The Girl at Midnight by Melissa Grey (The Girl at Midnight book 1)

“Magic lives in our darkest corners.”

“Beneath the streets of New York City live the Avicen, an ancient race of people with feathers for hair and magic running through their veins. Age-old enchantments keep them hidden from humans. All but one. Echo is a runaway pickpocket who survives by selling stolen treasures on the black market, and the Avicen are the only family she’s ever known.

Echo is clever and daring, and at times she can be brash, but above all else she’s fiercely loyal. So when a centuries-old war crests on the borders of her home, she decides it’s time to act.

Legend has it that there is a way to end the conflict once and for all: find the firebird, a mythical entity believed to possess power the likes of which the world has never seen. It will be no easy task, though if life as a thief has taught Echo anything, it’s how to hunt down what she wants…and how to take it.

But some jobs aren’t as straightforward as they seem. And this one might just set the world on fire.” - taken from Goodreads.com

I don’t know why I didn’t read this book sooner, but in a way, I’m glad since I won’t have to wait years for the series ending. Even though some readers may see some obvious clichés and overused tropes, the writing in this book is phenomenal I actually listened to the audio version and the narrator was spot on in her delivery! I cannot wait to see what book two brings Echo in her new adventure.

The next book in the trilogy is The Shadow Hour.

Visit Melissa Grey’s website.

Valiant: a modern tale of faerie by Holly Black

Seventeen-year-old Valerie Russell is having bad day. First she is kicked off the lacrosse team at school for punching another girl and then when her boyfriend Tom is late for their date, Valerie leaves to go ahead without him. Only when she feels guilty for going off and goes back home, she discovers Tom and her mother are having a physical relationship behind her back. She takes off for the hockey game date solo in New York City and ends up missing the train back to New Jersey. After spending the night in the train station, Val meets Lolli and Sneaky Dave the next morning in a coffee shop.

Val soon joins the gang of vagrant teens who live in an abandoned subway station. While walking through New York City with Sneaky Dave, Val learns that his brother Luis can see things the rest of them cannot. Luis can see faeries and he makes deliveries for them. Indebted to the troll Ravus for saving Dave's life, Luis delivers a potion to the exiled faerie folk in the city so that the effects of living around so much iron are reduced. When Val and Lolli decide to search out where Ravus lives, trouble ensues and Val soon becomes indebted to the troll as well to spare Lolli.

When the faerie folk of the city soon start dying from Ravus' potions, Val is determined to find out who the real culprit is. The second book in the "modern faerie tale" series seems to be a stand alone book from Tithe. A few of the scenes detailing the faerie courts involve characters from the previous book but it is not necessary in the understanding of the storyline. Once again, Black's descriptions make the reader feel like an active participant rather than an observer.

Visit Holly Black's website.