Chelsea Ichaso Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Chelsea Ichaso is a renowned American writer of young adult, mystery, and thriller stories. She is particularly well known for writing her debut book called Little Creepy Things. This book follows a thrilling story about two young girls from a neighborhood and a murder mystery. Author Ichaso is a former English teacher at the high school level. Currently, she lives in southern California and focuses on creating exciting new stories for young adults. Ichaso is happily married and likes to spend time with her loving husband and beautiful children. In her spare time, she likes to indulge in reading the work of other authors for inspiration. And when she is not doing that or writing anything, Ichaso can often be found on the football field. Kristy Hunter, a literary agent from The Knight Agency, is the one who represents Ichaso’s work for publishing.

During her teaching career, Ichaso had come across a book by John Knowles called A Separate Peace. It revolved around a couple of pre-school boys who were best friends, but got separated because of jealousy. Ichaso felt that the story was quite a painful one. Thinking that it can relate to everyone on some level, she was inspired to develop a story of her own on a similar theme. In her story, she replaced jealously with crime and the boys with girls and showed how crime becomes the culprit in the destruction of the girls’ friendship. After working on the story’s development for a few months, Ichaso eventually came up with her first book, Little Creepy Things.

Author Ichaso says that she always wanted to tell a story based on the YA mystery-thriller genre. It has always fascinated her as a reader and feels that her work in the same genre can also make her audience feel the same way. Her story began as a suspense idea and after several twists & turns and a list of suspects, a full-fledged intriguing story was formed. After reading such stories for several years, Ichaso wants to set her first few stories in the mystery/thriller genre as well. The writing process followed by Ichaso generally starts with a new idea about a story she wants to tell. Then, she picks up a new notebook and takes down all her thoughts about that particular story. It is only after scribbling around twenty to thirty pages that Ichaso begins to hone the valuable sections by turning them into a more condensed form. The work looks quite a mess, but works well for her. And it is only after Ichaso is satisfied that she has a fleshed-out plot that she sits in front of her computer and begins typing the outline of the story.

When the complete handwritten note is converted into a Word doc, Ichaso goes on to draft it right away. One of the favorite places where Ichaso likes to be in to work on her novels, other than her personal desk, is a coffee shop. She likes to have a change of scenery every once in a while. Ichaso feels that being out of the house allows her brain to recharge itself and remain away from the normal distractions at home. Playing soccer is the most favorite hobby. She always tries to find time from her daily routine to be on the field along with her husband and kids.

Ichaso and her husband are members of a co-ed soccer team. Ichaso likes to eat Burger a lot. She can be found munching one while she is involved in editing her work. The books that Ichaso has among her favorites include Josh Mallerman’s Bird Box, Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games trilogy, and Leigh Bardugo’s Shadow and Bone. Recently, she has become a fan of Tara French’s novel called In the Woods. As of now, author Ichaso is involved in the editing of her next YA thriller. Ichaso has also started several projects in different age categories and genres to try her hand and find out how it works out for her.

The debut book written by author Chelsea Ichaso is entitled ‘Little Creepy Things’. It was released in June 2020 by the Sourcebooks Fire publication. The central characters depicted in this novel include Cassidy Pratt, Melody Davenport, Gideon, Asher, Brandon, and several others. Initially, Cassidy and Melody are introduced as an arch nemesis of each other. Cassidy is referred to as a fire girl because she was involved in a fire accident at the age of 6 that had resulted in the death of Melody’s cousin. The victim was a good friend of Cassidy. Since that accident, Cassidy begins to see hallucinations and experience panic attacks. During a volleyball match at school, Cassidy’s teammates shout at her to concentrate on the match, but she seems to be hallucinating about a teammate catching fire. This causes her a panic attack. Cassidy leaves school with her best friend named Gideon, who is also her crush.

The two have been best friends since the age of 10. They had indulged in a special kiss, making Cassidy develop feelings for him. But, when Gideon started behaving as if nothing serious happened, she decided to keep her feelings to herself. Cassidy’s brother, Asher, is over-protective towards her. He has been watching each of her moves since the day he saved her from that horrific fire accident. Cassidy tries her best to adapt to school life and forget whatever happened on that fateful night. But, Melody Davenport bullies her all the time and calls her the ‘fire girl’. The constant bullying makes Cassidy wonder if the fire was intentionally started by her or she is responsible for the death of Melody Davenport’s cousin.

Later, during an outing with Gideon in the woods, Cassidy hears Melody talking to someone. Shortly after, the voices stop and when Cassidy arrives at the spot, Melody is nowhere around. She thinks of going to the police and informs about Melody’s disappearance. But, Cassidy realizes that she could land in trouble as she had recently joked about how badly she wanted to get rid of her nemesis and had even laid a perfect plan. Cassidy receives a great shock when she gets a text from Melody’s kidnapper saying that he has followed her plan and now she has unknowingly become a partner in crime. Not knowing what to do, Cassidy asks for Gideon’s help and sets out to find Melody before everyone starts pointing their fingers at her.