Fantasy Realism

When two teens discover that they were both sexually assaulted at the same party, they develop a cautious friendship through her family’s possibly magical pastelería, his secret forest of otherworldly trees, and the swallows returning to their hometown, in Anna-Marie McLemore's The Mirror Season....

Listening to John Crowley's stories is to see almost-familiar lives running parallel to our own, secret histories that never quite happened, memories that might be real or might be invented. In the 13 stories collected here, Crowley sets his imagination free to roam from a 20th-century Shakespeare festival to spring break at a future Yale in his Edgar Award-winning story "Spring Break". And in the previously unpublished "Anosognosia", the world brought about by one John C.'s high-school accident may or may not exist.

As children, sisters Gillian and Sally were forever outsiders in their small New England town, teased, taunted and shunned for the air of magic that seems to sparkle in the air around them. All Gillian and Sally ever wanted was to get away. And eventually they do - one marries, the other runs as far from home as she can manage. Years later, however, tragedy will bring the sisters back together. And they'll find that no matter what else may happen, they'll always have each other.

Jolie Lam, a high school sophomore in San Jose, is known for two things: her bizarre freakout at last year’s swim meet and her fortuneteller grandfather with visions of dragons and earthquakes. Friendless and ostracized, Jolie's life takes a dramatic turn for the better when she saves the school's it-girl, Huong Pham, during a haunting vision of her own. Taken under Huong's wing, Jolie's world transforms, in more ways than one.

Seventeen-year-old Xochi is on her own in San Francisco. On a visit to Golden Gate Park, she meets Pallas, a precocious 12-year-old with a rockstar family that lives in one of the city's storybook Victorian mansions. Xochi accepts a position as Pallas's live-in governess and quickly becomes part of the band's household. But on the night of the Vernal Equinox, as a concert afterparty rages in the house below, Xochi and Pallas perform a pagan ritual that unintentionally summons a pair of ancient creatures devoted to righting the wrongs of Xochi's adolescence.

Sam Green thinks her life is pretty normal. Almost. She does have a strange affinity for animals, weird dreams, and a mysterious staff in her closet. But Sam’s calm life is shattered when a dragon poisons her father and the mother of her best friend Jake. She is further shocked when a shapeshifting giant cat and powerful faerie ask her to fulfill a prophecy.

Jack Swift can tell you every element on the periodic table, recite Treasure Island verbatim, and would remember in perfect detail every word you'd ever say to him. He has been alone for a long time, so he has buried himself in books, using them to plan his escape. But no textbook could ever prepare him for the land of Keymark. At 3:33 a.m. on his 14th birthday, Jack is kidnapped by a hideous monster to another sphere of existence. Now there are two moons in the sky, and he is surrounded by grotesque creatures and magical warriors training for battle.

What if you could truly understand your child? For Patricia Miller, a mother on a mission, her son Ethan would have the baseball career she'd mapped out. But he was pulling away, their connection frayed by unspoken truths and the weight of her ambition. She feared she was losing him, but had no idea how to stop. Until an old, forgotten baseball unleashes an impossible magic. Patricia awakens in her son's teenage body, while Ethan himself has vanished. Now, the life she so fiercely controlled is controlling her. From disastrous physics tests to the startling reality of Ethan's secret dreams,...

A ship. A garden. A library. A key. In Kaleidoscope, the incomparable Brian Selznick presents the story of two people bound to each other through time and space, memory and dreams. At the center of their relationship is a mystery about the nature of grief and love which will look different to each listener. Kaleidoscope is a feat of storytelling that illuminates how even the wildest tales can help us in the hardest times.

Forced to become an Honourbound soldier in the Everlasting King's army, Huon struggles to do what is right when his actions are completely out of his control. He attained Knighthood, and is the strongest he's ever been, but his advancement means nothing while oathbound.

“Hex Kitchen transports you to a delicious world of culinary magic and fantastical, sometimes deadly, competition where every dish keeps you at the edge of your plate—wondering who will win the next move and what bite may be their last.” —Elizabeth Karmel, best-selling cookbook author, and Chopped and Iron Chef judge Charlie and the Chocolate Factory meets The Hunger Games in this mouthwatering, magical, and murderous fantasy. Hex Kitchen is a once-a-decade tournament where contestants have to cook magical dishes that are to die...and maybe even to kill...for. Kenzie has perfected ...

