Synopsis: My Vacation in Hell is a young adult dark fantasy. Set in the mid-1960s, it is a first person narrative by a 15-year-old writer named John Boggle. A troubled nerdy misfit and a frequent flyer of his imagination, John is inspired by a book report reading of Dante Alighieri's the Inferno. In the eternity of the five minutes before summer vacation, he embarks on a pilgrimage based upon his own free-wheeling interpretation of the work. Following Dante's lead, John populates his hell with all the people who have wronged him over the years, inventing deliciously cruel punishments for each of them in his teenage version of cosmic retribution. Aided by his best friend Virgil, a trusty guide in this shared imagination, John also struggles to come to terms with the world's many evils. And as he descends further into this realm, he constructs his own hierarchy of evildoers, assigning them to the levels he believes they deserve. But it is the evil perpetrated upon John, a victim of sexual abuse, which poses the most difficult challenge. The deeper he goes, the more he encounters obstacles, some of whom in the guise of colorful demon characters try their best to keep him there. But the worst obstacle of all is his own self-image, forged out of guilt and shame. He will not leave this hell of his own making, Virgil tells him, until he learns how to deal with the evil inflicted upon him and finds the true center of his being. Fortunately, he has other help besides the ever wise Virgil, who it turns out has a few problems of his own to deal with. John needs more than reason to get him through this, and divinely beautiful aid arrives in the form of Beth, an idealized version of his secret love. Rescuing the pair from the evil that threatens to consume them, she will guide John in the last stage of his spiritual odyssey. She shows him that there are even some good places in Hell, just as there is always some good, however slight, that comes from our worst experiences. Though disturbing at times due to its mature theme, My Vacation in Hell delivers a message of hope with a large dose of humor.

Synopsis: Believe in Me: A Teen Mom's Story traces the emotional journey of Judith, a cheerleader and honors student at a Catholic girls' school in Massachusetts. When her 17-year-old boyfriend, Kevin O'Brien, gives her a diamond ring the summer before her senior year, she feels as if her life is perfect. But her pregnancy changes everything. Kevin's parents don't want him to start a family at such a young age, and Mrs. O'Brien tells Judith to get an abortion. As a Catholic and an adopted child, Judith must look within her own heart and decide what to do.

This beautifully written coming-of-age story will appeal to students of women's studies as well as teenagers and their parents and grandparents.

"Believe in Me is the honest and courageous story of 16-year-old Judith's transformation into a responsible young woman. Highly recommended reading for teens, parents, and educators."
--Joyce Allan, R.N., author of Because I Love You

Synopsis: When 17-year-old Rosie's mother, Trudie, dies from Huntington's Disease, her pain is intensified by the knowledge that she has a fifty percent chance of inheriting the crippling disease herself. Only when Rosie tells her mother's best friend, "Aunt Sarah," that she is going to test for the disease does Sarah, a midwife, reveal that Trudie wasn't her real mother after all. Rosie was swapped at birth with a sickly baby who was destined to die.
Devastated, Rosie decides to trace her real mother, joining her ex-boyfriend on his gap year travels, to find her birth mother in California. But all does not go as planned. As Rosie discovers yet more of her family's deeply buried secrets and lies, she is left with an agonizing decision of her own, one which will be the most heart breaking and far-reaching of all.

Synopsis: Down-to-earth Zeeta and her flighty mom, Layla, have spent years traveling the globe and soaking up everything each new culture has to offer. Now they've settled in the beachside town of Mazunte, Mexico, where Zeeta's true love, Wendell, has an internship photographing rare sea turtles. At first glance, Zeeta feels sure that Mazunte is paradise—she envisions dips in jade waters, sunsets over sea cliffs, moonlit walks in the surf. And she is determined to make Mazunte her home . . . for good. But as she and Wendell dig deeper to unearth her elusive father's past, Zeeta finds that paradise has its dark side.

