Golden Crowns, Crimson Thorns

Synne Davies is seventeen years old, a fisherman’s daughter, and—technically—a princess. When she’s summoned to attend Caerwood Academy with three other princesses to save the peace of the four kingdoms, she is, at first, defiant. She’s chosen a life of independence, fishing in a boat made with her own hands, holding her own in the harbor. But when she’s escorted by armed guards to attend the Academy, her loss of freedom becomes the least of her worries. School might not be as dull—or safe—as she thought.

Despite her fears, her initial days at the Academy are filled with etiquette classes, history lectures, and homesickness. She struggles to find common ground with the other princesses, and her only ally is the handsome mathematics teacher who sees potential in Synne despite her rural background. However, the normalcy crumbles when Synne unearths the truth: the princesses were brought to the school to be brainwashed into supporting the wealthiest kingdom of Astun—or, should that fail, as hostages.

Facing a princess rebellion, the teachers use powerful enchantments to trap the girls in the castle, where the princesses face starvation if they refuse to comply. Now Synne has only two goals for the academic year: to resist, and to survive. To do that, she must unite the other girls, uncover some magic of her own, and prepare the castle for siege, knowing failure means more than death—it means war.

The Painted Lady

(Practical Magic meets Over the Garden Wall)

Tag is twelve years old and just one of the oddities at The Painted Lady, a charming B&B run by her two eccentric aunts. This Midsummer is just like any other. The bonfires are built, the pavlova baked, and absolutely no one is allowed outside the holly hedges after dark.

But when a strange guest arrives and breaks one of the cardinal rules of the B&B, Tag is forced to admit that the aunts are hiding a secret. A secret that involves the Painted Lady, Tag’s missing mother, and the forest behind their house.

Determined to do things her own way, she heads into the woods with the worst companions possible: an elderly dog and a boy she never wants to see again. On her journey, Tag doesn’t just find the truth. She discovers that she is at the center of The Painted Lady’s secrets and the Midsummer rituals, secrets as dark and tangled as the forest itself. If she doesn’t find a way to untangle her own identity, she will lose everything she loves at The Painted Lady.