Donna Galanti - Where heart and hope meet adventure!

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Beyond the Portal Out Today, Book Events PLUS Enter 12-Book Giveaway!

By Donna Galanti

Yippee! April 4th is finally here. The day Beyond the Portal is out in the world!

I’m sad and happy all at once. Sad that this is the final and third book in my Unicorn Island series but happy that all secrets come to light in the story–and all mysteries solved! You can order Beyond the Portal HERE from your favorite bookseller.

If you’re close to Southeastern Pennsylvania, I’m super excited to be having a special book event at my favorite local bookseller. Join me Saturday, June 10th, 2023, at 1pm at The Doylestown Bookshop to celebrate the release of Beyond the Portal! I’ll have all 3 Unicorn Island books there to purchase and get signed, as well as my other books. Plus, there will be a scavenger hunt, unicorn light giveaway, goodies, a reading–AND your kiddos can get their photo with my extra special friend, Tiffany the Unicorn! Set the date now for a fun afternoon.

Check out this Kirkus Review of Beyond the Portal:

Here is an excerpt from Beyond the Portal:

Sam shielded her eyes against the glaring light. When it disappeared, they stood in another cave. The same blue lightning bugs scuttled around them, illuminating the walls. Sam shivered. It felt more like November in Brooklyn than August in South Carolina.

Sam glanced at Tuck and Barloc and exhaled in relief. “We made it,” she said.

Barloc whinnied softly and pressed his nose against Sam’s shoulder.

“Now we just need to find a way out of here,” Tuck said, his eyes darting around the stone walls. “There!” He pointed to a sliver of hazy light in the distance and motioned for them to follow.

When they stepped out of the cave, they found themselves deep in an unfamiliar forest. There were no live oaks with mossy beards, longleaf pines, or seagulls here.

Instead, tall evergreens loomed beside gray beech trees. Crows cawed overhead, and a lone hawk shrieked across the sky. Jagged, snow-covered mountain peaks loomed in the distance, just as Barloc had described.

A bright moon shone overhead, casting the world in light and shadow. All around them, things moved. It seemed as if the forest were alive, its spindly wooden fingers reaching for them.

Sam moved closer to Tuck. His face was tense as he scanned their new surroundings.


I love reading reviews from book bloggers! Did you know that the best way to help an author is to leave an honest review for books you read? I’d love for you to leave one for Beyond the Portal. 😊

Here’s an early review from Log Cabin Library: “I enjoyed how Galanti explored the grays of the world and that sometimes not everything is as it first seems … This last book showed a lot of character growth and emphasized standing up for your principles … It has strong kid appeal.”

My publisher, Andrews McMeel, also sent me bookmarks and bookplate labels. If you order the book, I’d love to send you a bookmark and personalized bookplate label for you or your favorite unicorn lover. Just email me at donna(at)donnagalanti.com.

My publisher is also so amazing as they are giving away a set of TWELVE of their middle grade books in print to 5 lucky readers! That’s right–12! One book just happens to be Beyond the Portal. Ends April 8th and U.S. only. Check it out and enter here.


Lastly, it’s so amazing to get these lovely surprises in my email from teachers and their students! It warms my heart to know young readers are touched by my stories.  Mrs. Christie said her students love Unicorn Island so much that they decided to write me an opinion letter about it. Here it is in their words.

Happy reading—and happy spring!

P.S. Be sure to take your own magic with you wherever you go

Winter Trips, Recommended Reads & Book Fun!

By Donna Galanti

It’s been several months since I last posted! It’s been a whirlwind winter and I’m eager for spring as it’s been endlessly gray here in Pennsylvania this winter. But I had some sunshine as I recently received my advanced author copies of Beyond the Portal, the third and final book in my Unicorn Island series, out April 4th!

My publisher, Andrews McMeel, also sent me bookmarks and bookplate labels. If you order the book, I’d love to send you a bookmark and personalized bookplate label for you or your favorite unicorn lover. Just email me at donna(at)donnagalanti.com. Pre-Order Beyond the Portal HERE from your favorite bookseller.

