A hunger for space travel. A perilous journey to another galaxy. A terrorist plot that could turn first contact into last rites.

Raya Salian is a bundle of nerves. Humble despite an unsurpassed talent for manipulating the elements, the sixteen-year-old prodigy is both flattered and terrified when she's tapped for a secret mission – a solo trip to Earth to observe and report. But she barely gets off-world with her life after extremists attack the launch site, potentially leaving her with no way back.

Crash-landing near a rural Canadian community, Raya takes cover with a group of locals her own age. But with help from home uncertain and extremist forces hunting her, the marooned young spacefarer fears she's on a one-way trip to the grave.

Can Raya trust the very people she was sent to study?

Elemental is the dramatic first book in the Elemental YA science fiction series. If you like relatable heroines, thrilling adventures, and building friendships, then you'll love Liane Mahugh's stellar coming-of-age tale.