The City of the Ladies — Meyari McFarland

On the matriarchal world of Muirin, seven-year-old Anwyn of the Dana Clan had no interest in going to the Delbhana Clan's big party. Her arch-rival Siobhan would be there and Anwyn had promised not to pick a fight with her, no matter how tempting it was to break the older girl's nose. When Anwyn's efforts to protect her twin brother Cadfael from Siobhan's bullying failed, she was ready to fight even if it would get her in trouble with her mother and aunts. But an escalating series of near-fights between Anwyn and Siobhan led to a dare that Anwyn couldn't turn down, not after Siobhan failed so miserably at it. Accepting the challenge was the only thing that honor and pride would allow her to do, as well as the only way she had to protect her twin from Siobhan's bullying. So Anwyn marched off to the City of the Ladies, that alien fortress of crystal and silence in the middle of the river. What she found there was worth all the teasing and fights that had lead up to the challenge: the mysterious Ladies themselves at the heart of the City that the Delbhana Clan wanted everyone to forget.