Sarah Beth Durst

"Kiela has always had trouble dealing with people. Thankfully, as librarian at the Great Library of Alyssium, she and her assistant Caz--a magically sentient spider plant--have spent the last decade sequestered among the empire's most precious spellbooks, preserving their magic for the city's elite. Then a revolution begins and the library goes up in flames. She and Caz flee with all the spellbooks they can carry and head to a remote island Kiela...

Twelve-year-old Zoe's rescue kitten quickly becomes a giant, talking cat that Zoe and her friend Harrison must keep hidden, especially since there are rumors of other strange creatures in their town.

Life is precious and precarious on the islands of Belene. Besieged by a capricious ocean full of malicious spirits, the people of the islands seek joy where they can. Mayara, one of the island's fearless oyster divers, has found happiness in love. But on the day of her wedding to the artist Kelo, a spirit-driven storm hits the island with deadly force. To save her loved ones, Mayara reveals a dangerous secret: she has the power to control the spirits....

Filled with political intrigue, violent magic, and malevolent spirits, the mesmerizing second book in Sarah Beth Durst's Queens of Renthia epic fantasy trilogy. Everything has a spirit: the willow tree with leaves that kiss the pond, the stream that feeds the river, the wind that exhales fresh snow ... And those spirits want to kill you. It's the first lesson that every Renthian learns. Not long ago, Daleina used her strength and skill to survive...

Having escaped from the Wild and the fairy tale plots it imposes, Rapunzel tries to live a normal life, but when the Wild breaks free and takes over their town, it is Julie who has to prevent everyone from being trapped in the events of a story.

Holly, a grey squirrel, and her animal friends have accepted that they will never be wizards' familiars. Though they are each magical, their powers are so offbeat. Holly herself can conjure pastries that no professional magic-worker would choose any of them as a companion for noble quests. So instead of going on adventures, they languish at the Shelter for Rejected Familiars, where they are known as "shelterlings." When an old friend appears with...

Twelve-year-old Julie Marchen tries to protect her world from a villain who is using her naive father, Rapunzel's prince, to restore power to the fairy tale world of the Wild, during a cross-country adventure that features Sleeping Beauty, dragons, and a truly wicked Fairy Godmother.

When sisters Even and Odd are trapped and unable to return home to the mundane world they live in, they, with the help of a unicorn named Jeremy, must stop a power-mad wizard from creating an ecological disaster.

In Renthia, everything has a spirit: the willow tree with leaves that kiss the pond, the stream that feeds the river. But the spirits of the land want to rid it of all humans. The queen is the only woman who stands between the spirits and the end of humankind, and no matter how strong or good the queen is, the threat of danger always looms. And so, Daleina is one of the young women chosen and trained as heirs to the throne. She joins forces with Ven,...