Reviews written by Penny Olson

Ella Durand is the first Conjurer to attend Arcanum Training Institute, where Marvellers learn to discover and develop their magical talents. Marvellers have historically looked down on Conjure magic, labelling it "dark and unnatural." Ella is excited about her new school and eager to prove herself and make new friends....

I really liked J. Elle's Wings of Ebony duology so was eagerly anticipating House of Marionne. Unfortunately, this book fell short for me. The story follows Quell who has lived her whole life on the run with her mom, trying to hide the dangerous, forbidden magic she possesses. The beginning...

The Meadows is set in a future in a country which has been ravaged by climate disaster. The Quorum, a totalitarian government has taken control and has created a society based on homophobia, misogyny, white supremacy and lies. The story follows Eleanor who lives in a small rural,...

True, True follows Gil, a 17-year-old Black student as he starts his senior year at an elite, mostly white prep school in Manhattan, commuting in from his Caribbean neighborhood in Brooklyn. Gil is dealing with a lot. His father is in Jamaica trying to work on immigration documents to be...

Threads That Bind is a fantasy/mystery involving a magic system in which some of the characters (the Other-born) are descended from Greek gods and share their powers. Io and her sisters are descended from the Fates; she is a Cutter who can see and cut the Threads between people, things...

I Like Me Better follows Zack in the summer before Senior year. Zack is hoping to become captain of his soccer team. He looks up to the graduating captain, Ryan, and takes the blame for a stupid, insensitive prank that Ryan pulled, to prevent the whole team from getting into...

Emsy has always know that she's a witch, but her powers have never gone farther than lighting candles. She loves her girlfriend and friends in California, so when her parents tell her they have to suddenly move to upstate New York because of the murder of some of their coven...

How to Succeed in Witchcraft follows Shay Johnson, a Junior at the T.K. Anderson Magical Magnet School. Shay is determined to win a prestigious scholarship to the magical equivalent of an Ivy League university, not only because she is ambitious but mostly because her family is not well off financially....

The Sunbearer Trials is a fantasy inspired by Mexican mythology, set in the modern land of Reino del Sol, each of its cities governed by a different dios. The story follows Teo, the trans semidios son of Quetzal, Diosa of birds. Every ten years semidioses from all over the land...

High school drama student Avril Kendrick is returning to Whisper Cove, Connecticut for two reasons: she has won a spot in a prestigious theater camp run by a famous playwright, and it is where her mother drowned with Avril by her side, 12 years ago. Avril survived the icy water,...

A Scatter of Light follows Aria West, a teenage girl who has just graduated from high school and who has been sent to stay with her grandmother for the summer after a humiliating incident involving nude pictures going viral. She is not happy about this change of summer plans, as...

We Deserve Monuments follows Avery, a lesbian, biracial high school senior who moves to her mother's small Georgia hometown with her parents to help her dying grandmother, Mama Letty. She doesn't know Mama Letty and barely remembers her. Her mother and grandmother start fighting almost as soon as they arrive,...

This loose retelling of Grimm's Goose Girl story is told by Vanja, who was handed over at the age of four by her mother to become the goddaughter of the low gods Death and Fortune. As the 13th daughter of a 13th daughter, she was simply considered bad luck. Vanja...

Hotel Magnifique follows the story of two sisters who gain employment at a mysterious, magical hotel that travels to a new location every night. Jani is to work as a maid and wants to provide for her younger sister Zosa after their mother died and left them orphaned. Zosa, who...

A Magic Steeped in Poison follows, Ning, a teenage girl, as she travels to the Imperial Capitol to enter a competition to become the Princess' Shennong-Shi, a master of the art of tea making, who instills tea with magical powers. She hopes to receive a favor from the Princess so...