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Life on Mars

Jon Agee

In this sneaky, silly picture book for fans of Oliver Jeffers and Jon Klassen, an intrepid—but not so clever—space explorer is certain he’s found the only living thing on Mars
 
A young astronaut is absolutely sure there is life to be found on Mars. He sets off on a solitary mission, determined to prove the naysayers wrong. But when he arrives, equipped with a package of cupcakes as a gift, he sees nothing but a nearly barren planet. Finally, he spies a single flower and packs it away to take back to Earth as proof that there is indeed life on Mars. But as he settles in for the journey home, he cracks open his cupcakes—only to discover that someone has eaten them all!
 
Readers will love being in on the secret: Unbeknownst to the explorer, a Martian has been wandering through the illustrations the whole time—and he got himself a delicious snack along the way.

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Fish in a Tree

Lynda Mullaly Hunt

A New York Times Bestseller • An emotionally-charged, uplifting novel that will speak to anyone who’s ever thought there was something wrong with them because they didn’t fit in.

"Fans of R.J. Palacio’s Wonder will appreciate this feel-good story of friendship and unconventional smarts.” —Kirkus Reviews 

“Everybody is smart in different ways. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its life believing it is stupid.”
 
Ally has been smart enough to fool a lot of smart people. Every time she lands in a new school, she is able to hide her inability to read by creating clever yet disruptive distractions.  She is afraid to ask for help; after all, how can you cure dumb? However, her newest teacher Mr. Daniels sees the bright, creative kid underneath the trouble maker. With his help, Ally learns not to be so hard on herself and that dyslexia is nothing to be ashamed of. As her confidence grows, Ally feels free to be herself and the world starts opening up with possibilities. She discovers that there’s a lot more to her—and to everyone—than a label, and that great minds don’t always think alike.

Schneider Family Book Award • ALA Notable • Global Read-Aloud Selection • Crystal Kite Nerdy Book Award

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Ghost

Jason Reynolds

A National Book Award Finalist for Young People’s Literature.
Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read. 

Ghost wants to be the fastest sprinter on his elite middle school track team, but his past is slowing him down in this first electrifying novel of the acclaimed Track series from Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe Award–winning author Jason Reynolds.

Ghost. Lu. Patina. Sunny. Four kids from wildly different backgrounds with personalities that are explosive when they clash. But they are also four kids chosen for an elite middle school track team—a team that could qualify them for the Junior Olympics if they can get their acts together. They all have a lot to lose, but they also have a lot to prove, not only to each other, but to themselves.

Running. That’s all Ghost (real name Castle Cranshaw) has ever known. But Ghost has been running for the wrong reasons—it all started with running away from his father, who, when Ghost was a very little boy, chased him and his mother through their apartment, then down the street, with a loaded gun, aiming to kill. Since then, Ghost has been the one causing problems—and running away from them—until he meets Coach, an ex-Olympic Medalist who sees something in Ghost: crazy natural talent. If Ghost can stay on track, literally and figuratively, he could be the best sprinter in the city. Can Ghost harness his raw talent for speed, or will his past finally catch up to him?

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Pax

Sara Pennypacker

National Book Award Longlist * New York Times Bestseller * An Amazon Best Book of the Year

From bestselling and award-winning author Sara Pennypacker comes a beautifully wrought, utterly compelling novel about the powerful relationship between a boy and his fox. Pax is destined to become a classic, beloved for generations to come.

Pax and Peter have been inseparable ever since Peter rescued him as a kit. But one day, the unimaginable happens: Peter's dad enlists in the military and makes him return the fox to the wild.

At his grandfather's house, three hundred miles away from home, Peter knows he isn't where he should be—with Pax. He strikes out on his own despite the encroaching war, spurred by love, loyalty, and grief, to be reunited with his fox.

Meanwhile Pax, steadfastly waiting for his boy, embarks on adventures and discoveries of his own. . . .

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Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus

Dusti Bowling

"Aven is a perky, hilarious, and inspiring protagonist whose attitude and humor will linger even after the last page has turned." --School Library Journal (Starred review)


Aven Green loves to tell people that she lost her arms in an alligator wrestling match, or a wildfire in Tanzania, but the truth is she was born without them. And when her parents take a job running Stagecoach Pass, a rundown western theme park in Arizona, Aven moves with them across the country knowing that she'll have to answer the question over and over again.


Her new life takes an unexpected turn when she bonds with Connor, a classmate who also feels isolated because of his own disability, and they discover a room at Stagecoach Pass that holds bigger secrets than Aven ever could have imagined. It's hard to solve a mystery, help a friend, and face your worst fears. But Aven's about to discover she can do it all . . . even without arms.

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Restart

Gordon Korman

The amazing New York Times bestseller about what you can do when life gives you a second chance.

Chase's memory just went out the window.

Chase doesn't remember falling off the roof. He doesn't remember hitting his head. He doesn't, in fact, remember anything. He wakes up in a hospital room and suddenly has to learn his whole life all over again... starting with his own name.

He knows he's Chase. But who is Chase? When he gets back to school, he sees that different kids have very different reactions to his return.

Some kids treat him like a hero. Some kids are clearly afraid of him.

One girl in particular is so angry with him that she pours her frozen yogurt on his head the first chance she gets.

Pretty soon, it's not only a question of who Chase is -- it's a question of who he was... and who he's going to be.

From the #1 bestselling author of Swindle and Slacker, Restart is the spectacular story of a kid with a messy past who has to figure out what it means to get a clean start.

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Small Spaces

Katherine Arden

After suffering a tragic loss, eleven-year-old Ollie only finds solace in books. So when she happens upon a crazed woman at the river threatening to throw a book into the water, Ollie doesn't think—she just acts, stealing the book and running away. As she begins to read the slender volume, Ollie discovers a chilling story about a girl named Beth, the two brothers who both loved her, and a peculiar deal made with "the smiling man," a sinister specter who grants your most tightly held wish, but only for the ultimate price. 

Ollie is captivated by the tale until her school trip the next day to Smoke Hollow, a local farm with a haunting history all its own. There she stumbles upon the graves of the very people she's been reading about. Could it be the story about the smiling man is true? Ollie doesn't have too long to think about the answer to that. On the way home, the school bus breaks down, sending their teacher back to the farm for help. But the strange bus driver has some advice for the kids left behind in his care: "Best get moving. At nightfall they'll come for the rest of you." Nightfall is, indeed, fast descending when Ollie's previously broken digital wristwatch, a keepsake reminder of better times, begins a startling countdown and delivers a terrifying message: RUN. 

Only Ollie and two of her classmates heed the bus driver's warning. As the trio head out into the woods—bordered by a field of scarecrows that seem to be watching them—the bus driver has just one final piece of advice for Ollie and her friends: "Avoid large places. Keep to small." 

And with that, a deliciously creepy and hair-raising adventure begins.

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Ghost Boys

Jewell Parker Rhodes

A heartbreaking and powerful story about a black boy killed by a police officer, drawing connections through history, from award-winning author Jewell Parker Rhodes.
 

Only the living can make the world better. Live and make it better.
Twelve-year-old Jerome is shot by a police officer who mistakes his toy gun for a real threat. As a ghost, he observes the devastation that's been unleashed on his family and community in the wake of what they see as an unjust and brutal killing.
Soon Jerome meets another ghost: Emmett Till, a boy from a very different time but similar circumstances. Emmett helps Jerome process what has happened, on a journey towards recognizing how historical racism may have led to the events that ended his life. Jerome also meets Sarah, the daughter of the police officer, who grapples with her father's actions.
Once again Jewell Parker Rhodes deftly weaves historical and socio-political layers into a gripping and poignant story about how children and families face the complexities of today's world, and how one boy grows to understand American blackness in the aftermath of his own death.


 

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Wildfire

Rodman Philbrick

Newbery Honor author Rodman Philbrick sends readers straight into the nightmare of a raging wildfire as 12-year-old Sam is trapped by explosive flames and deadly smoke that threaten to take his life. Can he survive?

Flames race toward Sam Castine's summer camp as evacuation buses are loading, but Sam runs back to get his phone. Suddenly, a flash of heat blasts him as pine trees explode. Now a wall of fire separates Sam from his bus, and there's only one thing to do: Run for his life. Run or die.Lungs burning, Sam's only goal is to keep moving. Drought has made the forest a tinderbox, and Sam struggles to remember survival tricks he learned from his late father. Then, when he least expects it, he encounters Delphy, an older girl who is also lost. Their unlikely friendship grows as they join forces to find civilization. The pace never slows, and eventually flames surround Sam and Delphy on all sides. A powerful bond is forged that can only grow out of true hardship -- as two true friends beat all odds and outwit one of the deadliest fires ever. At the end of the novel, information about wildfires and useful safety tips add to the reader's understanding of one of the US's most dangerous natural disasters.

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The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise

Dan Gemeinhart

Five years.

That's how long Coyote and her dad, Rodeo, have lived on the road in an old school bus, criss-crossing the nation.

It's also how long ago Coyote lost her mom and two sisters in a car crash.

Coyote hasn’t been home in all that time, but when she learns that the park in her old neighborhood is being demolished—the very same park where she, her mom, and her sisters buried a treasured memory box—she devises an elaborate plan to get her dad to drive 3,600 miles back to Washington state in four days...without him realizing it.

Along the way, they'll pick up a strange crew of misfit travelers. Lester has a lady love to meet. Salvador and his mom are looking to start over. Val needs a safe place to be herself. And then there's Gladys...

Over the course of thousands of miles, Coyote will learn that going home can sometimes be the hardest journey of all...but that with friends by her side, she just might be able to turn her “once upon a time” into a “happily ever after.”

This title has common core connections.

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96 Miles

J. L. Esplin

21 days without power. 2 brothers on a desperate trek. 72 hours before time runs out...

The Lockwood brothers are supposed to be able to survive anything. Their dad, a hardcore believer in self-reliance, has stockpiled enough food and water at their isolated Nevada home to last for months. But when they are robbed of all their supplies during a massive blackout while their dad is out of town, John and Stew must walk 96 miles in the stark desert sun to get help. Along the way, they’re forced to question their dad’s insistence on self-reliance and ask just what it is that we owe to our neighbors, to our kin, and to ourselves.

From talented newcomer J. L. Esplin comes this story of survival and determination as two young brothers confront the unpredictability of human nature in the face of desperate circumstances.

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Scritch Scratch

Lindsay Currie

"This is a teeth-chattering, eyes bulging, shuddering-and-shaking, chills-at-the-back-of-your-neck ghost story. I loved it!"--R.L. Stine, author of the Goosebumps series

For fans of Small Spaces and the Goosebumps series by R.L Stine comes a chilling ghost story based on real Chicago history about a malevolent spirit, an unlucky girl, and a haunting mystery that will tie the two together.

Claire has absolutely no interest in the paranormal. She's a scientist, which is why she can't think of anything worse than having to help out her dad on one of his ghost-themed Chicago bus tours. She thinks she's made it through when she sees a boy with a sad face and dark eyes at the back of the bus. There's something off about his presence, especially because when she checks at the end of the tour...he's gone.

Claire tries to brush it off, she must be imagining things, letting her dad's ghost stories get the best of her. But then the scratching starts. Voices whisper to her in the dark. The number 396 appears everywhere she turns. And the boy with the dark eyes starts following her.

Claire is being haunted. The boy from the bus wants something...and Claire needs to find out what before it's too late.

Pick up Scritch Scratch if you are looking for:

  • A book for middle school students, 5th grade to 9th grade
  • A story with a strong female protagonist that explores bravery, friendship, and family
  • Mystery books for kids 9-12
  • Chilling ghost stories and ghost books for kids (perfect for Halloween!)
  • Historical mysteries and Chicago history books for kids
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Ground Zero

Alan Gratz

September 11, 2001, New York City: Brandon is visiting his dad at work, on the 107th floor of the World Trade Center. Out of nowhere, an airplane slams into the tower, creating a fiery nightmare of terror and confusion. And Brandon is in the middle of it all. Can he survive -- and escape?

