SOLVED. YA Fantasy book in which a teen tries to set up a school for magic in a cave with the help of his friend and a young woman. Spoilers ahead. [s]

[Becca]

Ok so basically what happens in the book as far as I can remember is a teen boy tries to set up a school for magic in a cave, but he gets obsessed with it, to the point where he starts to tell his 2 companions not to eat and he really just dictates their entire lives because he believes he's the only one who actually knows the right way to do magic. The book also has a dual pov, time jumping into the future where the main girl, who's a redhead has no memories of what happened and is heavily implied to have stopped aging.

I maybe read sometime between 2010-2013, and I distinctly remember the cover having a teen girl on it being enveloped by a tree, and that it's was the first book in an at the time unfinished series.

[Cupcakedoll]

Maybe? The vibe kind of matches and it is an annoyingly unfinished series.

[Becca]

That's the one!! Thank you!

[Cupcakedoll]

Becca wrote: "That's the one!! Thank you!"

Glad to help! Looking at the page for the second book indicates the author has been struck down with serious medical issues and probably will never finish the series. Tragic.

[Rainbowheart]

The author's blog says that the third in the series was finished and is "in the production process," but that was several years ago. Maybe there's still hope.