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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...

Megamorphs 2: In the Time of Dinosaurs by K. A. Applegate

Megamorphs #2 is stuck in a weird bind. It needs to be interesting and impactful, but also to not disrupt the main storyline in case someone misses it. The Animorphs end up in the past due to a Sario Rip and run from dinosaurs.

There's a truly horrifying sequence early on where Tobias and Rachel are inside a stomach being digested, skip that one if you're squeamish. But, really, it's not more gruesome than the main continuity, just more dense because it's a one-off. A lot of scientific details didn't age well in this, so if you only going to skip one you can make it this.

However, it does have an important moment for Cassie, with the theme of ethical dilemmas and moral center than has been developing for the last several books. You don't need to read this one to understand the next book, but it really helps set up the state of mind for Cassie that will contribute to events in book 19 (The Departure).

Six pairs of eyes (four human, one hawk, one Andalite) are superimposed against animal skin textures

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