Tag Archives: Curses

YA – Build a Girlfriend

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Luz, Elba. Build a Girlfriend. Simon and Schuster, 2025. 978-1-665-94253-9. $19.99. 357 p. Grades 9-12.

Amelia Hernandez just graduated from high school and finds herself single – again. She blames it on her family curse – her mom, aunts, and sisters are all destined to be alone and while they have accepted their fate, Amelia has not. Determined to figure out why her relationships keep failing, she embarks on the “Hernandez Romance Boot Camp” with the help of her invasive family. Amelia’s plan is to contact her exes to see where she went wrong and how she can use that information to improve her future relationships. When she unexpectedly runs across Leon, the one ex that got away, she decides to implement a little revenge plot against him, but her complicated feelings start to get in the way. Combine that with the fact that she plans on leaving her family and their new bakery business to complete a gap year program (but hasn’t broken the news to them yet), Amelia has a lot to deal with and just wants to make it through the summer. 

THOUGHTS: Luz does a great job of creating a book that focuses on a women-centric Puerto Rican family and the love and humor they bring to each other’s lives, even if they can drive each other crazy. YA readers will enjoy reading about Amelia and how she navigates these interesting familial relationships and how she develops throughout the book to the point where she finally is able to decide what she really wants and is able to communicate her needs to her family.

Romance

YA – Sleep Like Death

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Bayron, Kalynn. Sleep Like Death. Bloomsbury YA, 2024. 978-1-547-60976-5. $19.99. 352 p. Grades 9-12.

Princess Eve has been trained to do one thing for her entire life: kill the Black Knight whose corrupt bargains harm everyone in the village of Queen’s Bridge. His beast-like-castle stalks the hills and mountains surrounding the town, waiting for the next person desperate enough to strike a bargain. Eve wants to make him pay, especially since her own life has been affected by the Knight. As her 17th birthday nears, Huntress of the castle continues to train her, but her mother, Queen Regina, grows distant and desperate as she pleads to a secret magic mirror in her room, and the Knight’s messenger, a young man named Nova, does his best to warn Eve away from pursuing the Knight herself. As Eve discovers family secrets and lies, her life begins to unravel, but new allies remind her that there is still hope and a chance to save the village once and for all.

THOUGHTS: Sleep Like Death is a retelling of the Snow White story, and with the live action Snow White coming to theaters soon, the fairy tale may again gain some popularity among readers. I enjoyed this fractured version, as well as the many plot twists! As she did with Cinderella is Dead, Bayron brings diversity, originality, and adventure to a beloved tale.

Fantasy  

YA – Deep is the Fen

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Wilkinson, Lili. Deep is the Fen. Delacorte Press, 2024. 978-0-593-56266-6. $19.99. 416. Grades 9-12.

Merry lives in the small town of Candlecott with her two best friends, Saul and Teddy. Merry has been pining after Teddy for some time now, and when she learns he’s going to join the secret Toadmen society, she’s stunned and upset. Merry is determined to save Teddy from the Toadmen and their evil magic. In order to follow Teddy on his adventure, she’s forced to team up with snobby Caraway Boswell. Although Merry cannot stand him, he’s surprisingly asked her to accompany him to the same Toadmen gathering where Teddy is headed in Deeping Fen. As this is her only option, she finds herself in the heart of the Toadmen organization and begins to discover their horrifying secrets. With Caraway’s help, Merry will do whatever it takes to save Teddy from the Toadmen’s clutches and the influence of magic.

THOUGHTS: Although Deep is the Fen can be read as a stand alone novel, readers may also be interested in Wilkinson’s first novel, A Hunger of Thorns, which takes place in the same world and features one of the characters in Deep is the Fen. This enemies to lovers story will appeal to both readers of dark, urban fantasy and romance, and after finishing this novel, readers will never look at toads quite the same way again.

Fantasy

YA – A Curse for True Love

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Garber, Stephanie. A Curse for True Love. Flatiron Books, 2023. 978-1-250-85120-8. $20.99. 448 p. Grades 9-12.

Evangeline Fox has lost her memories. She knows very few things to be true: she traveled to Magnificent North, she married Prince Apollo, and they live seemingly happily together in the castle. However, she knows that something has happened, something involving a mysterious Lord Jacks. Apollo has told her to stay away from him because he is dangerous and the reason her memories are gone. Little does she know that Apollo is the one who stole her memories and wants to keep Evangeline all to himself. In order to keep the secret, he must kill Jacks once and for all. Through the alternating point of views of Apollo, Jacks, and Evangeline, Apollo’s plan starts to fall apart as Evangeline starts to ask questions and is unequivocally drawn to the mysterious stranger, Archer, that comes to her rescue and encourages her to remember who she is. As the prince slowly becomes the villain and the villain the hero, Evanegline will have no choice but to listen to her heart and trust that true love will guide her along her way to her fairy tale ending. “She was the moth, and Jacks was still the flame.”

