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By E.D. Baker [LibraryThing - Amazon]

Princess Emeralda is clumsy and awkward. She doesn’t fit her mother’s idea of a princess (and she hates her mother’s idea of a proper prince for her to marry), and she’s also no good at the magic her aunt Grasssina, a powerful witch, has been trying to teach her. When it gets to be too much, Emeralda takes off and does something impulsive—she kisses the talking frog who says he’s really a prince. And he isn’t lying…but instead of freeing him from his enchantment, she’s turned into a frog, too. Now Emeralda and Eadric have to try and track down the witch who cast the spell in the first place if they ever want to be human again.

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By J. V. Hart [Librarything - Amazon]

James is not your average boy. With his lanky build, long black curls like candles, and sinister, aloof demeanor, he would be set apart from his peers at Eton even without the shame of being born a bastard hanging over his head – not to mention the fact that he bleeds yellow. He is also clever and fearless, however, and soon wins the admiration of his house (the Oppidans), the friendship of the loyal “Jolly” Roger Davies, and the love (he hopes) of the beautiful Ottoman Sultana Ananova. But ill fate dogs James, and before long he is exiled to sea, the first step in a chain of events that will turn him into the dreaded Captain Hook.

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