Classic Connections

 Classic Connections is one of my favorite chapters in my book, and I find myself gravitating to modern re-imaginings of stories I know and love, so I can add them to the unit.  This month I am recommending Being Mary Bennet by JC Peterson, which of course references Pride and Prejudice, Great or Nothing, a retelling of Little Women written by Joy McCullough, Tess Sharp, Jessica Spotwood, and Caroline Tung Richmond, and Love and Other Great Expectations by Becky Dean, which involves a scavenger hunt in England to the sites of many British classics. 

Being Mary Bennet, a contemporary homage to Pride and Prejudice, introduces bookish Marnie Barnes, a typical middle child, who feels unseen in light of her older and younger sisters' accomplishments.  She decides to design a program for children to read to shelter dogs, in the hope of winning the Hunt Prize, which is given for innovation to a senior at her prep school.  When her roommate Adhira accuses her of being a Mary Bennet (nerdy and annoying), she goes on a quest to prove herself otherwise.  Adhira introduces her to Whit, a volunteer at the animal shelter, who helps her get her project off the ground, But despite his interest in her, Mary keeps coming back to her childhood crush on the odious Hayes Wellesley, who is wooing her to get her father to invest in his new company.  As Marnie struggles to come out of her shell and be generous to others and more understanding of her family, she realizes that she needs to embrace the positive qualities of Mary Bennet and become the heroine of her own story.

Great or Nothing, a reimagining of Little Women set in 1942, finds Meg at home with Marmee, as her boyfriend John, her father, and their family friend Laurie are off at war.  The family is struggling with Beth's death and grieves in a variety of ways.  The sisters have a falling out and Jo heads off to work as a riveter at an airplane factory, Amy lies about her age and joins the Red Cross in London, and Marmee buries herself in charity work.  Meg resents her sisters leaving and flirts with dating another man, Jo finds herself attracted to a female journalist, and Amy runs into Laurie in London, where they fall in love.  The stories, penned by four different authors, are told by Jo, Meg, and Amy, with Beth adding free verse observations between chapters. More than distance separates the girls, as they struggle toward adulthood and rediscovering their sisterhood. 

In Love and Other Great Expectations, Britt Hansen, whose soccer career has been ended by a knee injury, receives a mysterious invitation to go on a literary scavenger hunt through England. The $100,000 prize will keep her UCLA dreams alive after she loses her athletic scholarship.  Her English teacher has arranged an all-expense-paid trip for a scavenger hunt based on Canterbury Tales. The four student competitors must solve riddles that lead them to the sites of literary masterpieces, where another riddle awaits. Each student must complete a journal for the competition.  Britt is accompanied by Alexis, a snarky chaperone, as well as Al's cousin Luke who is avoiding problems of his own.  He is a literature major who helps her become acquainted with the books referenced on the hunt. As the outgoing Britt follows the clues, she makes friends and charms Luke in the process. Britt, who is not a strong reader or writer, must become acquainted with the great literary works that are part of the hunt and find a way to stand out in the process. Along with the history and backbiting competition between the four students, the mystery as to how and why this competition is being financed keeps the reader guessing.  The references to great British literature are informative for Britt and the reader, and the "will they or won't they romance" between her and Luke adds a sweet charm to this delightful novel. 

Informative YA Romances

 As we approach the end of the school year, I like to recommend summer beach reads.  I really enjoy teen romances that are also informative about an unfamiliar topic.  This month I learned about a rescue the whales initiative, cooking show politics, robotics competitions and the world of K-pop. The Edge of Summer by Erica George focuses on a grieving teen who takes a marine biology internship on Cape Cod in order to fulfill a wish list she created with her deceased best friend.  Love from Scratch by Kaitlyn Hill takes place in Seattle at the offices of an online cooking channel, where teen interns Reese and Benny vie for a job and each others' hearts. My Mechanical Romance by Alexene Farol Follmuth finds a reluctant physics student joining her school's robotics team, where she struggles with gender prejudice, as well as her attraction to the team's captain.  Once Upon a K-Prom by Kat Cho introduces Elena Soo and Robbie Cho, childhood friends who had promised to be each other's prom dates. Then he moved to Korea and ghosted her when he became a K-Pop star.  Much to her surprise, he returns to America with an elaborate prom-posal which she rejects.

