Posts Tagged New Releases

Author Spotlight: Jenny Mattern

By on September 30, 2026   /   Author Interviews   /   Leave a comment

In today’s Author Spotlight, Sydney Dunlap chats with author Jenny Mattern about her highly acclaimed new middle-grade novel, Where the Light Shines In.

Jenny Mattern is a crafter of stories, a fledgling poet, and a cake-for-breakfast enthusiast who wishes she lived in a tiny cottage on a windswept cliff above the sea. Alas, she lives in the mountains in a landlocked state—lovely, yes, but much too far from the roar of the ocean for her liking.

All About the Book!

“If there’s one thing my thirteen years of life have taught me, it’s that having parents who love you doesn’t erase the somebody else who brought you into the world.”

Despite being adopted into a loving family, thirteen-year-old Gloria feels as if her life is a bit too much like the crossword puzzles she and her dad enjoy solving together: too many empty spaces and not enough clues.

For as long as she can remember, Gloria has studied the faces of random women in the hopes of finding her birth mother. But when she finally lands on the perfect candidate, it’s in a place she never could have expected–an obituary photo. Determined to learn more about this dead woman who looks just like her, Gloria embarks on a secret mission to fill in the gaps of her origin story.

At first, finding answers about her past feels exactly right. But as the lies Gloria tells keep piling up, and as each step toward her biological family takes her farther from the parents who have loved her forever, she starts to wonder if she’ll ever be able to fill her empty spaces. Because how can you feel truly whole when you’re shattering from the inside out?

Interview with Jenny Mattern

I absolutely loved Where the Light Shines In. The characters were so real and so relatable. What a beautifully-written, heartfelt story about a girl adopted into a loving family who seeks to find out the truth about her birth parents. What was the inspiration behind it?

Thank you so much! This story was inspired by my youngest daughter, who first joined our family as a 3-week-old foster baby. We later adopted her, and that “baby” turns 15 in a few months. I recently heard the term “adoption constellation,” which I prefer to what I’ve always called the “adoption triangle.” In its simplest form, adoption touches the lives of birth parents, adoptive parents, and—most of all—adoptees, who also happen to be the most powerless ones in the equation. However, it can have ripples far beyond these three. The experience of fostering and adopting opened my eyes to some of the emotional complexity at play within this constellation.

I am not adopted, and I would never claim to understand all the nuances that go along with that, but I began writing Where the Light Shines In with the goal of helping my daughter—and all adoptees—feel seen. Though this book is for anyone who enjoys character-driven, heartfelt middle grade, my main goal for this story is that it would help open lines of communication in adoptive families and beyond.

Craft

Kirkus calls it “a sensitive, introspective look at the complexities of being an adoptee” in its starred review. Congratulations! You do such a great job exploring Gloria’s journey to fill in the gaps in her history, and to show how one lie leads to another until she is in over her head. Please share a bit about your writing process. Are you a plotter or pantser?

I definitely fall on the pantser end of the continuum. In order to start writing, I need to have a good idea of who my main character is and at least a vague idea of the overall plot, but if I try to plan too much beyond that it makes me feel trapped.

You crafted a complex mystery that is sure to leave readers turning the pages quickly to see what happens next. What were the hardest and the easiest parts of writing this story?

Every single one of the characters in this story walked onto the page fully formed. That was by far the easiest part of writing! The hardest was probably tackling all the big feelings. Adoption is such a complicated issue and is always born of loss. I really wanted to do justice to that while avoiding a storyline that felt too heavy. Trying to authentically represent deep emotions and write scenes that are balanced with lighthearted moments ended up being far more difficult than I expected. Along with what it might be like to be adopted and on a quest to find one’s biological family, readers will also learn a bit about DNA. The scientific elements fit into the story seamlessly.

What was your research process, and how did you decide which facts to include?

Once I started researching DNA, it was hard to stop. It’s such a fascinating subject! I ended up learning a lot and tried to cram in as many interesting facts as I could without distracting from the overall storyline.

