Officer's book series 'Harry Potter meets Twilight'

Last April, Hally Willmott released her first novel, “Awakenings.”

The young adult book focuses on a 16-year-old girl, Jacey Adison, who realizes she isn't who she thought she was. It turns out she's from another world, and her parents brought her to Earth to protect her because she has rare powers.

Although it hasn't yet been out for a year, the book has already seen a lot of success.

At one point, it was the No. 1 download on Amazon, and it was also recently among the 20 runners-up in MARSocial, an international online contest for authors interested in having their work turned into a movie.

It's against this backdrop that Willmott, a constable with the Greater Sudbury Police Service, who currently works as a school resource officer, is set to release her second novel Feb. 27 at an event at Marymount College.

“Revelations,” which also follows Jacey's story, will be the second book in what will eventually become the four-book “Elemental” series. In the new book, Jacey has returned to her native world, and is learning about her powers.

“In my opinion it's pretty great,” Willmott said. “I've been told by a bunch of people that the storyline is original. It's something they haven't read in young adult science fiction fantasy before. So I'm excited to see how people like it.”

Willmott, a big fan of young adult fiction, said she doesn't like to compare her books to other series, but if she had to, she'd say they're “kind of like Harry Potter meets Twilight.”

She said she loves the first book “because of course you're going to love your first book,” but thinks her writing has matured a lot with her second effort.

Willmott said she's been besotted with books from the time she was a kid, when she turned to reading because her family moved around a lot, and she didn't have a lot of friends.

But when she was in high school, she had a teacher that she refers to as a “soul-squisher,” who said her writing skills weren't great, and advised her to get a blue-collar job.

While she's loved her career as a police officer, Willmott said she was “very excited” to get into the world of writing.

Between working full-time and being a wife and mother to her two sons, aged nine and 10 years old, Willmott said she finds time to write after her kids go to bed.

She said she often speaks to students about her books in the course of her job, and uses her hobby as a way of connecting with them.

It's partly for that reason that she's kept “Awakenings” and “Revelations” fairly G-rated, as she doesn't want to promote negative lifestyle choices.

Both novels are published by the American publishing company Limitless Publishing. “Revelations” will be available in e-book format on Amazon beginning Feb. 27.

Willmott said she expects the paperback version of the book, which costs $19.99, to be released sometime in March at a number of different local stores, including Chapters and Wal Mart, as well as online on Amazon.