by Avery Arujo | Jan 24, 2026 | Book Updates, Life Updates, The World of Moonridge
Well, hello strangers!
The world is burning, and I have been switching between fighting back against the injustice and insanity, and disappearing into Moonridge, where at least the chaos is fictional and I get to control the outcome. It’s been a while since I checked in, so here’s a proper life update.
Book three is completely edited, typeset and awaiting release. I am working on getting ARCs loaded (I’m switching up my promo partners) so stay tuned for that. I am also planning to build an ARC team with a separate email list.
As part of that process, I will be providing everyone who signs up for my ARC team with a free copy of a new Moonridge novella.
I wrote this 25,000 word story while fighting a stretch of writer’s block. Book Three was out with editors and beta readers, and I was deep into plotting Book Four, trying to lock in the direction of the story and figure out where the Concord 13 arc is ultimately heading. While going back through my notes and patching plot holes, a prequel story started to take shape.
So yes, we’re getting a prequel.
We’ll be traveling back to a few weeks before the body swap that happened in book one. This story is a little different because it’s not centered on a romantic relationship. Instead, it alternates between best friends Hazel and La’Tasha, who have been inseparable since they were kids.
Hazel is still with Evan and on the verge of stepping into her birthright as Moonridge’s next Virtus Suprema (aka head witch). Before that can happen, everything starts to unravel, and it’s up to Hazel and La’Tasha to figure out what’s going on and stop it before things spiral even further.
I had a lot of fun writing this one, and I can’t wait for you to read it.
The plan is to release the novella on Amazon and KDP over the summer. ARC team members will get it free and well before it goes public. I’m in the final editing stages now and hoping to have it ready for the ARC team within the next few weeks.
I’ll share the official synopsis and cover reveal soon. I’ll also share instructions on how to sign up for the ARC team. Stay tuned!
by Avery Arujo | Nov 28, 2025 | Book Updates, Right Place Wrong Time, The World of Moonridge
I’m happy to announce that book three in the Welcome to Moonridge series officially has a title. Say hello to Right Place Wrong Time. This one follows Calvin and Everett as they stumble through love, danger, and more time-bending chaos than I probably had any business writing.
I had a really difficult time landing on a title that felt right. It started out as The Restless Hearts Club which was fine, but didn’t quite hit what I was looking for. Then it was Hearts in Retrograde, but that felt cheesy. I finally settled on Right Place Wrong Time and after finishing the rewrites, that title feels very appropriate.
If you’ve been here a minute, you know this book has been through an absolute identity crisis. I ripped it apart, stitched it back together, and somehow came out the other side with a story I’m really proud of. I just wrapped my developmental edits (went from 122,000 words to 110,000) and the manuscript is now in the capable hands of my editors and beta readers. They’ll poke holes in it. I’ll fix it. Then we’ll shine it up and get it out the door.
More fun stuff is coming soon. I’ll be revealing the cover and the release date on January 2. Mark your calendars!
Now here is the official synopsis:
Welcome back to Moonridge, where the ghosts are still restless, The Concord 13 wait in the shadows, and time travel has entered the chat.
Calvin Carter is doing his best to keep it together, but that gets tricky when Everett Bradshaw—the ghost he fell for last fall—suddenly breaks free from Skipper Lake and shows up in his house. Everett is still bound to the Concord, and still heartbreakingly out of reach.
Things take a wilder turn when Calvin uncovers a history-triggered time portal in the basement of an old shop while doing renovations. Desperate to change Everett’s fate, Calvin travels to 1958 Moonridge, where Everett is very much alive and walking straight toward the death that will bind him to The Concord for the next seventy years.
Now Calvin has four days to earn Everett’s trust, outrun the Concord’s schemes, and figure out how to make it back to the present without erasing them both from existence for good.
Magic, mystery, and a time-twisted second-chance romance collide to bring Moonridge’s magic to a whole new level.
by Avery Arujo | Jul 25, 2025 | Book Updates, The World of Moonridge
Today, I want to focus on where the idea for the town and the characters featured in the Welcome to Moonridge series came from.
