Today is a big day. Okay, that’s an understatement. It’s a HUGE day. The Orphans is available to read! (Click here to purchase on Amazon.
This book is not only the culmination of the twelve months of hard work and countless rewrites that it took to move the story from my mind to the page, but it’s also the first time I’ve had the chance to truly write for myself and with a bigger purpose.
On the surface, The Orphans is a fast-paced, young adult, adventure fantasy about a group of teens who find themselves up against seemingly insurmountable odds in a war to save the world. However, just below the surface is the more important story about a much more relatable battle that nearly all of us face: the inner struggle for happiness, peace, and self-love.
At an early age, we’re taught to strive and to compete against one another. We’re encouraged to determine what we want to do when we “grow up,” to plan our lives, and to constantly look forward. We’re flooded with all sorts of information to reinforce these principles: what schools are the best, what jobs make the most money, what gadgets we need to buy, and how all of these thing are going to make our lives better. And at no point along the way do we take the time to really get to know our true selves or put the premium on our personal happiness and mental well-being that they deserve.
This way of thinking is so ingrained in us and can be incredibly tough to break. For me, it took having cancer to change my course. But not everyone gets a wake-up call like that, nor would I want others to have to go through such a traumatic jolt to reach their epiphany. That is why I dedicated a year of my life to work on The Orphans. My intention is to not only entertain, but to help encourage people of all ages to consider putting their own happiness ahead of the things that society trains us to value, and to start living where life truly exists—in the moment.
I hope that you can find as much joy reading The Orphans as I found writing it.
Book Description:
It was an accident.
That was what the authorities said killed Charlie Kim’s parents. And in Charlie’s mind, that was how it had to be. An accident meant closure. An accident meant that the driven fifteen-year-old could move on, reassemble his life, and return to the carefully planned future that he had laid out for himself.
But then Charlie’s memories of his parents suddenly begin to vanish. And suspicions arise, calling the accidental nature of their deaths into question. Charlie can’t help but doubt himself and the motives of those around him…
Doubt leads to discovery. Charlie uncovers secrets that forever change his life. And thrust him and the group of teens that he is forced to unite—fellow orphans, whose parents have met similar fates—into the center of a secret battle between good and evil…
A battle dating back to the war in Heaven. A war that only Charlie and the Orphans can end. But if they hope to stand a chance against the ultimate evil, they must first overcome their own inner demons.