Tag: diverse books

Posted in Monthly Reads

Slip-A Graphic Novel Review

Posted on by Plaid_Reader

Introduction of Slip

I was recently invited on a blog tour for this book by one of the Publicity Mangers at Algonquin Young Readers. SLIP is a new graphic novel by Marika McCoola and Aatmaja Pandya. SLIP deals with the have crafted a nuanced story about the many ways art can change us forever.

SLIP brings to life both the excitement and heartbreak of being a teenager and the fleeting and beautiful feeling that one summer can hold dozens of exhilarating possibilities. The perfect read for fans of heartfelt stories about personal identity and first love like Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me by Mariko Tamaki and Rosemary Valero O’Connell and Bloom by Kevin Panetta and Kevin Ganucheau, SLIP captures both the magic and anguish of growing older and the catharsis that creating art can bring.

Summary

Jade is excited to go to an exclusive summer art intensive, but right before she is about to leave, her best friend Phoebe attempts suicide. How will Jade be able to focus on her artwork during this dream opportunity? But at the Art Farm, Jade discovers artistic possibilities she has been longing to experience her whole life. And as she gets to know her classmates, she begins to fall for whimsical, upbeat, comfortable-in-her-own-skin Mary. Jade knows she needs to keep her focus on her art, but her worry about Phoebe and her budding crush on Mary leave her overwhelmed by conflicting emotions. She channels her stress and insecurities into making ceramic monsters, but when she puts her creatures in the kiln, something unreal happens – they come to life. And they’re taking a stand: if Jade won’t confront her problems, her problems are going to confront her.  Including the one she is desperately trying to avoid: If Jade grows, prospers, and even falls in love this summer, is she abandoning her best friend? Can she discover who she really is without losing Phoebe in the process?

Review of Slip

Jade has problems finding her theme in her art because she won’t face her emotions. I think her main problem though is her codependency with Phoebe. It holds her back nearly the whole piece from embracing her pieces or embracing her relationship with Mary. I think this is a good piece about finding yourself beyond people you may love but who may not be good for you. I love the final pages when Jade makes the piece of Phoebe I think that’s her most interesting piece in the book. This is a great read for Pride Month as Mary really supports Jade through all her issues.

I would give it a CW as there is artistic showing of female genitalia

Check it out on Amazon

About the Author and Illustrator

About Marika McCoola:
Marika McCoola is a writer, illustrator, educator, and the New York Times bestselling author of Baba Yaga’s Assistant. She has spent over a decade working to connect books with readers. She studied illustration, art history, creative writing, and ceramics at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore and received her BFA in illustration in 2009.  She lives in Somerville, MA. 

About Aatmaja Pandya
Aatmaja Pandya is a cartoonist and illustrator born and raised in New York. She graduated from the School of Visual Arts in 2014 and has been illustrating professionally ever since. Slip is her first graphic novel. She lives in New York City.

Posted in Medieval a Thon, Readathons

Bard Calling-Medieval A Thon

Posted on by Plaid_Reader

So you saw my picks for Seamstress yesterday, now I’m doing my second calling or my companion’s calling whichever works better for the readathon. This time I’m going for Bard which I think I would personally be in a Medieval setting just because the love of books.

Level 1: A book with a great first line

Queen of Tiles

Amazon: Queen of the Tiles

The first line of this book just has you imagine the floor of the Scrabble tournament when our murdered heroine. This story about words fits perfectly for the Bard storyline.

CATALYST
13 points
noun: a substance that speeds up a reaction without itself changing

When Najwa Bakri walks into her first Scrabble competition since her best friend’s death, it’s with the intention to heal and move on with her life. Perhaps it wasn’t the best idea to choose the very same competition where said best friend, Trina Low, died. It might be even though Najwa’s trying to change, she’s not ready to give up Trina just yet.

But the same can’t be said for all the other competitors. With Trina, the Scrabble Queen herself, gone, the throne is empty, and her friends are eager to be the next reigning champion. All’s fair in love and Scrabble, but all bets are off when Trina’s formerly inactive Instagram starts posting again, with cryptic messages suggesting that maybe Trina’s death wasn’t as straightforward as everyone thought. And maybe someone at the competition had something to do with it.

