Authorpreneur Dashboard – CC Robinson
Divided
Science Fiction & Fantasy
A walled, racially segregated future America. Four territories. One ruthless Supreme Commander. And a rebellion no one saw coming.
Award-winning YA dystopian for fans of The Hunger Games, Divergent, and Legend.
The Federated Republic of America keeps order through walls. Four of them divide a broken nation into separate territories — Havana, Little Asia, Obsidian, and Ivory — each sealed by race, each watched by a Supreme Commander who intends to keep them that way forever.
Eighteen-year-old Marcos has always wanted out of Havana and out of his controlling father's reach. When his father has him disappeared into a secret labor camp, that desire for escape becomes something he never expected: a reason to stay and fight.
Inside the camp, Marcos finds the Underground — a rebellion built from all four territories. Marcos, Rose, Harriet, and Jason each come from a different world and carry years of reasons not to trust each other. But the resistance they are building only works if all of them show up.
The Supreme Commander does not lose quietly. And the price of what they are building together is higher than any of them expected.
Divided features:
- A post-apocalyptic, racially segregated future America
- Four interwoven POVs from Havana, Obsidian, Little Asia, and Ivory
- A secret rebellion and underground tunnels beneath a walled city
- Labor camps, propaganda, and a terrifyingly believable regime
- Found family, complex sibling and parent relationships
- High-stakes action with clean content — minimal profanity, no graphic sexual content
- A fast-paced, emotionally intense YA dystopian series opener — with four protagonists, real stakes, and no easy answers.
If you love YA dystopian series about rebellion, found family, and a future that feels all too possible, start Divided today.
Silver Medal — Moonbeam Children's Book Award, Young Adult eBook Fiction
First Place — Firebird Book Awards, Young Adult Fiction
Winner — Pencraft Book Award, Young Adult Fiction, Fall 2025
Series: Divided Series, Book 1 of 4 (Books 1 and 2 available now; Books 3 and 4 coming 2026)
Themes: Racial reconciliation, found family, resistance, survival, hope in dark times
Content notes: Minimal profanity · No graphic sexual content · Hunger Games-level violence
Book Bubbles from Divided
Rose's Great Patrolman Escape Plan
I wrote this scene while we were in the throes of COVID lockdowns and felt a little bit like Rose -- trapped in four walls and missing humanity. In this chapter, Rose is locked twenty-four seven in her condo, with a patrolman as her only company. She's desperate enough to try something ridiculous: plead to go shopping, ask to try on the perfect blouse for her move to the capitol, Martinsburg, and then slip out the back of the dressing room and out of the Market while her minder waits up front. Would you try this if you were under house arrest? Read Divided, Book One in the Divided Series, to see if her plan works.
Survival demands multiple heroes.
Win only appears in Divided, but I fell harder for her than most of my other characters! As an author I fall in love with all of my characters (except the villains - I want them to suffer), but Win is unique. She was sent to QT3 as a young teen, yet she never violated her own principles and put others first. It was no surprise to me when she insisted on storming the last barracks building, which held the women the guards had taken for themselves, with Marcos, Rose, and Jason. Win is a picture of self-sacrifice, honor, and determination. This series is built on characters like her.
Marcos Sees The World Clearly
In this scene Marcos Sanchez sees the world and his city Queenstown clearly for the first time ever. His older mentor, whom he calls "Abuela," had told him the nation hadn't always been divided by ethnicity and locked behind walls. She'd told him about the freedom the old USA had enjoyed, then squandered through racism and hatred. But Marcos hadn't believed her until he became the first citizen to escape the walls of Queenstown and see the devastated city beyond with his own eyes. This moment is about Marcos feeling the weight of his impulsive decision to leave the city, while also allowing Marcos to gain perspective of the world beyond Queentown's walls. That he retches shows the depth of Marcos's emotion at seeing the death and destruction the only national leader he's ever known was responsible for.
United
Science Fiction & Fantasy
He never wanted to lead. He doesn't have a choice.
Jason thought the hardest part was behind him. After the death, destruction, chaos, and the danger that defined the Underground’s earlier battles, he had finally found something worth holding onto — security for the people he cared about through collaboration with a powerful ally and the fragile hope of a real future for their nation and their lives. But hope has a way of becoming a target.
Junior MacBain is back — and this time, he has help from the inside.
Jason's former best friend turned bitter enemy has always been a threat. But when a trusted Underground insider betrays their location directly to Junior, the threat becomes something far more terrifying: inevitable. The Underground is compromised. Their safest haven is exposed. And the clock is already running out as they race against Junior to control the most dangerous weapon the world has ever known.
Now Jason must do the one thing he's always hated — lead.