Synopsis: If Elle Woods were a teenage demon, her name would be Morgan Skully. Morgan is the world's only blonde demon girl, and she's got a brand new, very unusual afterschool job. Spying for the Devil. She'd much rather use her cloak-and-dagger skills to spy on hottie-licious Derek with her friends, but the Devil won't take no for an answer. Luckily for Morgan, her new boss is kinda hot. Her assignment is simple: find out who at Pitchfork Prep is funneling secrets to the Siberian Werewolf Council. If she succeeds, pedicures and platinum highlights are just the beginning. But if she fails...there's more on the line than killer shoes.

"I so totally could not put down this book...before I knew it, it was three in the morning and I was looking at the screen in disbelief when I didn't have any more pages to read. Morgan is such a loveable character, and her thinking is JUST like a 16-year-old, high school student. I found myself laughing out loud at just how much she reminded me of myself when I was that age. The world that Patrice Lyle paints in this book is simply amazing." ~ Night Owl Reviews, Top Pick
 
"I have a deep-seeded affection for all things 'Legally Blonde' and this book is no exception...it was cute, fun, lighthearted (despite the demon/devil/etc. stuff) and I ended with a smile on my face." ~ I Love YA Fiction
 
"I really enjoyed this novel. I loved the main character, Morgan with her spunky attitude...the story line is very original with quirky phrases...a cute, funny, entertaining read with colorful characters, that I couldn't get get enough of." ~ Livin' Life Through Books

Synopsis: Haunted houses. Haunted hearts. And a past that refuses to die...
Leap Books summoned best-selling paranormal and dreadfully talented debut authors to conjure up Spirited, a haunting collection of 13 tales guaranteed to keep you up all night.
Get entombed in stories of Egyptian treasures, shudder at tales of malevolent spirits, and become enthralled with the adventures of witch-hunters, ghost seekers, and lost souls. From steampunk to cyberpunk, our collection spans past, present, and future hauntings. One story actually leaps off the page with 3-D augmented reality.
With this celebration of things that go bump in the night, Spirited authors hope to slay the specter of illiteracy that plague our youth. All proceeds from Spirited will be donated to 826 National, a non-profit organization that offers free after-school tutoring, workshops, and in-school programs because "strong writing skills are fundamental to future success." Go ahead. Turn the pages if you dare. We won't tell if you sleep with the lights on. Because after all, there's no rest for the wicked. 
Anthology edited by Kat O'Shea Contributing authors include: Maria V. Snyder, Candace Havens, Shannon Delany, Jill Williamson, Linda Joy Singleton, Heather Kenealy, Judith Graves, Kitty Keswick, Dawn Dalton, Carmen Tudor, John W. Otte, Halli Dee Lilburn, and Mark Finnemore Augmented Reality by Karl Gee

Synopsis: When you were a kid, did you long to put on your cowboy boots, belt on your guns, saddle up, and ride off to find adventures? Did you sit glued to the TV watching The Lone Ranger, Maverick, Bonanza, The Wild Wild West, The Adventures of Brsico County Jr., and Firefly? And were you caught up in movies like Outlands, Time Bandits, Serenity, or  Back to the Future Part III?

If so, Westward Weird is the book for you. Thirteen original stories included here ride a very broad range between science fiction, fantasy, and the paranormal—and all of them are told from a Wild West perspective.
  

Get ready for some good old-fashioned adventure, as:
–The Old Gods cross paths in the Old West.
–Two theives are given a job they can't refuse, but no one told them there'd be aliens.
–A mining family never expected their claim to be jumped from parallel universes.
–A Mars colony may be about to find out exactly how the West was won.
–Cowboys will be hard-pressed to ride the herd on the living dead.

Featuring stories from:
Jay Lake — Larry D. Sweazy — Anton Strout — Brenda Cooper — Seanan McGuire — Christopher McKitterick — Steven Saus
Dean Wesley Smith — Jennifer Brozek — Kristine Kathryn Rusch — J. Steven York — Jeff Mariotte — Jody Lynn Nye