Shveta Thakrar with Preeti Chhibber - Divining the Leaves!

Enter a world of magic, yakshas, and murmuring trees in Shveta Thakrar's newest YA contemporary fantasy, Divining the Leaves! Shveta will be stopping by Little Shop to tell us all about this beautiful book along with our beloved Preeti Chhibber for an unforgettable night full of folklore, laughs, and bookish magic! See below for more deets:

Tickets:

Admission: $0 This event is free to attend! However, every person that plans to attend must have a free admission ticket

Pre-Order Divining the Leaves: $19.99 You must purchase a copy of of the book from Little Shop in order to enter the signing line.

About the Book:

Plant-loving Ridhi Kapadia and popular Nilesh Batra were friends once.

Now, seventeen and alone, Ridhi blends natural perfumes, wears flower crowns, and wanders her local woods, listening for the leafy whispers of her beloved trees. Pleading for the yakshas to admit her into their enchanted forest kingdom, where she knows she truly belongs.

After learning his parents’ perfect marriage is a sham and getting suspended from school, a heartsick Nilesh lands at Ridhi’s doorstep—the last thing either of them wants. So when a pretty yakshini offers him the distraction of magic, the same magic he mocked Ridhi for believing in, he jumps at it.

Furious, Ridhi strikes a bargain with a noblewoman of the yaksha court. In exchange for helping restore her reputation, Lady Sulochana will turn Ridhi into the yakshini she yearns to be—and teach her to divine the trees’ murmurs.

But when Nilesh ends up trapped in the yakshas’ realm, Ridhi realizes the leaves might be telling a disturbing story about the forest her heart is rooted in—one that, even if the two of them band together, threatens to shred the future like so many thorns.

About the Author and Moderator:

Shveta Thakrar is a part-time nagini and full-time believer in magic. Her work has appeared in a number of magazines and anthologies, including Enchanted Living, Uncanny magazine, A Thousand Beginnings and Endings, and Toil & Trouble. Her debut young adult fantasy novel, Star Daughter, was a finalist for the 2021 Andre Norton Nebula Award, and her second and third novels, The Dream Runners and Divining the Leaves, take place in the same universe. When not spinning stories about spider silk and shadows, magic and marauders, and courageous girls illuminated by dancing rainbow flames, Shveta crafts, devours books, daydreams, travels, bakes, and occasionally even plays her harp.

Preeti Chhibber is a YA author, speaker, and freelance writer. She also used to work as a publishing professional. She has written for SYFY, Polygon, BookRiot, BookRiot Comics, The Nerds of Color, and The Mary Sue, and others. Her first book in her original Spider-Man trilogy, Spider-Man’s Social Dilemma, was released in July 2022, and her Marvel Comics debut in Women of Marvel #1 came out in March. She also writes the Avengers Assembly series. She co-hosts the podcasts Desi Geek Girls and Tar Valon or Bust. She’s appeared on several panels at New York Comic Con, San Diego Comic Con, and on screen on the SYFY Network. Honestly, you probably recognize her from one of several BuzzFeed “look at these tweets” Twitter lists.

Host or Publisher Little Shop of Stories