How far into the
hollow would you go?
“After losing her parents in a terrorist
attack on the Twin Towers, fifteen-year-old Honoria escapes New York City to
Arnn—a farming town with more legends than residents, and a history of
witchcraft and secrets best left buried.
Everyone in Arnn knows the story of Witchwood Hollow: if you venture
into the whispering forest, the witch will trap your soul among the shadowed
trees. In the lure of that perpetual darkness, Honoria finds hope when she
should be afraid, and a past of missing children and broken
promises. To save the citizens of Arnn from becoming the witch’s
next victims, she must find the truth behind the woman’s madness. How deep
into Witchwood Hollow does Honoria dare venture?”
.jpg)
ESCAPE FROM
WITCHWOOD HOLLOW is Jordan Elizabeth’s first novel. This young adult fantasy, published through
Curiosity Quills Press, is now available for purchase.
Jordan Elizabeth,
formally Jordan Elizabeth Mierek, can’t get enough of the woods, be it
splashing through a stream, sitting beneath an ancient oak, or following a path
up a hill. Some of those adventures have
led to abandoned foundations. Exploring
the rocks and crumbling bricks sparked Jordan to imagine who might have lived
there before, and that train of thought carried her to a wicked legend and an
enchanted hollow. You can contact Jordan
via her website, JordanElizabethMierek.com.
How my Hometown is like Arnn
As told by Jordan Elizabeth
I was born in a hospital in a city, but
after that I grew up in a town similar to Arnn.
Okay, my town is Arnn, granted is goes by a different name and there is no
haunted wood.
.jpg)
If you walk down
Main Street, you see old houses – think General William Floyd from the
Revolutionary War. He built one of
them. You also see a small library, gas
station, post office… It feels the best when strolling along in the autumn,
surrounded by colored leaves and that crisp cold.
.jpg)
Driving past Main
Street brings you to country roads, farms, and forest. Some of the farms date back to the
1800s. I lived for many years in a small
house on my grandmother’s farm.
Exploring some of the more run-down buildings inspired ESCAPE FROM
WITCHWOOD HOLLOW.
.jpg)
The woods offer even
more marvels: deer paths, streams, hills, twisted trees, and best of all old
foundations. Countless hours spent
wandering the woods provided more fodder for the novel. With the magic and mystery, a walk through a
forest is like a journey into the past.
Arnn enjoys public
functions to rally the townsfolk and my home does the same. Town wide garage sales come to mind
first. My mother and I always rent a
spot on the library’s lawn. It’s a great
opportunity to meet neighbors and swap “treasures.”
.jpg)
Heritage Days are
another big event for my home. Vendors
set up stands along Main Street, people dress in costumes, and events, such as
battle reenactments, take place over the course of the weekend.
The Black River
Canal once gurgled through my town. Now
most of it has been filled in, but you can walk along the trails and explore
the ruins. People who have the filled-in
canal in their backyard often discover artifacts while they do their yard work.
While my town is
infamous for its ski resort, it is also well known for Lake Delta. Year-round you can find people fishing,
hiking, swimming, camping, hanging out on the beach… Okay, so they aren’t
swimming in the winter, but they are ice-fishing. Lake Delta was once the Village of Delta. Buildings were relocated, others razed, and
the village was flooded. Our town hall
and my grandmother’s house were both relocated from the old village. I’ve written short stories about the flooded
village, but I plan to compile a ghost novel about it sometime in the future.
A trip through my
town wouldn’t be complete without passing by the graveyard. Its two houses up the street from mine and
dates back to the late 1700s. Without
exploring the graves, I wouldn’t have imagined Lady Clifford, the witch.
Experienced writers always
say to write what you know. I did
that…sort of…I just added a whole bunch of imagination to real life.
Jordan Elizabeth is
offering up a free eArc of ESCAPE FROM WITCHWOOD HOLLOW. To enter for your chance to win a copy of
ESCAPE FROM WITCHWOOD HOLLOW, you will need to share the cover. This can be on your blog, Facebook, Twitter…
Each time you share the cover image, log it into Rafflecoper to record it. It will give you more chances to win. There are other ways to enter. You’ll have to take a look to see what those
are! The drawing for the winner will be
held on November 16.
.jpg)
