Boston, MA -- (SBWIRE) -- 03/27/2014 -- A Foreword Firsts 2013 Book Awards Finalist, debut novel ‘Strega’ from Karen Monahan Fernandes is quickly becoming the hottest YA paranormal thriller on the market.

Featuring the strongest female protagonist since Katniss competed in The Hunger Games, ‘Strega’ is the captivating first installment of Jay’s story – a thoroughly modern heroine who awakens to her true destiny and sets out to avenge the deaths of those she loved most.

Fernandes spent three years meticulously researching ancient Italy and the occult to give her magical novel a vibrant realism, and readers have definitely been sitting up and taking notice. Hailing the courageous heroine, vivid descriptions and multi-layered plotlines, fans have also been writing to Fernandes and taking to Goodreads.com, to beg for the second installment.

“The attention and response have been fantastic, and it’s so amazing to hear that people are connecting with Jay and are so enchanted by her story,” says the author, who connects with her readers through various forms of social media. “For many reasons, I think Jay’s journey is a universal one. She struggles with self-discovery, with her own grief and with her own power. Of course most of us don’t find out that we are descendants of the world’s first witches! But we all battle our own terrifying demons, endure our own extraordinary pain, and struggle to discover and harness our own great strength.”

A pathway to the darkest and the most beautiful parts of the human experience, ‘Strega’ is a Young Adult novel of incredible power, and a true testament to the author’s electrifying talent for creating new and exciting worlds for readers to explore.

Synopsis:

When high school senior Jay Bonifacio finds her grandmother brutally murdered in their small-town home, the scar left by the death of her parents years earlier is ripped open. She is devastated, but she is not nearly as terrified as she should be.

Jay is a Strega. Like her mother and grandmother, she is a descendant of the original Strega of ancient Etruria—gifted women of the woods bestowed with godly power, and the world’s first witches. With the truth withheld from her all her life, Jay is blindsided when her power is unbound. Demons are coming for her. They killed the people she loved most to get to her, and they won’t rest until she is dead.

Forced to embrace her identity if only to survive, Jay uncovers a past life when her ruthless enemy’s hatred for her was born, and she rediscovers an eternal love that has burned throughout lifetimes. Fighting for her life, she is drawn back into an ancient battle between the virtuous and the wicked that threatens to destroy her and all of humankind.

Among its other honors, ‘Strega’ has earned a five star average rating on Amazon and dozens of glowing reviews from readers.

“One of the most absorbing and stand-out elements of Strega is found within the prose. Fernandes provides extensive fodder for vivid imaginations and never leaves her readers wanting for detail. Nearly every passage of narration is imbibed with a level of passion and poetry that pushes her storytelling into the literary realm that crafts picturesque scenes resonating with emphatic emotion,” wrote Courtney R. Wells.

“I accidentally skipped breakfast and lunch today while glued to my reading chair, reading Strega cover to cover. Finally a YA fiction book that has a female lead with strong relationships with other women (it seems most young adult books these days feature girls who exist only in relation to their love interest). Definitely recommend,” wrote Willkii.

Beth McNulty was equally as impressed, writing: “Loved it! Strega is perfect for readers interested in the supernatural. The author uses descriptive and vivid language to relay the story of Jay and secrets she possesses, but does not know. This is the first book in the series and I can't wait for book number 2!”

‘Strega – Book 1’ is available now: http://amzn.to/1hY9J0U. The next installment in the Strega Series will be released in winter 2014.

For more about the author, please visit Karen Monahan Fernandes’ official website http://karenmonahanfernandes.com/. For further information about the Strega Series, please visit http://karenmonahanfernandes.com/.

Stay connected with Karen Monahan Fernandes through social media – on Facebook, Twitter and Goodreads.

About Karen
Karen graduated from the University of Massachusetts Amherst with a degree in English, and spent her junior year studying abroad in the UK. Since then, she has written professionally as a newspaper journalist, an editor in educational publishing, and a software technical writer.

Karen's love affair with stories began before she could even read, when night after night her big brother read to her the enchanting pages of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. These epic stories planted the very first seeds of inspiration, fueled her vivid imagination, and drove her to chase real-life adventure. Writing Strega was a true adventure, and one of her favorite journeys.