In The Edge of Summer Coriander (Cor) Cabot and her best friend Ella had been obsessed with saving the whales since they were kids.  When Ella drowns after they have a falling out, Cor is determined to complete a "to do" list they wanted to accomplish before college.  Cor accepts a marine biology internship on Cape Cod for the summer and meets and falls for Mannix, a local lifeguard whose father is a struggling fisherman.  Her focus on rescuing humpback whales from entanglement conflicts with the fishing industry.  She is particularly interested in a whale known as "Fraction" for her mangled tail that Cor and Ella had noticed as kids. Knowing that her romance with Mannix could end with the summer, she tries to focus on her goals but cannot resist his charms. The detailed information about the "Save the Whales" effort is interwoven with the story, making this a fascinating, as well as romantic read.

Love from Scratch finds Southern belle Reese Camden working as a summer marketing intern for "Friends of Flavor," an online food-lovers channel. She is hoping for a job with the company when the internship ends.  Her main competition for the job is Benny Beneventi, the culinary intern. When their bosses pair Benny and Reese for a spot on "Piece of Cake: Amateur Hour,"  their episode goes viral.  Benny, whose family owns a restaurant, is the better chef, but Reese's antics as his sidekick charm viewers who beg for more episodes. The company gives them their own show and sparks fly.  Benny falls for Reese, but she resists his flirting, knowing they are competitors and she is unlucky in love. The "will they or won't they" romance is paired with Reese's feminist commentary on the sexism in the food world for a fun informative read.

The world of competitive high school robotics is explored in My Mechanical Romance. Filipino transfer student Isabel (Bel) Maier enters Essex Academy for Art and Science Technology, having no plans for her future. When she unwittingly captures the attention of Mateo Luna, captain of the robotics and soccer teams, by creating an ingenious egg drop design, she reluctantly switches to AP Physics and joins the robotics team.  Even though she has Mateo's support, her male teammates dismiss her ideas, and even Neelam Dasari, the only other girl on the team, shuns her.  Her engineering prowess and her knack for building things keep her engaged, even as she clashes with Mateo and her teammates over her unorthodox ideas.  As her relationship with Mateo becomes romantic, they struggle to navigate new love amidst the cutthroat world of the robotics competition.  Even as Bel shows there is a place for women in the STEM world, she realizes that she needs to be more of a team player.  This is an upbeat romantic comedy with great chemistry between Bel and Mateo and a sympathetic supporting cast. 

Once Upon a K-Prom is an entertaining rom-com that sheds light on the K-Pop world and the pressure put on its stars.  Elena Soo and Robbie Choi were childhood best friends, who agreed to go to their high school prom together when they were ten. Then Robbie moved to Korea and ghosted Elena when he became a famous K-pop star.  Seven years later, Elena is running an unpopular "alterna-prom" initiative, campaigning for students to spend their prom money to help a local community center. When Robbie reappears with an elaborate prom-posal, Elena is understandably embarrassed and flees. Robbie continues to pursue her, hoping to rekindle their friendship, but she wonders if it is just a PR gimmick to promote his K-pop career.  Told in alternating perspectives, the story unfolds with Elena warming towards Robbie, as he volunteers with her at the community center and aids her fundraising efforts.  There are several recent YA titles that focus on the K-pop and K-drama world, revealing the pressure that the stars are under and how controlled their world really is.  Elena and Robbie are believable characters that give the reader a window onto the complications arising from K-pop stars trying to have a relationship "offline."

