Supporting local and upcoming authors in their early days can make or break their careers. Purchasing their books and providing reviews helps boost their visibility and allows them to secure future publishing deals and continue writing. Even just telling your friends about a new author’s book or following them on social media can make a huge impact on their writing career. It is so important to me in today’s world that is becoming filled with more and more A.I. slop that is meaningless, incoherent, and emotionally empty, that local debut authors are supported. Their ideas are often new and fresh, offering diversity and bringing meaning and life back to the literature publishing scene.
I have been trying to do my part by supporting small upcoming authors, specifically by leaving reviews on Amazon. I was really excited when I recently found out that my roommate’s good friend was coming out with a debut novel. I was particularly excited because we went to school in districts next to each other, and she is my age and a fellow English major at Lehigh University. Her name is Ashley Witkowski, and her debut novel is called A Guide to Getting Lost. Personally, I love reading romance novels, and this one surpassed my expectations. Sometimes, debut novels can be very obviously debut novels just because it’s an author’s first book and they haven’t worked out all of the kinks yet. Aside from the page formatting of this book, I genuinely would not have been able to tell it was her first book.
The cover art is beautiful, and the editing of the novel is near perfect. From the very beginning, I was hooked. Witkowski used so much powerful imagery in this novel that you could literally imagine yourself right there with the characters. Taking place in the city of Boston in the fall and winter seasons, everything about the setting is spot on. Having never been to Boston myself, this book made me want to go there and fall in love with the city just like the main characters Willa and Julian do. Willa is a senior English major transfer student at the university, and Julian is a senior architecture major at the school. They get randomly paired up for the university’s tour group for new senior transfer students, and Willa has to put up with Julian’s stoic personality. As an inquisitive English major, Willa manages to break through Julian’s resistant walls slowly but surely, and learn who he really is.
Here’s a quote from the back of Witkowski’s book, “A Guide to Getting Lost is a heartfelt story about second chances, finding your voice, and discovering that sometimes the wrong map can lead you exactly where you’re meant to be”. I won’t spoil too much for you, but if you’re looking for a clean, wholesome, heartfelt romance novel that will have you smiling, giggling, and kicking your feet, this book is definitely for you. I also loved how this book felt so different from the slew of traditional romance novels that are on the market right now; it really shows how new, upcoming authors offer fresh perspectives and ideas that are truly one-of-a-kind.