Who knew one step could change someone's life?

When Courtney Brown and Anna Baker discover Gemish, they think life cannot get any weirder. But it does. They meet people that supposedly didn't exist, and find themselves in the greatest adventure of their lives.

Using all of their resources, they battle dark forces with good ones. They gain friends and enemies. And they find that one step could indeed change their lives.

"Cheryl Wilfred's The Dark Side provides a rollicking good read for audiences ages 7-12 and is a notable achievement for several reasons; not the least of which is that its young author achieved what few others her age have accomplished: writing a publishable fantasy adventure when she was only nine years old.

Now eleven, Cheryl is seeing the book's actual publication thanks to Amazon's publishing platform; and to say that her story rivals many an adult writer's work for young adult audiences would be a fair assessment of her ability to spin an involving yarn and see it through to a satisfying conclusion.

Cheryl''s inclusion of a host of seemingly disparate forces succeeds in creating different and unexpected threads of involvement and weaving a story that ties all of them together with twists, turns, and action. Characters are well drawn, time is taken to outline dilemmas, motivations, and to explain seeming diversions in logic, and the overall flavor is of a whimsical and light fantasy that is clearly intended for younger fantasy audiences (most young adult fantasies suffer from overly complex tales designed to reach into adult circles: clearly, The Dark Side is perfect for its intended age group and does not attempt to straddle the line between young adult and adult readers).

The Dark Side's strengths lie in its bubbly interactions between protagonists, its specific writing suitable for ages 7-12, and a whimsical approach that lends refreshingly unexpected turns to an other world encounter. The fact that Courtney Brown and her friend are realistic, well-developed protagonists, and thoughtful adventurers who don't just react to life circumstances, but use creative problem-solving techniques in the process of making a difference in two worlds provides a story that is lively and fun."
-D. Donovan, Senior Reviewer, Midwest Book Review.
About the Author: Cheryl Wilfred lives in Gainesville, Virgina. At the age of nine, she wrote The Dark Side, her first book. She is an avid reader and loves creative writing, music, and debate.