Thrust into command of a team he never asked for, on a mission that seems impossible by any measure, Jason has to find a way across the wilderness for his team and go head-to-head with the one enemy who knows exactly how he thinks. Junior MacBain isn't just powerful. He's personal. And that makes him the most dangerous opponent Jason has ever faced.
In United, the fourth and final electrifying installment of the Divided Series:
⚡ Explosive action that keeps the pages turning at lightning speed
⚡ Deep, complex characters tested to their absolute limits
⚡ Betrayal, loyalty, and the devastating cost of trust
⚡ A hero forced to rise — even when everything in him says to run
⚡ A nemesis relationship that is as emotionally gripping as it is thrilling
Perfect for fans of action-packed YA fiction, dystopian thrillers, and underdog heroes who fight for something bigger than themselves.
If you love books like The Maze Runner, Divergent, The Hunger Games, or Ender's Game, the Divided Series delivers the same heart-pounding intensity with characters who will stay with you long after the last page.
The Underground is broken. The enemy is closing in.
Can Jason hold his team together long enough to survive — or will Junior MacBain finally finish what he started?
Read the Divided Series in order:
- Book One: Divided
- Book Two: Caged
- Book Three: Betrayed
- Book Four: United
Heat: Closed door, kisses only.
Series: Divided Series, Book 4 of 4 (read in order). Complete series available.
POV: Four POVs, third person — Marcos, Rose, Harriet, Jason
Themes: Reluctant leadership, betrayal, found family, sacrifice, unity
Comps: The Hunger Games · Divergent · The Maze Runner · Ender's Game
Content notes: wartime violence, grief, loss of loved ones, no sexual content beyond kissing, no profanity beyond invented expletives. Ages 12+. Final book in a complete young adult dystopian series.
Book Bubbles from United
Jason's "Failure" Was The Team's Save
Jason starts this scene beating himself up. He broke the first rule of patrol training: never give up your weapon. He's convinced he's proven he doesn't deserve the team's trust. Then Rose says what he did was "perfect." I love this moment because it's a gut check for Jason. Often, we are our own worst critics, especially in the moment. Where Jason sees failure, though, Rose sees the one action which allowed the rest of the team to move together instead of apart. When I first drafted the preceding scene, Jason played the hero, which is great since United is "his" book, but it felt flat. So I asked, "What if Jason forgets his training in the moment and tries to sacrifice himself instead? What happens to everyone around him as a result?" That question is where this moment came from. United is built on the premise that no one hero carries the win alone, and Jason's "failure" is how the team ends up working as one. They still have plenty of bad guys ahead of them, but they just got a little closer.
Mami's Surprising Bravery
The day Marcos's mother finds her courage is the day her kids leave the safety of Hocking Hills State Park to confront their nation's dictator. As a mother of three young adults, I nearly bawled writing this scene. Letting your kids go is so hard, but Mami makes it look easy here. If you've read the entire series, though, you know this hasn't been her story from the beginning. We don't see Mami "on-page" that much in United, but it's obvious how much Marcos and his sister Flavia love her and how much she loves them back. The best twist in this scene: Mami's bravery surprises Marcos. He never expected her to step into this role. And yet she did.
I Threw a Tornado at My Heroes On Purpose
I love a good weather event, like any born-and-raised southern girl (or midwesterners have this strange fascination, too, so I know I'm not alone). But throwing a tornado when your heroes are racing on foot to reach the capital before a madman dictator and his even more insane Director of Prisons launch the world's most sophisticated weapon? That's next level cruel, even for me. I've been that kid, then that adult, standing on the porch, watching the clouds overhead for the hook cloud. I've stared at the tv and doppler radar for hours, tracking exactly where a storm is headed. Tornadoes are a yearly thing where I'm from, so I know what it feels like to survive one. United is the final book in the Divided Series and I wasn't about to make life easy for Jason and his team. Nope ⎯ I threw a tornado at them in the middle of nowhere!
Betrayed
Science Fiction & Fantasy
The Underground is shattered. A sono-nuclear weapon threatens every nation. The free world's last ally is a lie.
Harriet is a medic-turned-rebel courier from Obsidian, carrying ten years of grief and a dead cousin's name. She wants two things: backup for the Underground, and a world worth surviving. What she finds in the Independent Republic of Texas is neither.
In the aftermath of Supreme Commander Martin's aerial assault on Queenstown, two Underground teams split off in opposite directions to do the only thing left — convince the free world to go to war before Martin's sono-nuclear device destroys them all. Harriet's team crosses into Texas and walks straight into a trap: a coded message in a secret drawer, a suspiciously smooth border crossing, and a presidential secretary with no business being in a safe house.
One by one, the pieces fall into a picture so chilling that Harriet and her team may not live to warn anyone about it.
Publishers Weekly BookLife Reviews calls Betrayed "an emotional, action-packed adventure intertwining a compelling near-future America with a desperate fight for freedom."
