Katherine Harbour's Blog - Posts Tagged "magic"

This trilogy is one of my favorites. Its highlight is the friendship between the three girls inspired by Snow White, Red Riding Hood, and Cinderella. Set in an alternative future America, long after a magical apocalypse, the world is portrayed in intriguing sketches and lyrical language.
Ruby is the wild daughter of the de Varre clan and lives with her grandmother, the clan's matriarch. It's hinted that they are more than human. When Ruby is told she must marry someone of the clan's choosing, she rebels. Then she meets her intended, who is brooding and dangerous.
When savage murders begin taking place, Ruby has to clear the name of a boy who has been her best friend since childhood.
I hope there'll be more books set in this wonderfully inventive world with its modern fairy tale characters.

Spellbook of the Lost and Found
Told from three different points of view--Hazel, Olive, and Laurel being the main protagonists--this contemporary fantasy set in Ireland reminded me of Alice Hoffman's tales. When two separate groups of friends find a spellbook which promises to bring back lost things, Laurel and her two friends use it to find the pages from someone's diary gone missing and instead meet a mysterious and strange boy named Jude. Olive and her best friend Rose meet two runaways. When they find the spellbook, they cast the same spell to find lost things--which results in hundreds of lost objects appearing near their town.
With its believable teenage characters, a touch of magic realism, and themes of family and friendship, this urban fantasy is for anyone who enjoyed Maggie Stiefvater's or Melissa Marr's books.