Characters

Gloria’s relationships with the other characters were nuanced and heartwarming. Do you have a favorite secondary character? Who and why?

Oh goodness. I love them all, but writing the scenes with Lottie and Gloria was my favorite part. I love Lottie’s spunk and sass, and her loyalty to Gloria is a beautiful part of who she is. It was so much fun to juxtapose these two characters’ very different personalities alongside one another.

Setting

I adored your description of the Pacific Northwest. It was so immersive and authentic. What is your connection to that area?

I grew up in the Seattle area—Kent, to be exact. I’ve also lived in Federal Way, Puyallup, and Port Orchard, and have/had family in Gig Harbor and Fox Island. Although I’ve resided in Montana for most of my adult life, my mom and much of her family still live in western Washington, so we visit a fair amount. As for Orcas Island, I grew up spending a week in that magical place every summer. It is one of those places that anchors itself in your soul.

Fun fact: I wrote many of the scenes that take place there soon after my husband and I returned from our 20th wedding anniversary getaway, which we spent in a cottage near Obstruction Pass State Park. If you look at Google images from there, you will be transported to the setting of Amanda’s little cottage by the sea and might just catch a glimpse of Curtis and Rudy coming into the cove in their boat.

Takeaways

Shifting gears, what do you hope readers take away from this story?

When I read a book I love, it’s the feeling I had while reading it that stays with me. After a year or more has passed, I probably won’t be able to readily recall much of anything that happened plotwise. My hope for this book is that many readers will come away feeling a deep emotional connection to the characters and story. I know not every book is for every reader, and I certainly don’t expect everyone to love this story, but I hope there are people out there for whom Where the Light Shines In will be their hug-it-close-and-read-it-again-for-comfort book.

Writing Process

Where/when do you prefer to write?

I am very much a fits-and-spurts writer. For me, writing every day feels absolutely impossible, so my tendency is to obsess for short periods where I am bent over my laptop for hours at a time and then have long dry spells when I read a ton instead.

Influences

What are some current books that have influenced you as a kidlit writer?

Instead of naming specific books, I will tell you the middle grade authors who made me want to write for this age group: Kate DiCamillo (the absolute GOAT, in my opinion), Jacqueline West (her Books of Elsewhere series is what inspired me to actually put pen to paper for the first time), Gary D. Schmidt (who is a master of making his reader laugh and cry in the same paragraph), and Elizabeth Enright. Nobody would call Elizabeth Enright—who died in 1968—a current author, but her book series The Saturdays was hugely influential to me as an adult.

Other Works

Can you give us some insights into what you’ll be working on next?

I have a few projects in the works—all middle grade contemporary like Where the Light Shine In—but for now I’m soaking up all the debut year goodness.

And the Lightning Round:

Coffee or tea?

Both!

Sunrise or sunset?

Sunset

Favorite place to travel:

The San Juan Islands in Washington state (which includes Orcas Island, an important setting in Where the Light Shines In)

Favorite dessert:

All of them, but I don’t want to see nuts in any dessert ever.

Superpower:

Resourcefulness

Favorite music:

Indie Folk, à la Noah Kahan or the Lumineers.

Favorite book from childhood:

On the Banks of Plum Creek

Thanks again, Jenny! It was so much fun to learn about you, your writing journey, and your amazing novel! Learn more about Jenny on her website and follow her on Instagram and Bluesky.

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Author Interview – Kalyn Josephson – THE GRIMLORE GAME

By on September 24, 2026   /   Author Interviews, books, New Releases  

THE GRIMLORE GAME combines the twisty fun of Mr. Lemoncello’s Library, the locked-room thrills of The Mystery of Locked Rooms, and the eccentric family dynamics of Knives Out, sprinkled with some Wednesday Addams energy on top to make it the perfect read for the Fall and Halloween.

cover of the book Grimlore Game with a game board and a house in the center

Kit Devlin knows her family is cursed. Every three years someone dies like clockwork, and the Devlins do what they do best: scheme, gossip, and look out for themselves. So when wealthy Grandpa Amos dies and the whole family descends on Grimlore Manor expecting an inheritance, Kit isn’t surprised by the drama… but what she doesn’t expect is a game: instead of a straightforward will, Amos has left behind a series of riddles, puzzles, and magical tests. Whoever solves them first will inherit his fortune.