September 11, 2019, Afghanistan: Reshmina has grown up in the shadow of war, but she dreams of peace and progress. When a battle erupts in her village, Reshmina stumbles upon a wounded American soldier named Taz. Should she help Taz -- and put herself and her family in mortal danger?

Two kids. One devastating day. Nothing will ever be the same.

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Stella

McCall Hoyle

An uplifting and poignant story about a former service beagle named Stella who must find the courage to overcome her fears and use her special nose to save a girl's life.

Ever since Stella was a puppy, she was trained to use her powerful beagle nose to sniff out chemicals used in explosives and warn her human handler in order to keep people safe.

But during a routine security inspection, Stella is distracted and misses the scent of an explosive chemical. The sound of the blast is loud and scary. Stella survives but her handler--her best friend in the whole world--is gone. Stella blames herself, certain she's a bad dog.

Scared of loud noises, especially thunder and fireworks, Stella struggles with her anxiety and must be retired from being a service animal. Several families try to foster her, but sometimes Stella is so scared she howls or digs or tears things up with her teeth. She wonders if anyone will want to adopt her.

An expert dog trainer, Esperanza, thinks she can help. It's Stella's last chance to prove she can be a good dog. Stella has every reason to love her new family, especially the young human named Chloe who smells like chocolate chip cookies, newly cut grass, the pages of books, and something else--a strange chemical she can't quite identify.

Chloe has epilepsy, and a chemical inside her body surges just before she has a seizure. Stella's nose makes the connection. But how can she warn Esperanza without her thinking it's just Stella's usual anxiety? How can she convince her new family that she can be a new kind of service dog and hopefully save Chloe's life?

Told from Stella's point of view, readers will experience life through a dog's eyes, ears, and, especially, her nose. Like Babe the pig or Ivan the gorilla, Stella the beagle is an extraordinary story for kids who love animals. An endearing novel of courage, compassion, friendship, and love. 
 

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Suicide

Bonnie Szumski

When someone you know--when someone you love--dies from suicide the sense of loss and guilt can be overwhelming and it is natural to wonder how you can ever come back from that pain. Suicide: When It Happens to Someone You Know offers a deeply personal look at the thoughts, feelings, and grieving process in the aftermath of suicide. It shows that there is no magic elixir, no ideal path to feeling okay again but that the way back includes accepting how you feel, talking to people you trust, and taking care of yourself.

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Marijuana and Its Dangers

Kari A. Cornell

With many states legalizing marijuana for medicinal or recreational use, it is important for teens to understand the risks and dangers of marijuana. Marijuana and Its Dangers looks at how marijuana use affects the brain, how addiction affects the life of the user and society, and what treatment options look like for those in need.

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Helping a Friend with an Alcohol Problem

Jennifer Landau

A 2014 survey by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration showed that 8.7 million youths ages twelve to twenty reported drinking alcohol beyond “just a few sips” in the previous month. Those who start drinking before age fifteen are five times more likely to become dependent on alcohol than those who begin at twenty-one. This resource shows young people how to help a friend who is abusing alcohol. It arms them with facts about alcohol, how it affects the teen mind and body, how to look for signs of a problem, and how to bring others on board to help.

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The Real Body Manual

Nancy Redd

A revolutionary health resource for young adults of all genders to understand, appreciate, and take care of their bodies, with color photos throughout

How can the savviest and most connected generation in history have no photographic guide to puberty? Until now! The Real Body Manual is a comprehensive health and wellness guidebook for all genders—from the author of the ALA Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers and instant New York Times and USA Today bestseller Body Drama. Inspired by her own kids entering the tween and teen years, Nancy Redd has crafted a uniquely inclusive book that offers a factual and candid approach to the complex and often confusing body issues that all young people face. This go-to resource or all types of developing bodies contains medically vetted, relatable advice alongside full-color photographic references.

The Real Body Manual is for curious readers from puberty and beyond and is a conversation starter for parents, caregivers, uncles and aunts, older siblings, counselors, teachers, and health professionals—essentially anyone who would like to more fully understand and effectively relate to the body-image and self-discovery challenges faced by the young people in their life.

Created with today's open-minded and diverse kids in mind, this book tackles acne, body odor, constipation and diarrhea, chests and breasts, dandruff, sleep hygiene, sexual health, self-care, and so much more in a judgement-free and gender-neutral way. The Real Body Manual is the encouraging book that modern young adults are waiting for—and an eye-opening book their parents are likely to learn from, too!

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It Gets Better

Dan Savage

Every story can change a life.

Growing up isn't easy. Many young people face daily tormenting and bullying, making them feel like they have nowhere to turn. This is especially true for LGBT kids and teens who often hide their sexuality for fear of bullying. Without other openly gay adults and mentors in their lives, they can't imagine what their future may hold. In many instances, gay and lesbian adolescents are taunted - even tortured - simply for being themselves.

After a number of tragic suicides by LGBT students who were bullied in school, syndicated columnist and author Dan Savage uploaded a video to YouTube with his partner Terry Miller to inspire hope for LGBT youth facing harassment. Speaking openly about the bullying they suffered as teenagers, and how they both went on to lead rewarding adult lives, their video launched the It Gets Better Project YouTube channel and initiated a worldwide phenomenon. With over 6,000 videos posted and over 20 million views in the first three months alone, the world has embraced the opportunity to provide personal, honest and heartfelt support for LGBT youth everywhere.

It Gets Better is a collection of expanded essays and new material from celebrities, everyday people and teens who have posted videos of encouragement, as well as new contributors who have yet to post videos to the site. While many of these teens couldn't see a positive future for themselves, we can. We can show LGBT youth the levels of happiness, potential and positivity their lives will reach if they can just get through their teen years. By sharing these stories, It Gets Better reminds teenagers in the LGBT community that they are not alone - and it WILL get better.

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Doing It!

Hannah Witton

Sexting. Virginity. Consent. The Big O ... Let's face it, doing it can be tricksy. I don't know anyone (including myself) who has sex all figured out. So I've written a book full of honest, hilarious (and sometimes awkward) anecdotes, confessions and revelations. And because none of us have all the answers, I've invited some friends and fellow YouTubers to talk about their sexuality, too. My book is for everyone, no matter what gender you identify as or who you fancy.

We talk about doing it safely. Doing it joyfully. Doing it when you're ready. Not doing it. Basically, doing it the way you want, when you want. So. Let's do this ...

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Doing It candidly and openly explores topics like masturbation, slut-shaming, pornography and consent, as well as how to maintain healthy relationships in a digital age.

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Divorce

Kathlyn Gay

It has been estimated that at least half of the children in America come from families that have been affected by divorce. Of those children, more than half will see a parent's second marriage dissolve as well. The impact of divorce on teens can be devastating, adversely affecting their attitudes, behaviors, and schoolwork, as well as their relationships with both friends and family. Divorce: The Ultimate Teen Guide focuses on the difficulties young people face in the wake of an epidemic that affects so many families. This book offers encouragement, insights, and resources to help teens cope with the challenges that come from living with divorce. Chapters address such issues as: -Managing parental conflicts -Financial concerns -Communication problems -Placing blame and taking sides -Depression -Living in a stepfamily Featuring stories about and quotes from young people and adults who have experienced parental separation and divorce, this book will be helpful for readers who are trying to deal with similar situations. With an emphasis on strategies and resources, Divorce: The Ultimate Teen Guide will help young people cope with this often devastating experience.

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Spare Me 'the Talk'!

Jo Langford

If you have a teenage boy, there's a 50 percent chance that he's already sexually active, and a 33 percent chance that he's been solicited by an online predator in the past year. How prepared is he for the risks and realities of sex?

Unflinchingly honest, unfailingly complete, immensely readable (and often funny), Spare Me 'The Talk'! is the first book of its kind by a guy, for guys ages 12-24, and for parents of boys as young as 8.

With real-world stats and tips for both parents and their sons, this is not the typical, "what's happening down there?" book with a blue cover instead of a pink one. It's a comprehensive crash course for boys on staying safe -- emotionally, mentally, and physically -- while navigating the danger-laden worlds of teenage sex and sexuality in a digital age.

Your teen will learn proven, effective ways to:

  • Avoid pregnancy, and HIV and other sexually transmitted infections
  • Stay safe online and avoid sexual harm
  • Ask someone out (and let someone down easy)
  • Understand bodies and body issues, both male and female
  • Accept that sexuality comes in all shapes and sizes
  • Know the consequences of abstinence, indulgence, and everything in between
  • Decide what is right for him, remaining true to himself and respectful of others

With a strong moral compass, veteran sex educator Jo Langford offers a powerful supplement to those notoriously awkward parent-guy sex talks, answering the tough questions that teenage guys really have -- but are too embarrassed to ask. Spare Me 'The Talk'! is the newly revised and updated edition of Langford's The Sex-EDcylopedia (which is no longer in print), and includes critical new information about the constantly-evolving digital world, including social media, cyberbullying and video game culture.

 

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I Have the Right To

Chessy Prout

A young survivor tells her searing, visceral story of sexual assault, justice, and healing in this gut-wrenching memoir.

The numbers are staggering: nearly one in five girls ages fourteen to seventeen have been the victim of a sexual assault or attempted sexual assault. This is the true story of one of those girls.

In 2014, Chessy Prout was a freshman at St. Paul’s School, a prestigious boarding school in New Hampshire, when a senior boy sexually assaulted her as part of a ritualized game of conquest. Chessy bravely reported her assault to the police and testified against her attacker in court. Then, in the face of unexpected backlash from her once-trusted school community, she shed her anonymity to help other survivors find their voice.

This memoir is more than an account of a horrific event. It takes a magnifying glass to the institutions that turn a blind eye to such behavior and a society that blames victims rather than perpetrators. Chessy’s story offers real, powerful solutions to upend rape culture as we know it today. Prepare to be inspired by this remarkable young woman and her story of survival, advocacy, and hope in the face of unspeakable trauma.

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Ordinary Hazards

Nikki Grimes

In her own voice, acclaimed author and poet Nikki Grimes explores the truth of a harrowing childhood in a compelling and moving memoir in verse.

Growing up with a mother suffering from paranoid schizophrenia and a mostly absent father, Nikki Grimes found herself terrorized by babysitters, shunted from foster family to foster family, and preyed upon by those she trusted. At the age of six, she poured her pain onto a piece of paper late one night - and discovered the magic and impact of writing. For many years, Nikki's notebooks were her most enduing companions. In this accessible and inspiring memoir that will resonate with young readers and adults alike, Nikki shows how the power of those words helped her conquer the hazards - ordinary and extraordinary - of her life.

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Me and White Supremacy

Layla Saad

How do we give young people the tools they need to actively dismantle racism and create a better world for everyone? From the author of the groundbreaking NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER, Me and White Supremacy, Layla Saad's young readers' edition is a timely, crucial, and empowering guide for today's youth on how to be antiracist change makers.

Layla Saad meticulously updated the content for young readers to include:

  • definitions and history of various topics covered
  • sections to help readers process complex topics
  • no time limit--unlike the adult edition, this is not a 28-day challenge so readers can use this content for however long it takes to do the work
  • content that is approachable and applicable for those with and without white privilege

Me and White Supremacy has reached so many adults in their journeys to become better ancestors. This edition aims to teach readers how to explore and understand racism and white supremacy and how young readers can do their part to help change the world. Covering topics such as white privilege, white fragility, racist stereotypes, cultural appropriation, and more, Layla Saad has developed a brilliant introduction and deep dive that is sure to become a standard in antiracist education.

