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The Empress of All Seasons by Emiko Jean

Each generation, a competition is held to find the next empress of Honoku. The rules are simple. Survive the palace's enchanted seasonal rooms. Conquer Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall. Marry the prince. All are eligible to compete--all except yokai, supernatural monsters and spirits whom the human emperor is determined to enslave and destroy. Mari has spent a lifetime training to become empress. Winning should be easy. And it would be, if she weren't hiding a dangerous secret. Mari is a yokai with the ability to transform into a terrifying monster. If discovered, her life will be forfeit. As she struggles to keep her true identity hidden, Mari's fate collides with that of Taro, the prince who has no desire to inherit the imperial throne, and Akira, a half-human, half-yokai outcast. Torn between duty and love, loyalty and betrayal, vengeance and forgiveness, the choices of Mari, Taro, and Akira will decide the fate of Honoku in this beautifully written, edge-of-your-seat YA...

Animorphs Book 18: The Decision by K. A. Applegate

Wherein Ax discovers that not all traitors are Controllers, and commits to Jake as his Prince. Plus cool Z-space stuff, the Leerans, and cinnamon buns. This series is directly responsible for my love of Cinnabon, as I didn't frequent the mall.

This is a turning point where Ax goes from temporarily aligned with the humans until he can leave, to accepting them as his own. I really love how this is handled, especially since this paradigm shift would take a long time even if little moments can be responsible for large chunks of it. The Z-space theory is great and the snapback effect give a nice sense of urgency to the pacing.

A blue centaur-like alien (Aximili) turns into a mosquito

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