New Young Adult Mysteries

 There are many varieties of mystery/thrillers, but they all have one thing in common. They create intrigue by revealing the identity of the antagonist only at the climax of the story.  Mystery writers drop clues throughout the plot to invite readers to solve the puzzle. The Agathas by Kathleen Glasgow and Liz Lawson follows the Agatha Christie format where a murder is committed and teen sleuths identify a number of suspects before finding the culprit. In These Deadly Games by Diana Urban an anonymous perpetrator threatens to kill a 16-year-old esport competitor's sister, unless she follows his orders which target her fellow team members. Social media plays a big part in  The Rumor Game by Dhonielle Clayton and Sona Charaipotra which finds an online troll fanning the flames that destroy student reputations. Finally, Sense and Second-Degree Murder by Tirzah Price (Pride and Premeditation), the second in the Jane Austen Murder Mystery series, reimagines Sense and Sensibility. The Dashwood girls, whose detective father is murdered, must work together to find his killer.  

In The Agathas,  Agatha Christie fan Alice Ogilvie, pulls her own disappearance stunt (much like Christie's) after her boyfriend Steve dumps her for her BFF Brooke Donovan.  Hoping to gain sympathy and her neglectful parents' attention, Alice sees her plan backfire when she returns after 5 days and becomes a social pariah.  When Brooke disappears after a party where she is seen fighting with Steve, Alice teams up with her peer tutor Iris Adams to solve the case.  Alice and Iris co-narrate the story and each chapter begins with a quote from an Agatha Christie mystery.  With many twists and turns, the mystery unravels as the teen sleuths solves clues and narrow down the suspect list until the exciting denouement. 

As The Deadly Game opens, Crystal and her team of esports gamers are preparing to compete in a MortalDusk tournament, when she receives an anonymous text saying her sister has been kidnapped. She will be killed unless Crystal competes in a deadly real-life game with a 24-hour time limit, targeting her team members. At first she suspects someone is trying to keep them from the competition, but as the hours pass, Crystal realizes Anonymous has discovered a secret from their past and wants to punish them for what they did.  She uses her gaming instincts to discover who is behind the game, but not before her teammates suffer the consequences.

The Rumor Games explores from three points of view the rumor mill at Foxham Prep, which can quickly ruin a student's career and social standing. The narrators are Bryn,  whose queen bee status is destroyed when she runs her ex-boyfriend's car off the road in a jealous fit; Cora, her best friend and head cheerleader whose boyfriend Baez was hurt in the accident; and Georgie, Bryn's Desai neighbor who went through a transformation after a summer at fat camp. Looking to regain her social status, Bryn takes Georgie to Cora's party, where Georgie is seen going upstairs with Cora's boyfriend. An online troll posts pictures of them together and creates suspicions about Baez's fidelity. As rumors spin out of control, Bryn sees an opportunity to regain her status by starting an anti-rumor campaign through her role as student body president.  Told in four parts, "The Rumor,"  "The Lies," "The Game," and "The Truth,"  the story examines the role social media can play in rumors destroying reputations and futures.  Who is the troll who is fanning the flames?

As with the original, Sense and Second-Degree Murder, a reimagining of Sense and Sensibility, begins with the death of Mr. Dashwood and his second family, including his wife and three daughters, Elinor, Marianne, and Margaret, losing their home to his son by his first marriage.   However, Mr. Dashwood ran a detective agency, and his daughters discover he had been poisoned. Marianne, an apprentice detective, and Elinor, a budding chemist, take on the case and discover a network of opium peddlers involved in the complex mystery.  All the original characters are cleverly reassigned parts in the plot.  In an author's note, the popularity of laudanum in Regency-era England and the lucrative opium trade are explained, as well as some historical inaccuracies that do not deter from the enjoyment of this clever whodunit.