"This young readers' edition empowers young people to have courageous conversations about race, power, and privilege with themselves first and then with others." -Elisabet Velasquez, author of When We Make It

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Girls Against Girls

Bonnie Burton

Girls Against Girls is a must-read for today's strong, smart, and capable generation of young women. Now, more than ever, young women need to stand together and not tear each other down, and this book provides guidance on how to break the cycle. This informative read includes real scientific theories about why girls are cruel to each other, girls' war tactics, steps to take when things get out of hand, and positive advice for girls on how to unite and become more empowered. There's also advice from female artists and athletes, inspiring movie quotes, and an excellent resource section of empowering organizations to discover.

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Assisted Suicide

The New York Times Editorial Staff

The debate over the ethics of assisted suicide has raged for the better part of a century. From Dr. Jack Kevorkian's controversial practices to international euthanasia laws, there is nothing easy about the decision to end a life. The articles in this book speak to the legal battles, the historical context, and the personal stories that shed light on the various perspectives and conflicts that go into understanding the current state and future of assisted suicide. Media literacy questions and terms will engage readers and aid them in considering the many facets of this complicated issue.

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Stress Less

Michael A. Tompkins

Stress Less teaches concrete skills for managing stress and anxiety, organized into common "stress domains" such as family, friends, dating, school, and media.

Let's get real. Stress is part of every teen's life--stress of exams, college applications, a big game, difficult teachers, difficult friends, parents who don't always get you, not to mention the dating and social scenes. Stress like this tends to build over time--week after week--and takes a toll on your mental health. But, great news! Learning stress-busting skills doesn't take much time at all. Just 20 minutes a day is probably all it takes. The skills in this book are easy to learn and can be practiced anywhere--on the bus, before bed, or during lunch. Once you see that it helps, you'll adjust and be ready to bust more stress. And then before you realize it--you've got it!

Written by cognitive-behavioral therapist and stress-busting expert, Michael A. Tompkins, PhD, Stress Less will help readers maintain balance and calm as they deal with the ups and downs of life in the months and years to come.

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Funny, You Don't Look Autistic

Michael McCreary

Like many others on the autism spectrum, 20-something stand-up comic Michael McCreary has been told by more than a few well-meaning folks that he doesn't "look" autistic. But, as he's quick to point out in this memoir, autism "looks" different for just about everyone with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).

 

Diagnosed with ASD at age five, McCreary got hit with the performance bug not much later. During a difficult time in junior high, he started journaling, eventually turning his pain e into something empowering--and funny. He scored his first stand-up gig at age 14, and hasn't looked back.

 

This unique and hilarious #OwnVoices memoir breaks down what it's like to live with autism for readers on and off the spectrum. Candid scenes from McCreary's life are broken up with funny visuals and factual asides. Funny, You Don't Look Autistic is an invaluable and compelling read for young readers with ASD looking for voices to relate to, as well as for readers hoping to broaden their understanding of ASD.

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The Lion Women of Tehran

Marjan Kamali

An “evocative read and a powerful portrait of friendship, feminism, and political activism” (People) set against three transformative decades in Tehran, Iran—from nationally bestselling author Marjan Kamali. 

In 1950s Tehran, seven-year-old Ellie lives in grand comfort until the untimely death of her father, forcing Ellie and her mother to move to a tiny home downtown. Lonely and bearing the brunt of her mother’s endless grievances, Ellie dreams for a friend to alleviate her isolation.

Luckily, on the first day of school, she meets Homa, a kind girl with a brave and irrepressible spirit. Together, the two girls play games, learn to cook in the stone kitchen of Homa’s warm home, wander through the colorful stalls of the Grand Bazaar, and share their ambitions of becoming “lion women.”

But their happiness is disrupted when Ellie and her mother are afforded the opportunity to return to their previous bourgeois life. Now a popular student at the best girls’ high school in Iran, Ellie’s memories of Homa begin to fade. Years later, however, her sudden reappearance in Ellie’s privileged world alters the course of both of their lives.

Together, the two young women come of age and pursue their own goals for meaningful futures. But as the political turmoil in Iran builds to a breaking point, one earth-shattering betrayal will have enormous consequences.

“Reminiscent of The Kite Runner and My Brilliant Friend, The Lion Women of Tehran is a mesmerizing tale” (BookPage) of love and courage, and a sweeping exploration of how profoundly we are shaped by those we meet when we are young.

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How to Stop Time

Matt Haig

"A quirky romcom dusted with philosophical observations....A delightfully witty...poignant novel." --The Washington Post

"She smiled a soft, troubled smile and I felt the whole world slipping away, and I wanted to slip with it, to go wherever she was going... I had existed whole years without her, but that was all it had been. An existence. A book with no words."

Tom Hazard has just moved back to London, his old home, to settle down and become a high school history teacher. And on his first day at school, he meets a captivating French teacher at his school who seems fascinated by him. But Tom has a dangerous secret. He may look like an ordinary 41-year-old, but owing to a rare condition, he's been alive for centuries. Tom has lived history--performing with Shakespeare, exploring the high seas with Captain Cook, and sharing cocktails with Fitzgerald. Now, he just wants an ordinary life.

Unfortunately for Tom, the Albatross Society, the secretive group which protects people like Tom, has one rule: Never fall in love. As painful memories of his past and the erratic behavior of the Society's watchful leader threaten to derail his new life and romance, the one thing he can't have just happens to be the one thing that might save him. Tom will have to decide once and for all whether to remain stuck in the past, or finally begin living in the present.

How to Stop Time tells a love story across the ages--and for the ages--about a man lost in time, the woman who could save him, and the lifetimes it can take to learn how to live. It is a bighearted, wildly original novel about losing and finding yourself, the inevitability of change, and how with enough time to learn, we just might find happiness.

Soon to be a major motion picture starring Benedict Cumberbatch.

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The Days I Loved You Most

Amy Neff

"I've never read a story quite like this deeply moving, complex novel." --Jodi Picoult, #1 New York Times bestselling author

Unforgettable and utterly romantic, The Days I Loved You Most is an emotional, life-affirming novel that asks, What if you could write the final chapter of your own love story?

In the summer of 1941, on the New England shores where they were raised, Evelyn and Joseph fell in love. Now, more than sixty years later, with a lifetime between them, they have gathered their three grown children to share the staggering news: she has received a heartbreaking diagnosis, and he can't live without her. So in one year's time they will end their love story on their own terms.

Over the next year, the couple retraces their past--all the joys and regrets that brought them to this moment. They embark on a journey to live out their greatest dreams and to connect with each of their children. But as their final days draw closer, they must confront the stark reality of what's to come, and make peace with the legacy they will leave behind for their family.

Spanning the twentieth century from World War II to 9/11 and beyond, The Days I Loved You Most is a timeless tale of unwavering devotion -- a moving tribute to the enduring power of love and a reminder that even in the darkest moments, there is always hope and beauty to be found.

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Just Once

Karen Kingsbury

The #1 New York Times bestselling author “known for her deeply heartfelt novels” (Woman’s World) and the Baxter Family novels writes a sweeping World War II love story about a young woman torn between two brothers.

In 1941, beautiful Irvel Holland is too focused on her secret to take much notice of the war raging overseas. She’s dating Sam but in love with his younger brother, Hank—her longtime best friend—and Irvel has no idea how to break the news. Then the unthinkable happens—Pearl Harbor is attacked. With their lives turned upside down overnight, Sam is drafted and convinces Hank to remain in Indiana, where he and Irvel take up the battle on the home front.

While Sam fights in Europe, an undeniable chemistry builds between Irvel and Hank but neither would dare cross that line. Then, two military leaders pay Irvel a visit at the classroom where she teaches. The men have plans for her, a proposition to join a new spy network. One catch: She can tell no one.

With Irvel caught between two brothers thousands of miles apart, can love find a way, even from the ashes of the greatest heartbreak?

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Nineteen Eighty-four

George Orwell

A PBS Great American Read Top 100 Pick

With extraordinary relevance and renewed popularity, George Orwell's 1984 takes on new life in this hardcover edition.

"Orwell saw, to his credit, that the act of falsifying reality is only secondarily a way of changing perceptions. It is, above all, a way of asserting power."--The New Yorker

In 1984, London is a grim city in the totalitarian state of Oceania where Big Brother is always watching you and the Thought Police can practically read your mind. Winston Smith is a man in grave danger for the simple reason that his memory still functions. Drawn into a forbidden love affair, Winston finds the courage to join a secret revolutionary organization called The Brotherhood, dedicated to the destruction of the Party. Together with his beloved Julia, he hazards his life in a deadly match against the powers that be.

Lionel Trilling said of Orwell's masterpiece "1984 is a profound, terrifying, and wholly fascinating book. It is a fantasy of the political future, and like any such fantasy, serves its author as a magnifying device for an examination of the present." Though the year 1984 now exists in the past, Orwell's novel remains an urgent call for the individual willing to speak truth to power.

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Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

Seth Grahame-Smith

Indiana. Moonlight falls through the dense woods that surround a one-room cabin, where a nine-year-old Abraham Lincoln kneels at his suffering mother's bedside. She's been stricken with something the old-timers call "Milk Sickness." 

"My baby boy..." she whispers before dying. 

Only later will the grieving Abe learn that his mother's fatal affliction was actually the work of a vampire. 

When the truth becomes known to young Lincoln, he writes in his journal, "henceforth my life shall be one of rigorous study and devotion. I shall become a master of mind and body. And this mastery shall have but one purpose..." Gifted with his legendary height, strength, and skill with an ax, Abe sets out on a path of vengeance that will lead him all the way to the White House. 

While Abraham Lincoln is widely lauded for saving a and freeing millions of slaves, his valiant fight against the forces of the undead has remained in the shadows for hundreds of years. That is, until Seth Grahame-Smith stumbled upon The Secret Journal of Abraham Lincoln, and became the first living person to lay eyes on it in more than 140 years. 

Using the journal as his guide and writing in the grand biographical style of Doris Kearns Goodwin and David McCullough, Seth has reconstructed the true life story of our greatest president for the first time-all while revealing the hidden history behind the Civil War and uncovering the role vampires played in the birth, growth, and near-death of our nation.

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Killers of a Certain Age

Deanna Raybourn

AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER!

“This Golden Girls meets James Bond thriller is a journey you want to be part of.” -Buzzfeed

Older women often feel invisible, but sometimes that’s their secret weapon.

They’ve spent their lives as the deadliest assassins in a clandestine international organization, but now that they're sixty years old, four women friends can’t just retire – it’s kill or be killed in this action-packed thriller by New York Times bestselling and Edgar Award-nominated author Deanna Raybourn.

Billie, Mary Alice, Helen, and Natalie have worked for the Museum, an elite network of assassins, for forty years. Now their talents are considered old-school and no one appreciates what they have to offer in an age that relies more on technology than people skills.

When the foursome is sent on an all-expenses paid vacation to mark their retirement, they are targeted by one of their own. Only the Board, the top-level members of the Museum, can order the termination of field agents, and the women realize they’ve been marked for death.

Now to get out alive they have to turn against their own organization, relying on experience and each other to get the job done, knowing that working together is the secret to their survival. They’re about to teach the Board what it really means to be a woman—and a killer—of a certain age.

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Memphis: A Read with Jenna Pick

Tara M. Stringfellow

NATIONAL BESTSELLER READ WITH JENNA BOOK CLUB PICK AS FEATURED ON TODAY A spellbinding debut novel tracing three generations of a Southern Black family and one daughter’s discovery that she has the power to change her family’s legacy.

