Bruja Born

Bruja Born by Zoraida Cordova, 2018 Sourcebooks Fire

     After the drama with her sister's powers, Bruja Lula Mortiz is not feeling he powers. In fact, Lula isn't feeling like herself at all. She holds back from her normal life, and even her magic-less boyfriend Maks notices.
     On the way to their last soccer game of the season, Maksim ends their relationship. Lula is devastated and wishes her magic could heal their relationship and bring back his love - not something bruja magic can or should do. The two busses of teen soccer players and cheerleaders are involved in a horrific accident which very few of Lula's classmates survive.
     Lula uses her powers to save Maks despite Death's protests. She convinces her sisters to help. The Mortiz daughters manage to bind Maks to Lula and to heal his wounds, but the spell is unsuccessful and turns Maks into a casimuerto - quasi-dead. Lula and her sisters, Alex and Rose, delve into Bruja lore but the casimuerto isn't well known. The mythology describes a creature like a zombie and when Maks begins to rampage across the city that's what it looks like: the zombie apocalypse.
     Now Lula, Alex, Rose and the rest of their coven are held responsible for the imbalance caused by the girls' spell. Lula must reset the balance because La Muerta is bound from completing her work and the casimuerto infection is spreading across New York City.
     How does one free Death to complete her work? Lula must figure it out or the witch-hunters will solve the problem in a much more permanent way. After the dramatic ordeal involving Alex's magic Lula is afraid to deal with the physical and emotional results of her sister's actions but learns she's the same bruja as before, just with an all-powerful sister at her side.
     This second story of the Brooklyn Brujas follows the eldest Mortiz sister as the girls learn to manage their magic and their lives in the aftermath of tragedy. Lula learns that just because they have the power doesn't mean they should and the consequences nearly destroy her entire world. Bruja Born is aimed at older teen and young adult readers who enjoy their magic with a touch of gruesome reality.

The Noble Servant

The Noble Servant by Melanie Dickerson, 2017 Thomas Nelson Publishing

     Magdalen of Mallin travels with her maid her Agnes's father to meet her intended grom: Duke Steffan of Wolfberg. On the way to Wolfberg Castle, Magdalen is forced to exchange places with her servant. 

     Unbeknownst to Magdalen, Steffan is having his own issues. His scheming uncle and cousin have kicked the rightful Duke out of his home and taken Steffan's place. After being left for dead on his journey home the rightful duke finds a position as a shepherd on his own estate. 

     Magdalen and the shepherd boy, Steffan find a common purpose in figuring out how to expose their usurpers. The one saving grace is that no one has seen Steffan in two years to recognize him and his uncle and cousin don't know to seek him out. 

     When her maid is kidnapped, Magdalen questions whether or not she should enlist aid to save the girl. Her position in the household is humiliating for a lady of her stature, but Agnes's intended is not the duke Magdalen met at the ball and compassion wins out. The double deception spells trouble for Mallin and Wolfberg.  Alongside Steffan, the more-than-he-seems shepherd, Magdalen uncovers the plotters and finds her place in her new home. 

     Dickerson's retelling of the Little Goose Girlfleshes out the fairytale in historical medieval Germany. Readers will enjoy the clean romance between Magdalen and Steffan as they get to know each other without the expectations and limitations of their status and the just desserts of villainous Agnes and Steffan's uncle. The Noble Servant is aimed at teens and young adults. 

Crimson Bound

Crimson Bound by Rosamund Hodge, 2015 Balzer + Bray

     Rachelle trained with her aunt to become the village's woodwife--to protect people from the Forest and the evil Forestborn. But Rachelle also dreamed of adventure and when a chance encounter with a Forestborn leads to her being marked as blood-bound--fated to kill or die within three days--she cannot help but murder to survive.
     Her will to live is stronger than her willingness to give up all she knows and Rachelle discovers the Foresborn will not allow her to fight that survival instinct. He brutally mutilates her aunt causing Rachelle to end her suffering. The mercy killing sets Rachelle on the path to become Forestborn herself. The fifteen-year-old escapes to the king's city and becomes one of his guards to survive.
     Rachelle becomes one of the king's best fighters. Her sworn duty is to protect the citizens from the Forestborn. But along the journey, a single crimson thread ties her to the Foresborn who marked her. The young woman doesn't know what it means or how to escape it, but no one else seems to be able to perceive this ever-present leash.
     In the course of her duties, Rachelle catches the notice of the king and is assigned to protect his son Armand. A revolution seems to be building around the young man though he doesn't seem to want to be a part of it. Armand enjoys poking fun at Rachelle and her hesitance to do anything which may offend the upright sensibilities of those who raised her. 