As secrets are revealed and the true colors of her friends are shown, it’s up to Najwa to find out who’s behind these mysterious posts—not just to save Trina’s memory, but to save herself.

Level 2-Book with a travel element

The Genesis Wars

This is a story about the afterlife that almost killed me. I’ve been waiting for this book since the last one left me hanging oh 8 or 9 months ago. I’ve been waiting months for this title of royalty, betrayal and one girl on a journey to bring it all down. I think this fit for the Bard storyline because Nami is one girl fighting to tell her story.

It’s been ten months since Nami narrowly escaped the Four Courts and Ophelia’s wrath. Ten months since she was betrayed by someone she once considered a friend. Someone she poured her heart out to. And now her family here in the afterlife are gone, captured, and Nami is utterly alone.

On the run, only steps ahead of the AI forces pursuing her, and desperate to free her friends, Nami must take the allies she can find, even if she doesn’t fully trust them. And as she tests the limits of her own power, she must also reckon with the responsibility that entails.

Stakes are high as Nami navigates old enemies, unexpected allies, and an ever-changing landscape filled with dangers and twists at every turn. Along the way, she’ll learn powerful truths about who she can trust and the sacrifices that must be made in order to fight for a better, freer world for all

Amazon: The Genesis Wars

Level 3-Book Title That’s the Character’s Name

Ellen Outside The Lines

Thirteen-year-old Ellen Katz feels most comfortable when her life is well planned out and people fit neatly into her predefined categories. She attends temple with Abba and Mom every Friday and Saturday.

Ellen only gets crushes on girls, never boys, and she knows she can always rely on her best-and-only friend, Laurel, to help navigate social situations at their private Georgia middle school. Laurel has always made

Ellen feel like being autistic is no big deal. But lately, Laurel has started making more friends, and cancelling more weekend plans with Ellen than she keeps.

A school trip to Barcelona seems like the perfect place for Ellen to get their friendship back on track. Except it doesn’t.

Toss in a new nonbinary classmate whose identity has Ellen questioning her very binary way of seeing the world, homesickness, a scavenger hunt-style team project that takes the students through Barcelona to learn about Spanish culture and this trip is anything but what Ellen planned.

Making new friends and letting go of old ones is never easy, but Ellen might just find a comfortable new place for herself if she can learn to embrace the fact that life doesn’t always stick to a planned itinerary.

Level 4-Book Over 400 Pages

Sorcery of Thorns

This book felt perfect for the Bard calling because it has to do with books and libraries I feel like that is something a bard would encounter during the course of their career.

All sorcerers are evil. Elisabeth has known that as long as she has known anything. Raised as a foundling in one of Austermeer’s Great Libraries, Elisabeth has grown up among the tools of sorcery—magical grimoires that whisper on shelves and rattle beneath iron chains. If provoked, they transform into grotesque monsters of ink and leather.

Then an act of sabotage releases the library’s most dangerous grimoire, and Elisabeth is implicated in the crime. With no one to turn to but her sworn enemy, the sorcerer Nathaniel Thorn, and his mysterious demonic servant, she finds herself entangled in a centuries-old conspiracy. Not only could the Great Libraries go up in flames, but the world along with them.

As her alliance with Nathaniel grows stronger, Elisabeth starts to question everything she’s been taught—about sorcerers, about the libraries she loves, even about herself. For Elisabeth has a power she has never guessed, and a future she could never have imagined.

Amazon: Sorcery of Thorns

Level 5-A Book by Multiple Authors

Zodiac Starforce: Cries of the Fire Prince

Had to have a comic in here. I love the collaboration of multiple authors in comics so I had to have a comic on my list.

After defeating a former Zodiac Member and her mean-girl minions, the girls thought they’d catch a break! But once a mean magical girl, always a mean magical girl and Libra’s former best friend wants that power back! Determined to bring the goddess Cimmeria into our dimension, her coven opens a portal to the dark dimension Nephos, only they don’t get what they bargained for. A new big-bad has come out to play and demons begin to overrun the town! Zodiac Starforce discovers they aren’t the only Zodiac team in the game and together they form a tenuous alliance to find out who’s behind the demon infestation.

