Reviews written by Jan Farnworth, Staff Reviewer

A Game of Noctis is perfect for fans who like competition, masterful gameplay, and a sense of achieving something better than what you have been dealt. It is an island where you are focused on achieving a higher game standing every day so you can live a better life...

I loved the first installment of Lux and loved this even more. We find ourselves on a quest to assist all the realms against someone collecting the Spellbinder books, and this quest is complete of friendship, songs, Drake Ransom's rugged good looks, humor, and twists that make the middle grade...

The Debutantes was a fast-paced thriller that shows the dark and mysterious side of secret societies and the debutante world in New Orleans, filled with these elements as a part of history and culture. The author knows New Orleans – not just the touristy places but also the society and...

The first two books introduce characters and the persecuted world they live in, and yet this time, Zelie and co have been kidnapped, and a whole new set of adversaries are savagely tearing the Maji apart. The Skulls have violent blood magic, and their brutal King believes he can steal...

Virch is a fast-paced SF novel with engaging characters that explores the idea that reality may be a complex concept to pin down. When virtual realities are no more than a zig-zag glance away, how do we know that we are living an actual existence and are not "riding our...

The Not So Chosen One, the first book in the Spellbinders series, is a dream made real for any kid who grew up with a set of dice and a page of character sheets in front of them. Andrew Auseon sends his lonely protagonist, Ben, on the adventure of a...

This fast-paced YA fantasy novel was a pleasure to read, a total of intricate world-building that requires you to tap into your imagination and is very open to interpretation. I loved the take on Indigenous culture in the story, with the mention of ancestors and passing on traditions through the...

The Temptation of Magic by Megan Scott is a contemporary fantasy with a forbidden romance, enemies to lovers, paranormal academia vibes, and many creatures, magic, and powers! We get a double POV story from Nicole and Kyan, a forced proximity forbidden romance with a slow burn and a great payoff....

Lightningborn is the first in a series of books by Julie Kagawa called Storm Dragons. The series title tells you that storms and the magic surrounding these kinds of dragons are involved. Our tale is told from alternating points of view between a princess and an orphaned boy....

When I first saw the cover, I was immediately captivated by its stunning design! As soon as I read the synopsis, I was hooked. A girl disguising herself as a man to enter an engineer's guild trial and solve her father's murder? As I started this book, the vibes I...

Even when we crash, we intertwine, and so goes the relationship between Inan and Zélie in this very fast-paced, moving story. The story is laid out from 3 points of view: Inan, Zélie, and Amari. Magic has returned, but unintended consequences have occurred as a result. Not only did the...

Something unusual for a YA fantasy novel- Spin of Fate has a complicated magic system with complex world-building and focuses heavily on philosophical ideas about morality. Based loosely on the law of karma, the world is separated into four segments based on the "spin" of a person's soul and morals....

The Witching Wind is a middle-grade magical realism novel based around a magical wind that blows in with a monarch butterfly as the only warning to batten down the hatches. The story follows two girls, one who is disabled and a foster child, the other who is just trying...

Jaden Powers and the Inheritance of Magic would be perfect for fans of The Marverllers and the Night Brothers; this magical middle-grade fantasy celebrates a shy boy who must become his hero—reeling from the death of his best friend, discovering a note from his friend asking desperately for help and...

Blood and Fury is the second book in the two-book series that started with Chaos and Flame. The worldbuilding of this story is incredibly unique, and that is what kept me reading the most. The love story is cute, and I root for it in both books; the...