Bravely, by Maggie Stiefvater

Princess Merida has returned to the kingdom of Dun Broch after a year of travel to find everything is just the same. She loves her home and her family but they also make her restless and unsatisfied. In a case of be careful what you wish for, Merida finds herself caught between two gods and a warlord, with a year to enact change or face ruin from one direction or another. Can she forge alliances with other kingdoms and at the same time prod her parents and her triplet brothers out of their comfort zones? And how will the quest change her? A follow-up to the story of the Pixar film Brave, Stiefvater cleverly picks up the threads of the original story and its humour to create a mix of history, folk tale and fairy story. It makes for a different kind of coming-of-age story, as Merida learns a lot about her family, her country and finally herself. As in the original film, Merida is an appealing and relatable heroine and it will be interesting to see if Disney takes this story up as a sequel.