LGBTIQA - New YA Novels

 Diversity in sexual identity is currently a hot button issue and reflective of this is the growing body of young adult literature that focuses on characters who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer/questioning or asexual (LGBTIQA). This month I will recommend three books that tackle one or more of these issues.  Malinda Lo's Last Night at the Telegraph Club, which focuses on a lesbian Asian/American teen in 1950s San Francisco, is the 2021 National Book Award Winner, as well as the winner of the Stonewall Book Award, the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature,  a Michael L. Printz Honor Book and a Walter Dean Myers Honor Book.  The One True Me and You by Remi K. England finds a fan/fic writer and a beauty pageant contestant crossing paths and falling for each other at a Florida hotel which is hosting a fan convention and the Miss Cosmic USA contest the same weekend. Year on Fire by Julie Buxbaum introduces several prep school teens who are navigating family and friendship issues, while a mysterious arsonist is setting fires at their school. 

Last Night at the Telegraph Club is set in San Francisco's Chinatown during the 1950s. 17-year-old Lily Hu struggles to fit into her school and community.  She longs to work at the Jet Propulsion lab where her aunt works and is slowly recognizing she is attracted to women. When she and Kath, a classmate whose goal is to fly airplanes, connect over an ad for a male impersonator at the lesbian Telegraph Club, her life changes forever.  They sneak out and enjoy the scene at the club, as well as their growing attraction to each other. Fearing her family's disapproval and the very real danger of McCarthyism and the Lavender Scare, Lily struggles to reconcile her identity as a Chinese American and a lesbian in a time fraught with danger for both. The author's notes are a novella in and of themselves.  Lo (Ash) explains how Lily's family situation mirrors her own and provides an extensive bibliography and a section on "Lesbians, Gender, and Community." This beautifully written exploration of first love certainly deserves all the accolades it received. 

In The One True Me and You Kay, a fanfic writer attending the GreatCon fan convention, and Teagan, a contestant in the Miss Cosmic USA pageant, arrive at the same Florida hotel for the weekend.  Kay is hoping to win a writing contest, begin using they/them pronouns, and work up the courage to kiss a girl.  Teagan is hoping to win the pageant so she can pay for college and finally come out as a lesbian.  When Teagan sneaks out after curfew to attend the convention, their paths cross and they feel an instant attraction.  As they begin text flirtations and secret hangouts, they realize they have a lot in common, including a mutual enemy, Miss North Carolina who goes to school with Kay and competes against Teagan. The novel explores the confusion and alienation each feels, although the fan/fic culture is much more accepting of queerness than the pageant world.  Teagan and Kay are very relatable as they experience first love and attempt to find themselves in the process.

Year on Fire introduces twins Imogene and Archer Gibson and alpha-girl Paige Cohen-Chen who are an inseparable trio. The twins' loyalty to her and each other is tested when Archie kisses Paige's boyfriend Jackson and Immie claims responsibility to hide his homosexuality from their abusive father. This strains her friendship with Paige, so when Rohan Singh, a charming British teen, transfers to their school and Paige calls "dibs" on him, Immie ignores the growing attraction between her and Rohan.  Rohan, whose parents have separated after his father's infidelity, has been forced to move with him to LA.  He is angry and homesick, but his crush on Immie keeps him grounded.  Meanwhile Archie and Jackson dance around their feelings for each other, as Archie struggles to come out of the closet and Jackson anticipates his father's fifth wedding.  Paige, the classic neglected rich girl, strives for perfection in an attempt to gain the attention of her parents, who are never home. When the girls' restroom at school is set on fire, pretty much everyone is under suspicion. This romantic soap opera explores a variety of attractions, as well as family dysfunction, as the mysterious arsonist continues to set fires.  Although the identity of the arsonist is of interest,  the teens' personal dramas are much more engaging in this surefire winner from Julie Buxbaum. (Admission)

YA Novels filled with Magic

 Magic, defined as the power of influencing the course of events by using mysterious or supernatural forces, figures heavily in all the books I'm recommending this month. Castles in Their Bones by Laura Sebastian (Ash Princess trilogy) introduces triplet princesses conceived through magic so that their conniving mother can expand her empire. The Ivory Key by Akshaya Raman is set in the country of Ashoka that depends on their soon-to-be depleted quarry filled with magic to protect them from invasion.  It is up to the four royal siblings to find a fabled key that will unlock lost quarries that were hidden in the past.  Shattered Midnight by Dhonielle Clayton is the second installment in the Mirror fairytale series. Zora Broussard, a young black singer who wields magic, flees to New Orleans in the 1920s, after her magic causes a deadly accident in NYC.  Bright Ruined Things by Samantha Cohoe is a reimagining of The Tempest in which Lord Prosper uses a magical substance to enslave all the spirits on his island. Mae, the daughter of his steward, longs to learn to wield this magic in order to stay on the island once she comes of age.  

