The Magical Cheese Emporium by Sarah Beth Durst

When Eloren joined the revolution against the empire, she didn't expect to lose everything -- her job, her purpose, and her closest friend.

After the Great Library burned down and her position as Assistant Librarian burned down with it, she had no other choice but to return to the only home that will have her: her grandmother's shop.

Now, Eloren is stuck at the Magical Cheese Emporium in the remote island town of Dew, struggling to become the cheesemonger heiress she never wanted to be. But the unicorns won't let her milk them, there's a monster in the cheese caves, and Eloren is more into books than cheese. The only good thing about coming home is reuniting with Garyn, the childhood friend and clever inventor who, at some point, got a whole lot taller.

When Dew's governor imposes impossible taxes on small business owners like her grandmother, Eloren knows one thing: she didn't take down the emperor just so someone else could exploit good people.

Eloren, Garyn, a mouse made of cheese, and Garyn's (mostly) helpful contraptions set off to rescue the cheese emporium and all the other local businesses. And in saving her community, Eloren might finally agree to call it home.

The Grey King by Susan Cooper (slight spoilers in review)

Will Stanton must face a powerful agent of the Dark in this Newbery Medal–winning fourth installment of Susan Cooper’s epic The Dark Is Rising Sequence, now with a brand-new look!

There is a Welsh legend about a harp of gold, hidden away within a certain hill, that will be found by a boy and a white dog with silver eyes—a dog that can see the wind.

Will Stanton knows nothing of this when he comes to Wales to recover from a severe illness. But when he meets the strange boy Bran and his white dog, memory wakes in Will. For Will is the last-born of the Old Ones, immortals dedicated to saving the world from the forces of evil, the Dark. It is his task to use the golden harp to wake the six who must be roused from their long slumber in the Welsh hills to prepare for the last battle between the Dark and the Light. But first, with help from Bran, Will must face his most terrifying opponent the Grey King.