Shiori, princess of Kiata, has a secret: Forbidden magic runs through her veins. On the morning of her betrothal ceremony she loses control, and it forestalls the wedding she never wanted-- but it also catches the attention of Raikama, her stepmother. Using a dark magic of her own, Raikama banishes the princess, turns her brothers into cranes, and warns Shiori that with every word that escapes her lips, one of her brothers will die. Peniless, voiceless,...

In Yaleylah, Missouri, teens Silla and Nick, drawn together by loss and a shared family history of blood magic practitioners, are plunged into a world of dark magic as they try to unravel the mystery of Silla's parents' apparent murder suicide.

When eleven-year-old Zack Jennings moves to Connecticut with his father and new stepmother, they must deal with the ghosts left behind by a terrible accident, as well as another kind of ghost from Zack's past.

"After her father passes away, seventeen-year-old Rosie is forced to live with her abusive stepmom Lucy and her deadbeat boyfriend, Judd, who gives Rosie the sort of looks you shouldn't give your girlfriend's step-daughter. Desperate for a way out, Rosie would do just about anything to escape the life she's been handed. Then she finds a letter her dad wrote years ago, a letter confessing that Rosie's birth mother isn't dead, as she believed, but alive...

June is physically and emotionally abused by her stepmother, and the only person June feels safe telling is her friend Blister. He helps her believe she can escape her nightmare situation. But when a shocking tragedy occurs June finds herself trapped, potentially forever.

"... inspired by a real medieval grimoire of necromancy from 15th-century Germany. Ellison lost her mother at an early age. But since then, her father has found love again. He's happy and doesn't quite notice that Ellison does not get along with his new wife or her mean daughters. When Ellison discovers a necromantic tome while exploring the secret passages of her father's mansion, she wonders if it could be the key to her freedom."--Back cover.

After her father's third divorce, seventeen-year-old Natalia decides to move with her stepmother, Maureen, from Spain to Florida to learn more of Maureen's faith and to discover who she is away from her father's expectations. Includes reading group guide.

In a novel based on Chinese Cinderella tales, fourteen-year-old stepchild Xing-Xing endures a life of neglect and servitude, as her stepmother cruelly mutilates her own child's feet so that she alone might marry well.

A modern-day reimagining of the story of Lizzie Borden, casting her as a shy seventeen-year-old whose blackouts become worse after her father and stepmother try to prevent her from studying to be a chef.

In her efforts to hang on following the disappearance of her stepmother, Casey resorts to anything including robbery.