The Sin Eater's Daughter

The Sin Eater's Daughter
 by Melinda Salisbury
 570 pages

A startling, seductive, deliciously dark debut that will shatter your definition of YA fantasy. (Yep, completely shattered it. My hope in YA Fiction came to a screeching halt and died with this book.)

 Sixteen-year-old Twylla lives in the castle. But although she's engaged to the prince, no one speaks to her. No one even looks at her. Because Twylla isn't a member of the court. She's the executioner.As the goddess-embodied, Twylla kills with a single touch. (Sounds cool, awesome, totally kick butt! I wish it had been.)

 So each week, she's taken to the prison and forced to lay her hands on those accused of treason. No one will ever love her. Who could care for a girl with murder in her veins? Even the prince, whose royal blood supposedly makes him immune to her touch, avoids her.But then a new guard arrives, a boy whose playful smile belies his deadly swordsmanship. And unlike the others, he's able to look past Twylla's executioner robes and see the girl, not the goddess. Yet a treasonous romance is the least of Twylla's problems. The queen has a plan to destroy her enemies-a plan that requires an unthinkable sacrifice. Will Twylla do what it takes to protect her kingdom? Or will she abandon her duty in favor of a doomed love? (After the first couple of chapters all this girl does is mope, pray, and let herself be used by all the people around her and her family that she hasn't seen in years. Honestly this was one of the more disappointing teen fiction books I've read this year. Why can't we have more strong, female protagonists like we had 20 or even just 10 years ago?)