We had some fun family time. Our son, Joshua, came home for Christmas to visit for three weeks from Hawaii.


AND we surprised my husband, Mike, with a secret 50th birthday trip to Newport, Rhode Island. Ahh, the glorious Gilded Age mansions, the sea, and the food! It was a fabulous trip.



Joshua and I also made a trip to see his Grampy in North Carolina. Sadly, my dad has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and I’ve since had to relocate him to the Memory Care Unit of his facility. But I’m so thankful he can remain in the same place with familiar staff and people.


I also celebrated my Little Sister’s 13th birthday this winter. We were paired up through Big Brothers Big Sisters when she was nine and I can’t believe how grown up she has become. We tried bowling and she got a strike!


Something to look forward to? Joshua is moving home from Hawaii to Pennsylvania on May 22! I can’t believe it will have been nearly two years since he moved to Waikiki. But….


But …. he won’t be here for long. He plans to manage fudge shows all summer for his dad’s business (Your Chocolate Guys — best fudge ever!) and then he and his girlfriend will be backpacking through the Schengen Area of Europe on a 90-day visa. And yes, I had to look up the Schengen Area, too! It’s comprised of 27 countries, the world’s largest visa-free zone. Ahh, to be young and adventurous!

I’ll leave you with recommendations for two books I just finished:

Atomic Habits by James Clear

If you’re having trouble changing your habits, the problem isn’t you. The problem is your system. James shows you how! Packed with evidence-based strategies, Atomic Habits will teach you how to make small changes that will transform your habits and deliver amazing results.

The Impossible First by Colin O’Brady

A truly awe-inspiring memoir spanning Colin’s triumphant recovery from a tragic accident to his gripping 932-mile solo crossing of Antarctica.

Besides reading and writing, I’ve also been busy adding new items to my Etsy Shop, Go Wild Design. It’s a super fun project! I love creating new products that share my love for nature. See what’s new so far! Visit GO WILD DESIGN.

Happy Almost Spring! 

P.S. Don’t forget Beyond the Portal comes our April 4th! I’ll have event news then, too. 🙂
Pre-Order Beyond the Portal HERE from your favorite bookseller.


 

Fall Foliage Fun, New Etsy Shop + Book Recs!

By Donna Galanti

Happy Halloween! Here’s a fun Halloween throwback photo from 2007 of me and my little kiddo, Joshua. Not so little now!

 

It’s been a busy few months since summertime! I spent 10 days at a lakeside writing retreat in northern New York where I finished a new middle grade manuscript and submitted it to my agent. I launched my own Etsy Shop: Go Wild Design—Nature inspired gifts and apparel, and I’ve started a real estate investing program.

I had so much fun designing and creating 150+ products for my Etsy shop based on my love for nature. I launched with about 25 of these products and am adding new items each week including stickers, mugs, t-shirts, journals and more. Are you a nature lover or know someone who is? Then be sure to favorite my shop and pass it on. 😊 Something appeals to you? Please leave a review if you purchase. Like books, reviews help my shop be found on Etsy!


My super talented friend, author, and artist Kate Brandes, also launched her own Etsy shop (KateBrandesArt) with her beautiful, atmospheric art. Check her out and favorite her shop so you get updates on new items!

I was lucky to spend so much time in the woods this beautiful autumn. I caught the magic of many sunrises before it slipped away. Silvery strings of web decorating meadows. Rich color blooming beneath my feet. Mist and melody of the woods. All before the day was drenched in sun, but I witnessed its secrets.


 

It was a glorious time on retreat in northern New York. Although, packing up from the lake is always sad. To say goodbye to the loons and beavers and bald eagles. The stillness and storms. Fires by the shore and shooting stars. Peace and wonder. Mist and magic.


 

All in all, a busy year for sure, especially with so much travel. And speaking of travel, my husband and I just had a fun week touring around the Hudson Valley of New York. We’re planning to move to the Albany region next year (where I mostly grew up).

