Vivian Vande Velde

Vivian Vande Velde has written dozens of excellent fantasy novels and short stories for children and teenagers, including Heir Apparent (one of our Book of the Week picks) and Companions of the Night (a lovely little novel about vampires and Stockholm Syndrome). Her romances aren’t always sunshine and puppies, but she always manages to make them just satisfying enough to pacify readers.

Note: Apparently, the heroine of Velde's The Conjurer Princess is not, in fact, a princess, but Velde’s editor thought The Conjurer Baroness looked funny.


Aftertaste:
Velde is solidly anti-sequel, which means that we'll never find out exactly what happened between the main characters of Companions of the Night. If you haven't read Companions of the Night, you'll have to take my word for it, but trust me--this totally, totally sucks.

Availability:
Everywhere. Try your local library for her older titles.

Other Recommendations:
Anything by Annette Curtis Klause

Anything by L. J. Smith

Anything by Holly Black

Sunshine, by Robin McKinley

Website:
http://www.vivianvandevelde.com/ -