Karen L West Receives Three Literary Honors Across Thriller, Fantasy, And Speculative Fiction

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Karen West's 2026 ACCI Literary Excellence Award

Girl in the Redwoods BookFest Award

The Redwoods Remember Wins Second Place

Sand Dollar Cove Award Celebration

The Book Fest awards second place to two West titles, while the UK-based Open Book Award recognizes Sand Dollar Cove: The Five-Year Promise.

NEW YORK CITY, NY, UNITED STATES, November 2, 2026 /EINPresswire / -- Three books by Karen L West have received recent recognition across two literary award programs. The Girl in the Redwoods: A Rose and Clive Search & Rescue Thriller and Sekoia Shifters: The Redwoods Remember each earned second place at The BookFest. Sand Dollar Cove: The Five-Year Promise received the Highly Recommended Award from the UK-based Open Book Award.

The honors span a search-and-rescue thriller, a fantasy set in Sekoia, a community of shifters, and a speculative island mystery, recognizing three distinct areas of West's fiction.

Although their settings and conflicts differ, the books share concerns with courage, belonging, and difficult personal choices. Protection and freedom take different forms in stories involving endangered children, political coercion, and community obligations.

In The Girl in the Redwoods, Rose Clarke's visit to California's redwoods becomes a rescue mission when her dog, Clive, finds a wounded five-year-old concealed in a carved tree. Other missing children and a dangerous predator become the focus of the ensuing investigation.

In Sekoia Shifters: The Redwoods Remember, the series' second book, Deputy Cree Wilson doubts the runaway label attached to eighteen-year-old dragon shifter Elara Falkenberg. Her suspicions turn toward the Council as Elara escapes a forced political marriage and a powerful dragon clan. Records buried in the past complicate a conflict over power, duty, and the right to choose.

Sand Dollar Cove: The Five-Year Promise places its mystery within an unusual cycle: an island community returns every five years, but only for ten days. Jaxon Velez, thirteen, and Etta Harlow, seventeen, challenge the traditions and obligations surrounding that return. Historical records leave them with questions about former community members who departed and never came back, linking the island's mystery to its residents' freedom to determine their futures.

The latest honors add to West's previous recognition. The Girl in the Redwoods has also received a Booky Award for Tensest Thriller and an ACCI Literary Excellence Award for Best Mystery/Thriller, while Sekoia Shifters: The Redwoods Remember previously earned a Booky Award for Most Believable Future.

Karen L West is an award-winning fantasy and science fiction author and a U.S. Navy veteran.

Learn more about Karen L West and her books at:

Discover the Books Behind the Awards on Amazon:
The Girl in the Redwoods:

Sekoia Shifters: The Redwoods Remember:

Sand Dollar Cove: The Five-Year Promise:

For review copies, interview requests, or additional information, please contact:

Karen L West
BrightKey PR
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Karen L West Receives Three Literary Honors Across Thriller, Fantasy, and Speculative Fiction News Provided By BrightKey PR November 02, 2026, 13:52 GMT Share This Article Distribution channels: Book Publishing Industry, Culture, Society & Lifestyle, Media, Advertising & PR, Movie Industry, Technology

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