I had a 4-year-old and a 10-month-old, but dangit, I was going to write a novel that year … so I did. The turn around point for me was NaNoWriMo 2012. Then marriage and kids happened, and while I still wrote, I focused more on blogging for several years. Looking back, I know that the stuff I was writing then wasn’t that good. In my late teens I sent out some queries. Other than a few small contests and school paper stuff and “writing for me and friends,” I didn’t really pursue it seriously, though. I had written things before that, but I didn’t start thinking “I want to write books for real” until middle school-ish. I realized it was a serious career option when I was eleven or twelve. Purchase links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Apple | Kobo Autographed paperback GoodreadsĪ: I’ve always written to some extent, even dictating stories to my mom before I could actually form letters with a pencil.

If the friends cannot recover the Heart in time, Leo and her sister will be cast out of the only home they’ve ever known, and the final curtain will fall on The Curiosity.Įnter a world reminiscent of The Greatest Showman, with a puzzle worthy of Sherlock Holmes and National Treasure, in this new Steampunk Fantasy from H. Mysterious figures, cryptic clues, and deadly traps hinder the search at every turn.

While Leo and Paxton hunt for the Heart, the blackmailer’s threats loom larger. And Leo’s only friend Paxton, nephew of the theater’s stagemistress, is the key to finding it. The Curiosity’s sole hope lies in a mythical power source hidden beneath the maze-like passages and trapdoors of the theater-the Heart.

A greedy businessman begins blackmailing Leo, and financial woes threaten to close the show forever. Then a tragic accident darkens the theater. The girls have a home for the first time in their lives. After escaping a cruel carnival, Leo secures her sister a place in the Curiosity’s chorus line, and herself a job as a professional audience member, swaying the crowd’s mood with her magic. Plus, circus, steampunk, and fantasy? Yes, please!īorn with a magical knack for manipulating emotions, Leodora’s only dream is to ensure her talented little sister dances on the biggest, brightest stage in the Republic: The Curiosity, a grand old theater of tradition and innovation. You might recognize the name of this author, because she’s popped up in a post or two ( Book Spotlight: Paws, Claws, and Magic Tales, Review of Spice Bringer, Review of Tales of Ever After, Review of Mythical Doorways, Review of Fantastic Creatures), so it was easy to say yes to another feature.

Heart of the Curiosity by H.L. Burke