Mariah Montoya

On the island of Eshol, a ruling council gifts magic to all its citizens — whether they want it or not.Eighteen-year-old Rayna Drey should be excited for her Branding, when the island’s Good Council will infuse her blood with one of five sanctioned the ability to wield elements, summon objects, shift forms, talk to wildlife, or manipulate minds. The Good Council is good. The Branding doesn’t hurt. And the institution she must attend afterward, to learn how to control her new gift, is only a little dangerous.Or, at least, that’s what Rayna has always heard. As soon as she arrives at the Esholian Institute, however, a peer-pressured dare makes her explode with a power as deadly as it is forbidden. Worse yet, the only one who can teach her how to hide it from the Good Council is Coen Steeler, a much-too-handsome fifth-year who can manipulate minds as easily as he breathes. He alone understands Rayna’s forbidden power…because he has the same one.With their secret in each other’s hands, Rayna soon uncovers other dark secrets that threaten the very foundation of the island itself. And the worst of them? If the Good Council finds out what lurks in her and Coen’s blood, they’ll both face a fate beyond obedience — and a punishment worse than death.

Her memories are gone, but her powers are only growing…Rayna Drey’s second year at the Esholian Institute should be spent advancing her Wild Whispering magic that the Good Council bestowed upon her last year. Unfortunately, she can’t quite focus on her new classes or enjoy all the parties with her friends. Not when Dyonisia Reeve gave her a single, all-consuming task that she can’t catch Coen Steeler, the murderous pirate who erased her memories three months ago, and hand him in to the Good Council.Then watch him burn.When Rayna finally does come face-to-face with Steeler, however, she finds that he’s even more of a force to be reckoned with than she anticipated. He’s fast. He’s strong. And he has a wicked tongue—one he knows exactly how to use to unravel her mind. Even with a deeper connection to the jungle and secret training from the lethal tiger Jagaros, Rayna can’t yet overpower him.What she can do is get close to Steeler again and strike when he’s least expecting it. But while their forbidden meetings evolve into something that burns fiercer than last year, a sinister force is attacking the Esholian villages around them. If Rayna wants to protect the people she loves, she must team up with the very same Mind Manipulator who is supposed to be her enemy… and try not to fall back in love with him in the process.

Cinderella is a stepmother. The Little Mermaid is long dead. A fake fairest rules the land.... Decades after their happy endings, ten famous fairy tale characters live in a busy, modern society (except the Big Bad Wolf, of course, who lurks in the forest by the Wood Province). Despite the hustle and bustle of everyday activities, however, a shadowy presence is slowly overturning Fairy Blue's precarious "happily ever after." From the Wolf Gang to a nasty presidential candidate to creature trafficking, someone -- or something -- is behind the increasingly anxious state of the kingdom. New and old fairy tale characters alike must band together to resist, or a deadly tyrant will rise in their midst.