I’ve had Charles de Lint’s The Blue Girl sitting on my nightstand for more than a month, but I just couldn’t seem to get around to reading it. It first came onto my radar in March, when I heard it discussed at a Young Adult Fantasy session at PLA. Since I’d been reading "urban fantasy" books with teen protagonists, this made my list, and I finally managed to read it this weekend.

I can see why de Lint is so reknowned. This book has everything: ghosts, fairies, monsters, bullies, friendship, love…It was a pretty great read. The book is set in the fictional town of Newford, which de Lint has visited in more than one of his novels. It tells the tale of Imogene and Maxine, two high school girls who are social outcasts. Imogene is outgoing and strange, while Maxine is smart and controlled by her domineering mother. Recognizing kindred spirits within each other, the girls become best friends. But when Imogene’s reckless bravery captures the attention of the school ghost, he inadvertenly unleashes a world of trouble on the girls. "Aided" by a band of malicious fairies, the ghost accidentally siccs the soul-sucking anamithim on Imogene, and she and Maxine must use all their wits and courage, not to mention a little magic, to save themselves.

Patricia McKillip’s Solstice Wood is a slightly different sort of fantasy from what I’ve been reading lately. It’s such an unusual book, I’m not entirely sure how to describe it. In fact, I was probably about halfway through the book before I finally got a firm grasp on what was going on. Sylvia Lynn, who fled her childhood home seven years ago, has returned for her grandfather’s funeral. Summoned by her grandmother, Iris, Sylvia reluctantly returns to the town of Lynnwood, but hopes to make her visit a short one. Unfortunately, things begin to go wrong almost immediately; Iris is not what she seems, Iris’s close friend Owen is harboring a dangerous secret, Sylvia’s cousin Tyler is in desperate trouble, and Sylvia grandfather has willed to her the one thing she wants least: Lynn Hall, the estate where she was born. As Sylvia comes to terms with her grandmother’s secret identity and tries to rescue Tyler, she is forced to admit just exactly what she is and why she ran away so many years ago. A most unusual book.