Chime

By Franny Billingsley

"I've confessed to everything and I'd like to be hanged. Now, if you please." These are the words that begin the story of eighteen year old Briony Larkin, wicked witch. Since Briony was seven her stepmother told her that she is a witch, that everything bad that happens to them is her fault: that her sister's mind is shattered, the fires and the floods that destroyed the stories she used to write, the wave that injured her stepmother before she died. And she must never tell or she will be hanged. Then Eldric shows up.  Lion-eyed, fidget-fingered, self-proclaimed bad boy, who can make a crown out of paper clips, a wolf-girl out of wire and pearls. Briony is a wolf-girl in the swamp, her mouth a cavern of stars, howling at the blood-red moon, snatching lightening from the gods, dancing her fists with Eldric's as she learns boxing. But the Boggy Mun is angry. The men are draining the swamp, and so the Boggy Mun sends the swamp cough, the ghost children tell Briony the day the girl who was thought to be a witch but wasn't was hung. Now Briony's sister Rose has the swamp cough, and the Boggy Mun will kill her if the swamp is drained. Briony must save her sister, but if she tell people how she knows that the swamp must be drained she will be hung. A wicked witch doesn't want to die, even to save people. A wicked witch would know that when she is jealous or angry bad things happen to people. A wicked witch would cause her sister to get the swamp cough on purpose. And Briony is wicked. Right?
Okay, so despite how morbid it is due to the fact that the person telling it is uttely conviced that she's evil, this was a really great book. I realized after I read it that this author had also written another book I love, about selkies. So it's not just a fluke. Great book! And I know I say that about every book on her, but seriously, this was an amazingly well written book. Magic, absolute magic. And despite what it may sound like, there is a happy ending. Great story, great characters, great magical creatures and such, and great writing. READ IT!

Ballad: A Gathering of Faerie

By Maggie Stiefvater

Sequel to Lament: The Faerie Queen's Deception


After the events of last summer, James Morgan was really hoping not to have to deal with faeries again. He thought all that mess would stop once he got to Thornking-Ash School of Music. Fat chance of that happening. Now he has Nuala, a "faerie muse [with] vaguely psychic vampire tendencies" as he puts it hanging around, insulting him and trying to lure him to his death, the king of the dead singing in the hills outside the school  every night, someone killing solitary faeries for some unknown reason, and Dee falling apart completely. Oh, and anyone with half a brain can tell that James and Nuala are going to wind up in love. Which is a bit of a problem, seeing as every sixteen years she burns to death on Halloween and then comes back with complete amnesia (and she needs to suck the life out of someone to survive anyway, but the burning thing is the main problem). And guess what this Halloween is?
Alternating between James and Nuala's points of view, with some of Dee's unsent text messages, this is seriously one of my all time favorite books EVER. Seriously. James is so snarky and clever and FUNNY! Maybe not the most action-packed book, but when it's this well written, who cares? It's gripping and awesome anyway. LOVE IT LOVE IT LOVE IT! I only read Lament once or twice, but I have read Ballad like five times already. Probably more, actually. Purr, purr, purr. YEEHEEHEEHEEHEE!