Review: Guardians of the Dawn: Zhara by S. Jae-Jones

Guardians of Dawn: Zahra by S. Jae Jones cover shows a girl staring forward, her hands hovering over a ball of magic, other magic swirled around her in the colors of the sky at dawn.

Guardians of the Dawn: Zhara
S. Jae-Jones
Wednesday Books
Published August 1, 2023

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About Guardians of the Dawn: Zhara

Sailor Moon meets Cinder in Guardians of Dawn: Zhara, the start of a new, richly imagined fantasy series from S. Jae-Jones, the New York Times bestselling author of Wintersong.

Magic flickers.
Love flames.
Chaos reigns.

Magic is forbidden throughout the Morning Realms. Magicians are called abomination, and blamed for the plague of monsters that razed the land twenty years before.

Jin Zhara already had … Continue reading

Review: The Lightstruck by Sunya Mara

The Lightstruck by Sunya Mara cover shows a person's face in profile made of thin beams of light streaming out from where their eye would be.

The Lightstruck (The Darkening #2)
Sunya Mara
Clarion Books
Published August 29, 2023

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About The Lightstruck

In this epic sequel and conclusion to the Darkening duology, which has been called “enchanting and wildly clever” (Ayana Gray, New York Times bestselling author of Beasts of Prey), Vesper Vale, once savior to a city plagued by cursed storms, finds herself facing an even more sinister threat when an ominous light summoned by the Great King seizes control of the city.

Vesper Vale sacrificed everything to save her city from the cursed storm. … Continue reading

Review: How to Train Your Dragon: How to Be a Pirate by Cressida Cowell

How to Train Your Dragon: How to Be a Pirate by Cressida Cowell

How to Be a Pirate (How to Train Your Dragon #2)
Cressida Cowell
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Published February 1, 2010 (orig. 2004)

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About How to Be a Pirate

When Hiccup finds a coffin at sea, he opens it to discover a riddle that will lead to the treasure of Grimbeard the Ghastly, the world’s greatest pirate and Hiccup’s ancestor. So Hiccup and his friends set out on a treasure hunt, determined to master the art of swordfighting. How else will they escape an island of murderous dragons, defeat a boatload of … Continue reading

Review: Squire by Sara Alfageeh and Nadia Shammas

Squire by Sara Alfageeh and Nadia Shammas

Squire
Sara Alfageeh
Nadia Shammas
Quill Tree Books
Published March 8, 2022

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About Squire

Aiza has always dreamt of becoming a Knight. It’s the highest military honor in the once-great Bayt-Sajji Empire, and as a member of the subjugated Ornu people, Knighthood is her only path to full citizenship. Ravaged by famine and mounting tensions, Bayt-Sajji finds itself on the brink of war once again, so Aiza can finally enlist in the competitive Squire training program.

It’s not how she imagined it, though. Aiza must navigate new friendships, rivalries, and rigorous training under the unyielding General Hende, all while hiding her Ornu … Continue reading

Review: House of Roots and Ruin by Erin A. Craig

House of Roots and Ruin by Erin A. Craig cover shows what might have been the inside of a very overgrown greenhouse with poisonous-looking plants.

House of Roots and Ruin (Sisters of Salt #2)
Erin A. Craig
Delacorte Press
Published July 25, 2023

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About House of Roots and Ruin

A modern masterpiece, this is a classic Gothic thriller-fantasy from New York Times bestselling author Erin A. Craig, about doomed love, menacing ambition, and the ghosts that haunt us forever.

In a manor by the sea, one sister is still cursed.

Despite dreams of adventures far beyond the Salann shores, seventeen-year-old Verity Thaumas has remained at her family’s estate, Highmoor, with her older … Continue reading

Review: My Imaginary Mary by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton and Jodi Meadow

My Imaginary Mary by Cynthia Hand, Jodi Meadows and Brodi Ashton

My Imaginary Mary (Mary #2)
Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows
HarperTeen
Published August 2, 2022

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About My Imaginary Mary

It’s aliiiiiiiive! The bestselling authors of My Lady Jane are back with the electric, poetic, and (almost) historical tale of the one and only Mary Shelley.

Mary may have inherited the brilliant mind of her late mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, but she lives a drab life above her father’s bookstore, waiting for an extraordinary idea that’ll inspire a work worthy of her parentage—and impress her rakishly handsome (and super-secret) beau, Percy Shelley.

Ada Lovelace knows a … Continue reading