     The Forestborn returns to bring about the end of the world. The king and his overzealous court are mired in their debauchery, the king's mistress leading their parties into eternal damnation. Rachelle depends on her aunt's woodwife teachings to find a way to prevent the Endless Night. 

     Both the tools to defeat the Forestborn, the Forest, and the conspiracies ruling their nation and portal into danger--the Forest--are in the sun palace. Rachelle and Armand are unlikely and untrusting allies against the end of the world. 

    Rachelle is a relatable teen character: as a young teen she has a dream, but when she is tempted, like Little Red Riding Hood, to leave the path she makes a choice which changes the rest of her life. She must live with the consequences. Hodge creates a dark story filled with shades of gray as Rachelle learns how and who to fight to achieve her dream. 

Daughter of the Siren Queen

Daughter of the Siren Queen by Tricia Levenseller, 2018 Feiwel and Friends

   Alosa escaped the capture of a rogue pirate, Vordan, with Riden's help. After pretending to be Riden's captive aboard his ship, being locked in a cage at the mercy of her father's enemies is a humbling experience for the part-siren princess. As she continues to search for the magical island of the sirens Alosa's enemies prey on her father's teaching techniques to plant a seed of doubt.
     To keep her father from killing the man she is coming to love, Alosa brings Riden along as a member of her crew. Following her doubts brings the pirate princess to a secret her father has kept her entire life. Alosa frees her mother from a decade and a half of imprisonment. She expects her mother to stay and be a mother, but the Siren Queen has responsibilities of her own, and her daughter is nearly grown.
     Alosa is broken by first her father's betrayal and lies, then her mother's abandonment. She knows the Kalligan will come after his wayward daughter and escaped wife and, to save her crew, Alosa and her ship must put as much room between them as they can.
     To keep the Ava-lee and her crew alive and safe Alosa knows the king must be replaced. If she is to usurp her father Alosa needs gold. All the gold she could ever want is on the island her mother rules and her father seeks. The escaping pirates set course for the sirens' island.
     Alosa's crew encounters obstacles ranging from glass-calm seas without a scrap of wind and raging storms to cannibals and dehydration. It's a race against time and the Pirate King to find a solution to the corruption which has taken over the seas.
     Readers will enjoy the spunk of the half-siren pirate princess as she comes into her own. Pirates of the Caribbean meets the original Little Mermaid with a heroine who won't quit. Alosa appeals to readers of all ages, though her story has elements better suited to older teen and young adults.

Labyrinth Lost

Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida Cordova, 2017 Sourcebooks Fire

     The three Mortiz girls are brujas--witches. Alex is the middle and hasn't developed her powers yet. And she's okay with that. Alex hates magic, has hated it since an incident resulted in their father's disappearance. Alex's older sister Lula is a healer, like their mother, and her younger sister Rose has spirit magic. 

     When Alex begins to show signs of her magic she fights it. Her Deathday celebration is the event of the decade designed to help Alex gain better control of her magic. She still fights the magic and it results in the expulsion of her extended family into another dimension. 

     Sending her family away tears a hole in reality allowing monsters from the other side into the human realm. Those monsters are hunting the most powerful witch in decades: Alex Mortiz. Alex cannot handle the consequences and follows with her best friend and the neighborhood outcast. 

     On the other side, Alex learns that her magic isn't the curse she's made it out to be in her mind since her father vanished. The anger she has harbored toward Mr. Ortiz's disappearance has been redirected to her uncontrolled power and the journey through the other side reminds Alex that her unharnessed power is a dangerous and unpredictable part of her. 

     When her traveling companions are endangered by the monsters in the realm Alex learns to harness her gift and her emotions as the only way to get them all out and save her family. Alex and her friends meet fae, escape from hellbeasts, and outwit minor deities. 

     Steeped in Latinx mythology, Labyrinth Lost explores family and community through a lens of self-acceptance. Alex learns to accept herself and tap into her magic--learning there is always a cost for magic. The cost to bring her family home may be more than her magic is able to handle. Teen readers who enjoy supernatural stories and the usual self-discovery arc will enjoy this cultural take on the self-realization and -acceptance.