Magic? Trouble!
You like contemporary YA urban fantasy or "Girl Genius" books? Ready for a short, faster-paced fantasy/adventure that's good for young adults as well as grown-ups who have never lost that sense of wonder? (Yes, you DO love books narrated by a younger person--if you loved Harry Potter, Twilight, or even To Kill a Mockingbird or The Outsiders.)
April Bliss (yes, she gets teased for her name) is a precocious teen girl genius with a sister who is a year and a half older and even smarter. Of course April knows she's smart and funny--but not necessarily in the ways that she believes she is. Her life was boring until the day the police showed up at their McMansion and their family was thrown into chaos. Never mind that June slips on a magic ring and goes nuts, or that April finds a magic book that shows her alarming pictures. They've got to rescue their cousin Arlene from a renegade coven of evil witches. Or has Arlene got an agenda of her own up her black robe's sleeve?
Train stowaways! Magic books and spells! Crazy family! Much more.
April is a delightful narrator, both witty and unintentionally funny, one of those kids people sometimes say were "born old," but young and earnest and energetic too. She is fiercely loyal to family and takes this loyalty to its logical conclusion in a twisty magical plot full of both humor and terror.
Pamela Dean, author of THE SECRET COUNTRY trilogy and TAM LIN
THIS. BOOK. IS. FUN! It's like falling in love with the first Harry Potter book all over again.
Lori Parker, top-ranked Amazon reviewer
