Conjured by Sarah Beth Durst

Oh, the Cybils and its abundance of riches. This year, it seems like review copies are coming in about two weeks later than normal, so I'm hustling along as best I can...

One book that stopped me in my reading tracks was Conjured by Sarah Beth Durst (Bloomsbury - Walker). Eve hardly knows anything that the agents in the protection program don't tell her. She needs instructions on the basics of everything in her life. But when she looks at the birds on the wallpaper, she can make them fly. She remembers...a magician, a storyteller, a circus, deaths. But when she uses her magic, when she remembers, she's sick and loses time. The only way to use her magic safely is to breathe it into Zach, a boy who can take it and shape it anew.

Who is she? What do her memories mean?

What makes this book tick:

• Memory as mystery
• Secrets! Lies!
• Meditation on humanity
• Following your heart to find justice

Antigoddess by Kendare Blake

Antigoddess by Kendare Blake (Macmillan - Tor Teen) swings away from the ghostly toward the gods. They aren't gone from this world, but they're trying their best to live quiet lives away from the stresses of being, well, gods. Now they're getting sick, and there's a war coming. Knock off another god, and you'll live longer...

What makes this book tick:

• Larger-than-life characters who are also still teens
• Sharp, dark writing
• Dark take on mythology, including the Trojan War
• Combines fantasy and horror

Paper Valentine by Brenna Yovanoff

Paper Valentine by Brenna Yovanoff (Penguin - Razorbill) has a sort of lazy, hot, oppressive feel to it, and not just because the book takes place in midsummer. Hannah has a friend who’s always hanging around; wherever she goes, Lillian goes too. The thing is, Lillian is dead. And pretty soon, she's not the only dead girl Hannah knows, since there's a killer leaving bloody valentines in the park.

What makes this book tick:

• Excellent imagery
• Believable teenagers
• Murder mystery
• Characters who don’t fit the everyday stock types

The Rose Throne by Mette Ivie Harrison

The Rose Throne by Mette Ivie Harrison (Egmont) gave me a lot to think about. It follows the lives of two princesses in what could be called rival kingdoms. Both are of an age where they’re expected to take on their royal duties and marry for strategy, and both has to push against the boundaries of what girls are allowed to do. What gives The Rose Throne an extra twist is that there are two kinds of magic—one that’s the province of women, and one the province of men. To have the “wrong” magic can be a death sentence…

What makes this book tick:

• Interesting gender-related magic
• …that gets deconstructed
• Romance
• High-level politics