Guardians (Ostrow)

Ciara Miller was born the same as others, but she got a little something extra. When she was younger she learned she was a Word Speaker, someone who could create life from stories. Her gift is incomplete until her 27th birthday; before then all she can create is things she, and others like her, can see. Evil wants her gift as well and the characters she chooses to create become her Guardians against the unseen attackers that want to use her skill. Just before her 27th birthday, fate has a surprise for her.

Julian Michelson is a firefighter in a small town in Alabama. He's been struggling for years to prove to himself that Word Speakers, people who can pull characters from books, exist. Why? Because he's supposed to be one and he's failed every step of the way and a war is supposedly coming. Serena, a princess in fictional medieval Britain, is the epitome of a good girl. She lives to appease her father and her country. That is, until she felt a strange voice in her head before waking up and seeing a handsome man through the flames of a fire in a strange world.

Dale grew up fighting for self-respect and the respect of others. Being a Word Speaker hadn't helped. Most of the Guardians he had sought out were decidedly darker and fighting on what could be seen as the wrong side of the war. Breena is a dark sprite in charge of sneaking through dreams to steal information in a war between the Seelie and Unseelie court in her world. When passion ignites between Dale and Breena, Dale finds himself seduced by the darkness once more.