The Raven Boys

 The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater, 409 pages.

Blue Sargent comes from a family of psychics, but her own supernatural gifts have always been limited to making other people's gifts stronger. Until one St. Mark's Eve, when she sees the spirit of a boy who's destined to die in the next year, who she must either kill or love to see him. That boy is Gansey, a student at the local boarding school for rich and privileged boys who is on an obsessive quest for a long buried Welsh king he believes is buried along the leyline in Virginia. Soon Blue's path crosses with Gansey and his friends' search and things begin to move very quickly.

This young adult novel came very highly recommended, and I'm afraid I found it a little middling. There wasn't anything wrong with it, and I did genuinely really like all of the characters, but I found the pacing a little slow and it didn't really shine for me. This is book one of a quartet, and I'm intrigued enough by some of the open questions that I might pick up the next, but I'm not sure I'll finish the series. Fans of young adult literature and magical realism might like this book. 

Something Wilder

Something Wilder by Christina Lauren (2022) 361 pages

I've been wanting to read something by the Christina Lauren duo (Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings) for a while, and Something Wilder jumped at me. Lily Wilder, along with her best friend Nicole, are just scraping by while giving pretend treasure-hunt tours in Utah. It has been 10 years since Lily's one true love, Leo, had left, and her only wish now is to get enough money to buy back the ranch that her late father, Duke, had sold in Wyoming. When she learns that the ranch is up for sale again, she wishes that the stories her dad had told about Butch Cassidy hiding his loot from a bank robbery long ago were true. Her dad spent a lot of time in Utah, searching the canyons for the treasure, and when he sold the ranch in Wyoming, that's where they lived until he died.

Meanwhile, Leo is New York, still pining because Lily never contacted him again after he left her because his mother was injured. His mother died and he stayed in New York to raise his younger sister. He writes computer code to thwart hackers and is a whiz at solving puzzles. One of his friends plans a trip for four of them to go on one of Lily's treasure hunt tours, and Leo is blindsided when he sees Lily. Likewise for her. They eventually have "the talk," the one where they discover that their separation was not wanted by either of them, but Lily can't break down her wall, not wanting to be so hurt again.

The group sets out on horseback, with minimal provisions. The guys are suffering from the rigor of the trip while the women easily handle the horses, heat, and meals. When one of the guys, Terry, goes rogue, all bets are off. Especially when it seems that the notebook filled with Duke's old maps and notes might actually show that finding a real treasure is possible after all. But danger awaits!

Improbably Yours

Improbably Yours by Kerry Anne King (2022) 329 pages

Blythe is turning 30 and feels the pressure to take on the life that her mother, sister and boyfriend want for her. But everything is upended when she's unexpectedly given her grandmother's ashes along with the job to go to a specific island, find the spot where something special was buried long ago, and then to inter the ashes in that place. If she is successful, she will inherit $500,000 that her grandmother had put into a trust for her.

By leaving her boyfriend and rejecting a high-profile job which he had lined up for her, Blythe reaches for the unknown, and the chance to find out what she really wants to do with her life. She books a spot on the island of Vinland, a tourist destination for treasure-seeking. The tourists choose to be Vikings or Pirates, and they learn how to use metal detectors to find clues that have been planted for them. But Blythe's hunt is a much different one, and she meets a few people on the island who try to help her find where to bury her grandmother's ashes - in particular, Flynn, a man who doesn't really want to be on the island, but who came to be with his 12-year old niece after his sister died, and Savannah, the niece. The uncle and niece are butting heads constantly.

Blythe's grandmother has been dead for 24 years, but when she was still alive, she and Blythe had such a playful and loving relationship, with more than a touch of make-believe magic in it. Or *was* it make-believe? This book is filled with magic, at least one ghost, lots of ravens (including one who talks), and a lot of secrets.