Tag: Book News

Happy Book Birthday to the Dystopian Romance SUNFLOWERS AT THE END OF THE WORLD

May 15, 2026 / Katie L. Carroll / 0 Comments

Today’s the day! My dystopian romance book SUNFLOWERS AT THE END OF THE WORLD is here! After publishing 12 books for kids and teens, this is my first book for adults. I’ve got two more planned in the series, the next one scheduled to be out in November. If you want a sneak peek at book 2 at the title and cover of book 2 in the End of the World series, sign up for my newsletter.

When you’re the last person on earth, there’s nothing to do but survive.

Mel is the only survivor of a devastating worldwide virus. After an epic crash out on a solo road trip, she comes to terms with having lost everything. Even though she’s utterly alone, Mel is more determined than ever to become self-sufficient. She builds a home in her mountain cabin where she tends her garden, rides her bike to the library, and shares meals with her crow and chicken friends.

When Mel’s water supply is compromised, she hits a new low and questions whether the effort to survive is worth it. A handsome stranger turns up with just the right knowledge to help solve her problem. When he decides to stick around, Mel’s lonely world is suddenly turned upside-down.

You can get signed copies and ebooks on my purchase books page or find it on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop, Google Books, Apple Books, Kobo, or wherever you buy books.

In case you hadn’t noticed, I like to jump around in both book genres and age categories. Writing a book for adults felt like my biggest leap yet. I love children’s book and will continue to write and publish them, but writing a book for adults with a main character who is basically my age was so fun.

I’m a big fan of dystopian. I love reading it, and I’ve written it as well with my YA book Black Butterfly (don’t be mad that I haven’t finished book 2 in that series yet…it’s coming). Even with the seemingly heavy dystopian themes involved with the book, I really wanted to focus on the quiet, sweet moments of Mel’s life. Sunflowers at the End of the World is my answer to the question of whether a dystopian book can also be cozy.

Anyway, I can’t wait for you all to meet Mel and Jaylen and the crows and chickens. Any guesses as to what book Mel used as inspiration for naming her chickens?

Exciting News About Mommy’s Night Before Christmas

December 23, 2021 / Katie L. Carroll

October 2022 Update: If you this poem, check out the newly revised and illustrated picture book MOMMY’S NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS by Katie L. Carroll and illustrated by Phoebe Cho.

Available now from Bookshop, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, IndieBound, Kobo, and more! Find signed copies on the Purchase Books page.

This is normally the week where I share “Mommy’s Night Before Christmas,” my parody of Clement C. Moore’s poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas.” Unfortunately I’m not doing that this year because I’ve done a slight revision in anticipation of it becoming a picture book! (Don’t worry, you can still enjoy the old version here.)

I’m currently working with an illustrator for a fall 2022 release. So keep an eye out for more news on this!

In the meantime, I want to wish all of you a peaceful rest of the holiday season. I know there’s a lot that makes this time of year stressful, especially these last couple of years, so it is my wish for you all to find the calm in the storm whenever you can. Health and happiness in the New Year!

New School Year & New Book Teaser

September 1, 2020 / Katie L. Carroll

First off, I know a lot schools started back this week (in one form or another), so I wanted to send good wishes out to all the teachers, parents, and students embarking on this new school year. My kids don’t start until next week, and I’m having a lot of feelings about it, many of which I’m keeping close to the chest because I want to stay as positive as possible for the kiddos. I wrote a post about change back in 2015 and find much of it is relevant to the year 2020.

This was the school year where all three kiddos were supposed to have some form of formal schooling. The year where I would have a little more time to write. The fact that this isn’t happening is a small thing in comparison to a lot of other problems, but I’m still trying to allow myself to feel some resentment about it without wallowing. I’ve had a ton of writing ideas lately, so at least my creativity is flowing again.

In bookish news, I have a secret project I’ve been working on. Some of you may already know this one, and it’s getting a second life! It’s a project I’ve been working on in the in-between spaces. I was stuck on it for a little bit, but now that I’ve solved a particular problem, it’s well on its way. I don’t have the timeline pinned down yet for a release. Maybe I’ll just do a surprise release with it whenever it’s done.

Here’s an adorable teaser image for it that I cannot take credit for as it was done by an illustrator. I’ll let you know all the details soon!

What have you all been up to lately?

ELIXIR SAVED Is On The Way

August 26, 2019 / Katie L. Carroll

I’ve lost track of how long I’ve been working on the second Elixir book, ELIXIR SAVED. Looking back over my folders of documents, inspiration pictures, and notes, I see at least one that dates back to 2010! Really, though, this is the book I had the idea for when thinking about writing a book for my sister Kylene (and ending up writing ELIXIR BOUND first). So really I’ve been “working” on this book for many, many, many years.

It’s been a labor of love (and hate). It’s been a hard book to write. I’ve taken many breaks. I still haven’t quite gotten to write “The End” for it yet, though my last round of revisions got me at least in a place where I felt like I can actually write the ending scenes. I had hoped to do that this summer, but life was too busy and my head (and my heart) wasn’t in the right place. Now I think they are.

As a reward for making it through those last revisions, I allowed myself to contact my awesome cover artist Susan Tait Porcaro. She sent me a concept sketch yesterday and it’s looking really good. It’s visual motivation to keep on pushing to get this thing done.

Plus, two of three of the boys will be in school all day starting later this week, so hopefully that will give me the time I need. If any of my novel critique partners are reading this, expect an email from me soon! It’s been so long since I’ve had anything for them to read.

So look for ELIXIR SAVED, coming Winter 2020!