I grew up in a small town that, to me, always felt a little magical. Sure, it had its flaws (what small town doesn’t?), but there was something about it that I loved. I felt like I was in my own little world where anything could happen. I wanted to recreate that and incorporate all the “what ifs” that I could.
As a kid, I was very “unconventional.” Ok, I’ll admit it. I was a weirdo. I was the one dreaming of casting spells, pretending I had secret powers, and desperately hoping to wake up one morning and discover I was a real witch. Spoiler alert: it didn’t happen the way I wanted it to. It was a sad day when I finally realized there was no way I could shoot magic beams out of my hands, or turn someone into a toad. Yes, I was bullied for being different, but what helped me get through this was a small but mighty group of eclectic, diverse, unapologetically weird and loyal friends who embraced each other’s quirks. We were the outcasts, and we stuck together. This continued into college where I really met my people. Many of us are still incredibly close today, and some of them even gave me permission to turn them into characters in this series.
When I started building Moonridge, I knew exactly the kind of town I wanted it to be. Small and cozy, sure, but also open-minded and tight-knit. An inclusive place where my diverse group of friends and I could exist peacefully. A place where your differences aren’t simply tolerated, they’re celebrated and everyone is welcome. I wanted it to be a place where people don’t always get along, but at the end of the day, they take care of each other. I needed that. I think we all do these days. The world feels really heavy and gross and almost too much to deal with at times. Between all the division, the transphobia, homophobia, racism, misogyny, the wars—including what’s happening in Palestine—it’s a lot. So I made Moonridge my escape. A town with a big heart, where people (and supernatural beings) rally together to fight the darkness. A place I wish existed in real life.
Now, let’s talk characters, because this is where things get really personal.
Hazel, our stubborn, spell-slinging witch? She’s me. Or at least, a version of me that I wish I could show all the time. I’m painfully shy, but once I feel safe, I open up. Hazel doesn’t have that shy filter. She’s brave in ways I wish I could be. She says the things I only think. She stands up, speaks out, and doesn’t apologize for her power. Writing her has been healing in ways I didn’t expect. Maybe one day I’ll be more like her.
And Blake? Big, broody, soft-on-the-inside Blake? That’s my partner, through and through. He’s a very tall, very bearded, gruff teddy bear of a man. The body swap idea came straight out of a late-night COVID conversation. I asked him what it would be like if we were to swap bodies for a day. What would feel weird? What would he do as me? What would I do as him? The answers were, shall we say, enlightening. And hilarious. And that’s where the first spark of Once Upon a Blue Moon was lit.
La’Tasha, Hazel’s no-nonsense bestie? 100% inspired by one of my real-life best friends. She’s the strongest, most beautiful person I know. She’s a soul mate, a therapist, a walking search engine, and one of my fiercest cheerleaders. I love her deeply, and Hazel deserved to have someone like her by her side. That unconditional, ride-or-die type of friendship is a kind of magic all its own. It was just as easy for me to develop La’Tasha as it was Hazel and Blake. There was no way there could be a Hazel without her.
Calvin is based on another close friend. What’s been especially fun is that both of these dear friends have been deeply involved in developing their fictional counterparts. We brainstorm together and map out character arcs. It’s collaborative storytelling at its absolute best. I can’t wait for you to see what we’ve come up with for their books. (Oh yes, La’Tasha and Calvin will both find love amidst the dangers of Moonridge in coming installments.)
And then there’s Coco, who’s loosely inspired by a goddaughter, and Leo, the lovable disaster of the group, is very much based on my bestie’s brother. Every time Leo stumbles his way into a magical mess, just know … yeah, there’s some truth to it.
So when I say Moonridge is personal, I mean it. These stories are magical and fictional, but also stitched together from real relationships, conversations and daydreams. This town and these characters are my heart on a page.
Thanks for letting me share them with you.
