HarperTeen: Kelley Armstrong

BOOK ONE: The Summoning

When she suddenly starts seeing dead people, Chloe Saunders gets locked up in a group home for unstable teenagers. But she quickly discovers that the group home is not what it seems.

BOOK TWO: The Awakening

Being a teenage necromancer on the run from an evil organization that wants to capture you and your supernatural friends—a charming sorcerer, a cynical werewolf, and a disgruntled witch—is hard.

BOOK THREE: The Reckoning

Chloe must face her evolving feelings for both an irritable, antisocial werewolf and his charming, sweet-tempered brother—who just happens to be a sorcerer. As if raising the dead wasn't enough.

Take a sneak peek at the final book in The Darkest Powers series coming April 2010. New chapters will be released here every two weeks beginning in January and leading up to publication. Come back every two weeks for more and for the chance to win an advance reading copy signed by Kelley Armstrong. We’re giving away one signed advance reading copy per posting!

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Q&A with Kelley Armstrong

Why write a young adult version of your Otherworld series?

I've been toying with the idea since 2005. I had an idea for a plotline with younger characters, which meant I needed to do it outside the regular series. I really wanted to explore the idea of what it's like to be that age, coming into your powers. And the plotline I had in mind added a lot of extra twists and hurdles to what would already be a difficult time in a young supernatural's life.

Does this trilogy intersect with the Otherworld series?

No. There are references that make it clear to Otherworld readers that this is the same universe (it takes place in New York State, so there's a reference in Book Two to werewolves living near Syracuse). Part of the fun for me in writing these was exploring a different part of the universe I'd already created. New characters, new situations, new institutions—that's what I've tried to play with here.

Do you see a serious romance blooming in the third book in the Darkest Powers trilogy?

There will be more romance in The Reckoning than in the first two books. That said, though, nobody will mistake it for a romance novel! I love romantic subplots, but that's always what they are in my books—subplots. The adventure comes first, and that doesn't change in The Reckoning. Considering the danger these characters are in, it wouldn't make sense to have them take off on dates partway through the book.

With the release of The Reckoning, the first Darkest Powers trilogy ends. What's next?

Although I'm contracted for three more young adult novels, I'd planned to wrap up Chloe's first set of adventures with The Reckoning, and that's what I've done. Those who have read The Awakening know that Chloe and the others were the subjects of an experiment called Project Genesis. In The Reckoning, we'll discover that this wasn't the only experiment the Edison Group was conducting. That's where the next trilogy takes off, with the introduction of new characters and a new experiment: Project Phoenix. That doesn't mean that I'm done with Chloe and the others yet, though. I'm just expanding their universe.

Learn more about Kelley Armstrong, her faves, and her characters here!