“A rhapsodic hymn to Black women.”—The New York Times Book Review

“I fell in love with this family, from Joan’s fierce heart to her grandmother Hazel’s determined resilience. Tara Stringfellow will be an author to watch for years to come.”—Jacqueline Woodson, New York Times bestselling author of Red at the Bone

LONGLISTED FOR THE ASPEN WORDS LITERARY PRIZE ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The Boston Globe, NPR, BuzzFeed, Glamour, PopSugar

Summer 1995: Ten-year-old Joan, her mother, and her younger sister flee her father’s explosive temper and seek refuge at her mother’s ancestral home in Memphis. This is not the first time violence has altered the course of the family’s trajectory. Half a century earlier, Joan’s grandfather built this majestic house in the historic Black neighborhood of Douglass—only to be lynched days after becoming the first Black detective in the city. Joan tries to settle into her new life, but family secrets cast a longer shadow than any of them expected.

As she grows up, Joan finds relief in her artwork, painting portraits of the community in Memphis. One of her subjects is their enigmatic neighbor Miss Dawn, who claims to know something about curses, and whose stories about the past help Joan see how her passion, imagination, and relentless hope are, in fact, the continuation of a long matrilineal tradition. Joan begins to understand that her mother, her mother’s mother, and the mothers before them persevered, made impossible choices, and put their dreams on hold so that her life would not have to be defined by loss and anger—that the sole instrument she needs for healing is her paintbrush.

Unfolding over seventy years through a chorus of unforgettable voices that move back and forth in time, Memphis paints an indelible portrait of inheritance, celebrating the full complexity of what we pass down, in a family and as a country: brutality and justice, faith and forgiveness, sacrifice and love.

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How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water

Angie Cruz

A NEW YORK TIMES EDITOR'S CHOICE · A NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW NOTABLE BOOK · REVIEWED ON THE FRONT COVER

From GMA BOOK CLUB PICK and WOMEN'S PRIZE FINALIST Angie Cruz, author of Dominicana, an electrifying new novel about a woman who has lost everything but the chance to finally tell her story 

“Will have you LAUGHING line after line...Cruz AIMS FOR THE HEART, and fires.” —Los Angeles Times

"An endearing portrait of a FIERCE, FUNNY woman." —The Washington Post

Cara Romero thought she would work at the factory of little lamps for the rest of her life. But when, in her mid-50s, she loses her job in the Great Recession, she is forced back into the job market for the first time in decades. Set up with a job counselor, Cara instead begins to narrate the story of her life. Over the course of twelve sessions, Cara recounts her tempestuous love affairs, her alternately biting and loving relationships with her neighbor Lulu and her sister Angela, her struggles with debt, gentrification and loss, and, eventually, what really happened between her and her estranged son, Fernando. As Cara confronts her darkest secrets and regrets, we see a woman buffeted by life but still full of fight.

Structurally inventive and emotionally kaleidoscopic, How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water is Angie Cruz’s most ambitious and moving novel yet, and Cara is a heroine for the ages.

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A Winter in New York

Josie Silver

A young chef stumbles on a secret family recipe that might lead her to the love—and life—she’s been looking for in this stunning novel from the New York Times bestselling author of One Day in December.

A POPSUGAR BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR

When Iris decides to move to New York to restart her life, she realizes she underestimated how big the Big Apple really is—all the nostalgic movies set in New York she’d watched with her mom while eating their special secret-recipe gelato didn’t quite do it justice. 

But Bobby, Iris’s best friend, isn’t about to let her hide away. He drags her to a famous autumn street fair in Little Italy, and as they walk through the food stalls, a little family-run gelateria catches her eye—could it be the same shop that’s in an old photo of her mother’s?

Curious, Iris returns the next day and meets the handsome Gio, who tells her that the shop is in danger of closing. His uncle, sole keeper of their family’s gelato recipe, is in a coma, so they can’t make more. When Iris samples the last remaining batch, she realizes that their gelato and her gelato are one and the same. But how can she tell them she knows their secret recipe when she’s not sure why Gio’s uncle gave it to her mother in the first place?

Iris offers her services as a chef to help them re-create the flavor and finds herself falling for Gio and his family. But when Gio’s uncle finally wakes up, all of the secrets Iris has been keeping threaten to ruin the new life—and new love—she’s been building all winter long.

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The Berry Pickers

Amanda Peters

NATIONAL BESTSELLER
2023 Barnes & Noble Discover Prize Winner
Winner of the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction

A four-year-old Mi’kmaq girl goes missing from the blueberry fields of Maine, sparking a mystery that will haunt the survivors, unravel a family, and remain unsolved for nearly fifty years

"A stunning debut about love, race, brutality, and the balm of forgiveness." —People, A Best New Book

July 1962. A Mi’kmaq family from Nova Scotia arrives in Maine to pick blueberries for the summer. Weeks later, four-year-old Ruthie, the family’s youngest child, vanishes. She is last seen by her six-year-old brother, Joe, sitting on a favorite rock at the edge of a berry field. Joe will remain distraught by his sister’s disappearance for years to come. 

In Maine, a young girl named Norma grows up as the only child of an affluent family. Her father is emotionally distant, her mother frustratingly overprotective. Norma is often troubled by recurring dreams and visions that seem more like memories than imagination. As she grows older, Norma slowly comes to realize there is something her parents aren’t telling her. Unwilling to abandon her intuition, she will spend decades trying to uncover this family secret. 

For readers of The Vanishing Half and Woman of Light, this showstopping debut by a vibrant new voice in fiction is a riveting novel about the search for truth, the shadow of trauma, and the persistence of love across time.

"A harrowing tale of Indigenous family separation . . . [Peters] excels in writing characters for whom we can’t help rooting . . . With The Berry Pickers, Peters takes on the monumental task of giving witness to people who suffered through racist attempts of erasure like her Mi’kmaw ancestors." —The New York Times Book Review

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A House With Good Bones

T. Kingfisher

A Barnes & Noble Best Horror Book of 2023

A haunting Southern Gothic from an award-winning master of suspense, A House With Good Bones explores the dark, twisted roots lurking just beneath the veneer of a perfect home and family. 

"Mom seems off." 

Her brother's words echo in Sam Montgomery's ear as she turns onto the quiet North Carolina street where their mother lives alone.

She brushes the thought away as she climbs the front steps. Sam's excited for this rare extended visit, and looking forward to nights with just the two of them, drinking boxed wine, watching murder mystery shows, and guessing who the killer is long before the characters figure it out. 

But stepping inside, she quickly realizes home isn’t what it used to be. Gone is the warm, cluttered charm her mom is known for; now the walls are painted a sterile white. Her mom jumps at the smallest noises and looks over her shoulder even when she’s the only person in the room. And when Sam steps out back to clear her head, she finds a jar of teeth hidden beneath the magazine-worthy rose bushes, and vultures are circling the garden from above.

To find out what’s got her mom so frightened in her own home, Sam will go digging for the truth. But some secrets are better left buried.

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The Housemaid

Freida McFadden

Over 2 Million Copies Sold and Soon to Be a Major Motion Picture Starring Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried!

Don't miss the #1 New York Times and USA Today bestseller and addictive psychological thriller with a jaw-dropping twist that's burning up Instagram and TikTok--Freida McFadden's The Housemaid is perfect for fans of Ruth Ware, Lisa Jewell, and Verity.

Every day I clean the Winchesters' beautiful house top to bottom. I collect their daughter from school. And I cook a delicious meal for the whole family before heading up to eat alone in my tiny room on the top floor.

I try to ignore how Nina makes a mess just to watch me clean it up. How she tells strange lies about her own daughter. And how her husband Andrew seems more broken every day. But as I look into Andrew's handsome brown eyes, so full of pain, it's hard not to imagine what it would be like to live Nina's life. The walk-in closet, the fancy car, the perfect husband.

I only try on one of Nina's pristine white dresses once. Just to see what it's like. But she soon finds out... and by the time I realize my attic bedroom door only locks from the outside, it's far too late.

But I reassure myself: the Winchesters don't know who I really am.

They don't know what I'm capable of...

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The Celebrants: A Read with Jenna Pick

Steven Rowley

New York Times Bestseller
A TODAY Show #ReadWithJenna Book Club Pick

A Big Chill for our times, celebrating decades-long friendships and promises—especially to ourselves—by the bestselling and beloved author of The Guncle.

It’s been a minute—or five years—since Jordan Vargas last saw his college friends, and twenty-eight years since their graduation from Berkeley when their adult lives officially began. Now Jordan, Jordy, Naomi, Craig, and Marielle find themselves at the brink of a new decade, with all the responsibilities of adulthood, yet no closer to having their lives figured out. Though not for a lack of trying. Over the years they’ve reunited in Big Sur to honor a decades-old pact to throw each other living “funerals,” celebrations to remind themselves that life is worth living—that their lives mean something, to one another if not to themselves.

But this reunion is different. They’re not gathered as they were to bolster Marielle as her marriage crumbled, to lift Naomi after her parents died, or to intervene when Craig pleaded guilty to art fraud. This time, Jordan is sitting on a secret that will upend their pact.

A deeply honest tribute to the growing pains of selfhood and the people who keep us going, coupled with Steven Rowley’s signature humor and heart, The Celebrants is a moving tale about the false invincibility of youth and the beautiful ways in which friendship helps us celebrate our lives, even amid the deepest challenges of living.

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Normal Women

Ainslie Hogarth

In this darkly comic story about how we value female labor—and don’t—a new mother becomes embroiled in danger when her friend, a controversial entrepreneur, goes missing.

When her daughter Lotte was born, Dani had welcomed the chance to be a stay-at-home mother. To be good at something, for once. But now Dani can’t stop thinking about her seemingly healthy husband, Clark, dropping dead. Not because she hates him (not right now, anyway) but because it’s become abundantly clear to Dani that if he dies, she and Lotte will be left destitute. 

And then Dani discovers The Temple. Ostensibly a yoga center, The Temple and its guardian, Renata, are committed to helping people reach their full potential. And if that sometimes requires sex work, so be it. Finally, Dani has found something she could be good at, even great at; meaningful work that will protect her and Lotte from poverty, and provide true economic independence from Clark.

Just as Dani is preparing to embrace this opportunity, Renata disappears. And Dani discovers there might be something else she’s good at: uncovering secrets.

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When the World Didn't End

Guinevere Turner

In this immersive, spell-binding memoir, an acclaimed screenwriter tells the story of her childhood growing up with the infamous Lyman Family cult—and the complicated and unexpected pain of leaving the only home she’d ever known

A NEW YORKER BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR

On January 5, 1975, the world was supposed to end. Under strict instructions, six-year-old Guinevere Turner put on her best dress, grabbed her favorite toy, and waited with the rest of her community for salvation—a spaceship that would take them to live on Venus. But the spaceship never came.

Guinevere did not understand that her family was a cult. She spent most of her days on a compound in Kansas, living apart from her mother with dozens of other children who worked in the sorghum fields and roved freely through the surrounding pastures, eating mulberries and tending to farm animals. But there was a dark side to this bucolic existence. Guinevere was part of the Lyman Family, a secluded cult spearheaded by Mel Lyman, a self-proclaimed savior, committed to isolation from a World he declared had lost its way. When Guinevere caught the attention of Jessie, the woman everyone in the Family called the Queen, her status was elevated—suddenly she was traveling with the inner circle among communities in Los Angeles, Boston, and Martha’s Vineyard.

But before long, the life Guinevere had known ended. Her mother, from whom she had been separated since age three, left the Family with another disgraced member, and Guinevere and her four-year-old sister were forced to leave with them. Traveling outside the bounds of her cloistered existence, Guinevere was thrust into public school for the first time, a stranger in a strange land wearing homemade clothes, and clueless about social codes. Now out in the World she’d been raised to believe was evil, she faced challenges and horrors she couldn’t have imagined.

Drawing from the diaries that she kept throughout her youth, Guinevere Turner’s memoir is an intimate and heart-wrenching chronicle of a childhood touched with extraordinary beauty and unfathomable ugliness, the ache of yearning to return to a lost home—and the slow realization of how harmful that place really was.

