mutated survivors developed god-like powers. Led by power-hungry Queen Creyta, they’re determined to drive the few remaining humans to extinction.

Seventeen-year-old Vesper, one of the unmutated, is determined to go down fighting. Prince Hunter, the queen’s ridiculously handsome son, might just be the key to his mother’s undoing. But the closer Vesper gets to Hunter, the more she realises he’s just as trapped as she is. Now she’s torn between taking down Creyta and protecting the boy she’s grown dangerously close to.

One wrong move and she won’t just lose Hunter. She’ll lose everything.

Perfect for readers who love:

⚔️ enemies to allies to lovers
🧠 strategic FMCs
🖤 swoonworthy MMCs
💬 banter for days
🔥 high-stakes tension
✨ side characters who steal the show
👑 Hunger Games x Powerless vibes

If you like zero-spice romantasy with gut-punch endings, you may survive Forgotten Skye 👀

(Don’t forget to check out the content warnings first!)

APPLY HERE

What do you need to do?

All you need to do is fill in the form above to apply. Successful reviewers will be contacted no later than 15 June.

If you’re approved for a free review copy, you’re asked to leave an honest review. That means tell it like it really is! If you hated Forgotten Skye, don’t hold back. Your reviews will help other readers make informed decisions – and help me improve my craft. (One of my favourite reviews for Venom and Blaze is a one-star that came from a reader who clearly understood the book and what I was trying to say – it just simply wasn’t for them. I actually finished reading their review with a beaming smile because they really got the characters!)

Again, please remember to check the trigger warnings. Dark things happen. Make sure you take care of yourself, first and foremost.

When do you need to do it by?

Applications cut off on 15 June, so make sure to fill in the form before then if you’re interested.

Ideally, reviews need to be in by 31 August as the book comes out this summer (release date TBC, so there’s no hard and fast review-by date).

The Boy With Wings For Hands – out now in paperback

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I’m thrilled to announce that the paperback edition of my YA sci-fi, The Boy With Wings For Hands, are now on sale.

SHOP YOURS

Seventeen-year-old Sparrow has never known freedom. An alien from the planet Mykzon, she’s caged and forced to perform in Obsidian’s Travelling Show of Rarities and Fascinations.

That is, until Felix crashes into her world. He’s human, reckless and has wings where his hands should be. And when Felix’s arrival attracts powerful enemies, Sparrow’s world is thrown into chaos.

As Sparrow is drawn into a rebellion she never asked for, she must choose between staying hidden or risking everything to fight back.

Because Obsidian doesn’t just want the spotlight.

She wants the world.

Are you ready to join the rebellion? Shop The Boy With Wings For Hands now. Or get in touch with me to enquire about signed copies and sprayed edges.

Character art reveal: Hunter and Vesper

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If you’re in the Street Team, you’ll have seen this already (and if you’re not, why aren’t you?!)

I’m thrilled to unveil Kat’s beautiful piece, created to go along with my upcoming YA dark romantasy series, The Ruined Skye Trilogy.

Here you go:

In my head, the art is meant to evoke how my main characters wanted their first meeting to be. In reality, they argue, threaten each other and one of them nearly dies. But both know that, if they didn’t live in a world where talking to the wrong person could kill them, perhaps they might be friends…

So while this scene isn’t actually from the book, think of it as as a kind of bonus scene. I love how Vesper holds her knife, not quite trusting Hunter (or herself) and never fully relaxing.

Blurb

Here’s a reminder of the blurb:

She wants to destroy his world. He’s sent to destroy her.

Centuries after a radiation leak on the Isle of Skye wiped out thousands, the mutated survivors developed god-like powers. Led by power-hungry Queen Creyta, they’re determined to drive the few remaining humans to extinction.

Seventeen-year-old Vesper, one of the unmutated, is determined to go down fighting. Prince Hunter, the queen’s ridiculously handsome son, might just be the key to his mother’s undoing. But the closer Vesper gets to Hunter, the more she realises he’s just as trapped as she is. Now she’s torn between taking down Creyta and protecting the boy she’s grown dangerously close to.

One wrong move and she won’t just lose Hunter. She’ll lose everything.

Forgotten Skye is out this summer with Evernight Teen. I can’t wait to share my fiesty, damaged, dangerous, flawed, fearless characters with you.

March wrap-up

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Only three months into the year and I’m already wildly overdue with my March wrap-up.

It won’t take long.

Here goes:

My March consisted of being ill. That was it. That was the entire March.

I hope yours was better than that.

Did anything else happen?

Not really. I completed two rounds of edits on Flame and Phoenix. I also received the document for Funeral For A Robot edits, but with brain fog and fatigue getting me with a pincer movement, I really didn’t get very far.

I am really pleased with how Flame and Phoenix came together, though. I hope you enjoy it too when it’s released this summer.

Cover reveal for Funeral For A Robot

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Funeral For A Robot is my upcoming YA sci-fi novel, set in a futuristic, dystopian London. It’s due out this summer with Fire and Ice YA.

I’m thrilled to reveal its cover – created by Ashley of Redbird Designs – and one that I think perfectly captures the eerily dystopian vibes.

I’m currently editing Funeral For A Robot as we speak. I’ve just had the first edits back from my amazing publisher and I’m working through them.

This is the first time I’ve ever written a dystopian/sci-fi murder mystery and it’s full of robots and intrigue, told in dual-POV. It’s perfect of fans of The Hive by Anna February and Coming of Age by Dana Gricken.

Book review: The Swarm by Anna February

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I was thrilled to get a message from the Chicken House teams giving me a free ARC of The Swarm by Anna February.

I was fortunate enough to get an uncorrected proof of The Hive, Anna’s previous book, and review it. So I was keen to get straight in to the sequel.

I tore through The Swarm in just a few days. The book sees Niko and Feldspar head off in a mission to a nearby colony – but that mission soon goes very wrong…

This book switched to Niko’s point of view, which took me a little while to get used to. I liked him as a mysterious figure and to access his inner monologue stripped him of some of the intrigue but it also gave us a chance to see the first book’s protagonist, Feldspar, from a new angle.

I found the twists easier to predict than the first book. This probably isn’t a reflection of the book, but I am serial predicter of twists – which was in no small part why I loved the first book so much. It really kept me guessing until the end.

Both both books are very intelligently written and thoughtful without ever feeling preachy. In their own way, they wryly comment on today’s political and social landscape.

I only hope there will be a third!