One If
The Virago Trilogy Book 1
by Carol B. Allen
Genre: YA Sci-Fi Fantasy Adventure
GOLD MEDAL WINNER – GLOBAL BOOK AWARDS, Teen & Young Adult Sci-Fi Fantasy
In this race against time, three teens with powers that defy science take on a warring planet destroyed by climate change. But will they return home? Trapped in an epic time/space confrontation, the trio battle destiny. Alliances are betrayed. Unlikely friendships are forged. And young love flourishes in a race against impossible odds in this thrilling young adult sci-fi fantasy adventure.
When Parker Kittredge, a quirky science student from New York City, is lured to her terrace by a frisky hummingbird, she slips and plunges 18 stories to the street. She awakens in Spyridon, a planet destroyed by climate change and locked in a civil war. Parker quickly discovers she is not alone. Two other teens have also been kidnapped and they must join forces to save the planet if they have any chance to return to Earth.
The teens’ struggle for survival is fierce: murders, deceptions, power plays, love triangles, and magical fantasy elements make this a high-stakes, coming-of-age adventure pitted against a race with time.
Reviews for One If:
“An epic fantasy adventure that will thrill anyone who reads it.”
-Online Book Club
“The world-building was compelling and the environmental themes are timely.”
-Bianca Marais, best-selling author of Hum If You Don’t Know the Words
“I was so wrapped up in it and invested in all the characters. I love how each character is so strong but also has a vulnerable aspect to them. I need to know, do they save the planet?”
-Dr. G. Liu
“A breathtaking ending, just sprouting a sequel!”
-Hills Book Club
“A well-written, fast-paced YA Fantasy with a relevant message. One If will inspire girls to embrace STEM–science, technology, engineering, and math . . [and] widens the lens on the impact of climate change, something we all need to know more about.”
-Ilene Slutsky, Librarian
“PARKER PRESSED HER NOSE to the frosty glass. Her eyes stared down the frisky hummingbird darting about her terrace, then drifted back to her laptop and the experiment she was scheduled to present at school in the morning. It was the magic hour, just before dusk. The lampposts glowed as Central Park readied to settle into the hush of a quiet snowy evening ahead.
Outside, the daring bird torpedoed toward her face, rammed into the glass, then dashed away. Over the past several weeks, the same bird had been performing drop-ins, incessantly rapping at her window and disrupting her studies after school. Of all the windows in all the buildings across the city, how had the hummingbird found hers over and over again? And in the dead of winter! What did it want from her anyway?
Today, she’d had enough. Her inquisitive nature won. She grinned at the bird, crinkled her nose, knit her brows, and sent the corners of her mouth into their quizzical pattern. Could she get the bird to come to her? Parker grabbed a jacket, opened the terrace door, and stepped outside. A light wind tousled her long, wavy brown hair and billowed the hem of her pleated skirt. Despite the cold, the fresh air felt good. So pretty tonight, she thought.
Tiptoeing through the icy snowflakes, she approached the bird slowly, opened her arms and motioned to the hummingbird to come toward her. The bird’s white-tipped tailfeathers fluttered away and its dainty twig-like feet, frail as matchsticks, grazed the top of the wrought-iron terrace balustrade. Parker edged closer. Her fingertips whitened as she clung to the metal. Her mind galloped forward, and her eyes swept downward along the rows of bay windows and their respective cornices, all eighteen stories of them, to the traffic plodding along Central Park West.
Parker lightened her hold and faced the hummingbird’s distinctive black triangular marking centered above its beak—right smack in the middle of its head. She leaned over the handrail, her tummy balancing on the slippery metal. The bird dangled before her in the air. She extended her hand to the bird.
Just as her heart skipped a beat, Parker lost her footing, stumbled, and toppled over the rail. She plunged downward. Consumed by panic, she grabbed for something, anything, but she plummeted headfirst, out of control toward the pavement, and the terrifying thought of hitting it…
Blackness devoured her. Pulled by an odd magnetic force, Parker was drawn into a dark, jelly-like tube. She fell faster, accelerating, bouncing along the curving path of gel, waves of nausea and dizziness surging inside her belly. The unending, sloshing movement slowed.
The impact she expected never came. She was alive.”
