Let the games begin.

Announcing ICARUS FELL (Fall 2027, Peachtree Teen).

I’m beside myself to introduce ICARUS FELL, the sequel to VESUVIUS, coming Fall 2027 from Peachtree Teen—and you can add it on Goodreads now!

In the wake of Pompeii’s devastation, Felix and Loren head to Rome where—as the inauguration of the Colosseum looms—ghosts of the past threaten to destroy the future the boys are working to build.

And this time, the volcano DOES NOT explode.

It’s only thanks to you (yes, the reader!) that it’s a reality. The reaction to VESUVIUS has been so strong and positive that my publisher was all-in on green-lighting the sequel. Momentum created by incredible readers—who’ve shared fanart, cosplay, reviews, and submitted library requests—have made this dream possible.

Haven’t the boys been through enough?!

Let’s talk about how we got here. When I originally conceived the idea for VESUVIUS in summer 2020, it was a standalone—but not for long. As I drafted the book over the next year, it became clear that there were more threads I wanted to pull. Healing from grief isn’t linear, and I think exploring not only the trauma-event, but what happens after, are equally important, especially for a YA audience. Narratives that wrap up trauma with a neat little bow at the end are great and convenient, but that had never been the story I wanted to tell.

So, ICARUS FELL was born, sometime in the summer of 2021, after I completed the first draft of VESUVIUS.

I worked on it off-and-on for the next few years, keeping a long list of notes, lines, and ideas. I’ve been lucky enough to do hands-on research in Rome twice, and exploring places like the Circus Maximus, Colosseum, Forum, and Domus Aurea only made me hungrier. I’ve had this plot and its themes solidified in my head all along. It was an obsession, a daydream. But I never told anyone. Why?

Because I didn’t think it was viable. Like, at all.

Here’s the interesting thing about publishing: sequels are risky. Many imprints are reluctant to acquire them, especially from unproven authors.

I sold VESUVIUS as a standalone in June 2023. I didn’t even tell my agent at the time about ICARUS FELL until much later. I was embarrassed to have invested so much mental energy on a book I believed wouldn’t go anywhere.

But I worked up the nerve. And she told my editor.

And in September 2025, a few months after VESUVIUS debuted, we had an offer on ICARUS FELL.

It’s been a whirlwind ever since.

Not only did I change agents right before the offer came through (which you can read about here), but I had to stop working on (what was supposed to be my 2027 novel, THOUGH THIS BE MADNESS) and pivot to drafting ICARUS FELL.

Read about how I drafted ICARUS FELL in 60 days here.

Every day of the past six months has been an exercise in self-compassion and discipline, but we’re on draft 3 of the book now, and I couldn’t be prouder of it. This is truly my passion project, and I get to be so sickeningly self-indulgent with it. I can’t wait for it to release in Fall 2027, but in the meantime, here’s what to expect.

Grief moves in strange ways.

After narrowly surviving Pompeii, Felix and Loren move to Rome for a fresh start as partners—though the process of healing is far from linear.

When Aurelia, the oracle girl Loren once considered a sister, arrives to issue a grave warning, the boys discover escaping the ghosts of their pasts isn’t so simple. With the completion of the new Colosseum looming, and with no psychopomp in Rome to handle the deaths it promises to bring, the veil between the spirit world and the living threatens to burst.

Struggling with survivor’s guilt, Loren has shut out his prophetic dreams to focus on the present: proving he can actually do good for society as a senator’s assistant. But Aurelia’s arrival throws Loren into a vision that brings him face-to-face with his old enemy—the ghost of his partner Felix’s traumatic memories.

The ghost confronts Loren with an ultimatum: Destroy Felix’s memories entirely or be escorted to the underworld to face the fate he deserved in Pompeii.

Meanwhile, Felix has left thieving behind to build a stable life. But when curiosity about his missing memories leads him back to the Temple of Mercury, he discovers a figure from his past who should be dead. They might be the key to finally granting Felix his memories—and psychopomp powers—back... if Felix can prove himself worthy first.

As the walls of the arena close in, Felix and Loren must brave their trauma before the veil between life and death is torn—even if saving each other will rip them apart.

But Fall 2027 is so far away!

See, that’s how I felt too, but I promise everyone behind the scenes is working to get the book out as soon as humanly possible... and, far more importantly, to ensure it’s the best it can be. I don’t want ICARUS FELL to feel rushed. I want to deliver a satisfying conclusion to Felix and Loren’s journey, and I hope you’ll stick around for the ride.

As for THOUGH THIS BE MADNESS, my previously-announced non-VESUVIUS related 2027 novel—it’s still coming! But ICARUS FELL serves as a more appropriate follow-up to my debut, so TTBM has been slotted into 2028. More on that later!

In the meantime, please enjoy all that the 2026 debut group of authors has to offer (personally, I’m on tenterhooks for This Wretched Beauty: A Dorian Gray Remix by Elle Grenier, Bound by Fury by Noelle Monét, In The Country I Love by Alaa Al-Barkawi, and Letters from the Last Apothecary by Bita Behzadi).

And add ICARUS FELL on Goodreads!

More to come from me, soon!

Love,

Cass

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