There was a prophecy that foretold of the next witch queen. She would be a descendant of one of the Hawkweed sisters, Raven or Charlock. To ensure that her own daughter would become queen, powerful witch Raven ensured her sister would only carry sons, which are unwanted by the coven and destined to die. When Charlock finally becomes pregnant with a girl, Raven switches the baby witch with a human child, in a flash of magic that no one notices.

But Raven never expected the girls to find one another in a wooded glen one day. The two girls—sweet Ember Hawkweed, with her inability to produce even the most meager spell; and troublemaker Poppy Hooper, who has lived her whole life with the strangest occurrences happening around her, from cats shadowing her to spontaneous fire—make an instant connection. But as the truth comes out about Raven’s betrayal, it won’t be easy to make things right, especially when the two girls begin to fall for the same boy, Leo, who feels electricity from Poppy and warmth from Ember.

In this world, created by the acclaimed screenwriter of The Little Prince, magic is a delicate lattice that connects witches in their jealousies, power struggles and insecurities. Everyone in this story is an outsider, from Poppy’s mother who has gone mad from believing that her daughter is not her own, to Leo who lives on the streets. It seems that no one belongs, but their efforts to make sense of a world that doesn’t want them is what connects them all. The love triangle between Poppy, Ember and Leo is but a mere distraction as magic builds, and despite all the spells in the air, it’s the most unbelievable aspect of the story.

Author Irena Brignull tugs heartstrings here and there in The Hawkweed Prophecy, but she excels at tapping into something a little wicked. In the end, the reader isn’t so concerned that Poppy will end up happy, as much as they want to see just how much havoc she can wreak.

Zoraida Córdova’s latest book for young adults, Labyrinth Lost, brings a new perspective to the fantasy genre. Drawing on her Ecuadorian heritage, Córdova tells a story that is both culturally new yet hauntingly familiar.

Most of Alex Mortiz’s family members are brujas and brujos—women and men with magical abilities. They do not care for the term “witches” because their power comes from the Deos, the benevolent gods, not from the evil that the English word inspires. Alex, however, is frightened by the ferocity of her magic. She thinks it makes her do bad things. So as her Deathday arrives—a day of celebration and blessing—she is ready to refuse it and send it back to the Deos. When her cantos seems to backfire and she sends her entire family to Los Lagos, the realm of the dead, she must use her power to rescue them.

This is a coming-of-age story in all its particulars. Alex struggles with her feelings for a girl at school, for a handsome brujo and with who she wants to be in the world. As she and the brujo Nova confront obstacles on their trip across Los Lagos, the plot allows each difficult encounter to be as symbolic as necessary for her personal growth—without interfering with the adventure and suspense. Córdova’s prose is fluid and accessible, though readers may encounter some awkward passages.

Jennifer Bruer Kitchel is the librarian for a pre-K through eighth grade Catholic school.

Garvie Smith is a British teenager who, despite having the highest IQ at his school, has some of the lowest grades and abysmal ambition. His single mother threatens to move them both to her native Barbados if he doesn’t start performing better. This is a palpable threat to Garvie, as he doesn’t want to leave, but the only things that seem to motivate him to use his intellect are tricky puzzles, and there just aren’t enough of those. When his ex-girlfriend, Chloe Dow, is murdered, Garvie is sure that Detective Inspector Singh is missing too many clues. As he delves deeper into Chloe’s life, Garvie finds himself unable to not solve the mystery.

The similarities to Sherlock Holmes cannot be overlooked in this fast-paced crime mystery from author Simon Mason. Garvie is sullen and withdrawn unless he has a really good conundrum to put his mind to, much like Holmes. And like Inspector Lestrade, D.I. Singh is intelligent and sharp, but still needs help from an outsider. There is no Watson to speak of in this book, but it will be interesting to see if Mason brings one in later installments to this new series. The associations are subtle and may be overlooked by some readers, but the whodunit is well done and is a nice addition to the canon of popular adaptations and rewritings of the famed detective.

Jennifer Bruer Kitchel is the librarian for a Pre-K through eighth level Catholic school.