Zodiac Starforce: Cries of the Fire Prince

Posted in Medieval a Thon, Readathons

Medieval a Thon

Posted on by Plaid_Reader

So I’m going to go back though and show how I did on the April Readathons over the next few days. But right now I wanted to put my May TBR Readathons up. I’m going to be participating in a few readathons. The first one is Medieval A Thon. In this readathon you start at a low level in society and then raise your status by reading books. You can get to the top by reading 10.

Each calling though only requires four books so I think I might be doing two callings or a calling with a companion. Medieval a Thon requires you to pick a calling then read books for that callings prompts.

For my first Calling I’m going to be a Seamstress

Level 1: Squire-A book you’re unsure about

I’m not sure where or not I’ll like this since it mostly focuses on one girl’s training in the military but I’ve looked at the pictures from the comic and they are beautiful and it also deals with race relations in fantasy so I’m giving it a chance.

Amazon: Squire

Level 2: First Book in Series

Victories Greater Than Death

I’ve been wanting to read this for awhile but I haven’t had time due to different readathons. But this fits the prompt plus then I can read the second book which looks super cool as well. Also I believe this cover fits this whole general feel of Seamstress which is working on beauty.

Amazon: Victories Greater than Death

Level 3 Embossed or Foil Cover

The Midnight Girls

I can’t tell from just the kindle copy if it’s embossed but it is very shiny and so I hope it fit the challenge, I’ll continue to look around and if I find one shinier I might switch it in, but until then this has gold print and lots of golden light so I think it fits the shininess of the challenge.

Amazon: The Midnight Girls

Level 4-Last Book You Bought/Borrowed.

Witchlings

At this point no one should be surprised the last book I borrowed was a book about pre-teen witches. I love the cover on this one keeping with the pretty covers for all of these books. The concept is also really cool and and I really can’t wait to read some more witchy fiction.

Amazon: Witchlings

Level 5-The Prettiest Book on Your Shelf

Sofi and the Bone Song

Though Tooley’s cover’s are simple they are always lovely to me. Her last book remains on of my favorites and I can’t wait to dive into this one. Because I’m sure the text is as beautiful as the cover.

Amazon: Sofi and the Bone Song

I’m excited about Medieval a thon, come back tomorrow to see my second calling and the books that go with it.

Posted in backlog reviews

Air Review

Posted on by Plaid_Reader

So for my one of the tropes I love is disabled badasses. This book has one of my favorite in awhile. Air is a great piece of fiction about a girl in the country with big dreams of WCMX in a wheelchair.

Summary

Twelve-year-old Emmie is working to raise money for a tricked-out wheelchair to get serious about WCMX, when a mishap on a poorly designed ramp at school throws her plans into a tailspin. Instead of replacing the ramp, her school provides her with a kind but unwelcome aide—and, seeing a golden media opportunity, launches a public fundraiser for her new wheels. Emmie loves her close-knit rural town, but she can’t shake the feeling that her goals—and her choices—suddenly aren’t hers anymore. With the help of her best friends, Emmie makes a plan to get her dreams off the ground—and show her community what she wants, what she has to give, and how ready she is to do it on her own terms.

Review

This book had me up in the air emotionally at several point especially with the relationship between Emmie and her father. They are both suffering from the loss of her mother to a drunk driver and her father is holding her too close, or so Emmie believes. But she actually has a surprise in store. Another favorite moment of mine is when Emmie receives the check at the show, and how she shows the town exactly what she can do.

Also the sweet middle grade romance between her and a local horse farmer’s son, add to the cute factor. This novel deals with a little bit of everything, from grief, to freedom, to responsibility. It was an A+ with me and a great read for anyone who is feeling like people are pinning them in because of their disability.

Amazon: Air: A Novel

Posted in Pokethon, Readathons

Cerulean Gym: 24 Hour Readathon

Posted on by Plaid_Reader

I’m taking part in Jadeyraereads Pateron exclusive 24 Hour readathon based on catching Pokemon via reading books, I was just recently told about this on Discord by two lovely people who aren’t on Twitter. This weekend we are taking on the Cerulean Gym so we are catching water Pokemon. I’m not going to try to do all the prompts because I know I won’t finish but I’m going to do as many as possible.

