A Maple Ridge author is celebrating the release of her new book with a book signing in Burnaby.
Leanne Van Dongen’s new book called “Death Game” is the second book in the “Death Life” series which follows the plight of three teenage girls who are facing physical and psychological torture by a ghost.
The first book, “Death Life” introduces the character 12-year-old Felicity Hale, who loses her mother in a car accident. When Felicity and her father relocate, she becomes friends with Janessa Owens and Allison Blair. But then the ghost of an unknown girl begins terrorizing them, testing their friendship, as they try to stay alive.
In the sequel, which takes place seven months after the end of the first book, the friends face new terrors when they are introduced to the foreshadowed game.
With challenging rules, limited time, and more players, teamwork begins to lose its meaning when everyone is faced with a fateful decision – a decision that can increase their chances at survival, or be the end of them.
Van Dongen knew she wanted to become a writer when she was only 10-years-old, and published her first book in 2017 at the age of 14.
That book was called “Kate the Great” and was the first in a series called “Showtime”, which consisted of three books aimed at children between the ages of 9 to 12 years old.
In 2021 the young author took second place in the 2021 Royal Dragonfly Book Awards – a worldwide competition that acknowledges excellence in all types of literature and book marketing – in the Youth Author Fiction category for “Kate The Great”, the first of three books in her inaugural “Showtime” series, and she received honourable mentions in the same category for the other two books in the series called “Stage Fright” and “The Trio” – and also for “Death Life”.
The “Death Life” series is Van Dongen’s first delve into the young adult category, for those aged 13-18 years old.
Van Dongen is holding a book signing on Saturday, Nov. 29, from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at Coles Books located in The City of Lougheed centre, at at 9855 Austin Ave. in Burnaby.