A little taste

NOVEL COMING 2026

Some curses never disappear... they just wait for you.

Odessa has always been good at solving puzzles. At her elite academy, riddles are currency, and secrets are a skillset. But no riddle has haunted her more than the strange visions that have started to flicker at the edges of her mind. She lives next to a town haunted by a forgotten legend, a traveling circus that vanished without a trace, leaving behind only rumors of a curse and a few brittle pages in the archives. So when her boyfriend invites her to a circus popping up in that very town, Odessa says yes.

Just for fun. Just a show. And then the lights went out.

The moment she steps beneath the tent, nothing feels quite real. Visions flicker at the edges of her mind. Time slips sideways. Faces in the crowd seem to know her name before she speaks. And the deeper she’s pulled into the performance, the more Odessa begins to wonder if the curse ever ended or if it’s been waiting for someone like her. Cornered by the invisible rules of a figure she can’t see, Odessa is forced into a game she never meant to play... and a role she never knew she wanted.

Because some stories don’t stay buried...

--- How to Steal a Jester's Heart, Avalon Anttila Smederevac