Heat: Closed door, kisses only.
POV: Multi-POV, third person.
Content notes: wartime violence, grief, loss of a family member, no sexual content beyond kissing, no profanity beyond invented expletives. Ages 12+. Ends on a secondary-character cliffhanger.
Book Bubbles from Betrayed
POV: When your friends won't let you hide.
In this scene Harriet is avoiding dealing with her grief by staying busy. It's such a familiar practice - avoiding tough things by staying in motion. What made Betrayed so emotional to write was walking Harriet through this process finally facing her grief, with her friends right beside her. And that took the entire length of the book, believe me! This scene is also just funny to me. Marcos is nervous to admit his feelings for Harriet on any level - even just saying "I missed you" nearly guts him. It's sweet watching him admit to himself that maybe this is more than friendship, while also not wanting her to know it yet.
Harriet Was Safe. Then the Guns Came.
Harriet froze under the regime's biggest weapon. Patrol officers had tailed her through Obsidian despite the Captain's promise to call them off, and now they meant to kill her. I wrote this scene because Harriet needed a reason big enough to leave her comfort zone. The only thing big enough was running for her life. What surprised even me was how far the regime would go once Queenstown opened its gates between territories for the first time in FRA history.
Caged
Science Fiction & Fantasy
A dystopian regime built on scientific deception. One student who uncovered the truth. And four protagonists from four different worlds fighting to bring her home.
YA dystopian thriller for fans of The Hunger Games, Divergent, Legend, and Scythe.
Selected for the FRA's elite physics training program, Rose was supposed to be one of the lucky ones. But the deeper she studies, the more the program's polished surface begins to crack. The science doesn't add up. The rules don't make sense. When she digs too deep, she finds a truth so explosive it could bring the entire regime to its knees — and makes herself a target that Dr. Weber, Queenstown's dean of college, cannot afford to ignore.
Dr. Weber's orders are swift and brutal — silence Rose before she reaches anyone who will listen. Taken and caged, she discovers that the regime's cruelty has no floor, but neither does her courage. When Rose escapes and brings her secret to the Underground, she triggers something worse: her captors escalate, seize Queenstown's city council, and the fight becomes bigger than one girl's survival. Now Rose and her friends must rescue their city's leaders before the weapon she uncovered changes everything.
A gripping, fast-paced YA dystopian thriller with a fierce protagonist, a four-hero ensemble, real stakes, and a mid-series victory that leaves the larger fight very much alive.
If you love YA dystopian series with high-stakes action, found family, and a future that feels all too possible, continue the Divided Series with Caged today.
Caged features:
Four POV dystopian series
Fierce female protagonist
Government conspiracy and scientific deception
Capture and escape survival sequences
Survival trek through an abandoned city
Found family resistance movement
Corrupt regime and political takeover
Clean YA no spice
Hunger Games-level action and stakes
Heat: Clean — no explicit content
Series: Divided Series, Book 2 of 4 (Books 1 and 2 available now; Books 3 and 4 coming 2026)
POV: Four POVs — Rose, Marcos, Harriet, Jason
Length: 280 pages
Age range: 12 and up
Themes: Resistance, scientific deception, courage, found family, hope in dark times
Comps: The Hunger Games · Divergent · Legend · Scythe
Content notes: Minimal profanity · No graphic sexual content · Hunger Games-level violence
Book Bubbles from Caged
His Father Laughed
The deepest betrayal is father turning on his own child. At the end of Caged, Jason's father Hudson Britwell crosses that line. Until this point, Jason has avoided a direct confrontation with his father, This scene ends that. When Hudson laughs at the gun pressed to his son's temple and takes his place beside the man holding it, their rivalry stops being a cold war. What do you do when the one who should protect you from everything sides with your would-be killer? You fight back with everything you have and trust your friends to cover you. Check out Caged, book two in the Divided Series. The series is best read in order.
POV: Hiding isn't working anymore
The heat's turning up in Harriet's life in Caged. Patrols are following her all over Obsidian. Her mother's arrested on a false accusation. And now she's trapped on a medic shift with Dez, who's riding her last nerve. It's when Dez brings up her mother's arrest that our usually patient heroine nearly loses it! Harriet is isolated and trapped by someone whose motives she's starting to suspect. She needs her friends, especially Dara, but no one is coming to her rescue here. She'll have to do the rescuing herself.
The Scientist Who Wouldn't Break
Rose is a scientist, more familiar with books than weights, and about the last person you'd expect to survive an interrogation room. I wrote this scene to test that assumption on purpose. Junior walks in expecting someone soft, and finds out fast he underestimated her. Rose's strength isn't loud, until someone tries to take something from her. She spat in her captor's face instead of breaking. That's the scene. I'll let you find out what happens next.
