Serena recs YA romances 'Assassin's Curse,' 'Guardian'

The Assassin's Curse, Cassandra Rose Clarke

What it's about (from the publisher):

Ananna of the Tanarau abandons ship when her parents try to marry her off to an allying pirate clan: She wants to captain her own boat, not serve as second-in-command to her handsome yet clueless fiancé. But her escape has dire consequences when she learns the scorned clan has sent an assassin after her.

And when the assassin, Naji, finally catches up with her, things get even worse. Ananna inadvertently triggers a nasty curse — with a life-altering result. Now Ananna and Naji are forced to become uneasy allies as they work together to break the curse and return their lives back to normal. Or at least as normal as the lives of a pirate and an assassin can be.

Why you should read it: Ananna is tough and spontaneous with poor grammar and a lot of spunk. Her voice is unique, her story intriguing, and as soon as I accustomed myself to her manner of speaking, I got a ginormous kick out of her personality.

Hired to kill our heroine, Naji is ever so much more sophisticated than Ananna, even though he's an assassin. Cast as the smart, tortured hero who can't see what's right before his eyes, Naji manages to be romantic without even trying. Even though romance is both scoffed at and longed for, only hints of what's to come between Ananna and Naji are revealed in this first book.

An exciting and original YA novel with magic, pirates, myth and adventure, The Assassin's Curse will hook you in and keep you tugging on the line for the next book in Clarke's series.

And in case you were wondering, book two, The Pirate's Wish, is scheduled for a 2013 release.

Guardian (book two of the Halflings series), Heather Burch

What it's about (from the publisher):

In Guardian, the mission to safeguard Nikki Youngblood depends on the fragile alliance of two half-angel, half-human guardians, both struggling with intense feelings for the girl who has been assigned to their care. Mace, steadfast and deeply in love, wants to protect Nikki at all costs, while Raven's loyalty to Nikki finds him advocating for her independence while battling his own darker inclinations. At the same time, Nikki finds it harder and harder to choose between the two heavenly beings she may never have. Dangers intensify, and tensions between Mace and Raven flare as the purpose of their mission becomes clear. Can their defenses hold up to master manipulator Damon Vessler and the powerful secret he holds regarding Nikki's heritage? Can anyone protect Nikki from her true purpose and destiny?

Why you should read it: As addictions go, YA books about supernaturally hot guys with wings aren't so bad, are they? Well, not if you don't mind going into withdrawal every time you finish one of Heather Burch's Halflings books. Although she's only two tales into her series, Burch has a firm handle on how to create the adrenaline rush that accompanies not only life-or-death action, but love-triangle attraction.

The way Nikki's feelings vacillate between Mace and Raven could make her into a fickle, unlikable heroine, but Burch has a strange talent for drawing the reader's emotions into that tricky Bermuda triangle. Unlike a Twilight-type triangle where you might want to smack the heroine upside the head by the end of book two, Burch's readers are equally pulled toward these very opposite boys. Thus, Nikki's erratic affections seem not only believable, but sympathetic.

Whether you're a teen or an adult, a fan of general market paranormal romance or inspirational, Guardian is well worth the read. And as soon as you've finished, the new twists revealed will have you begging for the next Halflings installment.

The Coven series, Trish Milburn

Series overview: In White Witch, book one of the Coven series, Jax Pherson plots an elaborate escape from the Miami coven of dark witches she was born into, hoping to find goodness, kindness and a "normal" teenage life in a small mountain town in North Carolina. But when she makes friends with Toni and falls for Toni's cousin, Keller, a boy who happens to come from a long line of hunters — supernatural hunters, that is — things start to get dangerous. Enter on the scene Egan, another coven defector, and it's only a matter of time before the two witches of Baker's Gap spark enough power to draw the dark covens' attention.

Jax and Keller can't deny their attraction, nor the deep pull that goes beyond attraction and toward something deeper, purer than anything Jax has ever known. And even with all the supernatural baddies Keller has taken down, he has no idea how bad, how dark a real witch can be — especially when they are hunting one of their own. In an epic battle, Jax discovers her destiny — and that it involves light instead of darkness.

In Bane, book two, Jax and fellow coven-defector Egan have left North Carolina, and love, behind in order to keep Keller and Toni safe. Following their family history back to Salem, they hope to discover how to defeat the dark covens; but darkness is their birthright and it takes everything within them to fight it. When Keller and Toni show up without an invitation, Egan and Jax must not only protect the ones they love from the dark covens, but from themselves.

Recently released Magick, book three of the series, finds Jax, Keller, Egan and Toni still in Salem and firmly ensconced within a community of witches who have harnessed their powers for centuries while awaiting the White Witch, the only one able to defeat the dark covens. But after a devastating battle in which Jax's dark side takes over with tragic results, re-establishing trust with those who witnessed the violence in her nature is … difficult. Joining forces with the secretive Bane while being tracked by a coven enforcer, Jax and her friends desperately seek a way for her to defeat the darkness within so that when the covens finally find them — and they will — the light will overcome and the dark covens will no longer threaten innocents.

Why you should read it: It's a good thing I discovered this series when it was already three books in because I found the characters so engaging and the story imbued with such sweet nuggets of honesty that once I began, I couldn't stop. I read all three books in about four days.

The Coven series is a classic YA battle of good vs. evil in which love is the key to conquering darkness. Overflowing with tension while keeping the sweetness of romance always within reach, Trish Milburn has created a fresh and fantastic paranormal series with a satisfying ending that's open just enough to add more titles to the roster in the future, should the mood strike. (And I hope it does!) If that's not enough to draw you in, each book drops the occasional reference to Joss Whedon's genius, and fans of Buffy will feel right at home in the relational dynamics in Milburn's story world.

A writer, performer and accomplished partaker of dark chocolate, Serena Chase lives in Iowa with her husband and two daughters. Her reviews can also be found at the blog Edgy Inspirational Romance.