Series Trailer:
If Then
The Virago Trilogy Book 2
The action-packed sequel to Amazon Best-Seller and Gold Medal Winner of NYC Book Awards, Teen and Young Adult Sci-Fi Fantasy, One If
The planet is about to end. Only three teens can prevent it.
The price may be their lives.
In the page-turning sequel to the Amazon best-seller, One If, 17-year-old Parker Kittredge bears the mantle of the Sky Queen of Spyridon’s Upperworld. Now she must face her rival, the terrifying Empress of the Underworld. Parker is charged with fulfilling her honor-bound duty—stop the devastation of climate change and end the civil war.
Parker, along with her friends, Edison and Henley, embark on a treacherous adventure to uncover the hidden secrets buried by Spyridon’s ancient scientists. Danger threatens their journey as they trek to the heights and very core of the planet where they are surrounded by enemies on all fronts. They quickly discover the quest for power keeps company with deception.
Through the loss of innocence, the heartbreak of first love, alliance, and betrayal, the teens claim their powers—but will they be able to return home?
The Virago Fantasy series are for everyone interested in the thrill of an adventure and our planet’s sustainability. The books are especially for teens and young adults interested in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). A portion of the proceeds from the sales of the Virago Fantasies will be donated to causes that support climate change and the STEM initiatives.
Rich in vivid imagery, intrigue, and suspense, you’ll find yourself laughing, crying, and cheering on Parker, Edison, and Henley in this fast-paced YA fantasy. Fans of The Hunger Games, Divergent, or Stranger Things who want to delve into a thrilling adventure will love this book!
“DARKNESS CLOAKED THE SPYRIDON Sea. Tonight, the blackness felt like an uninvited guest determined to stay until the party ended. In anticipation, the Empress waited, knowing there would be no escape from the brightening sky when the sun appeared at dawn.
She stood with Pantione. Her guardsmen beside them. Her ultrasensitive eyes already pulsing with the thought of the approaching daylight. She steeled her frayed nerves and reminded herself she need not worry about the earthling. Nor the outcome of this meeting.
Her brother had prepared ample protection. The troops numbered nearly one hundred. They lingered below the surface of the waters outside the Shallows. It was little more than a glorified sand bar stretching out from where Katamoor had once risen.
Each second dragged with exaggerated slowness.
The waves curled in the darkness and the tide attempted to sweep them closer to the sand bar. They were pulled by the whim of the water and manipulated forward in vast arching motions. The Underworld Shark Force flashed white fangs in the darkness of the swells. A school of Piranhas formed a perimeter of safety, each positioned twenty feet apart, covering the outer edges of the sunken peninsula. The nets, looped and layered, slung from their mouths, would trap any Upperworlders who attempted to approach them.
Light prickled the sea and met the edge of the horizon. It was almost time. Diadora and Pantione were ready to rise from the water in their head-to-toe coverings of seaweed meshed with small stones that offered them further protection. They exchanged anxious glances.
She tugged her brother’s arm. “Let them come to the waters. If they think I’m nearing the banks of Upperworld, they are mistaken. I’ll stay until night falls again before I come within fifty feet of their land.”
“Our troops have their instructions,” Pantione said. “None of us are approaching the shore. No one moves without my approval, which requires your approval.”
Diadora and Pantione broke through the water’s surface. The hostile waves whipped their bare faces and blasted them with sand. They had prepared for the dawn visit and decided to allow their faces to be revealed. They would not be intimidated nor hide behind masks or shields from the earthlings or any of the Upperworlders.
The wind swept Pantione’s thick red curls across his face. He pushed his hair aside and put on his helmet. He threw a casual arm around his sister’s shoulder and leaned in to say, “We cannot always know what is on the mind of others. Intentions will be revealed. Soon. If the earthling truly represents the Upperworld as the Ruling Great One…” he stopped suddenly, “…let us listen to what she has to say.”
If Only
The Virago Trilogy Book 3
The page-turning thrill ride continues in the epic conclusion to the best-selling Virago Fantasy series
Gold Medal Winner of the Global Book Awards
Across space and time, 17-year-old Parker Kittredge is drawn into the plot of a lethal assassin. To escape peril, Parker and her friends are transported from New York City to return to Spyridon where they find the once peaceful alien planet is now a world without honor where nothing is sacred.
