UPDATE: Christmas surprise gift mission accomplished! 🎄🎁 Not only did my YA Fantasy book get my dad featured in a museum, but now we’re gifting him a ship cabin remodeled and dedicated to him! He teared up when he learned we were including his recently best friend too! 🥹

May your New Year celebrations be filled with old-fashioned fun for the whole family! Happy New Year #WritingCommunity ! 🥳🎉

Lucy escapes Alice again through the conservatory windows… and suddenly she’s in the kitchen surrounded by her cousins. They’re wondering where she came from and why she’s out of breath — but Lucy’s fixated on the reflection in a glass of a little Alice still chasing her.

Youngest cousin Bill spies Lucy sneaking off, so he follows, but she vanishes! After several thorough searches he hears two sets of footsteps upstairs, one chasing another. Bill races up to find Lucy, but runs smack into a silent, menacing looking little girl in a Victorian

Everyone’s happy Lucy’s back in the mix at the modern party — everyone except Lucy. She’s so overwhelmed and feeling out of place that she willingly slips back to Alice’s quiet fete. Her cousins aren’t worried this time, assuming she’s just hiding out in a secret nook now and

Alice’s old-fashioned party is everything Lucy dreamed it would be — proper party food, fun games, organized dancing. It’s so much better than the chips, fondue, and random wriggling to records at the cousins’ party. But possessive Alice is telling her party guests that Lucy’s

Meanwhile Aunt Gwen and Rachel both try to get Lucy excited about her future, whether she stays with them or not… But Lucy can’t bear to think about it. She braves the modern party as best she can, but she soon feels so out of place that she’s desperate to escape. Alice is more

It’s the morning of the cousins’ dreaded modern Christmas party and Lucy can’t help longing to experience Alice’s traditional, old-fashioned birthday party. Lost in wistfulness, Lucy suddenly becomes accident-prone, almost falling out the attic window. Rachel saved Lucy and

It’s almost party time, and neither Rachel nor Lucy have anything to wear that’s on par with the Victorian-style dresses the guests will be wearing. So Aunt Gwen suggests the girls wear the vintage dresses stored in their attic — Alice’s dresses. And it seems Alice is watching

Lucy gains courage from her comfortable hours with Uncle Peter that she decides to confront Alice — only the reflection trick doesn’t work… She doesn’t know why. But that night she has a nightmare of Alice relentlessly chasing her. Concerned cousin Rachel wakes her and offers

Uncle Peter’s sternness has Lucy a little frightened of him too, but she relaxes when he gives her a tour of their historic home. He points out a few things about the past that weren’t so great, like poor living quarters for servants, inconvenient kitchens, and the irrelevant

Now Lucy knows it’s gazing into any reflective surface that lets her time travel to and from the past to visit Alice — although it only works when Lucy truly wants to escape either place… And it seems Alice can use it to travel to the present too, which frightens Lucy. Alice

Can you handle Alice’s hauntingly intense attempts to keep Lucy trapped in the past forever? Alice’s paranormal birthday party parallels the cousins’ Christmas party as Lucy’s worlds collide — and the chaotic confusion may just scare Lucy to death… A chapter discussion 🧵 1/11

Relieved that Lucy’s returned, the adults gently grill Lucy about where she’s been — out in the cold with no jacket… Lucy wants to tell it all, but she’s too afraid of Alice now. Is this an actual haunting or is Lucy having a mental breakdown? Either could be true, because

Lucy slips away from the carolers despite Alice’s clawing hands ripping the cloak from her shoulders. Alice gives chase as Lucy runs away, desperately searching for a reflective surface to take her home. Alice almost has her when Lucy spies a reflection in a puddle, and

Meanwhile, her Aunt, Uncle and cousins are panicked to discover Lucy’s missing. Out in the snowy cold without a coat. The kids confess about the argument, and Rachel cries as she realizes that Lucy might just be miserable enough to run away… 🧵 10/12

Covering her modern clothes in a vintage cloak Alice provides, Lucy joins the carolers at a Victorian Christmas party — as sumptuous as those pictured in Aunt Olive’s photo album. It’s wonderful, until Alice tries to get Lucy to stay in the past again. Forever… Lucy’s memories

Then carolers arrive in Victorian costumes and Lucy’s wistfulness for an old-fashioned Christmas becomes impossible to resist. She catches a reflection in the window and suddenly Alice is outside beckoning her to slip away to join the carolers. And Lucy does just that. 🧵 8/12

Uncle Peter & Aunt Gwen are blissfully unaware of the argument that results in a stilted dinner. Falling snow distracts the family as Lucy wishes she was back with her dearly departed Aunt Olive amongst neighbors who care about her, instead of hated amongst strangers, even if

The comfort of continuing her Christmas cooking tradition has Lucy happy to celebrate the holidays for the first time. She’s excited for the decorations the family put up while she was baking, until she sees them. They’re icy blue , metallic, and modern, not the traditional

Aunt Gwen’s in a tizzy because Christmas is almost here and nothing’s been done, but she’s late to another charity committee meeting… Uncle Peter organizes the kids into getting the family Christmas plans together. Everyone has a role, except Lucy. But Lucy can cook! They’re