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A Court of Thorns and Roses

Sarah J. Maas

The sexy, action-packed first book in the #1 bestselling Court of Thorns and Roses series from global phenomenon Sarah J. Maas.

When nineteen-year-old huntress Feyre kills a wolf in the woods, a terrifying creature arrives to demand retribution. Dragged to a treacherous magical land she knows about only from legends, Feyre discovers that her captor is not truly a beast, but one of the lethal, immortal faeries who once ruled her world. 

At least, he's not a beast all the time. 

As she adapts to her new home, her feelings for the faerie, Tamlin, transform from icy hostility into a fiery passion that burns through every lie she's been told about the beautiful, dangerous world of the Fae. But something is not right in the faerie lands. An ancient, wicked shadow is growing, and Feyre must find a way to stop it, or doom Tamlin-and his world-forever.

From bestselling author Sarah J. Maas comes a seductive, breathtaking book that blends romance, adventure, and faerie lore into an unforgettable read.

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All-Night Pharmacy

Ruth Madievsky

*A NATIONAL BESTSELLER*
Winner of the California Book Award
Winner of the National Jewish Book Award for Debut Fiction
Finalist for the Lambda Literary Awards\

Rachel Kushner meets David Lynch in this fever dream of an LA novel about a young woman who commits a drunken act of violence just before her sister vanishes without a trace

On the night of her high school graduation, a young woman follows her older sister Debbie to Salvation, a Los Angeles bar patronized by energy healers, aspiring actors, and all-around misfits. After the two share a bag of unidentified pills, the evening turns into a haze of sensual and risky interactions—nothing unusual for two sisters bound in an incredibly toxic relationship. Our unnamed narrator has always been under the spell of the alluring and rebellious Debbie and, despite her own hesitations, she has always said yes to nights like these. That is, until Debbie disappears.

Falling deeper into the life she cultivated with her sister, our narrator gets a job as an emergency room secretary where she steals pills to sell on the side. Cue Sasha, a Jewish refugee from the former Soviet Union who arrives at the hospital claiming to be a psychic tasked with acting as the narrator’s spiritual guide. The nature of this relationship evolves and blurs, a kaleidoscope of friendship, sex, mysticism, and ambiguous power dynamics.

With prose pulsing like a neon sign, Ruth Madievsky’s All-Night Pharmacy is an intoxicating portrait of a young woman consumed with unease over how a person should be. As she attempts sobriety and sexual embodiment, she must decide whether to search for her estranged sister, or allow her to remain a relic of the past.

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Mother-daughter Murder Night

Nina Simon

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK

Nothing brings a family together like a murder next door.

"I just loved how intriguing the mystery is but also the dynamics between a grandmother, a mother, and a teenage daughter." --Reese Witherspoon

Think: Gilmore Girls, but with murder.

High-powered businesswoman Lana Rubicon has a lot to be proud of: her keen intelligence, impeccable taste, and the L.A. real estate empire she's built. But when she finds herself trapped 300 miles north of the city, convalescing in a sleepy coastal town with her adult daughter Beth and teenage granddaughter Jack, Lana is stuck counting otters instead of square footage--and hoping that boredom won't kill her before the cancer does.

Then Jack--tiny in stature but fiercely independent--happens upon a dead body while kayaking. She quickly becomes a suspect in the homicide investigation, and the Rubicon women are thrown into chaos. Beth thinks Lana should focus on recovery, but Lana has a better idea. She'll pull on her wig, find the true murderer, protect her family, and prove she still has power.

With Jack and Beth's help, Lana uncovers a web of lies, family vendettas, and land disputes lurking beneath the surface of a community populated by folksy conservationists and wealthy ranchers. But as their amateur snooping advances into ever-more dangerous territory, the headstrong Rubicon women must learn to do the one thing they've always resisted: depend on each other.

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Did You Hear About Kitty Karr?

Crystal Smith Paul

A multigenerational saga that traverses the glamour of old Hollywood and the seductive draw of modern-day showbiz 

When Kitty Karr Tate, a White icon of the silver screen, dies and bequeaths her multimillion-dollar estate to the St. John sisters, three young, wealthy Black women, it prompts questions. Lots of questions.

A celebrity in her own right, Elise St. John would rather focus on sorting out Kitty’s affairs than deal with the press. But what she discovers in one of Kitty’s journals rocks her world harder than any other brewing scandal could—and between a cheating fiancé and the fallout from a controversial social media post, there are plenty.

The truth behind Kitty's ascent to stardom from her beginnings in the segregated South threatens to expose a web of unexpected family ties, debts owed, and debatable crimes that could, with one pull, unravel the all-American fabric of the St. John sisters and those closest to them. 

As Elise digs deeper into Kitty's past, she must also turn the lens upon herself, confronting the gifts and burdens of her own choices and the power that the secrets of the dead hold over the living. Did You Hear About Kitty Karr? is a sprawling page-turner set against the backdrop of the Hollywood machine, an insightful and nuanced look at the inheritances of family, race, and gender—and the choices some women make to break free of them.

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Hollow Kingdom

Kira Jane Buxton

"The Secret Life of Pets meets The Walking Dead" in this big-hearted, boundlessly beautiful romp through the Apocalypse and the world that comes after, where a foul-mouthed crow is humanity's only chance to survive Seattle's zombie problem. (Karen Joy Fowler, PEN/Faulkner Award-winning author of We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves) 

S.T., a domesticated crow, is a bird of simple pleasures: hanging out with his owner Big Jim, trading insults with Seattle's wild crows (i.e. "those idiots"), and enjoying the finest food humankind has to offer: Cheetos ®.

But when Big Jim's eyeball falls out of his head, S.T. starts to think something's not quite right. His tried-and-true remedies -- from beak-delivered beer to the slobbering affection of Big Jim's loyal but dim-witted dog, Dennis -- fail to cure Big Jim's debilitating malady. S.T. is left with no choice but to abandon his old life and venture out into a wild and frightening new world with his trusty steed Dennis, where he suddenly discovers that the neighbors are devouring one other. Local wildlife is abuzz with rumors of Seattle's dangerous new predators.

Humanity's extinction has seemingly arrived, and the only one determined to save it is a cowardly crow whose only knowledge of the world comes from TV. 
What could possibly go wrong?

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Lair of the Lion

Christine Feehan

The Beast . . .

Rumor said the powerful Nicolai DeMarco could command the heavens, that the beasts below did his bidding . . . and that he was doomed to destroy the woman he took as wife. It was whispered he was not wholly human—as untamed as his tawny mane and slashing amber eyes.

The Beauty . . .

Impoverished aristocrat Isabella Vernaducci would defy death itself to rescue her imprisoned brother. She’d even brave the haunted, accursed lair of the lion—the menacing palace of legendary, lethal Don Nicolai DeMarco.

The Bargain . . .

Then Isabella met a man whose growl was velvet, purring heat, whose eyes held dark, all-consuming desire. And when the don commanded her to become his bride, she went willingly into his muscled arms, praying she’d save his tortured soul . . . not sacrifice her life.

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The Paradise Problem

Christina Lauren

Christina Lauren, the instant New York Times bestselling and “reigning romance queens” (PopSugar), returns with a delicious new romance between the buttoned-up heir of a grocery chain and his free-spirited artist ex as they fake their relationship in order to receive a massive inheritance.

Anna Green thought she was marrying Liam “West” Weston for access to subsidized family housing while at UCLA. She also thought she’d signed divorce papers when the graduation caps were tossed, and they both went on their merry ways.

Three years later, Anna is a starving artist living paycheck to paycheck while West is a Stanford professor. He may be one of four heirs to the Weston Foods conglomerate, but he has little interest in working for the heartless corporation his family built from the ground up. He is interested, however, in his one-hundred-million-dollar inheritance. There’s just one catch.

Due to an antiquated clause in his grandfather’s will, Liam won’t see a penny until he’s been happily married for five years. Just when Liam thinks he’s in the home stretch, pressure mounts from his family to see this mysterious spouse, and he has no choice but to turn to the one person he’s afraid to introduce to his one-percenter parents—his unpolished, not-so-ex-wife.

But in the presence of his family, Liam’s fears quickly shift from whether the feisty, foul-mouthed, paint-splattered Anna can play the part to whether the toxic world of wealth will corrupt someone as pure of heart as his surprisingly grounded and loyal wife. Liam will have to ask himself if the price tag on his flimsy cover story is worth losing true love that sprouted from a lie.

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Dante

Sadie Kincaid

I hate Dante Moretti. He is cold, calculating and vicious. It's no secret that he wiped out his former fiancée and her entire family on the eve of their wedding. He's the kind of evil that makes even devils cry. But that's not why I hate him. I hate him because he has taken the only thing I have left in this miserable world - my freedom. He has chained me to him because of a debt that I don't owe. I just have the misfortune to share the bloodline of the man who does. And now I'm trapped in his gilded cage and the only thing I have left to do is run. And I try. I really do. But he is everywhere. Suffocating. All consuming. Intoxicating. He is a paradox. A man with a heart as cold as ice, whose passion rages like an inferno. Why does he see into my soul in a way that nobody else ever has? Why does the slightest brush of his skin make my pulse race? My mom always warned me never to play with matches. But if Dante Moretti is fire, then I want to burn. -- back of cover.

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Archer's Voice

Mia Sheridan

“A beautifully touching story of true love and triumph over heartbreaking situations.”​ — People.com 

From New York Times bestselling author Mia Sheridan comes an emotional, slow burn romance about a woman desperate to hide and the man who sees through her walls, perfect for fans of Colleen Hoover and Lucy Score.

I wanted to lose myself in the small town of Pelion, Maine. To forget everything I had left behind. The sound of rain. The blood. The coldness of a gun against my skin. For six months, each breath has been a reminder that I survived--and my dad didn't. I'm almost safe again. But the moment I meet Archer Hale, my entire world tilts on its axis . . . and never rights itself again.

Until I trespass into his strange, silent, and isolated world, Archer communicates with no one. Yet in his whiskey-colored eyes, something intangible happens between us. There's so much more to him than just his beauty, his presence, or the ways his hands communicate with me. On me. But this town is mired in secrets and betrayals, and Archer is the explosive center of it all.

So much passion. And so much hurt. But it's only in Archer's silence that we might just find what we need to heal . . . and live.

Includes an exclusive extended epilogue from Archer's POV!

A Goodread's "Top Romance Novel of All Time"

New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal bestseller

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Window Shopping

Tessa Bailey

USA TODAY BESTSELLER

A sizzling, feel-good, opposites-attract holiday romance from Tessa Bailey, #1 New York Times bestselling author of It Happened One Summer--now in a beautiful new package!

Two weeks before Christmas and all through Manhattan, shop windows are decorated in red and green satin. Stella is standing alone outside a famous department store, when a charming man asks her opinion on the décor.

It's a tragedy in tinsel, she says, unable to lie. Then he asks for a better idea, with a twinkle in his eye. She didn't know he owned the place, when he put her on the spot, and now she's working for that man, trying to ignore that he's hot.

But as a down-on-her-luck girl with a difficult past, Stella knows how to make a good opportunity last. So she gives it her all, working without stopping. Trying to resist temptation, because she's just window shopping.

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Haunting Adeline

H. D. Carlton

The Manipulator. I can manipulate the emotions of anyone who lets me. I will make you hurt, make you cry, make you laugh and sigh. But my words don't affect him. Especially not when I plead for him to leave. He's always there, watching and waiting. And I can never look away. Not when I want him to come closer. The Shadow. I didn't mean to fall in love. But now that I have, I can't stay away. I'm mesmerized by her smile, by her eyes, and the way she moves. The way she undresses... I'll keep watching and waiting. Until I can make her mine. And once she is, I'll never let her go. Not even when she begs me to.