Squirtle-A Blue Cover

When I found out we were doing this readathon I went out and had to find something cool with a blue cover. I’ve never read this book but it’s a fantasy and it looks really good. Plus fighting princesses are always awesome.

Amazon: Shielded

Wartortle-Water on the Cover

Swim Team

A splashy, contemporary middle grade graphic novel from bestselling comics creator Johnnie Christmas!

Bree can’t wait for her first day at her new middle school, Enith Brigitha, home to the Mighty Manatees—until she’s stuck with the only elective that fits her schedule, the dreaded Swim 101. The thought of swimming makes Bree more than a little queasy, yet she’s forced to dive headfirst into one of her greatest fears. Lucky for her, Etta, an elderly occupant of her apartment building and former swim team captain, is willing to help.

With Etta’s training and a lot of hard work, Bree suddenly finds her swim-crazed community counting on her to turn the school’s failing team around. But that’s easier said than done, especially when their rival, the prestigious Holyoke Prep, has everything they need to leave the Mighty Manatees in their wake.

Can Bree defy the odds and guide her team to a state championship, or have the Manatees swum their last lap—for good?

Amazon: Swim Team

Poliwag-A middle grade

The Keeper

Because I needed something scary on this list and this is also a middle grade I’m adding the Keeper on here. I think I can finish this in 24 hours along with Shielded.

Amazon: The Keeper

Cloyster-A Graphic Novel

Coming Back

This book is beautiful and I’ve been wanting to read it for awhile I got it on Netgalley but I managed to let it expire so I’m glad I at least get a chance to read it. I’m excited to read it for the 24 hour readathon as it looks like a comfort read.

Amazon: Coming Back

Shellder-A Comic

Sheets

Finally for the comic I’m choosing Sheets, I’ve wanted to read it for awhile but just haven’t around gotten a chance to do it.

I’m going to do Kingler and buy a book tomorrow probably a polar fantasy so I can use it for Realm a Thon.

Other the that I’m going to do all the self care prompts for the Cerulean Gym like Goldeen-Treat Yourself, Magikarp-Hydrate, and Lapras-Self Care. I’m going to try and take out as many prompts as I can without burning myself out. I’m also I’m probably going to chill on the Discord. But overall I think the Cerulean Gym will be a good opportunity to get reads in for me.

Posted in Announcements, Chopped Readathon, Orillium Readathon

Seek and Find Prompts TBR

Posted on by Plaid_Reader

For our Chopped Seek and Find we came up with a week of prompts to keep everyone interested for our little Easter adventure of fun where there will be prizes, surprises and who knows what else.

Flower – The first book that you think of or the first book that you see.

Gallant

Olivia Prior has grown up in Merilance School for Girls, and all she has of her past is her mother’s journal—which seems to unravel into madness. Then, a letter invites Olivia to come home to Gallant. Yet when Olivia arrives, no one is expecting her. But Olivia is not about to leave the first place that feels like home; it doesn’t matter if her cousin Matthew is hostile, or if she sees half-formed ghouls haunting the hallways.

Olivia knows that Gallant is hiding secrets, and she is determined to uncover them. When she crosses a ruined wall at just the right moment, Olivia finds herself in a place that is Gallant—but not. The manor is crumbling, the ghouls are solid, and a mysterious figure rules over all. Now Olivia sees what has unraveled generations of her family, and where her father may have come from.

Olivia has always wanted to belong somewhere, but will she take her place as a Prior, protecting our world against the Master of the House? Or will she take her place beside him?

Amazon: Gallant

Chocolate – Plot twist or a surprise

Extasia

Her name is unimportant.

All you must know is that today she will become one of the four saints of Haven. The elders will mark her and place the red hood on her head. With her sisters, she will stand against the evil power that lives beneath the black mountain—an evil which has already killed nine of her village’s men.