Castles in their Bones kicks off a new fantasy series which focuses on triplet sisters conceived in magic by their scheming mother Empress Margaraux, who wants to marry them off to expand her rule. Sophronia, Daphne and Beatriz have been betrothed to princes of neighboring kingdoms. They have been tasked with driving their new countries into war against each other so that the Empress can swoop in and gain control.  However, Sophronia falls in love with her fiancé, Leopold of Temarin. Daphne's fiancé dies and she is passed to bastard son Bairre of Friv, who becomes an ally. Beatriz finds herself married to Pasquale, the gay prince of Cellaria, where magic is banned. Although platonic, they develop a strong friendship and have plans of their own.  The story is told in alternating perspectives of the three princesses, who are trained in poisoning, coding and seduction in order to accomplish their goals. Along with her instructions to be achieved however the girls see fit, the empress has gifted each daughter the ability to pull magic from the stars to grant one wish.  The tale is filled with intrigue and changing allegiances as the girls attempt to decide whether to carry out their mother's plan or follow their own hearts. Meanwhile, Margaraux is behind the scenes manipulating characters and situations to her own end. I suspect their being conceived in magic will impact the girls' fates in the sequel.

The Ivory Key is told from the perspectives of four quarreling siblings who must save their country Ashoka from impending war.  The tale focuses on them finding the ivory key that will unlock quarries filled with magic which fuels their economy and protects them from invasion. Vira has ascended to the throne after her mother, the maharani, is killed.  Brother Kaleb has been wrongfully imprisoned for the assassination. Brother Ronak is planning to rescue Kaleb and flee with him.  Sister Riya, who ran away after arguing with their mother, returns to the palaces after two years of working with a group of rebels who want her to spy.  The only quarry in Ashoka is running out of magic, but it is rumored that there is a map which will lead them to the key that unlocks the lost quarries, which were closed when the Kamala society sought to control the mining trade.  After Vira's fiancé is murdered by the society, she must convince her siblings to band together to help her save their kingdom.  The epilogue, told from a fifth perspective, will leave readers anxious for the sequel in this fast-paced duology opener. 

Shattered Midnight, the second book in the four-book Mirror fairytale series, (Book 1: Broken Wish by Julie C. Dao) introduces Zora Broussard, a young Black teen who flees to New Orleans from New York during the 1920s, after her magic causes a deadly accident.  Living with her Aunt Celine, a high society maven, Zora is expected to become a debutante; however, she sneaks out at night to sing in jazz clubs as "Sweet Willow."  Fearing she will cause more harm, she bargains with a local conjure woman to take away her magic.  However, in return she must give up her music, which is her connection to Phillip, a White pianist with whom she has fallen in love.  Phillip is determined to be with her despite the racial segregation of the era.  Zora must decided how love, magic and music figure into her future happiness. What to keep and what to give up. 

In Bright Ruined Things, an homage to Shakespeare's The Tempest, Lord Prosper's island teams with a magical substance know as aether that keeps the island's spirits his captives and provides a glamourous life for his descendants.  Mae, an outsider who is the orphan of Prosper's steward, worries about being exiled from the island on her 18th birthday.  She schemes to find a way to stay and has many prospects.  Lady Vivian wants her to marry their sullen eccentric grandson Ivo, who is a powerful magician and heir to Lord Prosper's realm. Granddaughter Coco, Mae's best friend, wants her to leave the island and forge a new life together.  Grandson Miles, Mae's secret crush, leads her on in hopes of finding out what Ivo did to his mother, who is now a hopeless addict. First Night, the legendary once-a-year party hosted by the Prosper family, is coming up at which cousin Apolonia's engagement to Rex, magician and son of a rival family, and Mae's engagement to Ivo are to be announced.  But all does not go as planned.  Mae discovers family secrets and waffles between allegiances to various family members and even Rex, as she desperately tries to find a way to learn magic and secure a place in the family. 