But Grimlore Manor has secrets of its own: hidden rooms, curse creatures, enchanted clues, and a crimson-eyed cat named Carmine who only seems willing to talk to Kit (well, mostly to insult her). As the game turns more dangerous, Kit realizes the puzzles are not just about winning money, and that they may be the key to finally understanding the Devlin family curse, the truth about her parents, and her own mysterious connection to magic. To survive, she’ll have to outsmart her scheming relatives, team up with an anxious cousin who may be hiding secrets of his own, and solve the mystery at the heart of Grimlore Manor before the curse strikes again.

white woman with long brown hair

 

Kalyn Josephson is a major voice in children’s fantasy – her Ravenfall series was a New York Times bestseller and was nominated for the Goodreads Choice Award for Best Middle Grade & Children’s Book. She is also the author of the Storm Crow duology, the This Dark Descent duology, and other acclaimed fantasy titles for young readers and teens.

 

 

 

 

Family curses can’t really be real….can they?

I guess that depends on what you define as a curse! Do curses have to be magical? Can they be inherited? How many paragraphs can I spend equating curses to the ways things like grief echo across generations? As for magical curses, well, as a middle grade author I have a healthy belief in magic.

It is refreshing to know that I’m not the only one with…ahem…personalities in my extended family. Without possibly offending your family members, how did you come up with delightfully quirky Devlin extended family characters?

Funnily enough, I didn’t draw inspiration from anyone in my family when designing the Devlins. Rather, I focused on how to make each character in this sprawling cast unique, which let me focus on some fun, out-of-the-box character traits that would help them stick in readers’ minds.

I like to think there can’t possibly be any new puzzles and riddles that we haven’t thought of already, but The Grimlore Game had some fun ones in them. What was your inspiration for creating these?

I got a lot of help from a friend, who wrote me a whole dissertation on the types and styles of puzzles I could draw from. Then I set about coming up with puzzles of those type that fit the themes and characters of Grimlore, so that they would be both action-packed and effective at driving the characters’ journeys forward.

Same with the gothic manor. This one was delightfully creepy, especially at the end in the (spoiler alert) room with the (spoiler alert). I can’t say I’ve been in a ton of gothic manors, but maybe you drew your inspiration for creating this house from somewhere in particular?

A lot of Grimlore and the larger setting was inspired by my trips to Scotland, in particular Edinburgh, which has a lot of beautiful Gothic architecture. Traveling about the UK, I also got the opportunity to stay in a lot of old manor homes that had been converted to hotels and B&Bs, so I definitely pulled from those when designing Grimlore.

I’m going to be honest and tell you that all the cats I’ve ever met are evil. Yet Carmine, the cat in the book, cooks and cleans! I’m guessing you’ve never met a cat because Carmine is too good to be true. You said in your author note he popped into your head immediately. How did that happen? 🙂

All of my books have magical cats in them that turn out to be something else. As a kid raised with cats, it bothered me how cats were always the bad guys in media. I wanted to shift the perception of cats as cold and standoffish (and evil!), so I decided that if I ever got published, my books would have cats that everyone loves, and which reflect the cats I’ve known in my life. Carmine is largely inspired by my cat Snags, whereas Max from the Ravenfall series is inspired by my cat El.

What was the most fun and most challenging part of writing this book?

Definitely the puzzles. Coming up with them hurt my brain! But it was also such a fun creative exercise.

What are some of your favorite middle grade novels and why do you like them so much?

I adore the magic, humor, and adventure in Bashir Boutros and the Jewel of the Nile by George Jreije, as well as the heartbreaking and heartwarming story of family in Alyssa Colman’s Where Only Storms Grow.

Now that this book is out in the world, what are some next steps for you?

Grimlore will have two sequels, which will be released very shortly after book 1! Look out for book 2 in May 2027.

