Heroines, all

The Minister's Daughter, by Julie Hearn. If you ever had to read The Crucible, you will recognize this immediately as a prequel. It was pretty transparent, but other than that, it was pretty good, and alot easier to get through than Mr. Miller's work. The reading age seemed a bit low for it to be in the YA section: it's maybe for readers as young as 9 or so.

Wintersmith, by Terry Pratchett. I really love the Nac McFeegles. There were some good lines, but not as much to think about as in Pratchett's works for older readers. Not that older readers can't enjoy this series; they're so much fun. Start with The Wee Free Men and don't stop.

Phoenix and Ashes, by Mercedes Lackey. You can tell she wrote this one in a bit of a rush. In addition to her regular errors (mostly improperly using dashes and having a tendency toward run-ons), there were so many stupid proof-reading errors: places where she changed the sentence structure but left in an extra comma, leaving e's off the end of words, etc. This is why you should never procrastinate with your writing.
Her characters wink alot, and I don't think I've ever winked at anyone, so it makes it rather unrealistic.