My heart's already been broken by one Dragon King; I won't let it happen with another. I'm Commander of the Castle Guard, responsible for the security of the Royal Castle and therefore, in part, the Dragon King of Levahan. The new one. I signed up to serve the last Dragon King, and lost my heart to him. Even now, after he left me for his mate, I still love Belyss. I don't agree with the way he was pushed off the throne or how readily he went. I understand why he did it, but I like the way his dread let it happen. And I certainly don't want to like his replacement. But I do. Too much. King ...

The second sun has returned as our Bone Throwers foresaw—casting the nine realms into war. My name is Ash, and I fell in the battle for Baiseen. But I'm awake now, slowly putting the pieces back together. My Heir has lost his throne. My sailor is gone. And there is an emptiness inside me I can't explain. Amid the chaos, someone must collect the original twelve whistle bones from all corners of the world.

When you’re caught between a warlock’s heart and a vampire’s desires, being Queen of the Underworld is the least of your problems... My life has been one supernatural complication after another. From discovering I’m the Queen of the Underworld to wrestling with my feelings for Rand, the warlock I’m bonded to from another time, I’ve had my hands full. Just when I thought I was getting the hang of my royal responsibilities at Kinloch Kirk, my Scottish manor on the edge of the world, everything spirals into chaos. Rand is distant, constantly analyzing our relationship rather than ...

Briony has a secret. She believes her secret killed her stepmother, destroyed her twin sister’s mind, and threatens all the children in the Swampsea. She yearns to be rid of her terrible secret, but risks being hanged if she tells a soul. That’s what happens to witches: They’re hanged by the neck until dead.Then Eldric arrives - Eldric with his golden mane and lion eyes and electric energy - and he refuses to believe anything dark about Briony. But he wonders what’s been buried beneath her self-hatred, hidden in Rose’s mangled thoughts, and whispered about by the Old Ones.

Chandrakanta is a romantic fantasy novel written by Devaki Nandan Khatri, a popular writer from the first generation of modern Hindi novelists. This book is considered to be one of his finest works, and it has spawned numerous sequels related to the original story. The story centres around a romantic couple, each of whom came from kingdoms at dissent with each other. Chandrakanta is the princess of Vijaygarh while Virendra Singh is the prince of Naugarh. Kroor Singh, one of the courtiers in the King’s court at Vijaygarh, is a schemester with grand plans of his own.

Every night, as Faye puts her daughters to bed, she thinks of her own mother, Jeanie, who died when Faye was eight. The pain of that loss has never left her, and that’s why she wants her own girls to know how very much they are loved by her — and always will be, whatever happens. Then one day, Faye gets her heart’s desire when she’s whisked back into the past and is reunited not just with her mother but with her own younger self.

Queen of the Underworld I never asked to be Queen. In fact, I never even knew I was a witch until a little while ago. Now I’m struggling to lead the creatures of the Underworld while uncovering secrets about my own identity that could change everything. When I’m suddenly kidnapped by the mysterious Lurker elder and taken to their hidden compound, I discover a shocking truth—I have a twin sister, and we share blood with the very enemies I’ve sworn to fight. As I navigate this dangerous new reality, I must confront questions about who I truly am and where my loyalties should lie. With...

All Kane Montgomery knows for certain is that the police found him half-dead in the river. He can't remember anything since an accident robbed him of his memories a few weeks ago. And the world feels different - reality itself seems different. So when three of his classmates claim to be his friends and the only people who can tell him what's truly going on, he doesn't know what to believe or who he can trust. But as he and the others are dragged into unimaginable worlds that materialize out of nowhere Kane realizes that nothing in his life is an accident.

Fairies, elves, demons... Secrets and desire... Dark humour, magic, wonder... Twelve stories that will transport you into other worlds, or twisted versions of our own. If you had magic, what would you do with it? If you loved someone, how far would you go?