Is there anything else you want to share about The Grimlore Game for our audience of teachers, librarians, and middle grade authors?

One of my favorite elements of the series is the different types of “games” I get to explore. For example, book 2 is a treasure hunt!

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Interview with Author Stephanie Willing

By on September 3, 2026   /   Author Interviews  

Today, please join me in welcoming Stephanie Willing to the Mixed-Up Files Author Spotlight! Author of the gripping MG horror novel, She Came Back Different, which has been chosen as a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection, the book follows six young dancers who enter the Stadler Ballet Conservatory and the horrors they discover once they get there. (Spoiler alert: It isn’t pretty.)

Praised by Kirkus as “An appealing blend of ballet, camaraderie, mystery, and frights,” the book is available from Viking/Penguin Random House.

She Came Back Different

MR: Congratulations on the publication of She Came Back Different, Stephanie! Can you tell readers a bit about the book?

SW: Thank you! I like to say that it’s Stepford Wives at a ballet school, with evil plants—but make it middle grade. It’s told through new students Gemma’s and Neve’s alternating POVs. Gemma has always felt too loud, too big, too much—while also never being enough. The school promises to take average girls and perfect them, and she is thrilled at the idea that she might finally be something other than who she is.

Neve has been quietly angry for years ever since she saw her older sister, Bex, go to Stadler and change from a charismatic chaos gremlin into a perfectly proper young lady. She knows something is deeply wrong at the school, and she’s determined to figure out what it is. There’s a lot of botanical horror, but the true villain is the idea that perfection is possible and it will save you.

Dance Life

MR: You were a dance major in college, and you moved to New York to study dance. How did your experience as a dancer shape your understanding of the young dancers portrayed in the book? You clearly have a strong sense of empathy toward them.

SW: Ballet is not the bad guy in my book! Instead, we get Gemma discovering the way the world can fall away when you’re dancing and how movement can be a story as much as a shape or a series of steps. Getting to write about how it feels during a dance class when you nail a combination, and the joy of warm muscles moving you across a studio floor, was an absolute delight.

Of course, access to dance classes and the money to afford them are also massive privileges, something the character of Kris bitterly reflects on in one of Neve’s chapters. I grew up in a small town, and while I was lucky enough to take ballet classes a couple times a week, I didn’t have consistent dance training until I was on an academic scholarship at college.

I also drew from my own experience of feeling like I was the wrong shape, or that I didn’t have anything to offer because everyone else was so much better (in my opinion), while simultaneously wishing that I’d be picked for a solo or a starring role. It’s such a painful place, to feel like if you just worked harder, you could unlock this “perfect” version of yourself. I’m still trying to unlearn that.

All Bodies Are Beautiful

MR: She Came Back Different champions the idea that all bodies belong in the dance world, not just skinny ones. At the same time, it’s no secret that dancers’ bodies are often scrutinized, with undue emphasis placed on the necessity to be thin. From your experience, have any strides been made in the dance world to accept a range of body types?

SW: Dancers like Kayla Hamilton (TWU alum!) and other disabled and differently-bodied dancers have never let a traditional ballet body expectation stop them. My kids and I went to an incredible breakdancing performance at the New Vic Theater this year called Ill-Abilities: No Excuses, No Limits. The dancers spun, flipped, and launched themselves through jaw-dropping choreography and shared their stories of growing up disabled and making their own place in the dance world. “The dance world” isn’t an entity—it’s us, and that includes every kind of body.

Specific to ballet…

I see online is that there’s a lot more focus on anatomical placement and safer biomechanics of movement. That means fewer people are contorting themselves for the sake of a flashy dance move or “perfect” turn-out. I also see dance studios working hard to make their classes inclusive for disabled and neurodiverse kids, which is so important. Dance is for everyone.

I can’t speak directly to the experience of a young dancer now, especially in the world of ballet competitions which has become much bigger than when I was a kid. It seems like there’s an outsized emphasis on how many pirouettes you can do or how high your legs go, and while it’s great to have a goal, I can also see how that could become an unhealthy measurement of someone’s value or ability as a dancer.