Wrapping Up 2021

The new edition of my book What's New in Young Adult Novels? and Ideas for Classroom Use is now available. I have added over 50 new books from 2021 and integrated them into the lesson ideas. If you click on the picture of the book in the upper right hand corner of the blog, it will direct you to Lulu.com where you can purchase the book.  As we enter the new year, I would like to recommend a few more books from 2021 that I think are terrific. Within These Wicked Walls by Lauren Blackwood is a retelling of Jane Eyre with a supernatural twist. Between You Me and the Honeybees by Amelia Diane Coombs focuses on a feud between beekeeping families and the romance between two teens ala Romeo and Juliet. You Can Go Your Own Way by Eric Smith finds estranged friends Adam and Whitney at odds over her father's attempt to take over Adam's deceased father's pinball arcade. You've Reached Sam by Dustin Thao deals with the grieving process as the main character is able to talk to her dead boyfriend by calling his cellphone. As with most young adult novels there is an element of romance in each book though they have very different storylines. 

Within These Wicked Walls, which is set in a desert region of Ethiopia, introduces Andromeda, an unlicensed debtera, who exorcises the manifestation of the Evil Eye.  When she is hired to cleanse Magnus Rochester's mansion, she leaves Jember, her mentor/father figure and moves into the mansion. Her relationship with her moody employer quickly heats up and complicates the exorcism.  She loses confidence in herself when she finds out several other debtera have failed and Jember refuses to help her. It turns out he has a prior relationship to the situation and is reluctant to get involved.  The fast-paced battle against the evil spirits and Magnus and Andromeda's angst-filled romance will keep readers turning pages until the dramatic final conflict.

Between You Me and the Honeybees focuses on Josie, a recent high school graduate who aspires to take over the family beekeeping business. She has turned down her college acceptances but puts off telling her mom and her best friend.  When her grandmother's Parkinson's disease worsens, Mom heads off to Florida to check on her, leaving Josie to her own devices.  She meets Ezra, the grandson of her family's beekeeping rivals and forms an immediate bond.  Mom returns with Gran and Josie begins sneaking out to see Ezra.  Plagued by anxiety, Josie is faced with complicated choices as she tries to prove herself as a beekeeper and navigate her romance with the son of her mom's sworn enemies. The authentic details about beekeeping taken from the author's personal experiences, as well as the sensitive depiction of Josie's anxiety issues, take this a step above many Romeo and Juliet reimaginings.

You Can Go Your Own Way alternates between the perspectives of Adam and Whitney, estranged friends who find themselves sparing on social media, as Adam tries to save his deceased father's pinball arcade and Whitney attempts to help her father acquire it for his e-sports café. When her brother destroys a pinball machine at Adam's arcade, Adam blasts him on Twitter, escalating the war.  Then a blizzard threatens to derail the plans for the neighborhood Winter Festival, which will bring much needed business into the arcade. When Adam and Whitney find themselves trapped in the arcade during the blizzard, they confront old wounds and rekindle a friendship both sorely missed. Excerpts from The Art and Zen of Pinball Repair give this enemies to lovers romance a quirky twist on the genre.  

You've Reached Sam is a modern day ghost story that cleverly explores the issues of grieving. Julie Clark's plans to move out of her small town with her boyfriend Sam after graduation are derailed when he dies in a car accident.  Planning to attend college together and go to Japan with him over the summer, Julie now finds herself mired in guilt and grief.  After an angry phone call from Julie, (he had forgotten to pick her up at the airport), he jumps in his car and heads to his death. Devastated and finding herself blamed by his friends for his death, Julie skips his funeral and throws out memorabilia from their relationship, trying to move on. But when she calls his cell phone to hear his voicemail message one more time, he answers. The phone calls give them the opportunity to reconnect, making it harder to let him go. This supernatural premise allows for an interesting exploration of the grieving process for an untimely death.  

