Numb. That’s what Nora Sparrow is. In the wake of the destruction that Owen Asher wreaked on Helicon, her home, and after everything she did to attempt to rein him in, she is defeated and lost. A series of blows weights her further down as Coeus Dust dies, Phoebe Rain steps down from the council in her grief, and Maddie Salt succumbs again to her anorexic tendencies. As long-running relationships around her crumble, Nora struggles to know how to respond to the advances of half-fairy Roth River. It’s not until May Day, when Owen bursts back into Helicon, full of the power of the Influence, that the gang is shocked back into action. It will take everything they have within them to stop him. And, of course, it would be easier to focus on all that if they weren’t also dealing with cheating, heartbreak, and threesomes. The Helicon series is a soapy, irreverent portal fantasy wherein the drama of teen relationships tends to overshadow whatever magical threat they’re trying to fight. Lots of drinking, swearing, inappropriate sexual decisions, grappling with sexual orientation and gender, and random appearances by mythological figures thrown in for good measure. It’s genre-bending, impossible to categorize, and for everyone out there who equally loves Gossip Girl, Rocky Horror, and Narnia.