She will tell no one of the white-eyed beasts that follow her. Or the faceless gray women tall as houses. Or the girls she saw kissing in the elm grove.

Today she will be a saint of Haven. She will rid her family of her mother’s shame at last and save her people from destruction. She is not afraid. Are you?

Amazon: Extasia

Cake – Multiple POV

Flight or Fight

This is an ARC so I can’t say too much about it but I know it’s going to be very cute.

Bunny – a short read

Making Friends: Back to the Drawing Board 

Dany, Madison, and…wait-another Dany?!-must navigate some very complicated friendships while trying to capture a magical dog that is turning their town upside-down!Almost everything is going great for Dany. She and Madison are still best friends, she still has her magic sketchbook, and the new school year is looking up. But when Dany creates a duplicate of herself to secretly help with homework and raise her social status, the two of them accidentally unleash a magical dog that wreaks supernatural havoc on the town. Now, with the big school dance coming up, time is running short for Dany, Madison, and their friends to set things right before the night is completely ruined!

Amazon: Making Friends 2

Sun – Non-book prompt – such as watch bookish videos, take a bath etc have some self care

Play video games.

Moon – a mystery

All for One

Tania de Batz is most herself with a sword in her hand. Everyone thinks her near-constant dizziness makes her weak, nothing but “a sick girl.” But Tania wants to be strong, independent, a fencer like her father—a former Musketeer and her greatest champion. Then Papa is brutally, mysteriously murdered. His dying wish? For Tania to attend finishing school. But L’Académie des Mariées, Tania realizes, is no finishing school. It’s a secret training ground for new Musketeers: women who are socialites on the surface, but strap daggers under their skirts, seduce men into giving up dangerous secrets, and protect France from downfall. And they don’t shy away from a sword fight.

With her newfound sisters at her side, Tania feels that she has a purpose, that she belongs. But then she meets Étienne, her target in uncovering a potential assassination plot. He’s kind, charming—and might have information about what really happened to her father. Torn between duty and dizzying emotion, Tania will have to decide where her loyalties lie…or risk losing everything she’s ever wanted.

Amazon: All for One

And finally carrot – a title that starts with a c

Cece Rios and the Dessert of Souls

Living in the remote town of Tierra del Sol is dangerous, especially in the criatura months, when powerful spirits roam the desert and threaten humankind. But Cecelia Rios has always believed there was more to the criaturas, much to her family’s disapproval. After all, only brujas—humans who capture and control criaturas—consort with the spirits, and brujeria is a terrible crime.

When her older sister, Juana, is kidnapped by El Sombrerón, a powerful dark criatura, Cece is determined to bring Juana back. To get into Devil’s Alley, though, she’ll have to become a bruja herself—while hiding her quest from her parents, her town, and the other brujas. Thankfully, the legendary criatura Coyote has a soft spot for humans and agrees to help her on her journey.

With him at her side, Cece sets out to reunite her family—and maybe even change what it means to be a bruja along the way.

I’m also reading this final one to help finish up my dwarven character for Orillium as I needed to read a book set in the desert.

So what are you all going to read, I can’t wait to see all your lists!

Posted in Recommendations

Fire Becomes Her

Posted on by Plaid_Reader

I’ve been meaning to read Fire Becomes Her for awhile but I finally got the hardback copy and I’m glad I did. This is one book I want to have a hard copy of the author has said inspirations were drawn from the 2016 Presidential Election, but as much as this is a story about politics and power, it is ultimately a story about love.

Summary

Ingrid Ellis thinks she know what she wants knows who she loves. She wants power and she’s going to find it on the arm of Linden Holt, the man she love, or does she, but she has no background monetary or magical and Linden’s father won’t acknowledge her and will never approve of her hoped for marriage to Linden

Unless she agrees to spy for the other side.

Gwendolyn Meyers, Holt’s opponent is everything Ingrid wishes she could be, independent. She speaks her mind shares her love with another woman. Gwendolyn and her staffers show Ingrid a different kind of love and family than she could have ever imagined. Then there is Alex, a friend at first until Ingrid could see him as something more.

