Inevitable Fate

A 2025 IBPA Book Award Silver Medal Winner

＂A clever tale about breaking free from the past . . .＂ --Kirkus Reviews

＂[A] vivid tapestry with an absolutely explosive ending.＂ --K. Ancrum, author of Icarus and The Wicker King

Mara Cassidy is going to die . . . again.

For seventeen years, Evan Kiernan’s life has felt like painting by someone else’s numbers, moving and transferring schools every time his mom has a breakup. But when he’s accepted into NYU’s Promising Young Artist program for his senior year, the future suddenly feels like a blank canvas.

However, it soon becomes clear that the city has peculiar ties to his past. A thunderstorm finds him under the same umbrella as an eerily familiar green-eyed girl. A visit to an art gallery brings him face-to-face with a heavily tattooed portrait of himself. He sees things that aren’t there--at least not anymore. And the girl he’s falling in love with is somehow at the center of it all.

When history suddenly points to a devastating future, Evan must race against time to figure out who is pulling the strings and change the green-eyed girl’s fate--a race he’s already lost twice.

For readers who enjoy Strange Unearthly Things by Kelly Creagh, The Bad Ones by Melissa Albert, Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross, and The Hundred Loves of Juliet by Evelyn Skye.

Lindsay K. Bandy writes historical and speculative fiction for teens and adults, as well as poetry for young children. In addition to working at a high school library, she runs an award-winning public library-based magazine program for teens and serves as the published member coordinator for the Eastern PA chapter of SCBWI. Her first novel, Nemesis and the Swan, was described by Booklist as an ＂intrigue-soaked work of historical fiction (that) feels entirely of the past and yet also incredibly relevant,＂ and was the recipient of an AudioFile Magazine Earphones award.

In addition to books, Lindsay has a soft spot for donuts, ghost tours, and power sanding. She can often be found rescuing old furniture from curbs in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where she lives with her husband, two daughters, and two cats.