KALEA ELLISON

Hi, I’m Kalea. I didn’t grow up with my nose in a book. Honestly, I was far more interested in learning the latest Spice Girls routine and blasting NSYNC and Britney Spears on repeat. Reading felt like homework, and I wanted no part of it.

My mom was the opposite. She always had a James Patterson novel on her nightstand, and one day, she finally convinced me to try Where the Wind Blows. That single book turned everything upside down. I finally understood why she couldn’t put them down—and why her collection never stopped growing. For the first time, I was caught up in a world where impossible things happened and danger was always around the corner. I loved watching characters stumble through their own insecurities and still come out stronger in the end.

That’s the kind of story I’ve been chasing ever since—the kind I now try to write. I call them stories to steady the soul because they’re more than just adventures. They remind us how to grow up, how to shake off fear, and how to keep loving people even in their darkest hours…all while befriending a dragon or discovering mystical powers you never knew you had.

Somewhere along the way, I also became a shameless book collector. I don’t care if I already own a copy—I need another one so I can press it into a friend’s hands and still have one left for myself. And if a new edition comes out with pretty artwork? That one obviously belongs on my shelf too (and no, I will never read it). These days, I’m more of an audiobook girlie because of my schedule, but that doesn’t stop me from buying all the physical copies anyway. Don’t bother reasoning with me. I’m fueled by iced matcha lattes and my dog Zuko’s gremlin energy—I cannot be reasoned with. I need all the books. ALL the books.

My shelves (and earbuds) are stacked with favorites: Brandon Sanderson (I reread The Stormlight Archive and Mistborn Eras 1 & 2 constantly, because apparently I enjoy emotional damage—and I cannot allow one of my friends to read it without me), Jane Austen’s Persuasion (the wittiest, cutest second-chance romance ever), Olivia Atwater’s Half a Soul and Ten Thousand Stitches (regency + fae = perfection), Peter Pan (because I can’t quite allow myself to grow all the way up), the Percy Jackson series (which I reread every August for Percy’s birthday—we totally would’ve been besties), and C.S. Lewis’s Narnia series (my annual Christmas tradition).

Other favorites that keep my shelves overflowing: Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, L.M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables, Red Rising, Ted Dekker’s Circle Series, The Girl Who Drank the Moon, The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea, Heather Fawcett’s Emily Wilde series, Songs of Chaos and The Dragon’s Blade trilogy by Michael R. Miller, and Scott Meyer’s Off to Be the Wizard.

If you like any of these books, we’ll probably get along. And if you don’t…well, we’ll still get along, because let’s face it…I’m delightful! 😏