But there is fire on the horizon, and it’s coming for the Meyers campaign when a fire rocks the Presidential Ball and soon after Ingrid’s secret is revealed. She soon finds herself going back where it all started and working with someone who could make things equal for everyone if only they can make things work.

With a lot of hope and a chance for forgiveness Ingrid is about to face down one of the most powerful men in the country by herself? Will the truth prevail?

Review of Fire Becomes Her

This book was engaging from the first page because at first you don’t want to like Ingrid. But that’s because Ingrid doesn’t want to like Ingrid, as the book goes on and Ingrid sees more of love and learn more about what love can be and the many ways it can be expressed she becomes happier and more comfortable especially when it comes to her relationships with Linden and Alex.

I love the different identities represented in this book this is great and I really want to read more of Rosiee Thor’s work.

Amazon: Fire Becomes Her

Posted in Uncategorized

The 2021 Good News Tag

Posted on by Plaid_Reader

I got tagged in the 2021 Good News Book tag by Corner of Laura. While my personal 2021 was a lot of recovery from a broken ankle, I did manage to read a good deal, perhaps because I didn’t have many other options when it came to what to do. However the tag wanted to show that good things happened in 2021.

1)Gay marriage was legalized in Switzerland: A book with LGBT characters who live happily ever after.

One of my favorite books of with an LGBT happily ever after was Sweet and Bitter Magic.

Amazon: Sweet and Bitter Magic

2)Giant Pandas are no longer classed as Endangered: A book with a fantastic animal companion

Maddie’s dog when she is left behind is one of the few things that gets her through, the dog protects her and provides her company throughout the book. If anyone is a great animal companion it’s this dog.

Amazon: Alone

3) Studies show that the HPV vaccine has cut cervical cancer rates by almost 90%: A book where science plays a big part

This Mortal Coil

This whole trio of books made me think about the possibilities of science. Even though it was basically a piece about plagues ala a zombie book. Plus wasn’t last year what a time to read it. It had many deep insights into identity, and scarified in a plague situation.

Amazon: This Mortal Coil

4) Josephine Baker became the first black woman to be inducted into the Pantheon in Paris: A book that celebrates Black culture

Skin of the Sea

This wonderful fantasy celebrates African culture and African deities, it is very good, so good I just ordered it’s sequel. Which I’ve been grumbling about a release date for for month. You should read this book.

Amazon: Skin of the Sea

5) Chloe Zhao became the first woman in colour to win an Oscar for best director: Your favourite book by an Asian author

Finding Junie Kim

This important historical and semi-autobiographical book portrays both the horrors of the Korean War and the issues of racism still occurring today. I’m not normally a historical fiction fan but Oh had my interest from start to finish with this piece.

Amazon: Finding Junie Kim

6)Rose Ayling-Ellis, the show’s first deaf contestant, won Strictly Come Dancing: A kickass disabled character

It’s hard to pick a favorite disabled character but I’m going to pick Artemisia from Vespertine who I’ll argue is disabled because of her original possession.

Amazon: Vespertine

Feel free to tag yourself if you are interested in doing so just please link back!

Posted in Zodiac and Tarot Posts

Gemini Literary Characters

Posted on by Plaid_Reader

So what character do I see as a Gemini? I promise I’m not going to make them all villains, I can’t promise a villain won’t show up, he fits the description perfectly. But otherwise were are going to focus on the positive here!

Mr. Today from the The Unwanteds

He’s a classic Gemini, he want’s to see the world, hence why he leaves his island, he’s excitable and very interesting in the world around him hence the reason he tried to start a new society in the first place. He still shows this side with the Unwateds and his creations in Artime. But you can see his contemplative side when he thinks about the his past and Justine’s past with Quill. Overall I think he fits the Gemini sign very well.

Amazon: The Unwanteds

The Smiling Man from the Small Space Quartet

I did say they wouldn’t all be villains but, he literally has two faces the glamor or evil one, and his true evil face. He’s a caricature of a Gemini. But Olly, Coco and Brian are always going to have to deal with one of his two faces, and whichever face they deal with it’s dangerous. Because he likes the world and wants his place in it and isn’t afraid of who he has to go through to get it.

