The Girl with the Dragon Heart by Stephanie Burgis (review)

Thirteen-year-old Silke and her older brother, Dieter, lost their parents six years ago while travelling with other displaced refugees to the city of Drachenburg. Now Silke assists in a chocolate shop alongside her best friend Aventurine, a shape-shifting dragon-turned-human under a spell/curse, and that's where she displays a knack for storytelling and earns a reputation for fast-talking her way out of a jam. Those characteristics attract the attention of the Crown Princess Katrin, who wants Silke, in exchange for a permanent job and home at the palace, to pose as a lady-in-waiting; that will enable her to spy on the fairy king and queen and sniff out their true motives for emerging from their hideout to make an alliance with human royalty. Full of secrets and supernatural beings and topped with chocolate, the book hooks fans of fantasy with a fast-paced adventure that gradually reveals its mysteries: What really happened to Silke's parents and could they still be alive? Can dragonfire stand up to fairy magic? What caused fairies to go into hiding? Occasional teachable moments are folded into the adventure—it turns out the fairies were acting out of fear—and readers will appreciate that Silke, who has been searching for a home from the start, realizes she already has one and it is nontraditional, just as she is. QB