Stolen Magic

Stolen Magic by Gail Carson Levine, 2015 HarperCollins

     Elodie continues her apprenticeship with the dragon Masteress Meenore. In an effort to expand Lodie's education Meenore and the Ogre, Duke Jonty Um, travel to the outer reaches of the kingdom and stop at Lodie's home in Lahnt.
     On Lahnt Lodie discovers that the magic Replica, which holds the island together, is missing from its magical base. Legend holds that if the Replica of Lahnt is removed from its base the island's seven peaks will explode for being torn apart. In the midst of a spring snowstorm Lodie, Meenore, and Count Jonty Um are trapped in the shrine which hosts the Replica.
     Lodie and Meenore investigate the missing Replica as the island begins to prove legend true. When the peaks begin to erupt the Count cannot stand idle and uses his ability to shift shapes to save citizens of Lahnt.
     Lodie stretches her investigative wings as Meenore releases the search for the Replica into her hands. Lodie enjoys her work but faces dissent from her family and the other people of Lahnt. The people worry Lodie is being taken advantage of by the dragon and are concerned the girl is spending too much time with the ogre.
     When the island is nearly torn apart and Lodie is given the chance to return with her Masteress or to rejoin her family. Her dreams of becoming a professional mansioner become a possibility, but at what cost?
     Middle-grade readers will enjoy the light-hearted mystery with a touch of adventure. Though a sequel Stolen Magic can be read stand-alone.

Thor's Serpents

Thor's Serpents by K.L. Armstrong & M.A. Marr, 2015 Little, Brown & Company

     After Owen and his berserkers join the Blackwell kids and their collected demigods the group has a harder time hiding from Mayor Thorsen and the forces trying to bring about Ragnarok. Fen is tricked into taking control fo the wulfenkind pack he's been avoiding joining for years and becomes Loki's representative leading the monsters of Ragnarok.
     Laurie is stunned by her cousin's betrayal and even angrier when Owen saw it coming but didn't tell her. With Matt, Baldwin, Owen, and the twins, Laurie doesn't have time to resolve her feelings before another bombshell drops: Astrid is the Midgard Serpent.
     Matt is already worried about battling the Great Serpent when he discovers he'll have to fight a girl. That the girl is the one who killed Baldwin doesn't help matters. But Astrid doesn't want to fight Matt either, and she has a plan.
     But rules are rules and - although no one knows the rules - when rules are broken the game is changed, along with all the plans the children have made. When the final battle comes Fen, Laurie, Matt and their new friends fight against the end of the world as they know it.
     Thor's Serpents is the final book in the Blackwell Pages Trilogy. The young teens have worries bigger than starting school in September. The fate of the world rests on their shoulders and the young teens learn the value of trust, friendship, and believing in themselves.

Pennyroyal Academy

Pennyroyal Academy by M. A. Larson, 2014 G.P. Putnam's Sons Publishing

   From the north, a young girl battles her way through enchanted forests and barren landscapes for a chance to become a legendary princess at Pennyroyal Academy. Pennyroyal has a reputation for building and training knights and princesses of note to fight the great dangers of the day: dragons and witches. But with fewer and fewer candidates of noble blood, they've opened the doors to common-born candidates for the first time. The girl without a name becomes "Eleven", though her new friends christen her Evie.
     Evie is running from something, but she doesn't want to reveal too much to the people around her. The child was raised by dragons and believed herself to be one until she couldn't master the art of flight. This is her chance to start anew.
     At the academy under the care of the steely Fairy Drill Seargent Evie, Demetra, Basil, Maggie and the rest of their candidate class undergo rigorous training to build the core traits of courage, Compassion, Kindness, and Discipline in their quest to become fully-fledged Pennyroyal Princesses. Along the way the usual conflicts between classmates, bullying, pre-teen crushes, and the knowledge that they are at war plague the cadets. Evie discovers that being human may be even more difficult than becoming and being a Princess.
     Pennyroyal Academy is set in the world of Grimm's fairytales and draws on the stories of classic princesses as history. It deals with some mature content - consent and the boundary of humanity in war, in a format more easily accessible to younger readers. With rampant violence (they are training to kill witches and dragons) parents may want to preview the story before offering it to younger readers.

Pale Demon

Pale Demon by Kim Harrison, 2011 Harper Voyager

     After the Coven agreed to grant her immunity for the black magic she'd used, Rachel Morgan, independent runner, spunky smart-ass, and day-walking demon, leaves Cincinnati to attend her formal pardon at the annual witches' meeting in San Francisco. She ends up ferrying Trent Kalamack, and her roommates Ivy and Jenks across the country in her mother's Buick.
     In St. Louis Trent releases the genetically engineered demon Ku'Sox from his prison. Like Rachel, Ku'Sox is a day-walking demon, but unlike Rachel he has no soul. Ku'Sox creates trouble along the way and very nearly kills Rachel. He was intended to be the bridge between witches and demons, but went crazy and was trapped magically and physically under the St. Louis Arch. Ku'Sox follows Rachel and her carload West to the Witches' Convention creating havoc.
     Rachel insists on believing the Coven will keep their promise, despite Ivy, Jenks, and Trent telling her otherwise. When she picks up the Coven's spy and the menagerie makes it to San Francisco Ku'Sox continues to cause problems for Rachel. Trent disappears on some Elven quest and all hell breaks loose.
     Despite everything the Coven of Moral and Ethical Standards has done to show Rachel they have no intention of upholding their deal when they can kill her, Rachel believes they will. When the Coven requires her aid to survive they have no choice but to agree to her terms. Rachel continues to battle internally with what it means to be a demon and whether she can remain a good person while still protecting her friends, family, and society as she knows it.
     Readers will enjoy the fast-paced action of Pale Demon along with its dose of inappropriate humor, uneasy friendships, and unexpected romance, all shoved into a Buick traveling from Cincinnati to San Francisco.