Also, can I say? Adult ballet is where it’s at. The competitiveness is gone, and it’s just you and this thing you love, in the company of other people who love it too. IT’S AMAZING.

Who’s Perfect?

MR: One of the main themes in the book is perfectionism, as the ballet mistresses—or “Madames”—set unrealistic standards for the girls at the ballet conservatory. They dictate how they dress, what they eat, and even how they sleep (on their backs, to avoid wrinkles!). Can you tell us more about this? It’s super creepy.

SW: Obedient and compliant people are easier to control, right? We often need our so-called flaws—our stubbornness, our anger, our snark—to create or hold boundaries. One of the questions of the book is how culpable the Madames are. At one time, they were students full of creativity and chaotic joy too, but now they are part of the system that erases individuality in favor of docile prettiness.

In real life, so many of the enforcers of traditional femininity and the pursuit of perfection are other women. It’s a system that they feel powerful inside of, without recognizing what they’ve lost or the harm they’re passing on. While dance mistress, Madame Orange, is at the height of her power within the school, she’s still hollow, and if things continued the way they always did, she’d face the same fate as Madame Gray, an aging ballet teacher who is relegated to storage as she becomes a fully hollowed-out husk.

DIFFERENT vs. WEST OF THE SEA

MR: Speaking of creepy, your book is a departure from your debut novel, West of the Sea, which has fantastical elements but isn’t horror. What made you take the leap to horror? Are you a fan?

SW: I’m a big fan of MG horror—that’s my speed. I am the biggest scaredy-cat so I don’t usually seek out horror films to watch. And yet, every horror movie I’ve ever watched, I’ve absolutely loved. So…yes? But I’m terrified?

The biggest shift toward writing horror came from my critique group, made up of me, my husband (he writes creative nonfiction), and two of our dearest friends from theater. We started workshopping each other in 2017 and we’re still going strong.

One of those friends is the horror supernova, Nat Cassidy. So I’ve had the gruesome pleasure of workshopping his horror novels at every stage, and that didn’t just give me a stronger stomach for viscera and gore, but made me really grow to appreciate the importance of experiencing fear in a safe way—and the stomach-churning chills along the way.  Then I read Ally Malinenko’s This Disappearing House, which is the number one middle-grade book I always recommend, and I became a MG horror superfan.

Bloodsucking Vines!

MR: While we’re on the subject of horror, I would be remiss not to mention the bloodthirsty vines that suck out the girls’ personalities, rendering them shells of their former selves—like the Stepford Wives but in tutus. Please tell us more.

SW: In the world of the book, the vines are hungry and semi-ambulatory. They grow in and through the walls of the school and they can’t be seen until it’s too late. The native forests around the school block the vines from escaping further into the landscape, and Gemma’s contact with the trees and their fungus network is what gives her the ability to see the vines from the beginning. The vines are drawn toward noise, chaos, individuality—and then they eat the souls’ creative essence down to the roots.

One reason they flourish so well at the ballet school is that the dancers are always in an act of creation, so even the most hollowed-out students still have creative growth for the vines to eat at the end of the day. One way to avoid the vines’ notice is to act as if you’ve already been consumed, i.e., sweet, demure, literally in step with the other girls at the school.  This defense mechanism looks a lot like the result of being consumed—much like the way girls learn early to smile and people-please as a way of staying safe in social situations.

Early in the drafting process, Nat pointed out that the vines had a #MeToo vibe, and once I saw what I was really writing about, I went all in on the gothic elements of questioning reality. Did this really happen, or is she imagining it? If someone warns of a dancer that no one else can see, do the other girls believe her? If a girl broke the rules and got attacked, does she get blamed, or the institution that lets a predator lurk in its shadows?

Stephanie Says

MR: In addition to writing books for young readers, you are an audiobook narrator. How does this influence you as a writer, and vice-versa?

