Hey, I’m Lauren Klever, author of young adult fantasy action adventures. I’m a certified teacher who is dual endorsed for grades 5-9 so YA was a natural fit for me. I also love to read young adult literature because I’m a big kid at heart. My series The Secret Watchers is a contemporary action-packed fantasy with a fourteen year old male protagonist. Very early in book one, Owen discovers he has ability to see darkness in the world and is now driven to repair what he can while trying to balance his own moral compass. It is no simple job and is further complicated by the dark watchers who try to neutralize him, in any way they can.
I’m an only child (read as huge imagination) and spent my childhood in Milwaukie, Oregon. I’m a graduate of both Oregon State University and Portland State University from where I have Masters degrees in education: One for secondary science and the other for elementary education. I’ve been passionate about reading my whole life, but my professional writing is a more recent adventure. I started a number of books over the years, yet nothing took hold of me like The Secret Watchers. I do plan to revisit the children’s book I began back in 2003 and the fantasy novel I started back in 1990 when I was a student at Oregon State. It is never too late to share your stories! If you want to write – go for it!
So why would I go in a completely new direction after forty? Sometimes you just need the right motivation. I dusted off my pens, pencils and trusty computer and revisited my old passion. I decided the best way to change my life was to manipulate someone else’s! Hello Owen Ryer! Now I can write, work part-time as a substitute teacher and work part-time in the family business, giving me much needed flexibility.
So why this character and this series? Some of my favorite reads over the years have been: Nancy Drew, Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, cozy mysteries, Little House on the Prairie, Dragonlance, Heralds of Valdemar and Alex Rider. All of these books and several action adventure movies had their part in inspiring me to write and publish The Secret Watchers series. My wish is that readers have nearly as much fun reading my work as I’ve had writing it. I’ve come to love Owen, his family and friends and I hope that you do too. I used bits of my family and friends for the creation of these characters, with their permission of course! So if you think I am talking about you and I have not specifically asked you – then sorry friend, that bit was not about you! If you’re from the Pacific Northwest, you may recognize some of the locations where Owen spends his time. For those who’ve read my books… Yep the pawnshop is real… the backroom/ dojo are not. The schools were inspired by the places I teach and other locales are places I frequent.
I’m drawn to all things ‘action-adventure’ in film and literature. Notice I didn’t say ‘real life’? No bungee jumping, cliff diving or parkour for me. I’d likely kill myself because I’m a klutz of epic proportion. Skydiving? Nope! I’d be the one to fall out of the plane without a parachute. My oldest son and I have taken karate together and I’ve spent hours watching both of my boys participate in a variety of sports, including parkour, without incident, unless of course you count occasional broken toes. I have created a character who is much braver, tougher and more graceful than I am. Now don’t go thinking that I’m a hermit! I enjoy hiking around the Pacific Northwest and at the beach. I nearly always take my camera. The photography used in my covers is mostly mine. I even hired local students as models for my books.
Talking of my books, click the following titles to find out more about each one:
Visions: The Secret Watchers (Book One)
Whispers: The Secret Watchers (Book Two)
Insights: The Secret Watchers (Book Three)
Want to know more? You can find author Lauren Klever at any of these places:
Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog 
Nancy Drew and Little House on the Prairie ( and all that marvellous) series brings back a time of innocence when my daughter was rereading each for the umpteenth time…and they still stand tattered above her abandoned bed. Not to be touched.
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Nancy Drew was my daughters favourite series 🙂
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Reblogged this on anastaciamoore and commented:
You meet the best authors on Chris The Story Reading Ape’s page; like Lauren Klever, author of The Secret Watchers series. Check out her exciting novels for YA, and adults will enjoy them as well! /|\
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Even though I’m ‘far far away’ from being YA, your series sounds very interesting. I, too, remember the Little House on the Prairie books, and how fascinated I was with them, and Nancy Drew, Harry Potter and such. I also use bits and pieces from ‘real life’ with a huge mixture of fiction tossed in for good measure. Best to you! Cheers! /|\
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I love your motivation! I grew up on the Famous Five and Biggles and suchlike, and I would love to be able to bring them back into my world – my next project in fact.
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