For an author writing across three very different genres, recognition rarely arrives all at once — but Karen L West has just seen her work honored on both sides of the Atlantic. Two of her titles took second place at The BookFest, while a third claimed a Highly Recommended Award from the UK-based Open Book Award, a sweep that underscores her range.
NEW YORK CITY, NY, UNITED STATES, November 2, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — 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.
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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:
https://karenlwestauthor.com
Discover the Books Behind the Awards on Amazon:
The Girl in the Redwoods:
https://www.amazon.com/Girl-Redwoods-Search-Rescue-Thriller-ebook/dp/B0H7CQVBVW
Sekoia Shifters: The Redwoods Remember:
https://www.amazon.com/Sekoia-Shifters-Redwoods-Karen-West-ebook/dp/B0GZPZJYTB
Sand Dollar Cove: The Five-Year Promise:
https://www.amazon.com/Sand-Dollar-Cove-Five-Year-Promise-ebook/dp/B0HHQ1YX1Y
For review copies, interview requests, or additional information, please contact:
Karen L West
BrightKey PR
media@brightkeypr.com
Why it matters: West’s trio of honors arrives from two separate award programs, suggesting her cross-genre approach — thriller, fantasy, and speculative mystery — is resonating with judges on both sides of the Atlantic. For readers who follow award-season lists, the recognition positions her backlist as a starting point rather than an endpoint.
