There's something magical about playing dress-up when you're a little girl, just like there's something magical going on through the windows of a dollhouse. So naturally, when Paper Lantern Lit's new digital imprint, The Studio, approached me to help reveal the brand new book trailer for Dollhouse by Anya Allyn, there was no way I could resist. Dark, atmospheric and a little bit terrifying, this one has all the makings of a future favourite!

Dress-up turns deadly...

When Cassie’s best friend, Aisha, disappears during a school hike, Cassie sets off with Aisha’s boyfriend Ethan and their best friend Lacey, determined to find her. But the mist-enshrouded mountains hold many secrets, and what the three teens discover is far more disturbing than any of them imagined: beneath a rundown mansion in the woods lies an underground cavern full of life-size toys and kidnapped girls forced to dress as dolls.

Even as Cassie desperately tries to escape the Dollhouse, she finds herself torn between her forbidden feelings for Ethan, and her intense, instinctive attraction to The Provider, a man Cassie swears she has known before…

Because Cassie’s capture wasn’t accidental, and the Dollhouse is more than just a prison where her deepest fears come true—it’s a portal for the powers of darkness. And Cassie may be the only one who can stop it.

 

Anya Allyn grew up in Sydney, Australia, and now lives by the beach on The Central Coast. She spends her days with five incredibly cool males - four of whom are her kids.

As a child, she could be found reading, sketching comic strips or fainting during choir practice in her school convent. She has worked in entertainment, as a wedding hire manager, as a dating company receptionist (where she lasted a week!) and most recently as a Features' Editor for Fairfax Media in Australia. Dollhouse is her first novel.

Find Anya: Twitter. Website. Pinterest. Facebook. 

So, if you're as sold on Dollhouse as I am (and trust me, you should be), click any of the following links to buy because Dollhouse is out today!

Find Dollhouse on iTunes. Amazon. Barnes & Noble. Goodreads. 

You guys are seriously in for a treat today! Paper Lantern Lit, the brainchild of Lauren Oliver, Lexa Hillyer and more is releasing its very own boutique digital imprint, The Studio, making it a whole new power player in the publishing industry. Today, I'm so excited to reveal the cover of one of their very first titles, Beautiful Girl by Lida James. This new adult novel has crossover young adult appeal, and I think it might be the perfect book for reluctant NA readers like myself. Take a peek...

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Beautiful Girl by Lida James
Preorder the book here
Publish Date: October 28th, 2014

Plot Synopsis

Sophomore year at Dutchess College has just begun, and Nicole is still haunted by memories of her first love, Zach. As the changing leaves fall on the stately Hudson Valley campus, she takes solace in running—pushing herself to go harder, faster, to be the best. With the wind blowing through her hair, she can almost convince herself that she is beautiful, that she will find love again.

So when Nico runs, quite literally, into the maddeningly elusive Justin, she’s convinced she’s found the guy to make her forget her ex—despite the warnings of her friends and her straight-edged running partner, Luke.

But when Nico is attacked in the woods after a wild night of partying, everything changes. Suddenly, Nico begins receiving anonymous threats, and she no longer knows where to turn for help—or whether even her close friends can be trusted.

All she wants is to be one of the beautiful girls—the ones who never have to chase perfection. But in order to uncover the truth, she’ll have to face a past she had hoped to leave behind forever. She thought she could outrun the darkness, but darkness has a way of catching up…and only one boy can save her.

Lida’s Thoughts on the Beautiful Girl Cover

I love the cover art for Beautiful Girl. She’s running but you can’t tell if she’s running away from something or if she’s being chased.  She’s not looking back and she has a slightly carefree gait, so you can’t tell if she’s afraid or if she’s unaware, reckless even, running into the woods alone at what appears to be dusk.   I think that really illustrates the themes in the book.  And I love the tag line – Darkness has a way of catching up.

When writing Beautiful Girl, I was inspired by books and television with a certain level of dark, but relatable grit. If you like Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar, the TV show Girls, and The Secret History by Donna Tartt (my personal favorite college thriller), then I think you’ll love Beautiful Girl.

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Lida James grew up in Brooklyn, New York and graduated cum laude from Vassar College with a BFA in English (and a lot of film credits, too). After working as a cameraperson on feature films in NYC she relocated to Los Angeles in search of mountains and waves.

Once there, she wrote and sold screenplays (and snowboarded and windsurfed). She continues to enjoy living in Los Angeles with her husband and their two children – all shredders like herself – and two rescue dogs. Beautiful Girl is her first novel.

Find Lida on Social Media: Twitter. Tumblr.