Amazon: Empty Smiles

Ingrid from Fire Becomes Her

Ingrid wants to see the world and likes exciting and powerful things. She’s also willing to use underhanded methods to go after what she wants, now whether she can keep it up remains to be seen but so far I read she certainly seems to be a Gemini. She likes exploring the world even if it takes using two faces to do it and get what she wants.

Amazon: Fire Becomes Her

So who are your literary Geminis? Share them with me in the comments?

Posted in Zodiac and Tarot Posts

Manifesting the Magician: Bookish Characters

Posted on by Plaid_Reader

Since the Magician card is about manifesting your power I thought I’d include cards were the character or character is learning to or is manifesting their own power skills or intelligence .

Eva Evergreen Semi Magical Witch

Eva is the essence of this card while she hasn’t found her footing with her power, she is still trying to help everyone with the heart of her powers and gaining confidence in herself. She starting to manifest herself as a witch an and example of the Magician card.

Summary

Sometimes all you need is a pinch of magic…

Eva Evergreen is determined to earn the rank of Novice Witch before her thirteenth birthday. If she doesn’t, she’ll lose her magic forever. For most young witches and wizards, it’s a simple enough test:

One: Help your town, do good all around.
Two: Live there for one moon, don’t leave too soon.
Three: Fly home by broomstick, the easiest of tricks.

The only problem? Eva only has a pinch of magic. She summons heads of cabbage instead of flowers and gets a sunburn instead of calling down rain. And to add insult to injury, whenever she overuses her magic, she falls asleep.

When she lands in the tranquil coastal town of Auteri, the residents expect a powerful witch, not a semi-magical girl. So Eva comes up with a plan: set up a magical repair shop to aid Auteri and prove she’s worthy. She may have more blood than magic, but her “semi-magical fixes” repair the lives of the townspeople in ways they never could have imagined. Only, Eva’s bit of magic may not be enough when the biggest magical storm in history threatens the town she’s grown to love. Eva must conjure up all of the magic, bravery, and cleverness she can muster or Auteri and her dreams of becoming a witch will wash away with the storm.

Amazon: Eva Evergreen Semi-Magical Witch

The Counter-Clockwise Heart

In this book Prince Alphonsus is really the one is really manifesting the Magician roll here. Using the lessons his mothers taught him to speak for himself his people and against the Margrave.

Summary

Time is running out in the empire of Rheinvelt.
 
The sudden appearance of a strange and frightening statue foretells darkness. The Hierophants—magic users of the highest order—have fled the land. And the shadowy beasts of the nearby Hinterlands are gathering near the borders, preparing for an attack.
 
Young Prince Alphonsus is sent by his mother, the Empress Sabine, to reassure the people while she works to quell the threat of war. But Alphonsus has other problems on his mind, including a great secret: He has a clock in his chest where his heart should be—and it’s begun to run backwards, counting down to his unknown fate.
 
Searching for answers about the clock, Alphonsus meets Esme, a Hierophant girl who has returned to the empire in search of a sorceress known as the Nachtfrau. When riddles from their shared past threaten the future of the empire, Alphonsus and Esme must learn to trust each other and work together to save it—or see the destruction of everything they both love.

Amazon: Counterclockwise Heart

The Best Worst Summer Ever

This pair is manifesting independence and a healing energy to the past that is able to do something I don’t to spoil.

This is going to be the worst summer ever for Peyton. Her family just moved, and she had to leave her best friend behind. She’s lonely. She’s bored. Until . . . she comes across a box buried in her backyard, with a message: I’m so sorry. Please forgive me. Things are about to get interesting.

Back in 1989, it’s going to be the best summer ever for Melissa and Jessica. They have two whole months to goof around and explore, and they’re even going to bury a time capsule! But when one girl’s family secret starts to unravel, it’s clear things may not go exactly as planned.

In alternating chapters, from Peyton in present day to Melissa three decades earlier (a time with no cell phones, no social media, and camera film that took days to develop, but also a whole lot of freedom), beloved author Elizabeth Eulberg tells the story of a mystery that two sets of memorable characters will never forget.

Amazon: Best Worst Summer Ever