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If You Hate Me

Helena Hunting

A brand new standalone hate-to-love, brother's best friend hockey romance.

My new roommates are two pro hockey players.
First, my manwhore older brother, and second, his seriously hot best friend (who I seriously hate).
This was a last resort.
No one should be sleeping on a futon that smells like Cheetos and ball sweat.
But here I am, trying to get my life together.

Tristan Stiles is the bane of my existence.
He never wears a shirt.
We can’t seem to stop fighting.
He’s an arrogant playboy with a filthy reputation.
Sure, I had a crush on him when I was fourteen, but that was a long time ago.
I know better than to trust him.

I just need to survive long enough to find a new job and get a new place.
And not accidentally let Tristan rail me into next week.

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Pen Pal (Standard Edition)

J.T. Geissinger

The BookTok sensation PEN PAL is a high-octane, tautly written dark romance with an unforgettable twist that will leave readers gasping. Now with a brand new bonus chapter, this breathtaking romance about undeniable love from superstar J.T. Geissinger is not to be missed!

The first letter arrived the day my husband was buried. It was postmarked from the state penitentiary, and contained a single sentence:

I’ll wait forever if I have to.

It was signed by Dante, a man I didn’t know.

Out of simple curiosity, I wrote back to ask him what exactly he was waiting for. His reply?

You.

I told the mystery man he had the wrong girl. He said he didn’t. I said we’d never met, but he said I was wrong.

We went back and forth, exchanging letters every week that grew increasingly more intimate. Then one day, the letters stopped. When I found out why, it was already too late.

Dante was at my doorstep.

And nothing on earth could have prepared me for what happened next.

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Cleat Cute

Meryl Wilsner

A sapphic rivals-to-lovers rom com for fans of Ted Lasso and A League of Their Own

They're risking their hearts for a match worth winning.

Grace Henderson has been a star of the US Women's National Team since she was 16. But when she's side-lined with an injury at just 26, a bold new upstart, Phoebe Matthews, takes her spot. Phoebe is everything Grace isn't - a gregarious jokester who plays with a joy that Grace has lost somewhere along the way. The last thing Grace expects is to become friends-with-benefits with this class clown.

Phoebe Matthews has always admired Grace's skill and was starstruck to be training alongside her idol. But she quickly finds herself looking at Grace as more than a mere teammate. After one daring kiss, she's hooked. Grace is everything she has been waiting to find.

As the World Cup approaches, and Grace works her way back from injury, the women try to find a way they can play together instead of vying for the same position on the pitch. But as the sparks between them start to ignite, will both players realise they care more about their relationship than making the roster?

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Wild Rain

Christine Feehan

#1 New York Times bestselling author Christine Feehan explores the dark past of a woman on the run—and her dark desire for the only man she dares to trust—in this wild novel in the Leopard series.

With a new identity, a staged death, and a chance to flee the treachery that stalks her, Rachel has escaped from a faceless assassin. Now, thousands of miles from home, under the lush canopy of the rainforest, she’s found sanctuary.

But in this world teeming with unusual creatures walks the most exotic of them all. His name is Rio. A native of the forest imbued with a fierce prowess, he is something to be desired. Possessed of secrets of his own, he is something to be feared. 

As Rachel’s past looms as oppressively as the heat of the forest and Rio unleashes the secret animal instincts that course through his blood, Rachel fears that her isolated haven has become an inescapable hell...

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Den of Vipers

K a Knight

Best of BookTok: Caught between four dangerous men, one woman indulges her hidden desires, in this deliciously dark reverse-harem romance.

The Vipers run this town and everyone in it. They make deals as sordid as their business--and they have no mercy. They're a mafia family only an idiot would mess with, so of course my estranged, abusive father did just that. Then he sold me off to them to cover his debts.

Now, trapped in their penthouse, they say I'm their toy to play with and discard whenever they see fit. But the Vipers have no idea who they're dealing with. I intend to take advantage of the hunger in their eyes.

As their scarred, blood-stained hands roam my body, I'm getting under their skin, turning their desires into an addiction they won't be able to shake. What's more? I'm indulging my own dark fantasies, ones I've never been able to satisfy. . . until now.

Ryder, Garrett, Kenzo, and Diesel think they're in control. They think that I'm their prey. But this girl? She has fangs too.

This deluxe edition features sprayed edges with stenciled artwork, a signed letter from the author, and five bonus scenes.

Intended for adult readers, bestselling author K.A. Knight's Den of Vipers is a polyamorous, reverse-harem standalone romance with graphic sex scenes, violence, and references to abuse and assault.

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The Lady and the Orc

Finley Fenn

He's the most feared monster in the realm. And she's what he needs to win his war...

In a world of warring orcs and men, Lady Norr is condemned to a childless marriage, a cruel lord husband, and a life of genteel poverty -- until the day her home is ransacked by a horde. And leading the charge is their hulking, deadly orc captain: the infamous Grimarr.

And Grimarr has a wicked plan for Lady Norr, and for ending this war once and for all. She's going to become his captive -- and the perfect snare for Lord Norr.

There's no possible escape, and soon Lady Norr is dragged off toward Orc Mountain in the powerful arms of her greatest enemy. A ruthless, commanding warlord, with a velvet voice and mouthwatering scent, who awakens every forbidden hunger she never knew she had...

But Grimarr refuses to accept half measures -- in war, or in pleasure. And before he'll conquer Lady Norr's deepest, darkest desires, she needs to surrender everything.

Her allegiance.

Her wedding-ring.

Her future...

And with her husband's forces giving chase, Lady Norr can't afford to play such a dangerous game -- or can she? Even if this deadly orc's plans might be the only way to save them all?

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The Kiss Quotient

Helen Hoang

From the author of The Bride Test comes a romance novel hailed as one of The Washington Post’s 50 Notable Works of Fiction in 2018 and one of Amazon’s Top 100 Books of 2018!

“This is such a fun read and it's also quite original and sexy and sensitive.”—Roxane Gay, New York Times bestselling author 

“Hoang's writing bursts from the page.”—Buzzfeed

A heartwarming and refreshing debut novel that proves one thing: there's not enough data in the world to predict what will make your heart tick.

Stella Lane thinks math is the only thing that unites the universe. She comes up with algorithms to predict customer purchases—a job that has given her more money than she knows what to do with, and way less experience in the dating department than the average thirty-year-old.

It doesn't help that Stella has Asperger's and French kissing reminds her of a shark getting its teeth cleaned by pilot fish. Her conclusion: she needs lots of practice—with a professional. Which is why she hires escort Michael Phan. The Vietnamese and Swedish stunner can't afford to turn down Stella's offer, and agrees to help her check off all the boxes on her lesson plan—from foreplay to more-than-missionary position...

Before long, Stella not only learns to appreciate his kisses, but crave all of the other things he's making her feel. Their no-nonsense partnership starts making a strange kind of sense. And the pattern that emerges will convince Stella that love is the best kind of logic...

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When a Scot Ties the Knot

Tessa Dare

New York Times and USA Today Bestseller

On the cusp of her first London season, Miss Madeline Gracechurch was shy, pretty, and talented with a drawing pencil, but hopelessly awkward with gentlemen. She was certain to be a dismal failure on the London marriage mart. So Maddie did what generations of shy, awkward young ladies have done: she invented a sweetheart.

A Scottish sweetheart. One who was handsome and honorable and devoted to her, but conveniently never around. Maddie poured her heart into writing the imaginary Captain MacKenzie letter after letter . . . and by pretending to be devastated when he was (not really) killed in battle, she managed to avoid the pressures of London society entirely.

Until years later, when this kilted Highland lover of her imaginings shows up in the flesh. The real Captain Logan MacKenzie arrives on her doorstep—handsome as anything, but not entirely honorable. He's wounded, jaded, in possession of her letters . . . and ready to make good on every promise Maddie never expected to keep.

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Dirty Lying Faeries

Sabrina Blackburry

For better or for worse, the newest changeling has arrived . . . 

When Thea Kanelos’s best friend drags her to an art gala (that’s definitely not her thing), she doesn’t expect a chance encounter with Devin Grayson to change her life forever. The handsome stranger isn’t just anyone—he’s a powerful fae, charged with bringing Thea into his world. 

Believing that she’s always been human, Thea must accept that everything she’s known about herself up until now has been a lie. She’s not human at all. She is a fae—funny, because she doesn’t even believe in faeries. 


But with strange creatures now visible on the street and fangs and colors flashing in the shadows, it can’t be denied: faeries are real. And with the Winter Solstice approaching, a magnificent ball will bring her fully into the fae world and draw her closer to Devin with whom she has a deepening and dangerous attraction.

As her new powers awaken, Thea learns she plays a more pivotal role to the fae than she ever imagined. And when the barrier between the human and the fae worlds begins to crack, it will be up to her to save not just herself, but everyone she loves from a terrible fate. 

Deeply sensual and darkly magical, Dirty Lying Faeries is the first book in an exciting new series that takes readers inside a universe filled with faeries, dragons and werewolves—and those that love them.

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Where Butterflies Wander

Suzanne Redfearn

From the bestselling author of In an Instant comes the moving story of a family grappling with grief and a woman with the power to help them through it―or stand in their way.

After a tragic accident claims the life of one of her children, Marie Egide is desperate to carve out a fresh start for her family. With her husband and their three surviving children, Marie travels to New Hampshire, where she plans to sell a family estate and then, just maybe, they’ll be able to heal from their grief.

Marie’s plans are thwarted when she realizes a war veteran known by locals as “the river witch” is living in a cabin on the property, which she claims was a gift from Marie’s grandfather. If Davina refuses to move on, Marie won’t be able to either.

The two women clash, and battle lines are drawn within Marie’s family and the town as each side fights for what they believe is right, the tension rising until it reaches its breaking point. And the choice is no longer theirs when a force bigger than them all―fate―takes control.

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The Briar Club

Kate Quinn

"Quinn evocatively balances the outward cheerfulness of the 1950s with historical observations exploring racism, misogyny, homophobia and political persecution in this sharply drawn, gripping novel." - People Magazine

The New York Times bestselling author of The Diamond Eye and The Rose Code returns with a haunting and powerful story of female friendships and secrets in a Washington, DC, boardinghouse during the McCarthy era.

Washington, DC, 1950. Everyone keeps to themselves at Briarwood House, a down-at-the-heels all-female boardinghouse in the heart of the nation's capital where secrets hide behind white picket fences. But when the lovely, mysterious widow Grace March moves into the attic room, she draws her oddball collection of neighbors into unlikely friendship: poised English beauty Fliss, whose facade of perfect wife and mother covers gaping inner wounds; policeman's daughter Nora, who finds herself entangled with a shadowy gangster; frustrated baseball star Beatrice, whose career has come to an end along with the women's baseball league of WWII; and poisonous, gung-ho Arlene, who has thrown herself into McCarthy's Red Scare.

Grace's weekly attic-room dinner parties and window-brewed sun tea become a healing balm on all their lives, but she hides a terrible secret of her own. When a shocking act of violence tears the house apart, the Briar Club women must decide once and for all: who is the true enemy in their midst?

Capturing the paranoia of the McCarthy era and evoking the changing roles for women in postwar America, The Briar Club is an intimate and thrilling novel of secrets and loyalty put to the test.

A beautiful, foil cover, first edition.

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The Christmas Town

Donna VanLiere

Donna VanLiere, New York Times bestselling author of the timeless The Christmas Shoes and The Christmas Hope, is back with this moving and uplifting story about finding love, hope, and family in unexpected places.

Lauren Gabriel spent many years of her childhood in foster homes, wishing her mother would come back for her and be the family she needs. Now twenty-years-old, she still longs for a place that she can truly call home. Her work as a cashier is unfulfilling, and at Christmas it’s unbearable with the songs and carols and chatter of Christmas that she hears throughout the day.