Parker must reclaim her powers and face her enemies including a professed lover whom she no longer trusts.
But will she ever go home again?
Rich in vivid imagery and nail-biting intrigue, readers will laugh, cry, and cheer on Parker, Edison, and Henley in this fast-paced coming of age tale. Fans of The Hunger Games, Divergent, and Stranger Things will want to delve into this spine-chilling adventure and will love this book!
What Readers Are Saying—
The plot is amazing and as it progresses it becomes quite charismatic with the characters well developed and superb interaction of them. The characters display courage in face of adversity and challenges which makes it very endearing to experience. I highly recommend it to anyone to enjoy and learn together.
–Goodreads reviewer
I don’t want to spoil anything! All I can say is that I enjoyed every page of this book and will certainly continue to follow Allen’s work.
–Goodreads reviewer
This story is fast-paced and a fun read that will keep you on edge from the first chapter.
-Goodreads reviewer
“Parker observed the police troops lining the streets, keeping the crowd in check. As they neared Copley Square, she heard a series of loud crackling and hissing sounds. Their banner wavered. She tightened her grip, reminding herself that she was a city girl and used to a little disarray on the streets. Clouds of smoke rose from the Manhattan sewer grates all the time. There was no cause for alarm here in Boston. Unexpected incidents were part of city life, usually in tandem with loud, unanticipated noises. They never ruffled her. But in this situation, she had to acknowledge that one thing was different—she had never been part of a protest holding a banner. Something that, just maybe, put her at the center of risk.
A thick mass of cloudy air hovered above her. Her vision blurred. There was shouting and more piercing pops of noise followed by whizzing bursts of smoke. Then an earsplitting blast shook the ground beneath her feet. Parker felt the crowd scatter.
Her eyes burned. She needed to look around and see what had happened. She blinked and wanted to rub her eyes to swipe away the charred feeling. Another blast and she fell face-down on the pavement, her hands trapped underneath her. The heat rose from the[…]”
“Another blast and she fell face-down on the pavement, her hands trapped underneath her. The heat rose from the concrete and the smell of burnt smoke permeated her nose. The air scorched her lungs and she had difficulty breathing. Every inch of her body hurt as if she had tumbled down a steep flight of stairs. With all the strength she could manage, she rolled onto her side and squinted, trying to see, but smoke masked most everything around her. Moaning bodies were strewn across the pavement. A flurry of people had scurried from the sidewalk onto the street to help.
Something had gone very wrong. She wanted to reach for her phone, but she couldn’t move her arm, let alone grab her phone. The cascading sound of approaching sirens whirred in the distance. She needed to shut off the street noise and rest. A stern male voice lobbed through the air above her. He was not speaking to her. The voice addressed somebody else who wasn’t responding. Red alerts fired in her brain. Still, she kept her eyes closed, listening but not wanting to hear. Competent hands lifted her. They were firm, but not the caring hands of police officers. They were not the hands of medics, who would have had a soft touch and introduced themselves with an authoritative calm.
The noise from the street quieted. She was being transported from the scene, draped over someone’s shoulder. Her neck was twisted with her face buried in clean, soft, slightly moist skin that had been washed with a pungent, pine-scented aftershave. She told herself she would never forget that scent. That was her last memory for a while.”
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Carol B. Allen is an author and international, award- winning creative professional. She has held leadership positions in firms that believe in strengthening community across the New York Tri State Area. She plays an active role in supporting opportunities to enhance young women’s interest in Science, Technology, Engineering, Medicine (STEM) fields as well as advancing causes that protect the environment.
She serves on the Advisory Board for Advancing Women in Science and Medicine (AWSM), part of Northwell Health’s Feinstein Institute for Medical Research. Additionally, she has participated on the Advisory Committee for the Girl Scouts STEM program.
A University of Michigan graduate, Carol received high honors and the prestigious Student of Distinction recognition.
Carol resides in Westchester County and is an active member of the Pound Ridge Authors Society. When she isn’t writing, Carol enjoys the city life and the country life, balancing her time with her family, exploring the cultural offerings of Manhattan as well as the great outdoors of the bucolic Northeast woodlands.
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