Vessel

Vessel by Sarah Beth Durst, 424 pages

Liyana is prepared to die.  her body will become a vessel f to house her goddess, Bayla, while her spirit moves on into the Dreaming.  Bayla will be able to do magic that will allow her clan to survive the drought.  Without the use of Liyana's body, her goddess will not be able to affect the earth and would not be able to help the clan.  On the day of the ceremony, everything goes exactly as planned, except that the goddess doesn't come.  Liyana's clan is left bereft, unsure what to do and end up abandoning Liyana to what is surely death in the desert, until a boy shows up out of nowhere.  The boy, Korbyn, may have the answers to what happened to Bayla and how to fix the void she left.  This book is one of the best books I've ever read, definitely my favorite by this author.  Teens who like fantasy will probably love it.

Styxx

Styxx by Sherrilyn Kenyon  

837 pages

Having read Acheron, where I was first introduced to the character of Styxx, it was interesting to read his story.  Because they were twins, and the first half of the book, Acheron, focuses on his human life, as does the first part of Styxx, some of the story is the same, but since each is told from the perspective of the main character, the stories end up being very different, especially since the twins were separated when they were seven years old.  Although we find out about some of the abuse Acheron endured, we also get to see how much abuse Styxx also endured.  The story moves pretty quickly and is pretty typical of Kenyon’s style, lots of violence, some sex, and a little humor thrown in.  Based loosely on Greek, Egyptian, And Atlantean mythology, fans of her other books should like this addition.