When Lauren ends her shift one night, she finds herself driving aimlessly in order to avoid returning to her lonely apartment. And when she witnesses a car accident she is suddenly pulled into the small town of Grandon, first as a witness but then as a volunteer for the annual fundraiser for Glory’s Place, a center for single mothers and families who need assistance. Could this town and its people be the home she has always longed for?

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A Place to Land

Lauren K. Denton

"A delightful Southern story extolling the deep bond of sisters, Lauren Denton’s?A Place to?Land?has a heartwarming tone as it unravels a 40-year-old mystery coming back to haunt a cast of small-town characters whose lives are entwined in Sugar Bend, Alabama." --New York Journal of Books.

Violet Figg and her sister Trudy have lived a quiet life in Sugar Bend, Alabama, since a night forty years ago that stole Trudy's voice and cemented Violet's role as her sister's fierce and loyal protector. Now Trudy spends her days making sculptures from found objects and speaking through notes written on scraps of paper, while Violet runs their art shop, monitors bird activity up and down the water, and tries not to think of the one great love she gave up to keep her sister safe.

Eighteen-year-old Maya knows where everyone else belongs, but she's been searching for her own place since her grandmother died seven years ago. Moving in and out of strangers' houses has left her exhausted. After seeing a flyer on a gas station window for a place called Sugar Bend, Maya chooses to follow the strange pull she feels and finds herself on the doorstep of an art shop called Two Sisters.

When a boat rises to the surface of Little River in the middle of the night, the present and no-longer-buried past collide, and the future becomes uncertain for Maya, Violet, and Trudy. As history creeps continuously closer to the present and old secrets come to light, the sisters must decide to face the truth of what happened that night forty years ago, or risk losing each other and those they've come to love.

"A touching tribute to sisterhood, first loves, and promises kept." --Susan Meissner, USA TODAY bestselling author of The Nature of Fragile Things

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When Crickets Cry

Charles Martin

Nearly 500,000 copies sold! | A Southern Living Book of the Month Selection

From New York Times bestselling author Charles Martin comes the moving story of a heart surgeon who's hiding his own heart, a little girl whose heart won't last much longer, and a shared journey toward healing for both of them--for fans looks for the emotional depth of Fredrik Backman and the Southern atmosphere of Delia Owens.

It begins on the shaded town square in a sleepy Southern town. A spirited seven-year-old has a brisk business at her lemonade stand. But the little girl's pretty yellow dress can't quite hide the ugly scar on her chest.

Her latest customer, a bearded stranger, drains his cup and heads to his car, his mind on a boat he's restoring at a nearby lake. The stranger understands more about the scar than he wants to admit. And the beat-up bread truck careening around the corner with its radio blaring is about to change the trajectory of both their lives.

Before it's over, they'll both know there are painful reasons why crickets cry . . . and that miracles lurk around unexpected corners.

With its beautiful, lyrical writing, engaging characters who stick with you, and a storyline that will touch your own heart, it's no wonder why so many readers adore When Crickets Cry.

"If you read any book this year, this is the one." --Coffee Time Romance

"Charming characters and twists that keep the pages turning." --Southern Living

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Me Before You

Jojo Moyes

USA Today's top 100 books to read while stuck at home social distancing 

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Giver of Stars, discover the love story that captured over 20 million hearts in Me Before You, After You, and Still Me.

They had nothing in common until love gave them everything to lose . . .

Louisa Clark is an ordinary girl living an exceedingly ordinary life--steady boyfriend, close family--who has never been farther afield than their tiny village. She takes a badly needed job working for ex-Master of the Universe Will Traynor, who is wheelchair bound after an accident. Will has always lived a huge life--big deals, extreme sports, worldwide travel--and now he's pretty sure he cannot live the way he is.

Will is acerbic, moody, bossy--but Lou refuses to treat him with kid gloves, and soon his happiness means more to her than she expected. When she learns that Will has shocking plans of his own, she sets out to show him that life is still worth living.

A Love Story for this generation, Me Before You brings to life two people who couldn't have less in common--a heartbreakingly romantic novel that asks, What do you do when making the person you love happy also means breaking your own heart?

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The Saints of Swallow Hill: A Fascinating Depression Era Historical Novel

Donna Everhart

Where the Crawdads Sing meets The Four Winds as award-winning author Donna Everhart's latest novel immerses readers in its unique setting—the turpentine camps and pine forests of the American South during the Great Depression. This captivating story of friendship, survival, and three vagabonds' intersecting lives will stay with readers long after turning the final page.

It takes courage to save yourself...

In the dense pine forests of North Carolina, turpentiners labor, hacking into tree trunks to draw out the sticky sap that gives the Tar Heel State its nickname, and hauling the resin to stills to be refined. Among them is Rae Lynn Cobb and her husband, Warren, who run a small turpentine farm together.

Though the work is hard and often dangerous, Rae Lynn, who spent her childhood in an orphanage, is thankful for it--and for her kind if careless husband. When Warren falls victim to his own negligence, Rae Lynn undertakes a desperate act of mercy. To keep herself from jail, she disguises herself as a man named "Ray" and heads to the only place she can think of that might offer anonymity--a turpentine camp in Georgia named Swallow Hill.

Swallow Hill is no easy haven. The camp is isolated and squalid, and commissary owner Otis Riddle takes out his frustrations on his browbeaten wife, Cornelia. Although Rae Lynn works tirelessly, she becomes a target for Crow, the ever-watchful woods rider who checks each laborer's tally. Delwood Reese, who's come to Swallow Hill hoping for his own redemption, offers "Ray" a small measure of protection, and is determined to improve their conditions. As Rae Lynn forges a deeper friendship with both Del and Cornelia, she begins to envision a path out of the camp. But she will have to come to terms with her past, with all its pain and beauty, before she can open herself to a new life and seize the chance to begin again.

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The All-American

Susie Finkbeiner

A 2024 Michigan Notable Book

"A moving novel, fit for inspiring any reader to dream big and believe that anything is possible."--BookPage

Two sisters discover how much good there is in the world--even in the hardest of circumstances

It is 1952, and nearly all the girls 16-year-old Bertha Harding knows dream of getting married, keeping house, and raising children in the suburbs of Detroit, Michigan. Bertha dreams of baseball. She reads every story in the sports section, she plays ball with the neighborhood boys--she even writes letters to the pitcher for the Workington Sweet Peas, part of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.

When Bertha's father is accused of being part of the Communist Party by the House Un-American Activities Committee, life comes crashing down on them. Disgraced and shunned, the Hardings move to a small town to start over where the only one who knows them is shy Uncle Matthew. But dreams are hard to kill, and when Bertha gets a chance to try out for the Workington Sweet Peas, she packs her bags for an adventure she'll never forget.

Join award-winning author Susie Finkbeiner for a summer of chasing down your dreams and discovering the place you truly belong.

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The Ride of Her Life

Elizabeth Letts

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • The #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Perfect Horse and The Eighty-Dollar Champion presents a “heartwarming [and] engaging folk-hero biography” (Kirkus Reviews) of a woman who fulfilled her lifelong wish to see the Pacific Ocean by riding her horse across America.

“[Letts] vividly portrays an audacious woman whose optimism, courage, and good humor are to be marveled at and admired.”—Booklist, starred review

In 1954, sixty-three-year-old Maine farmer Annie Wilkins embarked on an impossible journey. She had no money and no family, she had just lost her farm, and her doctor had given her only two years to live. But Annie wanted to see the Pacific Ocean before she died. She ignored her doctor’s advice to move into the county charity home. Instead, she bought a cast-off brown gelding named Tarzan, donned men’s dungarees, and headed south in mid-November, hoping to beat the snow. Annie had little idea what to expect beyond her rural crossroads; she didn’t even have a map. But she did have her ex-racehorse, her faithful mutt, and her own unfailing belief that Americans would treat a stranger with kindness.

Annie, Tarzan, and her dog, Depeche Toi, rode straight into a world transformed by the rapid construction of modern highways. Between 1954 and 1956, the three travelers pushed through blizzards, forded rivers, climbed mountains, and clung to the narrow shoulder as cars whipped by them at terrifying speeds. Annie rode more than four thousand miles, through America’s big cities and small towns. Along the way, she met ordinary people and celebrities—from Andrew Wyeth (who sketched Tarzan) to Art Linkletter and Groucho Marx. She received many offers—a permanent home at a riding stable in New Jersey, a job at a gas station in rural Kentucky, even a marriage proposal from a Wyoming rancher. In a decade when car ownership nearly tripled, when television’s influence was expanding fast, when homeowners began locking their doors, Annie and her four-footed companions inspired an outpouring of neighborliness in a rapidly changing world.

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Dreaming of Flight

Catherine Ryan Hyde

Never knowing his parents, eleven-year-old Stewie Little and his brother have been raised on a farm by their older sister. Stewie steadfastly tends the chickens left by his beloved late grandmother. And every day Stewie goes door to door selling fresh eggs from his wagon --a routine with a surprise just around the corner. It's his new customer, Marilyn. She's prickly and guarded, yet comfortably familiar --she reminds the grieving Stewie so much of the grandmother he misses more than he can express.

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Hang the Moon

Jeannette Walls

“A rollicking tale.” —The Washington Post *“Propulsive.” —Associated Press * “Wild, smart, energetic.” —Los Angeles Times * “Brilliant and effervescent.” —NPR

From the #1 bestselling author of The Glass Castle, the instant New York Times bestseller a “rip-roaring, action-packed” (The New York Times) novel about an indomitable young woman in prohibition-era Virginia.

Sallie Kincaid is the daughter of the biggest man in a small town, the charismatic Duke Kincaid. Born at the turn of the 20th century into a life of comfort and privilege, Sallie remembers little about her mother who died in a violent argument with the Duke. By the time she is just eight years old, the Duke has remarried and had a son, Eddie. While Sallie is her father’s daughter, sharp-witted and resourceful, Eddie is his mother’s son, timid and cerebral. When Sallie tries to teach young Eddie to be more like their father, her daredevil coaching leads to an accident, and Sallie is cast out.

Nine years later, she returns, determined to reclaim her place in the family. That’s a lot more complicated than Sallie expected, and she enters a world of conflict and lawlessness. Sallie confronts the secrets and scandals that hide in the shadows of the Big House, navigates the factions in the family and town, and finally comes into her own as a bold, sometimes reckless bootlegger.

“You’ll fall in love with Sallie on the very first page and keep rooting for her all the way through to the last” (Good Housekeeping) in this thrilling read that “goes down easy…like the forbidden whisky that defines the life of Sallie Kincaid” (Associated Press).

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Remarkably Bright Creatures

Shelby Van Pelt

AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

Soon to be a Netflix Film

A Read With Jenna Today Show Book Club Pick!

NAMED A BEST BOOK OF SUMMER by: Chicago Tribune * The View * Southern Living * USA Today

"Remarkably Bright Creatures [is] an ultimately feel-good but deceptively sensitive debut. . . . Memorable and tender." -- Washington Post

For fans of A Man Called Ove, a charming, witty and compulsively readable exploration of friendship, reckoning, and hope that traces a widow's unlikely connection with a giant Pacific octopus

After Tova Sullivan's husband died, she began working the night shift at the Sowell Bay Aquarium, mopping floors and tidying up. Keeping busy has always helped her cope, which she's been doing since her eighteen-year-old son, Erik, mysteriously vanished on a boat in Puget Sound over thirty years ago.

Tova becomes acquainted with curmudgeonly Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus living at the aquarium. Marcellus knows more than anyone can imagine but wouldn't dream of lifting one of his eight arms for his human captors--until he forms a remarkable friendship with Tova.

Ever the detective, Marcellus deduces what happened the night Tova's son disappeared. And now Marcellus must use every trick his old invertebrate body can muster to unearth the truth for her before it's too late.

