Car Guts by Melody J. Bremen

Beatrice Tanner is having a bad life. Her father is in jail, her mother is sick and incapable of holding things together, and Beatrice is on a bus headed to Sandpoint, Texas, to live with the uncle she’d never even heard of before.

Uncle Kyle proves to be a man of few words, living out in the middle of nowhere with his dog, Rocket, fixing cars. He quietly welcomes Beatrice into his spare, neat home but pretty much leaves her to her own devices while he works beneath whatever car or truck needs his attention. He enrolls her in the local school for the final two weeks of the school year but Beatrice feels the pain of being the new kid and is targeted by the classroom “Queen Bee,” Erica Fields.

But Uncle Kyle is more than a small-town mechanic. Warned to stay away from the old barn on the property, Beatrice’s curiosity gets the better of her and she discovers that there is a whole world of magic lurking just out of sight. Kyle is actually a powerful wizard and magic runs in the family! Beatrice is going to be his apprentice.

What a fun story! Beatrice is a strong young lady, not a lot of feeling sorry for her plight either. Uncle Kyle grows on you and truly becomes Beatrice’s family. There are twists and turns in the story, mean girls to overcome, and an interesting set up to the magical world. The ending makes it look like this could be the start of a delightful series. I’m certainly hoping there will be more about Uncle Kyle and Beatrice.