Snow Like Ashes by Sara Raasch

Title: Snow Like Ashes

Author: Sara Raasch

Series:

Genre: Fantasy

Meira is a warrior. She was raised by the commander of the Winter army and has been learning to fight for years. Yet despite this, Sara Raasch does not make her a heroine with unlimited skills and capabilities. Yes, Meira has grown up with sword fighting lessons, but she is awful at it. She hasn't beaten her best friend, Mather, in a fight once. And so her weapon of choice is a chakram, which she uses instead of pretending she is good at swordplay.

Mather is her best friend, but he is also the only heir to the throne of Winter, and therefore the future king. And so he and Meira can never be together, no matter how much they want to be. The plot is not focused on this, though.

**SPOILER**

Sir and Mather secretly arrange for Meira to be married to Prince Theron for an alliance of their kingdoms, which of course makes Meira very upset.

I was kind of disappointed when Meira was revealed to be the true heir of Winter, with magic inside of her because this is basically what happens in every YA book it seems. But the book was still written very well, so I liked it a lot.

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The Madman's Daughter by Megan Shepherd

Based on The Island of Dr. Moreau...a mad scientist who experiments with dissections and organ transplants. I have to admit that although the idea is terribly disturbing, I was also incredibly fascinated with it.

Juliet is the daughter of exiled doctor Henri Moreau, living alone in England as a servant. When she runs into her childhood friend, Montgomery, she demands that he take her with him back to the island where her father is now living. Along the way, they rescue a castaway who is a young gentleman named Edward Prince. On the island, Juliet comes to realize that the rumours about her father's madness are true, and they were only a small bit of the horrors he has been practicing in his lab.

Negative content: Dr. Hastings tries to take advantage of Juliet. Her friend Lucy convinces her to go to a party, where the boys keep trying to touch them. Juliet sees a prostitute in the city and wonders if she will end up like her. There are many scenes where Juliet and either Montgomery or Edward kiss, or she is thinking about being with them
There are a couple uses of h*** as profanity

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