Shelby Van Pelt's debut novel is a gentle reminder that sometimes taking a hard look at the past can help uncover a future that once felt impossible.

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Horse

Geraldine Brooks

“Brooks’ chronological and cross-disciplinary leaps are thrilling.” —The New York Times Book Review

Horse isn’t just an animal story—it’s a moving narrative about race and art.” —TIME

“A thrilling story about humanity in all its ugliness and beauty . . . the evocative voices create a story so powerful, reading it feels like watching a neck-and-neck horse race, galloping to its conclusion—you just can’t look away.” —Oprah Daily

Winner of the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, and the Dr. Tony Ryan Book Award · Finalist for the Chautauqua Prize · A Massachusetts Book Award Honor Book 

A discarded painting in a junk pile, a skeleton in an attic, and the greatest racehorse in American history: from these strands, a Pulitzer Prize winner braids a sweeping story of spirit, obsession, and injustice across American history

Kentucky, 1850. An enslaved groom named Jarret and a bay foal forge a bond of understanding that will carry the horse to record-setting victories across the South. When the nation erupts in civil war, an itinerant young artist who has made his name on paintings of the racehorse takes up arms for the Union. On a perilous night, he reunites with the stallion and his groom, very far from the glamor of any racetrack. 

New York City, 1954. Martha Jackson, a gallery owner celebrated for taking risks on edgy contemporary painters, becomes obsessed with a nineteenth-century equestrian oil painting of mysterious provenance.

Washington, DC, 2019. Jess, a Smithsonian scientist from Australia, and Theo, a Nigerian-American art historian, find themselves unexpectedly connected through their shared interest in the horse—one studying the stallion’s bones for clues to his power and endurance, the other uncovering the lost history of the unsung Black horsemen who were critical to his racing success.

Based on the remarkable true story of the record-breaking thoroughbred Lexington, Horse is a novel of art and science, love and obsession, and our unfinished reckoning with racism.

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Under the Magnolias

T. I. Lowe

2022 Christy Award finalist!

This night not only marked the end to the drought, but also the end to the long-held secret we'd kept hidden under the magnolias.

Magnolia, South Carolina, 1980
Austin Foster is barely a teenager when her mama dies giving birth to twins, leaving her to pick up the pieces while holding her six siblings together and doing her best to stop her daddy from retreating into his personal darkness.

Scratching out a living on the family's tobacco farm is as tough as it gets. When a few random acts of kindness help to ease the Fosters' hardships, Austin finds herself relying upon some of Magnolia's most colorful citizens for friendship and more. But it's next to impossible to hide the truth about the goings-on at Nolia Farms, and Austin's desperate attempts to save face all but break her.

Just when it seems she might have something more waiting for her―with the son of a wealthy local family who she's crushed on for years―her father makes a choice that will crack wide-open the family's secrets and lead to a public reckoning. There are consequences for loving a boy like Vance Cumberland, but there is also freedom in the truth.

Weaving together themes of hope, grief, mental health, and faith into a beautiful and moving novel, Under the Magnolias features: 

  • Clean Christian romance
  • A resilient Southern heroine
  • Discussion questions for book clubs
  • A playlist inspired by the book

T. I. Lowe's gritty yet tender and uplifting coming-of-age tale reminds us that a great story can break your heart . . . then heal it in the best possible way.

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Kansas Past Pieces of the 34th Star

David Hann

KANSAS PAST is a compilation of 28 historical vignettes, all true, some tragic, some comic, illustrating the lesser-known people, places, and events that were shaped by or helped to shape the state known as Kansas.

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Nothing But The Dirt: Stories from an American Farm Town

Kate Benz

In this work of creative nonfiction, Kate Benz provides an intimate look at the present-day residents of Courtland, Kansas (population 285), a town whose economy depends almost entirely on agriculture. Her narrative shows how macro-level issues, from rising tariffs and operation costs to sinking commodity prices and infusions of federal farm subsidies affect these Americans' daily lives, and how their love of their community continues their collective efforts to keep Main Street open for business and Courtland on the map.

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I Was Told There Would Be Romance

Marie Arnold

For fans of Never Have I Ever and To All the Boys I've Loved Before comes a hilarious and heartfelt novel about a young Haitian girl navigating high school, friendship, and crushes.

Fifteen-year-old Fancy Augustine is a Haitian American girl with three simple desires. She'd like to trade in her floppy, oversize boobs for cute, perky ones. She'd love a boyfriend. And she is desperate for an invite to the biggest event of the school year: Imani Park's birthday party. When Fancy learns her BFF, Tilly, has received a coveted invite and has a secret boyfriend, she is (understandably) devastated and wholeheartedly determined to do whatever it takes to get her own happily ever after.

So what if she makes a deal with the devil (Imani) that guarantees her an invite--but only if she can bring a boyfriend? And what's so bad about letting her crush, Rahim, believe that she can create a voodoo potion for him in exchange for him posing as her boyfriend? And, yeah, maybe she's destroying her friendship with Tilly and falling hopelessly behind in her schoolwork, but Fancy knows it'll all be worth it in the end. Plus, it's not like Fancy's parents would really make good on their threats of sending her back to Haiti...right?

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Fake Dates and Mooncakes

Sher Lee

Heartstopper meets Crazy Rich Asians in this heartfelt, joyful paperback original rom-com that follows an aspiring chef who discovers the recipe for love is more complicated than it seems when he starts fake-dating a handsome new customer.

Dylan Tang wants to win a Mid-Autumn Festival mooncake-making competition for teen chefs—in memory of his mom, and to bring much-needed publicity to his aunt’s struggling Chinese takeout in Brooklyn.

Enter Theo Somers: charming, wealthy, with a smile that makes Dylan’s stomach do backflips. AKA a distraction. Their worlds are sun-and-moon apart, but Theo keeps showing up. He even convinces Dylan to be his fake date at a family wedding in the Hamptons.

In Theo’s glittering world of pomp, privilege, and crazy rich drama, their romance is supposed to be just pretend . . . but Dylan finds himself falling for Theo. For real. Then Theo’s relatives reveal their true colors—but with the mooncake contest looming, Dylan can’t risk being sidetracked by rich-people problems.

Can Dylan save his family’s business and follow his heart—or will he fail to do both?

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Loveboat, Taipei

Abigail Hing Wen

An instant New York Times Bestseller and Indie Bestseller!

Now adapted for the screen! Catch Love in Taipei, starring Ashley Liao (Physical, Fresh Off The Boat), Ross Butler (To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before franchise, Shazam!), and Nico Hiraga (Booksmart) and Chelsea Zhang (Daybreak), now available on multiple streaming platforms, including Paramount+, Amazon Prime, and Apple TV!

Don't miss Loveboat Reunion and Loveboat Forever, the next two companion novels in the Loveboat series!

#1 Cosmopolitan Audiobook of the Year

Featured in Entertainment Weekly, Seventeen, Boston Globe, South China Morning Post, World Journal, UK Evening Standard, Book Riot, Bustle, Nerd Daily, Forbes, Bloomberg, NBC Bay Area, ABC7

Barnes and Noble YA Book Club Pick

Praised as “an intense rush of rebellion and romance” by #1 New York Times bestselling author Stephanie Garber, this romantic and layered debut from Abigail Hing Wen is “a roller-coaster ride of romance and self-discovery.” (Kirkus)

“Our cousins have done this program,” Sophie whispers. “Best kept secret. Zero supervision.”

And just like that, Ever Wong’s summer takes an unexpected turn. Gone is Chien Tan, the strict educational program in Taiwan that Ever was expecting. In its place, she finds Loveboat: a summer-long free-for-all where hookups abound, adults turn a blind eye, snake-blood sake flows abundantly, and the nightlife runs nonstop.

But not every student is quite what they seem:

Ever is working toward becoming a doctor but nurses a secret passion for dance.

Rick Woo is the Yale-bound child prodigy bane of Ever’s existence whose perfection hides a secret.

Boy-crazy, fashion-obsessed Sophie Ha turns out to have more to her than meets the eye.

And under sexy Xavier Yeh’s shell is buried a shameful truth he’ll never admit.

When these students’ lives collide, it’s guaranteed to be a summer Ever will never forget.

“A unique story from an exciting and authentic new voice.” —Sabaa Tahir, #1 New York Times bestselling author of An Ember in the Ashes

“Equal parts surprising, original, and intelligent. An intense rush of rebellion and romance.” —Stephanie Garber, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Caraval

“Fresh as a first kiss.” —Stacey Lee, award-winning author of Outrun the Moon

"Fresh, fun, heartfelt, and totally addictive, a story about finding your place—and your people—where you least expected." —Kelly Loy Gilbert, author of the William C. Morris Award finalist Conviction

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These Hollow Vows

Lexi Ryan

A New York Times Bestseller!

Cruel Prince meets A Court of Thorns and Roses in this sexy, action-packed fantasy about a girl who is caught between two treacherous faerie courts and their dangerously seductive princes.

Brie hates the Fae and refuses to have anything to do with them, even if that means starving on the street. But when her sister is sold to the sadistic king of the Unseelie court to pay a debt, she'll do whatever it takes to get her back--including making a deal with the king himself to steal three magical relics from the Seelie court.

Gaining unfettered access to the Seelie court is easier said than done. Brie's only choice is to pose as a potential bride for Prince Ronan, and she soon finds herself falling for him. Unwilling to let her heart distract her, she accepts help from a band of Unseelie misfits with their own secret agenda. As Brie spends time with their mysterious leader, Finn, she struggles to resist his seductive charm.

Caught between two dangerous courts, Brie must decide who to trust with her loyalty. And with her heart.

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Check & Mate

Ali Hazelwood

In this clever and swoonworthy YA debut from the New York Times bestselling author of The Love Hypothesis, life’s moving pieces bring rival chess players together in a match for the heart.

Mallory Greenleaf is done with chess. Every move counts nowadays; after the sport led to the destruction of her family four years earlier, Mallory’s focus is on her mom, her sisters, and the dead-end job that keeps the lights on. That is, until she begrudgingly agrees to play in one last charity tournament and inadvertently wipes the board with notorious “Kingkiller” Nolan Sawyer: current world champion and reigning Bad Boy of chess.

Nolan’s loss to an unknown rook-ie shocks everyone. What’s even more confusing? His desire to cross pawns again. What kind of gambit is Nolan playing? The smart move would be to walk away. Resign. Game over. But Mallory’s victory opens the door to sorely needed cash-prizes and despite everything, she can’t help feeling drawn to the enigmatic strategist....

As she rockets up the ranks, Mallory struggles to keep her family safely separated from the game that wrecked it in the first place. And as her love for the sport she so desperately wanted to hate begins to rekindle, Mallory quickly realizes that the games aren’t only on the board, the spotlight is brighter than she imagined, and the competition can be fierce (-ly attractive. And intelligent…and infuriating…)

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Elixir

Hilary Duff

Ever since she was small, Clea Rayner has been haunted by both a gift and curse. When she takes photos, extra pictures appear on the camera - photos she hasn't taken. These photos are a calling; she must find and go to their location, where she always discovers a tragedy that only she can stop. She has seen some harrowing things, and it's made her wary of opening her heart to anyone. Yet what haunts Clea most is not the dire situations she sees, but the mystery of her father, who disappeared two years ago and is now presumed dead. She has only one clue about what happened to him: a photograph that arrived after his disappearance. No matter how much she studies the picture, Clea can't tell where it is, but she carries it with her everywhere, just waiting for the revelation that will help her. That revelation comes on a trip to Colombia, where she meets Race; a strikingly handsome, magnetic and enigmatic stranger and despite Clea's reticence to open her heart, she feels an instant connection to Race that she can't explain. But whatever has brought them together is also threatening to tear them apart and as the mystery of her father's disappearance unravels, Clea discover that she has powers that are bigger than anything she could have anticipated.

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