New YA Fantasies: Realm Breaker, Steelstriker and Gilded

 Three popular fantasy authors have new books out that might be perfect for holiday gift giving. Victoria Aveyard (Red Queen series) kicks off a new series with Realm Breaker, which introduces a world where doors to other realms must be closed before an evil entity can seize power.  Marie Lu (Legend series) wraps up the Skyhunter series with Steelstriker, chronicling the battle to overthrow the Premier and dismantle the controlling Karensa Federation in a dystopian world. Marissa Meyer (Lunar Chronicles series) reimagines Rumpelstiltskin in Gilded, adding a romance between the miller's daughter and the magical being who spins the straw into gold. 

Realm Breaker is set in Allward, a world where Spindles - doors to other realms - are thought to be a myth, as are the Immortals and Elders, beings who can manipulate the Spindlegates that connect Allward to other realms.  The prologue details a disastrous battle which takes place when Companions of the Realm seek to stop Taristan, a rogue Immortal, and his wizard accomplice from using a Spindleblade to tear new spindles between realms to aid the evil entity he worships.  Half the companions are human and half are Immortals.  The only two who escape with their lives are Elder Domacridhan and Andry, squire to the knight Cortael, who manages to flee with Cortael's spindleblade.  When the story begins, Dom and Andry are heading to a Spindle temple to thwart Taristan's plans. They must engage the help of Corayne, secret daughter of Cortael and a pirate queen, who has the corblood required to wield the spindleblade.  Along the way they enlist the aid of assassin Sorasa and others to help their cause.  Shifting viewpoints and flashbacks detail the characters' backstories, setting up the quest to protect Allward and make sure the Spindles that can open destabilizing passages between realms are closed.  This complex tale will have readers spellbound as the ragtag band of heroes overcomes one challenge after another. 

Steelstriker, the final book in the Skyhunter duology, opens six months after the fall of Mara, as the Karensa Federation absorbs the formerly free nation into its empire.  Talin, an elite striker for Mara, has been taken hostage and turned into a skyhunter, a war machine complete with steel wings.  The story alternates between Talin's point-of-view and Red's, a skyhunter who escaped the Federation and bonded with Talin in the series opener.  Although held captive by Premier Constantine, who uses the threat of killing her mother to control her, Talin tries to aid her friends who are still waging a rebellion against the Federation.  As the Premier tries to harness a technology used by the "Early Ones," (presumably nuclear power) he is sabotaged by people in his inner circle.  Several of Mara's strikers have been taken prisoner and are awaiting execution or transformation into zombielike monsters called Ghosts.  Talin and Red communicate telepathically to orchestrate a rescue and a plan to overthrow the Premier in this romantic action-packed series closer.  I would recommend reading Skyhunter (see review in my October 2020 blog) prior to Steelstriker.

In Gilded, an inventive reimagining of Rumpelstiltskin, the sadistic Erlking and his undead followers appear every full moon to steal children and hunt magical creatures.  The miller's daughter Serilda knows to stay in on those nights, but she hears the hellhounds chasing two moss maidens and feels compelled to save them.  She hides them in their root cellar only to be confronted by the Erlking, whom she tells she's harvesting straw to spin into gold.  He departs but abducts her on the next full moon and takes her to his undead castle. He throws her into a cell piled with hay and threatens to kill her if she doesn't spin it into gold.  She assumes she is doomed until Gild, a redheaded undead teen, appears and completes her task.  She is immediately drawn to him and and looks forward to their next encounter.  Their star-crossed romance, as well as the suspense-filled conflict with the Erlking and the cliffhanger ending, will leave readers anxious to read the sequel Cursed, which comes out November 8, 2022.