Draw Down the Moon

by P. C. Cast, Kristin Cast

Overview

New York Times bestsellers P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast return with Draw Down the Moon, the first book in a new duology set in a dark and magickal world filled with incredible danger and irresistible romance.

A mystical school. A mysterious death. A magickal romance.

Wren Nightingale isn’t supposed to have any elemental powers. Born of magickal parents but not under one of the four fated astrological full moons, she is destined for life as a Mundane—right up until she starts glowing on her eighteenth birthday. In a heartbeat, Wren’s life is turned upside down, and she’s suddenly leaving her home for the mystical Academia de la Luna—a secret magickal school on a hidden island off the Seattle coast.

Lee Young has always known about his future at the academy. He has three goals: pass the trials, impress the Moon Council, and uphold his family’s reputation. But he wasn’t expecting to be attending alongside the girl he’s been secretly in love with for as long as he can remember.

As Wren and Lee are thrown into the academy’s grueling trials, they quickly learn there’s something different—and dangerous—about the school this year. Wren will have to navigate a web of secrets, prophecies . . . and murder. And Lee will have to decide what to protect: his family’s legacy, or the girl he loves.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250865168
Publisher:	St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date:	04/02/2024
Series:	Moonstruck , #1
Pages:	336
Sales rank:	15,711
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.30(h) x 1.20(d)
Age Range:	12 - 18 Years

About the Author

#1 New York Times & #1 USA Today bestselling author P.C. Cast was born in the Midwest, and, after her tour in the USAF, she taught high school for 15 years before retiring to write full time. PC is a member of the Oklahoma Writers Hall of Fame. Her novels have been awarded the prestigious: Oklahoma Book Award, YALSA Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers, Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice Award, Booksellers' Best, and many, many more. Ms. Cast is an experienced teacher and talented speaker who lives in Oregon near her fabulous daughter, her adorable pack of dogs, her crazy Maine Coon, and a bunch of horses.

Kristin Cast is a #1 New York Times and #1 USA Today bestselling author who was born in Japan and grew up in Oklahoma where she explored everything from tattoo modeling to broadcast journalism. After battling addiction, Kristin made her way to the Pacific Northwest and landed in Portland. She rediscovered her passion for storytelling in the stacks at dusty bookstores and in rickety chairs in old coffeehouses. For as long as Kristin can remember, she’s been telling stories. Thankfully, she’s been writing them down since 2005.

Editorial Reviews

01/29/2024

Teenager Wren Nightingale has gone all her life believing that she is Mundane—a nonmagical person who was born outside of the conditions that would give her the power her late parents had. But on her 18th birthday, she realizes that she is Moonstruck, a status that allows her to attend Academia de la Luna, a school for magical youth, where she will be sorted into one of four houses: Taurus, Scorpio, Leo, or Aquarius. Accompanying her is Lee Young, her distractingly attractive childhood confidante, with whom she navigates adolescence, magical goings-on, and the Trials, challenges meant to test students’ magical abilities. When events at Academia de la Luna turn deadly, the friends must investigate a prophecy that threatens everything they know about their magic, their world, and their place within it. While this amalgamation of popular fantasy tropes by mother-daughter duo Cast (the Sisters of Salem series) seldom subverts expectations, Wren and Lee’s on-again, off-again relationship is compelling, and the open-ended resolution sows anticipation for the next installment in this lively romantasy series opener. Characters are described as having varying skin tones. Ages 12–up. Agent: Rebecca Scherer, Jane Rotrosen. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

"Fans of the authors’ House of Night and J.K. Rowling’s 'Harry Potter' series will love this fantasy set in the Pacific Northwest...A must-have for tween and teen libraries." - School Library Journal

"...Wren and Lee’s on-again, off-again relationship is compelling, and the open-ended resolution sows anticipation for the next installment in this lively romantasy series opener." - Publishers Weekly

"An easy, entertaining read." - Kirkus

From the Publisher

04/01/2024

Gr 7 Up—Fans of the authors' House of Night and J.K. Rowling's "Harry Potter" series will love this fantasy set in the Pacific Northwest. Wren is celebrating a prank with her best friend, Lee. He snaps a picture as Wren turns 18, posing in front of the soapy water fountain. After years of adjusting to having no magic, Wren feels the power of the moon awaken in her body. As she and Lee return to her uncles' house the next morning, they find Dean Rottingham from Academia de la Luna explaining how Wren will be leaving for Moon Isle and the school to begin training in her new magical powers. Her mundane (non-magical) uncles are persuaded to keep the secret of magically "moonstruck" people and allow Wren to go. As Lee, Wren, and Samantha (her other best friend) settle into school life, meet the Lunar Council, and find out about the Elemental spirits that protect the island, Wren gets strange vibes from some of the council. She starts to wonder what's really going on at the school, and what it has to do with its history, deaths, and the Elementals. As much as Wren is determined to find out the truth, Lee is determined to follow the rules. Written from alternating perspectives, this fantasy centers around characters dealing with changes in their relationship and a mystery critical to just about every aspect of their lives. VERDICT A must-have for tween and teen libraries.—Cathleen Ash

School Library Journal

2024-01-05
After spending her entire life without magick, a teenage girl in Oregon suddenly develops moon powers.

Wren Nightingale has known about magick her whole life. Her deceased parents were Moonstruck, and so are both of her best friends, Lee Young and Samantha Hopp. But Wren, who’s white, wasn’t born under a full moon, and she’s lived her first 17 years as a Mundane. On the night of her 18th birthday, however, she’s hit by “a spear of moonlight, silver and impossibly bright,” and everything changes. Lee, who’s Black, was on his way to Moon Isle to spend the summer studying his powers when he stopped off to give Wren her birthday present. After their night of minor shenanigans ends with Wren being Moonstruck, instead of just one night together, they’ll have the entire summer. But it’s a time of trials, both in their personal lives and in their magickal abilities, because something isn’t right on Moon Isle, and Wren might be in the middle of it. The story is told in Wren’s and Lee’s alternating viewpoints as they navigate the political world of magick, fall in love, and learn that not everything is as it seems. This series opener unfolds at a mostly steady pace, although the drama and action are punctuated by slower sections of exposition and worldbuilding, preparing readers for a much larger story to come.

An easy, entertaining read. (Fantasy. 12-18)

Kirkus Reviews