Book picks similar to
The Essence of Stone by Beverly A. Hale


fantasy
young-adult
speculative-fiction
fantasy-2

Forget-Her-Nots


Amy Brecount White - 2010
    She can use flowers to do things. Like bringing back lost memories. Or helping her friends ace tests. Or making people fall in love. Laurel suspects her newfound ability has something to do with an ancient family secret, one that her mother meant to share with Laurel when the time was right. But then time ran out. Clues and signs and secret messages seem to be all around Laurel at Avondale School, where her mother had also boarded as a student. Can Laurel piece everything together quickly enough to control her power, which is growing more potent every day? Or will she set the stage for the most lovestruck, infamous prom in the history of the school?

The Demon's Lexicon


Sarah Rees Brennan - 2009
    Their father is dead, and their mother is crazy—she screams if Nick gets near her. She’s no help in protecting any of them from the deadly magicians who use demons to work their magic. The magicians want a charm that Nick’s mother stole—and they want it badly enough to kill. Alan is Nick’s partner in demon slaying and the only person he trusts in the world. So things get very scary and very complicated when Nick begins to suspect that everything Alan has told him about their father, their mother, their past, and what they are doing is a complete lie. . . .

Nimbus


B.J. Keeton - 2013
    NIMBUS is steampunk for people who don't know they like steampunk, as well as being steampunk for people who already love steampunk!--Seedy corporations and airship factions, demons and rogues, zealots and thieves…Nimbus is an epic tale of power, greed, and corruption.Jude Finley is a new recruit aboard the Gangly Dirigible, an airship that extracts water from rainclouds. While working aboard the ship, Jude and his friends uncover a secret which may or may not help them against a growing uprising that could spell doom for everyone on the planet. Meanwhile, Demetrius Rucca, the wheelchair-bound son of a prominent religious leader, begins recruiting followers for his own subversive cause. As allegiances are sworn to him and his followers grow, he begins to discover the new powers that lie within him. This power could be the salvation Demetrius is looking for–or it could be the destruction of the known world.

Whisper


Phoebe Kitanidis - 2010
    I wish she knew how pretty she was. I wish I could drop this kid in the dryer sometimes. I just want her to be happy. I hope she didn’t find out what Ben said about her. I wish I knew how many calories were in a bite of muffin…Joy is used to hearing Whispers. She’s used to walking down the street and instantly knowing people’s deepest, darkest desires. She uses this talent for good, to make people happy and give them what they want. But for her older sister, Jessica, the family gift is a curse, and she uses it to make people’s lives—especially Joy’s—miserable. Still, when Joy Hears a frightening whisper from Jessica's own mind, she knows she has to save her sister, even if it means deserting her friends, stealing a car and running away with a boy she barely knows—a boy who may have a dark secret of his own.

Teeth: Vampire Tales


Ellen DatlowNathan Ballingrud - 2011
    Features stories by Neil Gaiman, Melissa Marr, Cassandra Clare, Holly Black, Garth Nix, and many more.

Time of Daughters I


Sherwood Smith - 2019
    Danet and Arrow, content in their arranged marriage, just want to live in peaceful obscurity and raise their family. But when a treaty sends them to the royal city to meet the heir to the throne, they discover that peace is fragile, old enemies have long memories, and what you want isn't always what you get. By the time they learn that you can’t go back again, events ignite a conflagration that no one could have foreseen—except for the ghosts who walk the walls in the royal city.This is the first half of an epic story of politics, war, family and magic in the beloved world of Sartorias-deles.

The Game


Terry Schott - 2012
    The best players are celebrities, adored and worshiped by countless fans. Zack is a superstar among players.His final play may change the world, forever...

House of Shadows


Rachel Neumeier - 2012
    Sweet and proper, Karah's future seems secure at a glamorous Flower House. She could be pampered for the rest of her life... if she agrees to play their game.Nemienne, neither sweet nor proper, has fewer choices. Left with no alternative, she accepts a mysterious mage's offer of an apprenticeship. Agreeing means a home and survival, but can Nemienne trust the mage? With the arrival of a foreign bard into the quiet city, dangerous secrets are unearthed, and both sisters find themselves at the center of a plot that threatens not only to upset their newly found lives, but also to destroy their kingdom.

