High School (9-12)

Magic, fantasy, romance, adventure… this graphic novel has it all! The Heartless Prince is the first book in a new exciting trilogy that takes readers into the world of orphaned princess, Evony. Her world is one destroyed by witches and familiars (servants to the witches). Readers join Evony as she and her love interest, Prince Ammon, join together to fight the familiars and the magical forces threatening their kingdom. When the witch, Aradia, steals Prince Ammon’s heart and captures his sister, Evony embarks on a journey to save them.

In her stellar adult fiction novel debut Veronica Roth explores what happens when a totalitarian, dystopian regime falls and whether or not the society can rebuild without repeating the same patterns and mistakes. And she does all of this through the eyes of someone who was complicit in that regime's behavior.

I've mentioned in a few other posts how my reading tastes lately have leaned to stories that take me to other worlds and center on honorable characters. And with that reading quest in mind, a co-worker (thank you Amy S!) suggested T. Kingfisher. And a better balm to the soul, it would be harder to find. In this, the first in the Saint of Steel trilogy, we meet a paladin whose god has died and a perfumer who has escaped an abusive past.

June Hur's debut novel is a police procedural set in 1800 Joseon, Korea. Seol grew up in rural Korea but because of the family's poverty was sent by her sister to serve an indenture for the police bureau in Joseon. As an indentured servant she's to keep her mouth shut and her thoughts to herself as she cleans and runs errands. The monotony of that work is occasionally broken when she's asked to help in crimes involving women. Males in 19th century Korea aren't allowed to touch non-familial women, thus Seol is called upon.

The best science fiction, fantasy and horror novels were picked and announced on June 25th by the Locus Science Fiction Foundation. There are lots of good possibilities for a summer read from the winners and the other nominated titles.

Kat Leyh’s Snapdragon came out in 2020, and it’s been almost a year since the last time I read it, but I still find myself talking about it all the time! What was initially just an interesting-sounding graphic novel that I picked up on a whim quickly became one of my absolute favorite middle grade books.

Get swept up in the sweetest, cutest, kindest, most romantic young love! Charlie and Nick sit next to each other in class and become friends.

Izumi lives in northern California with her single mother and behaves the same way so many high school seniors do: she hangs out with friends, they obsess over love interests, pancakes, style, and their present and future potential. Izzy, as she's known to her friends, has never met her father and doesn't even know his full name. She knows he's Japanese and went to Harvard with her mother but not much more. After some internet sleuthing to find likely candidates an exciting truth is uncovered: Izzy's dad is the Crown Prince of Japan.  

Beautiful illustrations and masterful storytelling await  as you step into the world of Himawari House by Harmony Becker. This graphic novel follows the story of three young people, Nao, Hyejung, and Tina, as they move to Japan to forge their own paths, attend Japanese language school, and discover themselves. Becker’s illustrations help to tell the story of Nao seeking to connect with her Japanese roots and how the three foreign exchange students struggle with language barriers, relationships, and everyday trials and tribulations.

Shara Wheeler has been Chloe Green's nemesis for years. She's perfect, everyone loves her, and she is Chloe's only competition for valedictorian. So when Shara kisses Chloe in an elevator and then vanishes in the middle of prom a few days later, Chloe knows something is up.