Falling Stars

Not Your Typical Vampire A boy with blood cancer believes a legendary vampire in his hometown can cure him. Nine-year-old Tommy Lucas is convinced that he's a vampire, that his cancer is a curse on his bloodline. His adoptive and single mom, June Lucas, is an oncologist. She puts off “the talk” with Tommy and allows him to continue eating only red-colored foods and sleeping in a 4D gaming console casket because she doesn’t want him to lose hope. Tommy’s stoked when he discovers an e-zine series about urban legend Viscount Claudius Fallon, a dhampyre from Cardiff who traveled to Eureka Springs, Arkansas seeking a cure for his own leukemia during WWII. Tommy reads everything he can about Fallon and believes he truly exists. Tommy’s quest leads him to befriend artist Callan Masters, who struggles with his growing affection for June—for he is Fallon, cured in 1939 at the notorious Baker Cure-for-Cancer Hospital. Fallon must decide whether he’ll take the risks to help Tommy or to fall in love with June. This sixteen-time award winner blends urban fantasy, alternative history, and paranormal romance into a Kirkus "Get It" Accolade: "A genre-bending mother-and-son tale . . . a compelling twist on the classic vampire story." —Kirkus Reviews What reviewers are saying: "This is not the average vampire story. As a matter of fact, it’s not an average story at all. The fresh and memorable plot will have you cheering for Tommy. The details dance off the page and transport you into another world. All this is done in a dual timeline of the past and present which flows naturally. I was captivated by the author’s ability to orchestrate a beautifully written story rich with imagination. By combining love, sacrifice, hope, and loss, this is a story that will remain in your heart long after you close the book. I will definitely be reading more by this gifted author." —Kim Wilch, Reviewer @onemoreexclamation "A young boy’s belief in the supernatural builds to the ultimate payoff in Rogers’s surprising, discursive, deeply heartfelt novel, an urban fantasy that edges into warm family drama." —Booklife Reviews by Publishers Weekly “As a lifelong English teacher, I so admire Rogers’s richly drawn characters, the manipulation of past and present, the juxtaposition of stark reality and mysticism, the descriptive and precise word choices. My reading preferences tend toward historical fiction, biography, mystery, and suspense. What have you done to me, Julie Rogers? This book isn't even a genre I'd particularly gravitate toward, yet I thought about Falling Stars constantly when I couldn’t read, and the book stayed with me long after I finished. I couldn’t stop seeing Tommy in his high-tech casket. Am I obsessed? Well done!" —Becky Hoag, Coauthor of Letters to Rose: A Holocaust Memoir "Tommy Lucas threw me off in the best possible way. I went in expecting another “child-with-a-dark-secret” story, the kind we’ve all seen before. Instead, Rogers delivers something much more delicate and devastating, a story that uses fantasy as a way to understand grief, hope, and the impossible choices love demands. Tommy’s belief that he’s cursed, and June’s quiet willingness to let it stand just long enough to protect him is haunting and deeply compassionate. Fallon, a living legend and a man trapped by time, brings something entirely different: redemption, sacrifice, and the strange ways love keeps us tethered to life." —Zelma Walters, Reviewer