The Beasts We Bury

Gr 9 Up–Mancella Cliff, Prospective Seconde to the throne, can summon animals at will, a dark gift that requires her to kill them with her bare hands first. Although she has done so many times over the years, killing anything becomes more and more a task she detests, but one her merciless father, a ruthless ruler, continues to force upon her. After escaping from an orphanage that turns children into soldiers, Silver and his friends live by stealing and scraping by. When a mysterious man offers him a job breaking into the palace to steal several items in exchange for a house and official work papers, Silver soon discovers that Princess Mancella is not the sinister killer he had previously believed her to be, and they form a reluctant alliance and eventually a bond, albeit one based on deception. Although some elements may be difficult for readers with sensitivity to animal cruelty, this story, told in alternating perspectives, offers plenty of worldbuilding and character development to be appreciated by teen readers looking for their next enemies-to-lovers romantic fantasy.