 


The foliage was just AMAZING this year! From Pennsylvania to New York. I hope you’re enjoying some too wherever you are.


I did fit in some reading along the way. In recent years I fell in love with non-fiction, especially historical. I highly recommend this book I recently finished: In The Heart of the Sea by Nathaniel Philbrick. This book is an intense telling of the tragedy of the whaleship Essex which inspired Moby Dick. This is no dull history tale. Philbrick colors this true story with in-depth details, atmosphere, and gut-wrenching accounts of what occurred on this whaleship taken down by a whale and what horrors its crew experienced stranded at sea for three months. This palpitating epic tale with rich language brings history alive and is a must read! (also goes good with a martini and a cat!)

It’s so peaceful living in the country and here’s a scene from a morning walk. I love hot air balloons and my husband and I took a ride in one the year we got married. I don’t think the cows are excited as me. LOL

Just a reminder, that the final and third volume of Unicorn Island: Beyond the Portal releases in hardcover April 4th, 2023. Check out my Unicorn Island books and get all the Unicorn Island updates here.

Pre-Order Volume 3 in hardcover Beyond the Portal here! Out 4/4/23

Hope you enjoyed my fall photos!
XXOO -Donna

From Hawaii to Cape Cod, New Book Written, New Release + 3-Book Giveaway!

By Donna Galanti

Happy Labor Day if you celebrate here in the U.S.! I hope you have special plans to celebrate all your labors this year.

I haven’t posted here since March! Life has been pretty busy—in all good ways—but I miss sharing with you all. So, let’s get right to the fun stuff! I’m giving away a fantastic mix of three middle grade hardcover books today—spooky, heartfelt, and adventurous. Be sure to scroll down to enter to win at the bottom of this post. Contest ends September 12th. U.S. readers only please.

We’ve got:

Daybreak on Raven Island by Fleur Bradley
From the critically acclaimed author of Midnight at the Barclay Hotel comes a thrilling new middle grade mystery novel inspired by Alcatraz Prison. If you love ominous, atmospheric stories, then you’ll love this book.

Read my 7 Reasons Why to Like Daybreak on Raven Island and my full review here!

 

Sunshine by Marion Dane Bauer

Set in the northern Minnesota wilderness, a timeless novel about a boy and his imaginary dog explores the legacy of guilt and blame—and what really constitutes a family.

A must-read for dog lovers, children of divorce, and the imaginative and outdoorsy, Sunshine is a poignant, ultimately hopeful story about self-discovery, facing big realities, and finally, forgiving the things—and people—you can’t forget.

 

The Dare Sisters by Jess Rinker

Savannah Dare has always wanted to be a pirate. She grew up on legends of Blackbeard from her grandfather―her best friend and fellow treasure hunter.

But now he’s gone. Savannah and her sisters, Frances and Jolene are left to find Blackbeard’s lost loot on their own. It was their grandfather’s dream, and they can’t let him down.

Check out book 2 as well, The Dare Sisters: Shipwrecked!

And now for some bookish news of my own …

The final and third volume of Unicorn Island: Beyond the Portal has released digitally in a 5-part serial on the Epic! Unlimited platform for young readers. Get access here to the entire Unicorn Island series in a 15-part serial at the award-winning, leading digital library for kids: https://www.getepic.com/! However, to read the entire serial of Unicorn Island’s three volumes you’ll need the unlimited subscription for $9.99 a month. Plus, all the audiobooks are included as well! Not online here? No worries—the 3rd volume also releases in hardcover April 4th, 2023. Check out my Unicorn Island books and get all the Unicorn Island updates here.

Pre-Order Volume 3 in hardcover Beyond the Portal here! Out 4/4/23

And on to travel news! In May I visited my son, Joshua, on Oahu for three weeks. He picked me up at the airport after a very long travel day with a fresh lei! We had so much fun touring around the island from where he lives in Waikiki to botanical gardens to pretty Kailua Beach to farmer’s markets to my fave spot, Haleiwa at the North Shore.




