Brashares, Ann and Brashares, Ben. Into the Fire (West fallen #2)
September 16, 2025 by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Senf, Laura. Pennies (Prequel to The Clackity)
It’s June of 1921 and best friends Mae, Lark, Brigid, and Claret have plans for the perfect summer. Between riding their bikes to the enchanted lake and decorating their fort for its resident ghost, the girls are a busy bunch. But when they discover a door in the forest floor that leads to an alternate world with purple skies and fearsome creatures, everything takes a turn for the worse.
Someone else has already been through that door, and it’s triggered something incredibly dangerous. Maybe deadly.
Mbalia, Kwame. Jax Freeman and the Tournament of Spirits (#2)
But while everyone is focused on winning, Jax is given a special side quest by the elders of the four magical families: he has to spy on each of the competitors—including his own teammates—in order to uncover who is releasing endangered, and very dangerous, cryptids into the arena.
Can Jax take the top spot in the tournament and save himself and his friends from a mysterious foe?
Edge, Clare. Mixing Magics (Accidental Demons #2)
September 16, 2025 by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus
The first book in the series, Westfallen, had a ham radio, communication across the decades, and a crucial malt shop, so I loved it. The sequel was also good, but I got a bit confused by what was going on. I'd recommend to young readers that they read the secondly as quickly after the first as possible! The third is forthcoming.
From the publisher:
Former best friends Henry, Frances, and Lukas thought they’d managed to restore history to its original path after their antics with a time-bending radio went awry. But they’re still trapped in Westfallen, the version of present-day America where the Axis won WWII, living an alternate—and much darker—version of their lives.
Henry has to work at the Home for Incurables, Lukas is on hard labor all day, and only Frances, whose parents are members of the Nazi elite, gets to go to school and move freely. And since they and their friends in 1944 destroyed the radio, they have to find cruder and ever-more-desperate ways to communicate across time. Frances uses her privilege in Westfallen to gather as much information as she can, while Henry tries to turn Lukas into a local baseball hero to save him from being sent away to a work camp.
But the deeper the three friends and their 1944 counterparts dig into how Westfallen came to be, the more they begin to attract unwanted attention from people with a vested interest in making sure this version of history becomes permanent…at any cost.
Henry has to work at the Home for Incurables, Lukas is on hard labor all day, and only Frances, whose parents are members of the Nazi elite, gets to go to school and move freely. And since they and their friends in 1944 destroyed the radio, they have to find cruder and ever-more-desperate ways to communicate across time. Frances uses her privilege in Westfallen to gather as much information as she can, while Henry tries to turn Lukas into a local baseball hero to save him from being sent away to a work camp.
But the deeper the three friends and their 1944 counterparts dig into how Westfallen came to be, the more they begin to attract unwanted attention from people with a vested interest in making sure this version of history becomes permanent…at any cost.
September 23, 2025 by Atheneum Books for Young Readers
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus
I didn't buy the first book in this series, and was half expecting someone to request it, but no one has. There's a lot of well done world building, but my horror readers seem to prefer stand alones, so it's probably just as well I didn't invest in these four books. Sadly, can't buy everything, especially since I get 20% less now than I did in 2003, and that was HALF of what I got in 2002. (It's $8 per student per year, for which I am still exceedingly grateful. Some schools have no budget.)
From the publisher:
One hundred years prior to the events of The Clackity, four best friends are drawn into a deadly scheme when they set out to investigate the strange disappearances taking place in the eerie town of Blight Harbor in this spine-chilling middle grade adventure.
It’s June of 1921 and best friends Mae, Lark, Brigid, and Claret have plans for the perfect summer. Between riding their bikes to the enchanted lake and decorating their fort for its resident ghost, the girls are a busy bunch. But when they discover a door in the forest floor that leads to an alternate world with purple skies and fearsome creatures, everything takes a turn for the worse.
Someone else has already been through that door, and it’s triggered something incredibly dangerous. Maybe deadly.
Back in Blight Harbor, strange disappearances are taking place. The most worrisome being that of Brigid’s cousin, who has been spending an awful lot of time with the unusual and untrustworthy John Jeffrey Pope. As the girls uncover the eerie world that lives right beneath their feet, will they find their missing friend, or will the most treacherous man in Blight Harbor get to them first?
October 7, 2025 by Freedom Fire
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus
This sequel to Jax Freeman and the Phantom Shriek is the perfect dose of methadone to Harry Potter addicts who can't get enough fantasy academy stories. I've just read too many tournament stories to be able to get really invested.
From the publisher:
Seventh grader Jackson "Jax" Freeman recently learned two important facts: one, he's a summoner—someone who can call on the magical powers of his ancestors to help him do amazing things—and two, he isn’t the only person with this ability.
After much training, Jax and four of his summoner classmates from DuSable Middle school in Chicago are thrust into a competition called the Tournament of Spirits where they'll face the most skilled summoners from around the world.
But while everyone is focused on winning, Jax is given a special side quest by the elders of the four magical families: he has to spy on each of the competitors—including his own teammates—in order to uncover who is releasing endangered, and very dangerous, cryptids into the arena.
Can Jax take the top spot in the tournament and save himself and his friends from a mysterious foe?
November 11, 2025 by HarperCollins
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus
Ber is determined to find her grandmother, Orla, even though her mother doesn't seem to interested in helping. She's still with her boyfriend, Cai, and hangs out with her friend, Phoebe. When Ber is having trouble managing her diabetes, Cai's mother manages to magic up top tier health insurance for the Crowleys, and Ber gets an insulin pump, which is helpful but complicated to deal with. When she meets Patrick Walsh, her grandmother's nemesis, Ber hopes to get some answers that will help locate her grandmother. She does learn some family secrets about how the Bitterroot Coven memories that are sacrificed every year are being used.
I forgot most of the first book, so it would have been helpful to have remembered some of the back story about the demon Fin. There were lots of good details about dealing with diabetes, but they were sometimes hard to follow while also keeping track of the complicated magic. I was a little concerned about Ber's approach to diabetes; at one point, she states that she prefers drinking sugar sodas and shooting the insulin for them. My father had a similar approach, and it did not work all that well. Most of the tween diabetics I've known have been very careful about their choice of foods. Readers who liked Hautman's 2003 Sweetblood or Van Otterloo's Cattywampus will enjoy this mix of fantasy and health problems.
Hmm, I liked Accidental Demons but not sure if I liked it enough to pick up the sequel... though I vaugely remember there being a few things I hoped would be further explored in a sequel, so maybe I will give it a shot...
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