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Roz Maclaren

Teen Fiction with a Dark Twist

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Forgotten Skye

Are you going to hate the ending of Forgotten Skye?

1 June, 2026 by Roz MacLaren Leave a Comment

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.

Filed Under: Forgotten Skye, The Ruined Skye Trilogy

Want a free early copy of Forgotten Skye?

29 May, 2026 by Roz MacLaren Leave a Comment

⚔️ 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).

Filed Under: Forgotten Skye, The Ruined Skye Trilogy

The real-life locations that inspired The Ruined Skye Trilogy

9 February, 2026 by Roz MacLaren Leave a Comment

My upcoming novel, Forgotten Skye, is the first in my Ruined Skye trilogy. Like the name suggests, all three books are set on the Isle of Skye – but it’s probably a little different to the island you know and love.

Skye is consistently romanticised in fiction – and why not? It’s visually stunning, geographically spectacular and incredibly beautiful. But I wanted to do something different. So my futuristic Isle of Skye? It’s been devasted by a radiation leak in a terrible time period known as the Changing. Humanity has split into two groups; Radions, mutated beings with powerful abilities; and Blands, normal humans who weren’t affected by the radiation.

Here are the real-life locations you can go and visit, all of which make an appearance in my books.

Portree

Visit Portree in peak tourist season, especially when a cruise ship is in, and it’ll feel like a world apart from life after the Changing. In my world, the streets are overgrown with weeds and trees. Rusty cars lie decaying. The houses and shops have all been looted, anything of value taken a long time ago.

Portree Forest

As far as I’m aware, this is the correct name for the lovely forest behind the Isle of Skye Candle Company. In Forgotten Skye, Vesper considers the forest to be hers. Her parents built a cabin, nestled close to the top of the treeline, and she is extremely territorial. As you would expect, given most people she comes across want to kill her.

Take a walk in the forest and you’ll be immersed in Vesper’s world. She loves the feel of seclusion and safety, being surrounded by trees. This is her safe place. Will it stay that way? You’ll have to read the book and find out.

The Fingal Centre

Portree’s sports centre and library make an appearance in the first book. It’s the setting where Vesper and Hunter, two bookworms, first meet. Naturally, it’s been completed trashed and most things of valuable taken away years ago. But rumour has it you can still find the odd book more or less in tact if you look hard enough…

The Lump

Home to the Apothecary’s Tower (which really needs to appear in the trilogy at some stage!), The Lump comes to life every August for the Skye Highland Games. It also makes an appearance in my stories (but I really can’t say too much more as it would spoil the story!)

Dunvegan

Currently, Dunvegan attracts a ton of visitors – exploring Dunvegan Castle, travelling through en route to Neist Point or simply exploring the village. But in the year 2227, my reimagined Dunvegan is home to Creyta, Radion Queen and devoted destroyer of Blands.

Dunvegan Castle

When I was much younger, my uncle and aunt took me around Dunvegan Castle. My favourite part (I was a macabre child) was the dungeon, essentially a hole in a rocky floor. Back in the day, the hole wasn’t covered over, allowing young me to feel the icy cold air. The dungeon was located next to the kitchens, where the smell of food would waft through to the prisoners. The dungeon features heavily in my story.

I’ve since been to the castle multiple times and it forms the inspiration for Queen Creyta’s home and where Hunter and Pep grow up.

The gardens are beautiful and, in my head, are the setting where [SPOILER] something extremely traumatic happens to Hunter as a child.

Currently, as there are no evil Radion queens and vicious Blandhunters in the area, you’re free to visit the castle and take a ride on the seal boats.

Sligachan

Writing this trilogy made me see Skye through new eyes. It really is quite something that the island’s main road takes you past such incredible scenery.

The Cuillins

The Cuillins make quite a major appearance in the third book. They’re the setting for an epic showdown and the trilogy’s finale. And what a setting they are.

Forgotten Skye comes out this summer with Evernight Teen. I can’t wait to transport you to a futuristic version of Skye that you’ve never seen before.

Filed Under: Forgotten Skye, The Ruined Skye Trilogy

Deal announcements

8 January, 2026 by Roz MacLaren Leave a Comment

I am thrilled to announce that two more of my books are due out with Evernight Teen next year.

The Boy With Wings For Hands

The Boy With Wings For Hands is a YA sci-fi set in an alien circus that travels London, Earth. Here’s the blurb:

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.

The Ruined Skye Trilogy

Evernight Teen have contracted Forgotten Skye, which is the first book in my Ruined Skye trilogy.

Here’s the WIP blurb:

The year is 2227, centuries after a radiation leak on the Isle of Skye wiped out thousands.

Survivors are divided into two groups; mutated, god-like beings called Radions and unmutated humans known as Blands. The Blands are relentlessly hunted by Queen Creyta, who is determined to drive them to extinction.

When seventeen-year-old Vesper, one of the last Blands, is chosen as a target, she doesn’t just want to survive; she wants to burn the system to the ground. She forms an unlikely bond with Prince Hunter, the Queen’s reluctant Blandhunter, who is just as trapped as Vesper – bound by duty and desperate to break free.

Vesper sets her sights on overthrowing Queen Creyta – and, if she fails, she won’t just lose Hunter.

She’ll lose the world. 

I can’t wait for you to meet Vesper, Hunter and Pep – and see the Isle of Skye like you’ve never seen it before. Also, I’m writing the third one as we speak and it has evil Highland Cows. I repeat, EVIL HIGHLAND COWS.

Filed Under: Forgotten Skye, The Boy With Wings For Hands, The Ruined Skye Trilogy

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