The Drowning Daze of Astraea
The Voncord Volumes: Book 1
Release: Fall 2025
Genre: Young Adult/Fantasy
Tropes: Coming of Age/Found Family
When fifteen-year-old Astraea Windsor blacks out, she wakes to find herself in another world. The last thing she remembers is her grandmother died, plans were made to send her to an orphanage, there was a rippling, violet ring in the air, and then—nothing.
Astraea quickly discovers the world, Voncord, is a striking place divided into states and inhabited by "Signs" who wield multiplex elemental energies—and her true home.
But Voncord is a world in turmoil. States blame each other, girls from her school are vanishing, and Astraea finds she alone has the key to solve it all.
When she starts having unexplainable dreams of a dark ice fortress that leaves her shaking and dazed, Astraea makes chilling connections between various crises. With her warnings ignored, Astraea must dive into the madness by teaming up with an enemy and following the threads in her dreams if she is to save the missing students and keep her world from sinking.
She only has to hope she doesn’t drown in the process.
Meet Ashley Mathias Root
Ashley Mathias Root is a Young Adult Fantasy author and high school teacher with degrees in English, Communications, and Educational Leadership—though her heart has always been rooted in creative writing.
A midwest lady with a southern twist, she resides in the beautiful northeast along the New England coast in the United States with her family. A lover of 90s nostalgia, her brand is dark and colorful with a dash of glitter.
The Drowning Daze of Astraea is her first book in The Voncord Volumes.