Otis and Meg were neighbors, best friends and sweethearts, until tragedy left Otis’ little brother dead and both families shattered. It’s been three years since the accident, since Meg’s family moved away, since Otis has heard from her. He’s coped with his grief by joining forces with 18-year-old Dara, who’s determined to make him the Olympic swimmer she once dreamed of becoming. But when Meg suddenly announces she’ll be returning for the summer, Otis realizes it’s time to make some big decisions about what he can hold onto and what he must leave behind in order to move forward.

Phantom Limbs treats teenage love—romantic and platonic—in a manner at once lighthearted and heartbreakingly poignant. Otis is a refreshingly authentic male protagonist, who will win readers over as he navigates his way through his grief and the impact it’s had on his relationships with friends and family. While Meg is a sweet character, it’s Otis’ swim coach and best friend, Dara, who steals the focus for much of the book, using caustic humor to cover both her sincere affection for Otis and several layers of deep-seated trauma.

The power of Garner’s debut novel is understated as it unites three teens who are working through the heartaches that define their individual and collective pasts and threaten to overtake their futures. It’s not a light read, but Garner’s elegant prose makes for an uplifting story about resilience and the power of relationships.

A lowly kitchen maid turned shapeshifter fights against evil forces in Hannah West’s enchanting debut.

Sixteen-year-old Bristal’s life is spared when elicromancers (shapeshifters) Brack and Tamarice rescue her from kidnappers determined to prove that she possesses magical powers. Bristal is surprised to discover her shapeshifting powers, and Brack and Tamarice acknowledge that she is the third in a group of remaining elicomancers. While the duty of elicomancers is to protect mortals, discord arises when Tamarice chooses the dark side of elicromancy. Casting a cruel spell during a royal child’s naming day is just the beginning of Tamarice’s machinations to overcome the realm of Nissera. Bristal takes on several guises to protect the cursed princess as well as to recover a lost duchess. But saving Nissera is more difficult than expected, especially when Tamarice seeks to destroy Bristal’s power.

Bristal, the mistress of disguises, shares common qualities of kindness and meekness as the other female characters she helps—Rosemund, the cursed princess (Sleeping Beauty), and Elinor, the lost duchess (Cinderella). But unlike her regal friends, Bristal is an amazing heroine, and her account is just as intriguing, if not more so, as the beloved fairy tales. Careful readers may catch glimpses from other stories, such as Jane Austen’s Emma and the Chinese legend of Hua Mulan. West’s narrative is replete with an unforgettable cast and wondrously descriptive, imaginative scenes.

A spellbinding, one-of-a kind fairy tale, Kingdom of Ash and Briars is a perfect balance of drama, comedy and romance.

Pitched as We Were Liars meets 1996’s The Craft, The Graces is the story of a trio of witches, told through the viewpoint of an outsider who wants to be like them. After 15-year-old River’s father disappears, she and her mother move to a small, coastal town. River quickly becomes obsessed with siblings Thalia, Fenrin and Summer Grace, who rule their high school with an unspoken power. Although the Graces don’t often get close to their classmates, they inexplicably welcome River into their inner circle. Soon, she’s being included in spells and invited to parties at the Grace’s exclusive home. River eventually discovers why the family has embraced her so willingly—they understand River in a way no one else does.

While author Laure Eve does a fair job of creating a mysterious air in River’s first-person narration, The Graces is a story that relies heavily on ambiguity and a major plot twist. The surfing town setting isn’t well drawn, and it isn’t until the teens use British slang (“take the piss”) that readers get a sense of place. The characters, as seen through River’s viewpoint, are enigmatic beings that River idolizes—but are they to be feared or worshipped? Readers will sense that River isn’t who she claims to be (River isn’t even her real name), and for that reason, they’ll anxiously flip through pages, trying to pinpoint her angle and motives. The payoff of the twist ending will be determined by the reader.

Kimberly Giarratano is the author of Grunge Gods and Graveyards, a young adult paranormal mystery.