THOUGHTS: My expectations for the finale of this series were high. Maybe too high? Although I still loved every moment of this book, I was left feeling as if the story was unfinished as there were still many unanswered questions as I finished the last few pages. However, with the way the book ended, I’m hoping for more stories from the Magnificent North and maybe a bit more of Jacks and Evangeline in future, companion novels. As with the previous two books in the series, its pages are filled with magic spells, deceptions, forgotten stories, danger, curses, and above all, the power of true love. “Other stories were brewing in the Magnificent North.”

Fantasy         

YA – A Hunger of Thorns

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Wilkinson, Lili. A Hunger of Thorns. Delacorte Press, 2023. 978-0-593-56266-6. $19.99. 432 p. Grades 9-12.

When Maude and Oddette were young girls, they were best friends. Maude, a daughter of witches, processed magic in the form of storytelling. They would have grand and wild adventures through the stories Maude would tell. Now, they’re grown up. Maude has lost her magic, and Odette, no longer her friend, is missing. Odette has always longed to possess magic as her friend did, and Maude knows she went into the forbidden Sticklehurst to hunt for it. Armed only with her stories and flashes of her past inside of the abandoned power plant, Maude journeys into Sticklehurst to rescue her former friend and become the hero of one of her own stories. Will she be able to defeat the monsters once and for all?

THOUGHTS: A Hunger of Thorns is an urban wonderland full of magic, stories, cursed princes, monsters, and wild girls trying to find their place in the world. I’d recommend this one to readers looking for a more sinister and darker fantasy. Although this can be read as a stand alone novel, a sequel planned for the same world, but with different characters and storylines, will be published next year. 

Fantasy

YA – Violet Made of Thorns

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Chen, Gina. Violet Made of Thorns. Hodder and Stoughton, 2022. 978-1-399-70777-0. 359 p. $18.99. Grades 12 and up.

Violet is a prophet with a problem… She’s a liar. The soon to be crowned Prince Cyrus is aware of this and has told her his plan for getting rid of her. However, Violet has no plans of going back to where she was before she became the King’s prophet so she forms a plan. But that plan causes a deadly curse that can either end in the kingdom being destroyed, or Violet can figure out a plan. There is one slight problem with this curse which is that it requires Violet to spend time with Prince Cyrus who hates her, or does he? Violet needs to figure out where she stands with the Prince so she can save the kingdom and her own skin.

THOUGHTS: This was a super fun enemies to lovers fantasy novel with minimal fantasy world building. If you are looking to get into fantasy or aren’t the biggest fan of it, this might be the read for you! There are some intense sexual scenes, so this is not for readers under grade 12.

Fantasy          Mary McEndree, Lehigh Valley Regional Charter Academy

Violet is a seer, and although she does have visions, most of her prophecies are lies to please the king and his agenda. After saving Prince Cyrus when he was just a child, Violet was brought to the castle to replace the previous seer who died after prophesying a curse upon the kingdom. Violet fuels the rumors about the curse after she announces the prince will meet his true love at the upcoming ball, a plan set in motion by the king. However, Cyrus has always seen past Violet’s deceptions, and Violet has always been immune to his charms. The night of the ball doesn’t go as planned, and Violet unknowingly awakens another curse that could threaten them all. Forced to work together, Violet and Cyrus cannot deny the attraction between them despite their better judgment. In the end, the curse, and their love, could be their salvation or their destruction. 

THOUGHTS:  Violent certainly draws the line between a heroine and a villain in this morally gray story of lies, deceptions, curses, beasts, and prophecies. I’d recommend this one to fans of Holly Black’s Cruel Prince series, since Violet and Cyrus have a similar relationship as Jude and Cardan. Violet is a strong, clever, and unapologetic seer who will do anything to survive in the deceptive world she belongs in, and some of her choices will surprise readers until the very end. There are some romantic scenes within the novel, but nothing overly descriptive or out of place for a YA novel. 

Fantasy          Emily Hoffman, Conestoga Valley SD

YA – The Ballad of Never After

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Garber, Stephanie. The Ballad of Never After. Hodder and Stoughton, 2022. 978-1-250-87543-3. 403 pg. $19.99. Grades 10-12.

The Ballad of Never After starts right after the events of the first book, bringing the reader along with Evangeline after she was betrayed by the Prince of Hearts. Evangeline still has the issue of her true love, Apollo, being cursed and now it seems that the curse is affecting her as well. In order to break this curse, Evangeline finds herself working with Jacks, the Prince of Hearts, against her better judgment. Will she be able to break the curse before it kills her? Evangeline always has been able to follow her heart, but this time it might lead her into the wrong arms.

THOUGHTS: This series is super easy to follow and isn’t extremely fantasy heavy, which makes it a great series for readers who aren’t into heavier fantasy reads. There is a lot of romance found within both books. There also are some spicy scenes, so this would be more appropriate for higher high school grades.  

Fantasy          Mary McEndree, Lehigh Valley Regional Charter Academy
Romance