The Tiger and the Wolf


Adrian Tchaikovsky - 2016
    Her mother was queen of the Tiger and these tribes have been enemies for generations. Maniye also hides a deadly secret. All can shift into their clan’s animal form, but Maniye can take on tiger and wolf shapes. She can’t disown half her soul, so escapes – with the killer Broken Axe in pursuit.Maniye’s father plots to rule the north, and controlling his daughter is crucial to his schemes. However, other tribes also prepare for strife. It’s a season for omens as priests foresee danger, a time of testing and broken laws. Some say a great war is coming, overshadowing even Wolf ambitions. But what spark will set the world ablaze?

Cursed: Water Sorceress


D.L. Harrison - 2020
    At least, not until she vacationed in Chicago and ran into a Sorcerer of Air who sets her free.Her world is about to be turned upside down. Witches, dark covens, vampires, sorcerers, and good and evil are all coming for her, ready or not. She’s going to need a little help, if she’s going to survive it all.Note: This is the first book of a trilogy. No major cliffhangers but expect a few unresolved plot threads. This story is told in the first person, from Danielle’s point of view.

Shanghai Sparrow


Gaie Sebold - 2014
    Now she is a street urchin in a London where brutal poverty and glittering new inventions exist side by side, living as a thief and con-artist under the wing of the formidable Ma Pether.Caught in an act of deception, Eveline is faced with Mr Holmforth, a gentleman in the service of Her Majesty’s Government, who offers her a stark choice. Transportation, or an education – and utter commitment to Her Majesty’s Service - at Madam Cairngrim’s school for female spies. The school’s regime is harsh. Eveline has already learned harder lessons. She plans to take advantage of everything they can teach her, then go her own way.But in the fury of the Opium Wars, the British Empire is about to make a devil’s bargain. Eveline’s choices will change the future of her world, and reveal the truth about the death of her sister Charlotte.Shanghai Sparrow is set in an alternative England and China. It contains Formidable Devices, Fay, Etheric Science, Espionage, Opium, Murder and Bartitsu and may not be suitable for those of a delicate disposition.

Midnight Hunter (The Midnight Trilogy Book 3)


Dani Hart - 2020
    Does she have what it takes?

Untalented


Katrina Archer - 2014
    Orphaned and barred from the Guilds, she has nowhere to go when her Talent fails to emerge.Loric: Brother-in-law to the king. Thwarted in his ambitions, he'd do anything to usurp the throne. And he finds just the scandal he needs when he unearths Saroya's hidden pedigree.The Kingdom of Veyle: Where all power flows to the Talented, and where the Guilds and the Order of Adepts control the destinies of Talented and Untalented alike.When calamity strikes the capital city, with Untalents blamed and on trial, Saroya knows that proving her Talent and parentage means saving more than just her own life. A tangle of lies hides secrets that force Saroya to choose between her future and Veyle's.

The Forest of Hands and Teeth


Carrie Ryan - 2009
    The Sisterhood always knows best. The Guardians will protect and serve. The Unconsecrated will never relent. And you must always mind the fence that surrounds the village; the fence that protects the village from the Forest of Hands and Teeth. But, slowly, Mary’s truths are failing her. She’s learning things she never wanted to know about the Sisterhood and its secrets, and the Guardians and their power, and about the Unconsecrated and their relentlessness. When the fence is breached and her world is thrown into chaos, she must choose between her village and her future—between the one she loves and the one who loves her. And she must face the truth about the Forest of Hands and Teeth. Could there be life outside a world surrounded by so much death?

Pirate Cinema


Cory Doctorow - 2012
    In near-future Britain, this is more illegal than ever. The punishment for being caught three times is to cut off your entire household from the internet for a year - no work, school, health or money benefits.Trent thinks he is too clever for that to happen, but it does, and nearly destroys his family. Shamed and shattered, Trent runs away to London, where slowly he learns the ways of staying alive on the streets. He joins artists and activists fighting a new bill that will jail too many, especially minors, at one stroke. Jem introduces him to the Jammie Dodgers, beautiful brilliant "26" to love and cemetery parties.Things look bad. Parliament is in power of a few wealthy media conglomerates. But the powers-that-be haven’t entirely reckoned with the power of a gripping movie to change people’s minds ...