Books & Creative Pursuits
Crystal Cestari lives just outside Chicago with her family. Her hobbies include avoiding broccoli and wandering the aisles at Target. She holds a master’s degree in mass communication, and writes all her stories in longhand. She is the author of the Windy City Magic series and Super Adjacent.
Upcoming Releases
Releasing Summer 2022
Happily Ever After Island
Coming soon from Disney Books
Lanie and Madison are charming, well-rendered characters, and the tertiary players get enough shading to make this a skillfully executed character piece. The action is crisp, and the pacing is clean as the narrative provides plenty of reason to explore every inch of the fictional Disney park with charming detail. – Kirkus
Head-in-the-clouds romantic Madison and driven pragmatist Lanie are unlikely best friends, but the two would do anything for each other. So when Madison’s life starts to fall apart, Lanie agrees to join Madison for the test run of Disney’s newest resort experience during their first college spring break: Happily Ever Island, an immersive vacation destination where guests can become their favorite Disney character for a week.
Other Books You’ll Love
Available Now
Super Adjacent
a Disney-Hyperion publication
In this fresh new take on the world of superheroes, explore what it’s like to be the non-super half of a dynamic duo. Spoiler alert: it’s not easy being super-adjacent.
Claire has always wanted to work with superheroes, from collecting Warrior Nation cards as a kid to drafting “What to Say to a Hero” speeches in her diary. Now that she’s landed a coveted internship with the Chicago branch of Warrior Nation, Claire is ready to prove she belongs, super or not. But complicating plans is the newest WarNat hero, Girl Power (aka Joy), who happens to be egotistical and self-important . . . and pretty adorable.
Bridgette, meanwhile, wants out of WarNat. After years of dating the famous Vaporizer (aka Matt), she’s sick of playing second, or third, or five-hundredth fiddle to all the people-in-peril in the city of Chicago. Of course, once Bridgette meets Claire—who’s clearly in need of a mentor and wingman—giving up WarNat becomes slightly more complicated. It becomes a lot more complicated when Joy, Matt, and the rest of the heroes go missing, leaving only Claire and Bridgette to save the day.
In this fresh and funny take on the world of supers, author Crystal Cestari spotlights what it’s like to be the seemingly non-super half of a dynamic duo with banter-filled romance and bold rescues perfect for readers seeking a great escape.
Add to Goodreads Shelf
Available Now | Windy City Magic Series #1
The Best Kind of Magic
a Disney-Hyperion publication
Amber sand is not a witch.
The Sand family magical gene somehow leapfrogged over her. But she did get one highly specific bewitching talent: she can see true love. As a matchmaker, Amber’s pretty far down the sorcery food chain (even birthday party magicians rank higher), but after five seconds of eye contact, she can envision anyone’s soul mate.
Amber works at her mother’s magic shop — Windy City Magic — in downtown Chicago, and she’s confident she’s seen every kind of happy ending there is: except for one–her own. (The Fates are tricky jerks that way.) So when Charlie Blitzman, the mayor’s son and most-desired boy in school, comes to her for help finding his father’s missing girlfriend, she’s distressed to find herself falling for him. Because while she can’t see her own match, she can see his — and it’s not Amber. How can she, an honest peddler of true love, pursue a boy she knows full well isn’t her match?
The Best Kind of Magic is set in urban Chicago and will appeal to readers who long for magic in the real world. With a sharp-witted and sassy heroine, a quirky cast of mystical beings, and a heady dose of adventure, this novel will have you laughing out loud and questioning your belief in happy endings.
Available Now | Windy City Magic Series #2
The Sweetest Kind of Fate
a Disney-Hyperion publication
GREAT. I’ve somehow found myself tangled up with a siren, a mermaid, and a homicidal wicked witch who once tried to strangle me to death. Way to go, Amber!
Amber Sand, legendary matchmaker, couldn’t be more surprised when her archnemesis, Ivy, asks for her help. Ivy’s sister, Iris, is getting married, and Ivy wants to prove her sister is making a huge mistake. But as Amber looks into Iris’s eyes, there doesn’t seem to be a problem — Iris has clearly found her match.
It seems happily-ever-after is in the cards, but when Iris seeks out a dangerous, life-altering spell, it’s up to Amber and Ivy to set aside their rivalry and save the day.
As Iris puts everything on the line for love, Amber continues to wrestle with her own romantic future. Her boyfriend, Charlie, is still destined for another, and no matter how hard she clings to him, fear over their inevitable breakup shakes her belief system to the core.
Because the Fates are never wrong-right?
Available Now | Windy City Magic Series #3
The Fairest Kind of Love
a Disney-Hyperion publication
“Amber! I never even thought of that! Maybe she can tell you your match.”
Whoa. Now that’s interesting.
Amber Sand has spent half her life solidifying other people’s happily-ever-afters. As a matchmaker, she has the ability to look into anyone’s eyes and see their perfect match. But lately, her powers have been on the fritz, and not only is she totally unsure whether her matches are true, she can’t see anyone in the eyes of her boyfriend Charlie Blitzman. With Amber and her friends graduating high school and about to take off for various colleges, Amber is hoping to have one last carefree summer-but she’s also dying to find a way to fix her powers, and learn, for better or worse, if she and Charlie are truly meant to be.
So when an online matchmaker named Madame Lamour comes to Chicago, Amber sets out to talk to her and find out who her match is once and for all. Of course, when it comes to the magical community, nothing’s ever that easy, and Amber soon finds herself caught up in a breathless showdown that involves a fairy family feud and a magical-creature auction–and requires teaming up with a certain siren nemesis. Can Amber and her friends save the day one more time before setting off for their new lives? And will Amber ever learn whether Charlie is her one true love?
With tons of laugh-out-loud moments, appearances by all your favorite characters, and one totally tearful reveal, you won’t want to miss a single swoony moment of this romantic conclusion to the Windy City Magic trilogy.
Monthly-ish Magic
Looking for book news? Author insights? Publication announcements?
Bonus content? The occasional pun?
My free newsletter will keep you up to date on great new Young Adult releases and include insights, announcements, and bonus content for the books you love (as long as I also wrote ‘em).
I’ll never spam you or sell your info. Promise!