The best part of our trip? Spending five days on the Big Island … because volcanoes! I immediately fell in love with this big island (literally like four times the size of densely populated Oahu). It’s wild, ruggedness was breathtaking. Plus, waterfalls galore and so empty and black at night, you see nothing for miles driving under the stars. The climate is wild as well. It can go from 50 degrees at night to 82 driving north then to 75 and 65 and back to 82 all in the span of an hour’s drive. We traveled down the 19-mile long Chain of Craters road all alone at night to walk an ancient petroglyph field with flashlights.


We stayed in this little Hawaiian paradise house on a private tropical acre where we heard and saw no one except dozens of tree frogs. Back in 2018, a volcano exploded in this neighborhood taking out 700 homes as lava made a swath to the sea. Miraculously, no one was even hurt but it’s eerie to drive around to come upon a road to nowhere as jagged black lava has taken over. And oh, there was more lava! Volcanoes National Park was AMAZING. To see bubbling craters and lava rivers at night was something I’ll never forget. We even hiked across an old lava crater lake. Our favorite town was Hilo—the largest on the island with 4,000 residents. Best farmer’s market, too! Local crafts and exotic food like ice cream fruit and sour sop fruit.



After Hawaii, there was more travel twice to Cape Cod for lovely writing retreats. I did lots of hiking along the bay and ocean and even kayaked among a pod of 50 seals!

We celebrated the release of my friend’s second novel, The Edge of Summer. If you’re looking for a heartfelt read check out The Edge of Summer by talented author, Erica George.

You’ll be swept away by this big-hearted novel about one girl navigating first loss and first love during her summer on Cape Cod.


Our son came home to visit in July, and we had a blast getting away for a week in the Finger Lakes of New York and touring Jim Thorpe, PA.


We had a peaceful cabin on ten acres to explore. There was hiking at Letchworth State Park and kayaking ….


On the way home we visited the Corning Museum of Glass. Highly recommend! You need an entire day to take in the glass blowing demonstrations, glass art, and historical glass collections going back 3500 years. Plus, the town of Corning is adorable and the perfect spot for lunch. Then Josh and I zoomed down to North Carolina as he wanted to see his grandpa.


I got to see my Little Sister again, too. My first Unicorn Island book is dedicated to her.


It’s been so wonderful to see her grow up over the years. While I’ve now moved too far away to officially be her Big Sister anymore, I’m still grateful to have her in my life. She is such a joy. I see the world through a different, amazing lens with her. This is so much why I love to write for kids. If you’re considering joining Big Brothers Big Sisters, I highly recommend this organization.

AND I’m so giddy as I decided to treat myself and rent writing office space away from my home office.


It’s the perfect space on an adorable little historic street and I’ve already met so many people in the neighborhood strolling by “the author’s office” who will be characters in future books. LOL!

And this office space was just what I needed to finish writing THE END on a new book! There’s nothing quite like this feeling of exaltation for a writer. I created the idea on a walk last December and didn’t start it until this spring. I struggled with it for many reasons … family needs, vacation, health issues. Also, the fact it’s a different kind of story for me. Writing middle grade in alternating points of view for the first time and in a school setting (I skipped much of school in my time, off daydreaming, reading, and writing in secret nooks!). It also includes characters with autoimmune issues like me.

Writing THE END again got me thinking of my book writing journey over the past years and I looked to what I’ve accomplished.

My first finished book sits printed in a shoebox (literally), others are unfinished or unrevised (or need major re-plotting!) or didn’t sell (yet!).

Here’s what I discovered I’ve achieved. It gives me heart, and to remember this when I’m feeling despaired over writing.

  • 14 books written
  • 6 books published
  • 3 book ideas plotted to start
  • 3 books to be revised
  • 2 book ideas
  • 2 books in-draft
  • 1 book coming out 2023
  • 1 book on submission through my agent

Others have done so much more than me, and others less. But this is my journey, no one else’s. Remember that for you, too. If you have dreams to achieve, I hope you write a list of all you’ve accomplished and take heart in what you’ve done–and all you can still do with the time you have ahead.

