Alex Aster is a #1 New York Times and internationally bestselling author. She studied creative writing at the University of Pennsylvania, lives in New York, and is never too far from a coffee shop.
Hundreds of years ago, a brutal war split a land in two. Starside is the realm of magic and immortals --- the descendants of the gods, living in a power-rich paradise. Stormside is where mortals fight for scraps of that magic. Every 50 years, the gates between them open, and 50 challengers are allowed to journey across Starside on a deadly quest to access a pool of magic that can heal, grant wealth or extend life. Everyone has their reasons for entering, but Aris has only one: vengeance. As a child, a goddess set fire to her village, killing her family. Aris isn’t after the gods’ magic --- she’s going to kill them. Getting past the gates is only the beginning. Starside is deadlier than it seems. If the ancient creatures, magic-wielding beasts, and bloodthirsty immortals weren’t dangerous enough, a new peril has even immortals fearing what rises from the ground at night.
Elle has the chance of a lifetime to write a big-budget movie set in New York City. The only problem? She’s had writer’s block for months, and her screenplay is due at the end of the summer. In a desperate attempt at inspiration, Elle ends up back in the city she swore she would never return to, in an apartment she could never afford. It’s the perfect place to write her screenplay…until she realizes that her new neighbor is tech “Billionaire Bachelor” Parker Warren, her stairwell hookup from two years ago. When seeing him again turns into a full night of hate-fueled writing, Elle realizes that her enemy/twisted muse just might be the key to finishing her screenplay. He needs to fake a buzzy relationship during his company’s precarious acquisition. She needs to write a movie around a list of NYC locations. Summers always end, and so will this agreement. It’s all pretend. Until it isn’t.