A Misfortune of Lake Monsters

When legends bite back.

Lemon Ziegler wants to escape rural Devil’s Elbow, Pennsylvania to attend college--but that’s impossible now that she’s expected to impersonate the town’s lake monster for the rest of her life. Her family has been secretly keeping the tradition of Old Lucy, the famed (and very fake) monster of Lake Lokakoma, alive for generations, all to keep the tourists coming. Without Lemon, the town dies, and she can’t disappoint her grandparents . . . or tell her best friends about any of it. That includes Troy Ramirez, who has been covertly in love with Lemon for years, afraid to ruin their friendship by confessing his feelings. When a very real, and very hungry monster is discovered in the lake, secrets must fall by the wayside. Determined to stop the monster, Lemon and her best friends are the only thing standing between Devil’s Elbow and the monster out for blood.

For readers who enjoy Harrow Lake by Kat Ellis, House of Hollow by Krystal Sutherland, Dark and Shallow Lies by Ginny Myers Sain, and The Lake House by Sarah Beth Durst.

Nicole M. Wolverton is the author of The Trajectory of Dreams, an adult psychological thriller (Bitingduck Press), and editor of Bodies Full of Burning, an anthology of menopause-themed short horror fiction (Sliced Up Press), with dozens of short stories and creative nonfiction works published in literary magazines, anthologies, and podcasts, including the Saturday Evening Post and the Nighty Night with Rabia Chaudry podcast. She grew up in rural Pennsylvania, but now calls Philadelphia her home. Her YA horror novel A Misfortune of Lake Monsters will be released from CamCat Books in Fall 2024.