A Flash of Fire: The Phoenix Rising Trilogy, Book 1

2025 “Best Series” Bronze Medalist, Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards
2025 “Best Audiobook” 1st Place, Royal Dragonfly Book Awards
First Place, Gertrude Warner Award for Middle Grade Fiction

She didn't mean to burn down the gym. That was just the beginning.

Vivian Carmine always knew she was different. She just didn't know she was a phoenix. When her powers ignite at the worst possible moment, her parents reveal a world of hidden myth and folklore — then vanish before they can explain anything else.

Following the only lead she has, Vivian lands at RISE — a secret academy in Seattle where demigods, fairies, and fabled creatures train to blend into the human world. But spy school has its own rules, its own dangers, and its own secrets. And not everyone there wants her to find her parents.

Armed with science, stubbornness, and a growing flame she's still learning to control, Vivian forges unlikely alliances — including with Samael, the sharp-edged son of Hades himself, whose loyalties are harder to read than any textbook. When the clues point straight to the Underworld, Vivian doesn't wait for permission. She goes.

Getting in is easier than getting out — and getting out costs more than she bargained for.

"A fun adventure that skillfully blends magic, friendship, and teenage angst." — Kirkus Reviews
"Readers who enjoy school fantasies and Greek myth will be eager for more." — BookLife by Publishers Weekly

A Flash of Fire, a Gertrude Warner Award–winning series starter, is packed with mythology, found family, and one fierce girl determined to save the world — before it goes up in flames. Book One of the Moonbeam Award–winning “Best Series” The Phoenix Rising Trilogy.

A mom and writer in the lovely Pacific Northwest, A.L.Wyss is an award-winning author, educational blogger, and freelance editor. When able to escape the hustle of day-to-day life, she loves taking walks in sparkly shoes or trying to fix something (that may or may not actually be broke) in her home. She wrote the Phoenix Rising Trilogy after being told to grow up more than once. People of all ages needed a little reminder...you need to believe in something to make it real.