Wishtress

Brandes's (Romanov) literal wish-fulfillment fantasy is filled with Christian allegory and richly imagined worldbuilding that's complemented by complex characters. When Myrthe was 12, she cried for the first time and discovered that she was the Wishtress--one who is born "every hundred years or so. Always female. A heroine of the kingdom," and that her tears can be turned into wishes. Now 17, her grandmother, Oma, who has studied Wishtress history her entire life and insists the gift comes with strict rules that Oma refuses to teach, purports to keep Myrthe locked away for her own protection. After a wish gone wrong endangers Myrthe's life, dooming her to death with the next tear she sheds, she resolves to cage her heart away in a prison of stone. Accompanied by enigmatic magic user Bastiaan, who has the power to stop time, Myrthe must embark on a perilous quest to break her curse, but as the two connect, it becomes harder to keep her heart locked away. Brandes's fluid prose adeptly details the fantastical world of Winterune, and Myrthe and Bastiaan's seemingly forbidden romance handily propels the plot toward a climactic resolution. Characters read as white. Ages 13--up. Agent: Steve Laube, Steve Laube Agency. (Sept.)