I’m a former middle school teacher and high school athletics coach. I’ve spent so much time trying to nurture many students as they try to navigate growing up and figuring out who they are. I draw from their tragic stories in hopes of showing students that they’re not alone in their struggles. I also draw snippets from my challenging childhood that, in recent years, I realized I had to cut my father and stepmother out of my life because of how psychologically abusive and manipulative they are. The upside is my self-worth has significantly improved. I hope to empower others through my books.
Ragnarok Unwound by Kristin Jacques is an incredible storyteller that paints vivid pictures and builds an engaging cast of characters.
I love how her stories compel me to keep reading to find out what happens next. The stories are real, raw, and relatable. You’ll find yourself rooting for the hero to overcome all obstacles.
Just ask Ikepela Ives, whose estranged mother left her with the power to unravel the binding threads of fate. Stuck with immortal power in a mortal body, Ives has turned her back on the duty she never wanted.
But it turns out she can't run from her fate forever, not now that Ragnarok has been set in motion and the god at the center of that tangled mess has gone missing. With a ragtag group of companions-including a brownie, a Valkyrie, and the goddess of death herself-Ives embarks on her first official mission as Fate Cipher-to…
You don’t need to have read any Jane Austen books to fall in love with Maria Grace’s fantastical spin on the old classic.
You can’t go wrong with adding dragons to a good story, especially when they exhibit catlike behavior from time to time. Her stories are rich in detail and backstory that really make her books sing.
England is overrun by dragons of all shapes and sizes. Most people are blissfully unaware of them and the Pendragon Treaty that keeps the peace between human and dragon kind. Only those born with preternatural hearing, like Fitzwilliam Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet are able to hear and converse with dragonkind.When the first firedrake egg laid in a century is stolen from Pemberley, the fragile dragon peace teeters on collapse. Darcy has no choice but to chase down the thief, a journey that leads him to quaint market town of Meryton and fellow Dragon Keeper, Elizabeth Bennet. Elizabeth shares a unique…
Fablehaven was a huge hit for good reason. It’s an alternate reality story where fantastical creatures, like fairies and satyrs live right under our noses.
The series follows a brother and sister who take very different paths to protect this hidden magical world. Brandon Mull has other equally creative and engaging books that are hard to put down.
"The dialogue snaps and sizzles. . . like Harry Potter, Fablehaven can be read aloud in a family with as much pleasure for grownups as for children. . . Do yourself a favor, and don't miss the first novel by a writer who is clearly going to be a major figure in popular fantasy." — Orson Scott Card, New York Times Bestselling Author
"Imagination runs wild in Fablehaven. It is a lucky book that can hold this kind of story." — Obert Skye, Author of Leven Thumps and the Gateway to Foo
For centuries, mystical creatures of all description were…
This series grabbed me from page one. I don’t make a habit of reading books including the Fae, but I absolutely fell in love with everything she’s written after that.
You can tell she does her research on fae mythology, yet adds her own touches to it, including blending their world with ours.
In the realm of very scary faeries, no one is safe.
Sixteen-year-old Kaye is a modern nomad. Fierce and independent, she travels from city to city with her mother's rock band until an ominous attack forces the sixteen-year-old back to her childhood home. There, amid the industrial, blue-collar New Jersey backdrop, Kaye soon finds herself an unwilling pawn in an ancient power struggle between two rival faerie kingdoms—a struggle that could very well mean her death.
Holly Black's enormously powerful voice weaves teen angst, riveting romance, and capriciously diabolical faerie folk into an enthralling, engaging, altogether original reading experience.
Her series in progress is such a delightfully unexpected and unpredictable tale. Every time I thought I knew what was going to happen next, the story pivoted.
I love the blend of a present-day setting in North Carolina and Arthurian legends, and then a primal addition of African American history.
An Instant New York Times Bestseller! Winner of the Coretta Scott King - John Steptoe for New Talent Author Award
Filled with mystery and an intriguingly rich magic system, Tracy Deonn’s YA contemporary fantasy reinvents the King Arthur legend and “braids together Southern folk traditions and Black Girl Magic into a searing modern tale of grief, power, and self-discovery” (Dhonielle Clayton, New York Times bestselling author of The Belles).
After her mother dies in an accident, sixteen-year-old Bree Matthews wants nothing to do with her family memories or childhood home. A residential program for bright high schoolers at UNC–Chapel Hill…
Mia Evers never expected school to be easy, but the demon-haunting homeroom totally complicates things.
Going to a new school sucks. Trying to fit in as a Dark sucks more. All the other alignments enjoy an easy, normal life of wielding the elements or communing with plants, animals, and spiritual beings. But Darks? Ghosts and demons give them zero personal space, not to mention the creeps. Right as things seem to be getting normal, the homeroom demon spreads a deadly curse. With no one to turn to for help, Mia's the only person in the whole school with the power to fight demons and save her classmates. Can Mia find the courage to embrace her totally not-normal demon-slaying powers before the demon decides she's next on the menu?
My favorite fantasy novels tend to be rather complex. Winding plotlines, mysteriously interconnected characters, whimsical settings, and intricate, thoughtful worldbuilding combine to create immersive stories that stick in the mind like overworn folklore. Time travel or interworld travel lend additional layers of intrigue and mystery, forcing the inescapable contemplation of a more thrilling, alternate reality. And if it’s all packaged in artful, breathtaking prose that breeds full-color images, audible noises, indelible flavors, nose-crumpling odors, and tangible textures, I will happily lose myself in the pages, truly forgetting about the strictures of everyday life… at least until I get hungry and remember I need to consume more than books to survive.
An Heir of Realms tells the tale of two young heroines—a dragon rider and a portal jumper—who fight dragon-like parasites to save their realms from extinction.
Rhoswen is training as a Realm Rider to work with dragons and burn away the Narxon swarming into her realm. Rhoswen’s dream is to Ride, but her destiny will pit her against her uncle and king, who have scorned her since before her birth.
In the Exchange, the waystation between realms, Emmelyn fights the G’Ambit, a gambling ring with members more intent on lining their pockets than protecting the realms—or their own lives.
Realm-devouring parasites threaten all existence. The Exchange is desperate to destroy them. But could their radical plans endanger the realms, too?
Soul-sucking parasites are overwhelming the realms.
Rhoswen of Stanburh is of age to train as a Realm Rider—a defender of the realms. Riders and their dragons work together to burn away infiltrating Narxon as they swarm in through tears in a realm’s fabric. But it’s not an easy battle: the mere touch of the smoky, dragon-like adversaries can reduce the lively winged beasts—and their Riders—to ash.
Becoming a Realm Rider is Rhoswen’s dream, but she carries far more responsibility…
