CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Back in February, we told you about an author whose first young adult novel hit an Amazon bestseller list without even being available for purchase yet. Preorders for 'When Oceans Rise' on the site bumped it to #1 on Amazon's Teen & Young Adult Country & Ethnic Fairy Tales and Folklore list.
The cool part? The author previously lived in Corpus Christi and the book takes place in our beautiful city.
"You're going to see a lot of things from Corpus Christi that were special to me in this book," author Robin Alvarez said. "The Selena statue is in there and sometimes I mention things like the Trade Center or the Asian Market, and those were just things that were special to me and hopefully are special to other people in Corpus Christi."
The book was released on May 23.
Thursday, Alvarez was at Barnes and Noble in Corpus Christi to sign copies of the novel, which is a full-circle moment for her.
"This is the place I used to write at every weekday during my lunch hour!" Alvarez said.
The signing will be on June 8 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Though it is a fairytale retelling, the book is set in the very real world of Corpus Christi.
"It is about a mixed-race Filipino girl who is in an abusive relationship and she wants to escape, so she trades her voice to a sea witch, believing that kind of exchange will give her some peace. So she is exchanging her voice for a new life," Alvarez said.
Only, when she gets to this new life, she realizes that there is not going to be any peace because the sea witch uses her voice to release Filipino mythological creatures on the world."
Alvarez also has another book coming out this year called Paramour, which was sold as part of a trilogy, so we will be able to read her work for years to come.