Sherwood Smith
The Crown Duel generation: Two post Crown Duel novelettes about Mel's and Vidanric's older two offspring, Prince Alaraec ("Court Ship") and Elestra ("Beauty").
In the latter, the middle child, who thinks of herself as the plain one of the three Renselaeus siblings, goes into the throne room to look at a tree, and meets a beautiful villain. Thus begins a duel of wits with unexpected results.
In "Court Ship" Prince Raec and his best friend, Nadav,
...2) Senrid
Senrid is a story of swashbuckling boys and girls, royal stakes, mysterious villains, high adventure and strange magic, in the tradition of Lloyd Alexander's Westmark and Megan Whalen Turner's The Thief. In the novel, teen-aged king Leander Tlennen-Hess has barely ruled Vasande Leror a year when he and his step-sister Kitty (or Princess Kyale, as she wishes to be known) are surprised by two visitors. The first is an adventure-loving
...First written when Sherwood Smith was a teen, the series called CJ's Notebooksfeature a gang of girls around thirteen-year-old Queen Clair of Mearsies Heili. The M girls, as they come to be known, prefer their villains silly, their throwing pies gloppy, and their adventures fun. But villains don't ask first if the girls want to be dragged into dangerous escapades, so they've had more than their share.
Sometimes they are not the center of the
...Vidanric Renselaeus, Marquis of Shevraeth, is a courtly, well-mannered teen coached in the noble art of dueling. Growing up in a court that on the surface seems civilized under an increasingly despotic king, he is sent by his father to the infamous military academy in Marloven Hess. He expects to be reading theories about statecraft, but finds that he is going to learn about military command from the inside—and finally, what it really means
...5) Poor World
If you have a hankering to experience the prune pie of justice, ask CJ or her gang of girls if they want to Save the World.
The Mearsiean girls around thirteen-year-old Queen Clair prefer their villains silly, their throwing pies gloppy, and their adventures fun. But what happens when you've gained a reputation for successfully outwitting villains twice your age and experience?
Recruitment whether you like it or not, is what. By a villain who
..."I am Princess Cherene Jennet Sherwood of Mearsies Heili, hater of evil, foe to all villains, and wielder of the prune pie of justice!" That's how CJ Sherwood introduces herself when she lands into her craziest adventure yet. In this, the second volume of CJ's records, she and her gang of friends gathered around the thirteen year old queen, Clair Sherwood, find themselves beset by magical spells and various villains. They still manage to have fun
...All her life Wren has hoped for an adventure. Now she has one—with a kidnapped princess, a handsome prince, and a magician. What does it matter if the princess is only Tess, her best friend from the orphanage; if the prince is a youngest son with no chance of becoming king; and the magician is an apprentice? Wren leads the other three over mountains and past killing spells, fighting battles along the way. But then she finds herself up against
...8) Over The Sea
When Sherwood Smith was eight years old, a girl named Clair walked into her dreams, bringing hints of a world where girls could adventure, live on their own, and best of all, didn't have to grow up.
Clair traveled about looking for girls who needed a home. She even came to Earth, where she found CJ, who did not fit. CJ found herself not only taken to another world to live, but she became the princess - Clair's "left hand splat." One of her jobs
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