Joanna’s out-and-proud life in Atlanta takes a devastating hit when her preacher father remarries and decides to move his Christian radio broadcast—and Joanna—to Rome, Georgia. It’s awful enough that Joanna has to spend her senior year as the new kid in a small town. But out of deference to the conservative attitudes prevalent in Rome, Joanna’s father asks her to lie low when it comes to her sexuality. Joanna promises, lured by a promise of a summer trip with her best friend and the chance to have her own radio show. And Joanna surprises herself by making friends with teens from her church group, enjoying a camaraderie that embraces her deep Christian faith. But one of the girls, Mary Carlson, takes Joanna’s breath away with both her beauty and her flirtatiousness. Is Mary Carlson gay? How can Joanna find out without breaking her promise to her father?

In this lovely, nuanced novel, Jaye Robin Brown explores many facets of life as a gay teen, including the risk of revealing a crush, the humiliating fiction of heterosexual dating and the fear of attracting hateful bigotry. Perhaps most moving, however, is Joanna’s expression of her fierce religious faith. She prays often (Dear heavenly Mother . . .) and aspires to spread hope and strength through her radio show by being “young, queer, and faithful.” This is what torments Joanna most about passing as straight, the sense that she is contributing to a toxic shame of homosexuality. This is a heartfelt look at one girl’s search for her true self.

Diane Colson is the Library Director at City College in Gainesville, Florida.

Set in 1976, Calla Devlin’s impressive debut, Tell Me Something Real, is a compelling coming-of-age novel with a trio of sisters at its center. The Babcock siblings—tight-knit but all very different—struggle to maintain a sense of normalcy in the face of their mother’s illness.

Adrienne, the outspoken oldest sister; Vanessa, the introverted middle child; and Marie, the adored baby of the family, split their time between San Diego and Tijuana, where their mother receives alternative treatments for leukemia. Vanessa, 16 years old and a talented pianist, narrates the story, chronicling changes both large and small in her sisters as they react to their fractured family life. The sisters’ overworked father is often absent, so when Caleb, a 17-year-old cancer patient in need of treatment, comes to live with the Babcocks, life looks a little brighter.

A rewarding read for teens, this is a smart, compassionate story about living with loss and learning to make the most of each moment.

This article was originally published in the September 2016 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Stealing Indians by John Smelcer is unapologetically grim, and this is a good thing. This story chronicles a very sad social experiment in American history: For nearly 100 years the Federal government sponsored a program of education that removed, sometimes forcibly, young Native-American children from their homes and families, often for years.

The story follows four youngsters from different tribes who travel many days on buses and trains with little or no food, drink or information to one of these so-called Indian schools. The three boys and one girl form a strong bond of friendship that proves to be steadfast. Whether they are searching in the middle of the night for Lucy, who jumps out a window to avoid a male predator, or providing food for Sammy through a loose brick in the wall while he is chained to a radiator as punishment for speaking Navajo, they always have each other’s backs.

The book covers the eradication of the children’s Native-American heritage through the cutting of hair and forbidding native language, ceremonies and stories. The scenes are not overly graphic, thus giving a glimpse into this sorry chapter of history that is appropriate for the targeted audience.

While the events of Stealing Indians are often disturbing, the young characters support each other's indomitable spirits and share stolen moments of freedom and defiance. 

Indian-American Reshma Kapoor isn’t the smartest or the most beloved at her Silicon Valley high school, but she is the best. Through careful study and manipulation of the grading system, she has become valedictorian. But with sub-standard SAT scores and meager extracurriculars, she’s not the ideal student for Stanford, her dream school. After her op-ed is published by the Huffington Post and a literary agent contacts her, Reshma realizes that she finally has her hook into Stanford. She will write a YA novel, using herself as the protagonist. She’s willing to do anything—from blackmailing her way into a friendship to threatening to sue anyone who might oppose her—to move her story arc along.

Rahul Kanakia’s debut is a definitive metafiction experience. Readers will question whether Reshma is a satirical antihero who reflects today’s convoluted race relations, education system and need for fame, or simply a teen who wants acceptance and love. Readers may not always like Reshma, but they won’t forget her story.

This article was originally published in the August 2016 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.