The Buried and the Bound
By Rochelle Hassan
Roaring Brook Press, 2023. 375 pages. Young Adult Fantasy
As the only hedgewitch in Blackthorn, Massachusetts--an uncommonly magical place--Aziza El-Amin has bargained with wood nymphs, rescued palm-sized fairies from house cats, banished flesh-eating shadows from the local park. But when a dark entity awakens in the forest outside of town, eroding the invisible boundary between the human world and fairyland, run-of-the-mill fae mischief turns into outright aggression, and the danger--to herself and others--becomes too great for her to handle alone. Leo Merritt is no stranger to magical catastrophes. On his sixteenth birthday, a dormant Curse kicked in and ripped away all his memories of his true love. A miserable year has passed since then. He doesn't even know his true love's name, but he feels the absence in his life, and it's haunting. Desperate for answers, he makes a pact with Aziza: he'll provide much-needed backup on her nightly patrols, and in exchange, she'll help him break the curse. When the creature in the woods sets its sights on them, their survival depends on the aid of a mysterious young necromancer they're not certain they can trust. But they'll have to work together to eradicate the new threat and take back their hometown... even if it forces them to uncover deeply Buried secrets and make devastating sacrifices.
This urban fantasy with dark academia vibes has my whole heart. The characters are young and flawed but it is so amazing to see them develop throughout the story. I wasn’t even halfway through before I decided I loved all three and would die for any of them. The writing is a perfect blend of whimsy and suspense, and I found myself underlining favorite lines every other page. If you're looking for a spooky fall read with multiple perspectives and a diverse cast, I would definitely check this one out.
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Shades of Rust and Ruin
By A.G. Howard
Bloomsbury, 2022. 391 pages. Young Adult Fantasy
Phoenix "Nix" Loring knows her family is under a Halloween curse. When she was three, her parents tragically died on October 31st. Eleven years later, her twin sister Lark suffered a similar fate. Ever since, Nix has battled survivor guilt. She can't even find comfort in Clarey, Lark's boyfriend and the one person who understands her pain, because Nix's hidden feelings for him go far beyond friendship. All that remains are her sketches, where she finds solace among the goblins and faeries in her imaginary world of Mystiquel. When her depression starts affecting her ability to see color, Nix all but gives up on her art, until her uncle goes missing on Halloween day. Hot on his trail, Nix and Clarey step through a portal, becoming trapped inside a decaying version of their town filled with Nix's own sketches come to life. As Nix and Clarey search for her uncle within the sinister and dangerous world of Mystiquel, Nix discovers there's more to her family curse and otherworldly artwork than she ever imagined-and unless she can solve the Goblin King's maze before the clock strikes midnight, her life won't be the only one the curse claims next.
The Raven Boys
By Maggie Stiefvater
Scholastic Press, 2012. 390
