The Borderlands

Dale has spent her summer trying to get away from the bullies at school, but she never expected to be running from a dark sorcerer. Her family offers her little warmth, and she has always felt like an outsider wherever she goes.

Things change when a new boy at school starts showing interest in her. Dale confides her biggest secret to him, and it proves to be a costly choice. Her tormentors grow crueler, and strange events begin once the creatures she invented as a child start appearing in the real world.

When her only friend is brutally attacked by a sorcerer, Dale must accept that magic is real. A warning tells her she must reach the Borderlands at once, where she will learn what she needs to know. As she flees on a dangerous quest, she must ask what the Borderlands are, what they will awaken in her, and whether she will finally belong.

This young adult fantasy, the first I know of in The Borderlands series, centres on a magical awakening and suits readers who enjoy that theme.