Grafton Native Unveils Second Novel

Grafton native Lauren Grimley once was editor of the Westborough High School student newspaper, as well as the school yearbook.

Last Wednesday, Malachite Quills Publishing released "Unveiled," the 1998 Westborough High grad's second vampire novel, as an e-book on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. The paperback edition comes out early this summer. Grimley also plans book signings.

“Unveiled” will be the second in an anticipated four-part Alex Crocker Seer series, Grimley said. Alex Crocker is “a 26-year-old teacher,” she said.

“It’s one of those sequels that I think you can enjoy it if you didn’t read the first book, but it definitely is a true sequel in the sense that you kind of have to pick up where book one leaves off,” said Grimley, a Grafton native now residing in Shrewsbury.

“I knew I probably wouldn’t be able to tell it all in one book. But to say I knew exactly where I was headed with the series when I first started, no. I got the idea and just kind of ran with it.”

Malachite Quills Publishing published Grimley's first book in the series, "Unforeseen," in 2012.

Grimley credits her students at Southborough’s Trottier Middle School with drawing her to fantasy books.

“It was definitely my seventh-graders. I never read fantasy. When you teach, you read what the kids read. So, I first got into Harry Potter. And the girls all convinced me to read the Twilight books,” said Grimley, who teaches English.

“From that, I started reading more adult fantasy. One day, I was just out on my run, and I had an idea for my own story that was similar.”

“I had been writing a realistic fiction novel and was never able to finish it. So, when this one came, I decided to put that aside  for a while and try my hand at fantasy. It’s been fun.”

Grimley noted that “I had some wonderful teachers who encouraged my creative writing at Westborough.”

She left Westborough High for Boston University with different career aspirations, though.

“I wanted to be a journalist. I wanted to be the next Diane Sawyer,” Grimley said.

“And then part way through college, I decided it was really the more creative writing.”