SW: As a narrator who writes, I always carry the knowledge that I’m bringing someone’s precious and hard-fought book baby to life. I want to take very good care of the author and honor their vision, their story, and the characters as they wrote them.

As a writer who narrates, I’m very aware of vocal descriptors. Authors sometimes get very fantastical in their descriptions like, “His voice was the sound of the sea over crushed glass,” and as a narrator I just stare and think, How am I going to do that??? So when I wrote Gemma as having a distinct accent from my part of Texas, I was internally groaning as I thought about how I’d have to perform that and keep it consistent across her chapters. (Curious about Stephanie’s narration style? Check it out here.)

MR: What is your writing process like? Do you have a specific routine? Also, are you a plotter or a pantser?

SW: I’m a plantser! I love a good outline—I think of it as daydreaming on paper—but I don’t stick to it rigidly. And I wish I had a routine. Maybe when my kids are older! I prefer to write at coffee shops (fewer interruptions, no chores tugging at my metaphorical sleeve), but I would never finish a book if I waited until I was at a café to get started.

At home, I’ve tried to trick my brain into thinking I’m at a coffee shop by making my writing space a high narrow bar against the wall with a comfortable stool and my back to the room. (It only sort of works.)

Regardless, the writing process usually looks like me with earbuds, listening to a playlist of cinematic music that I’ve listened to so many times I don’t hear it anymore, and drinking a lot of coffee.

Up Next

MR: What projects are you working on now, Stephanie?

SW: Inside every writer there are two wolves… kidding, but I do have at least two projects pulling me in different directions. One is a Southern gothic fantasy, a sort of a grown-up and darker take on magic-users and mythic beings in the same world as West of the Sea. But I’m also working on a cozier romantic fantasy for adults. My kids (eight and five) want me to write something for them, so I’ve also got a younger chapter book in mind. We’ll see!

Lightning Round!

Yellow graphic lightning bolt

MR: No MUF interview is complete without a lightning round, so…

Preferred writing snack? Does coffee count?  I don’t tend to eat while writing at home—my fingers feel gross on the keyboard otherwise–but if I’m at a café, I love having a blueberry scone or a fresh croissant. 

Coffee or tea? Coffee every time, in every lifetime.

Zombie apocalypse: Yea or nay? I love a funny zombie apocalypse.

Favorite ballet? Giselle. Give me all the vengeful female spirits dancing in the woods!

Superpower? The ability to speak any language after hearing it once. A  very long time ago, I wrote X-Men fanfiction about myself as a character with this ability.

Favorite place on earth? Can I pick two? On my back deck watching my flowers and their pollinators while my kids careen around nearby. And walking the streets of NYC on a perfect autumn day with an iced coffee in my hand on my way to meet up with a friend.

You’re packing a dance bag with six items only. What are they? These days all I need is a water bottle and my ballet slippers, but back when I was training seriously I also would’ve had my pointe shoes (Chacott or Russian Pointe), gel toe pads, Harmonie knitwear, and an elastic theraband for stretching.

MR: Thank you for chatting with me, Stephanie—and congratulations on the publication of She Came Back Different!

Bio

Stephanie Willing is an author, audiobook narrator, and a lifelong dancer. She has a BA in Dance from Texas Woman’s University and an MFA in Writing for Young People from Lesley University. She lives with her husband, two kids, two cats, and a goldfish in New Jersey. When she’s not writing or recording, you can find her reading, making snacks for her kids, or working in her butterfly garden in the backyard. Learn more about Stephanie on her website and follow her on Instagram.

MELISSA ROSKE is a writer of middle-grade fiction. Before spending her days with imaginary people, she interviewed real ones as a journalist in Europe. In London she landed a job as an advice columnist for Just Seventeen magazine. Upon returning to her native New York, Melissa contributed to several books and magazines, selected jokes for Reader’s Digest, and received certification as a life coach. In addition to her debut novel Kat Greene Comes Clean, Melissa contributed to the Jewish middle-grade anthology, Coming of Age: 13 B’Nai Mitzvah Stories. Learn more about Melissa on her Website and follow her on Facebook and Instagram.

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