Books I've read lately

I've been having really good luck with books lately. Admittedly, I've been mainly reading young adult fantasy, which is my favorite genre, so maybe I'm a little biased. But anyway, since I'm always on the lookout for good books, I like to spread the love and let others know about the good books I've found. So here it goes:

1) "The Princess and the Bear" by Mette Ivie Harrison

I thought the whole premise of the book was interesting. A bear who used to be a king and a hound who was briefly a human (in another book, which I haven't read yet) are changed into humans in order to save the fate of magic. I thought it was interesting to see how the two characters interact with each other as animals and as humans. The only thing I wasn't sure I liked about the book was that the female character was so strong that she really made the guy look kinda pathetic in comparison. Don't get me wrong, I love strong female characters, and I don't think the author should have made her weaker, I just think the male character should've been her equal.

2) "The Secret Life of Sparrow Delaney" by Suzanne Harper.

This book was light and fluffy--a really quick read that required no thought. I enjoyed it, though. It's about a girl who comes from a family of mediums, but despite having seen ghosts for years pretends that she can't. But then the ghost of the brother of a guy from school starts to haunt her, and she gets sucked into helping his family move on.

3) "The Minister's Daughter" by Julie Hearn.

This book was fascinating--seriously. It's hard to explain the plot, but it's basically about a healer girl who gets pulled into a drama involving the minister's daughters, who are supposedly being cursed by a witch. It takes place in 1600s England, during the time of witch hunts. I really liked how the author works fantasy into what's basically historical fiction. I also liked the writing style and the way that the author doesn't explicitly tell the reader why the girls are pretending to be cursed or why the father reacts the way he does--she lets the reader draw their own conclusions. The book really made me think about the social pressures and expectations of the time and what their effects were. I also loved that despite my fears to the contrary, the book actually has a happy ending.

Anyway, I definitely recommend all these books, and I'm excited to read more books by these authors.