THE 72 HOUR CURSE (SERIES 1 — Scary Books for Scary Kids™) - Softcover

ROBACHEAUX, ASH; BANNERMAN, JAKE

Softcover

ISBN 13: 9798274355759

Publisher: Independently published, 2025

Synopsis

Laina Broussard didn’t come to Los Angeles to “charge crystals under the moon.” She came because her mother took a hospital job and said this was a fresh start. Fresh starts taste different in Hollywood like oat-milk lattes and eucalyptus air and Laina is homesick for gumbo steam and her grandmother’s stories about feu follet lights in the cane fields.
When a clique of “witchy” girls invites her to a midnight cemetery hang, Laina rolls her eyes and goes anyway. The prank, the fog, the fall one mistake and she wakes up with someone else’s memories humming beneath her skin. She’s aging by the hour. Her hands spot, her back bends, and a voice in a language she’s never learned whispers of Berlin, 1946… and a missing Tarot deck built to trap hungry spirits.
Laina has seventy-two hours to break the curse: decipher a Holocaust survivor’s final search, make allies out of frenemies, and return what was stolen before her body and mind are claimed for good. Cozy, eerie, and threaded with real history, Tarot: The 72-Hour Curse is a warm cup held with trembling hands a mystery about how stories travel through us, and how we decide which ones we keep.

About this title

About the Author

Jake Bannerman writes horror with a heartbeat—stories where curses grow teeth, folklore feels alive, and the bravest kids discover that the shadows have rules of their own. His YA work blends Southern gothic roots with modern myth, turning small-town whispers into world-shaking legends.
Jake never writes alone. Standing just over his shoulder is his trusted (and notoriously snarky) creative partner, Ash, whose sharp eye and sharper commentary keep every draft honest, focused, and a little more dangerous than it was before. Together, they build the Ash & Ink worlds one curse, one thrill, one perfectly timed gasp at a time.
When he's not on the road for signings, Jake is already chasing the next story—with Ash muttering, "Don't screw this up," and Jake muttering back, "Watch me."

From the Inside Flap

Dear Reader,
Every curse has an origin, and this one began in the dirt.
The 72-Hour Curse was born from the old stories whispered in cemeteries and passed down like warnings no one wanted to believe. It started with a girl who slept in graves because the dead were quieter than the living... and it spiraled into a legend that follows anyone brave enough to look too closely.
This book is my love letter to folklore, fear, and the uncomfortable truth that magic is never free. I wrote it for the kids who grew up believing the shadows had rules—and for the adults who still feel them watching.
Step carefully.
Some stories wake up when you read them.
— Jake Bannerman

Edition details

• Publisher: Independently published
• Publication date: 2025
• Language: English
• ISBN 13: 9798274355759
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 167