The Will and the Wilds
A romantic fantasy standalone novel.
Enna knows much of the mystings that roam the wildwood near her home. After they killed her mother, her father gifted her a stone that senses their nearness. When one mysting tries to kill her to obtain it, Enna takes a huge risk: fighting back with a mysting of her own.
Maekallus’s help doesn’t come free. His price? A kiss. But even the most naïve mortals know Maekallus’s kind use kisses to steal souls. Drawing upon a power unknown to her, Enna persuades Maekallus to commit to much less. The bargain struck, he goes to destroy Enna’s mysting — but in the ensuing fight, he’s bound to the mortal realm, which begins eating him alive. Compelled to help by the magic enchaining them, Enna gives Maekallus a kiss — the only thing that can save him from immediate destruction. But Maekallus’s temporary salvation is Enna’s lingering doom. Part of her soul now burns bright inside of him, making him feel for the first time.
Enna shares Maekallus’s suffering, and even the sliver of her soul she sacrificed won’t heal either of them for long. If he and Enna cannot find a way to break the spell binding him to the mortal realm, Maekallus will be consumed completely — and Enna’s soul with him.
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Charlie N. Holmberg
Charlie N. Holmberg has a knack for finding magic in the margins—the kind of wonder tucked inside ordinary things, like folded paper, whispered spells, or the quiet ache of a lonely heart. Best known for The Paper Magician series, she writes fantasy that doesn’t shout but hums—spellbinding stories where imaginative worlds meet deeply human characters, and the line between enchantment and reality is deliciously thin.
Raised in Salt Lake City and shaped by the worlds of anime and Star Trek, Holmberg’s early love for storytelling bloomed in fan fiction before evolving into fully realized novels. Her writing often carries that same sense of earnest imagination—worlds that are clever and surprising without ever losing their emotional grounding. Whether it’s the steampunk whimsy of The Plastic Magician, the eerie elegance of The Fifth Doll, or the slow-burning celestial magic of Star Mother, her books unfold with the quiet confidence of an author who trusts her readers to follow her into the strange and the beautiful.
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