And finally, I’ve been working on a big project I’m super passionate about! As you all know I love being in nature and creating—so I decided to bring my two favorite combos together with my very own Etsy shop. My shop “Go Wild Design: Nature Inspired Gear, Gifts, and Apparel” offers my unique designs.

I have 150 products created but will debut this fall with about 35 and release more monthly. Here are some I’m working on. So much fun! Looking forward to sharing soon!



Happy reading everyone!

ENTER THE 3-BOOK GIVEAWAY! 

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

My Travel Year + Pre-Order Unicorn Island: Secret Beneath The Sand Now!

By Donna Galanti

I know it’s been a long time since I’ve sent out some news, but it’s been quite the year as you’ll soon read below!

But right now, I’m getting excited for Volume 2 of Unicorn Island, Secret Beneath the Sand, to release February 1st in hardcover! The illustrations are AMAZING in this book and I can’t wait for you to see them. AND you can pre-order Secret Beneath the Sand now. If you do, I can send you a bookmark and an autographed book plate label for you—or a special reader you know. 😊 Just email me your address and who you’d like the book personalized for at donna@donnagalanti.com. Check out the cover here!

In Volume 2 of the series, Sam and Tuck are on their way to becoming unicorn protectors when they discover new secrets about the island that threaten unicorns’ existence! 

Sam can’t believe how much her life and luck have changed since she came to Foggy Harbor: First, she discovered that unicorns are real, and now she’s on her way to becoming an actual unicorn protector! With her new friend, Tuck, by her side during Uncle Mitch’s lessons, Sam finally feels like she’s home.

But as the long-buried dangers of Unicorn Island begin to surface and a mysterious scourge spreads throughout the herd, Sam learns the truth behind Aunt Sylvie’s disappearance and her own connection to the island. With determination, courage, and fierce loyalty to one another—and to their code as unicorn protectors—the kids set out to protect the island’s secrecy and the unicorns’ very existence.

PRE-ORDER AT YOUR FAVORITE BOOKSELLER

I just sent the final draft for Unicorn Island Volume 3 to my editor. Watch for this coming out February 2023! For now, see a sneak peek into the beautiful artwork by Bethany Stancliffe she created for Secret Beneath the Sand.

Don’t have a copy of Unicorn Island 1 yet? You can order both here!

As I said, it’s been a crazy year. After packing up our house and moving to a new area and home … over the course of 13 weeks, I was then gone for 10 of those weeks because…

  • Spent a month in Hawaii moving my son to Oahu for a GAP year before college.
  • Traveled to North Carolina three times to visit my dad and get him registered for assisted living.
  • Traveled to Cape Cod twice for writing retreats.
  • Traveled to Northern NY for a writing retreat.
  • Visited Vermont for our 20th wedding anniversary.
  • Visited D.C. to see an old friend.
  • All while on book deadline for Unicorn Island 3 and dealing with a leg injury I needed physical therapy for! (I am on the mend although it’s been slow).

See some photos below!



I’m finally getting settled in my new home and having fun exploring the area. I’m living back in the country now and loving it. It’s so picturesque and peaceful and dark at night. I love the spread of farms and fields and woods. The Mennonite horse and buggies clip-clopping past our house. The covered bridges and little farm stands with local artisanal food.


And getting settled means getting back to writing! In particular, revisions of a fun adventure middle grade I hope to send my agent in the New Year. The story involves a legacy, a ticking clock, a ghost story, a quest to save an ancestral home, a hidden fortune, and family lost and found.

As for me, my head is already getting ready for Christmas as one month from today my son, Joshua, comes home for two whole weeks. I have peace of mind that he loves his job, his car, and his apartment. Plus, he’s working hard on his business he launched as a Junior in high school–Spiffy Laces. Watch for his new designs coming soon. He uniquely designs them himself! ORDER HERE.

I won’t have seen Joshua for 3 ½ months and that is waaaaayyyyy too long. ☹ Miss this kid–and how he makes me laugh.

I hope you all are having a wonderful fall! Happy reading and adventuring!
XXOO -Donna
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