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Letters to Follow: A Dancer's Adventure Ballet Trilogy Bk 3
Synopsis: Lynne struggles to find her place in the world of professional ballet while her own world is turning upside down.

Lynne Meadows has a chip on her shoulder. Her two best friends are gone. Bartley had died, and Marta left the Intermountain Ballet Company after breaking her ankle. Now Lynne s alone and a perpetual thorn in the directors lives. An accident and a string of sabotages disrupt the career she s always wanted, and she wonders how long she ll be welcome at the company.

Damien Black, the artistic director, suggests she represent her fellow dancers on an injury committee. If that goes well and her attitude improves, he and Madame Cosper, the company director, promise to recommend her to a summer dance troupe performing across France. He even asks her to introduce his new ballet, An American in Paris, in France. However, they do not promise even a limited contract once she returns. Because the cost of the trip is beyond her means, her mother asks Lynne s Uncle Leo for help.

He offers to pay for her ship s passage and give her the car he plans to buy while there if she will drive him around Europe for a month after she finishes performing. The free trip and new car excite her; she agrees to the arrangement despite his legendary lack of dependability.

After the Intermountain Ballet season ends, she works feverishly with Damien Black to learn the choreography for the trip as well as his new ballet. Her aunt sells the property where Lynne s lived for two years, so she must pack up and store her possessions, then find a new home once she returns. Two weeks before departing, she meets Noel Elijah, a rancher, who captivates her interest. Very different from the guys she s dated in the past, he s a perfect gentleman. But she s leaving. The coveted tour in France stands in the way of their budding romance.

Her summer begins on the ship to France, where Lynne meets Lucia, a dancer who is also part of the troupe; together they are invited to perform on the ship. Once they reach Paris, Lynne is assigned to share housing with Arty, another troupe dancer; and the girls form a friendship with fellow dancers Wallace and Karl. Cheryl, the dance director, approaches their practices with enthusiasm, passion, and a positive attitude that encourage Lynne to renew her love of dancing.

One day during their rare free time, the girls visit a fortuneteller, who predicts their futures. Lynne scoffs at the whole idea, but is taken aback when hers start to come true. The prediction about two men coming and going in her life unnerves her: she hopes the one leaving is not her father with new heart problems and that Noel is the one stepping into her life.

The dancers complete the tour, as well as extra performances, and are well received at an invitational waltz festival. Then they go their separate ways. Lynne must gather up the energy to stay another month with her Uncle Leo while she longs to return home to Noel and rejoin the Intermountain Ballet Company if they will take her back.

Uncle Leo returns a day late to pick her up in a tinny mini car instead of the plush one she expected. Next, he changes their plans daily to accommodate his own whims and sleeps while she does all the driving. Then he loses their money, leaving them nearly destitute. Her final and most devastating disappointment comes when he strands her in Portugal with no car, no return ticket, and only thirty dollars to make her own way over a thousand miles back to Paris and then home to Montana. She walks, hitchhikes, works for meals, and sleeps in hostels, sheds, and bus stops along the way. Through the kindness of strangers and Noel, she finally returns to Billings, only to discover Madame Cosper has had a stroke.

Publication Date: 11/22/16
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Chick Lit
100 Cupboards
N. D. Wilson
Synopsis: Twelve-year-old Henry York wakes up one night to find bits of plaster in his hair. Two knobs have broken through the wall above his bed and one of them is slowly turning . . .Henry scrapes the plaster off the wall and discovers cupboards of all different sizes and shapes. Through one he can hear the sound of falling rain. Through another he sees a glowing room–with a man pacing back and forth! Henry soon understands that these are not just cupboards, but portals to other worlds.

100 Cupboards is the first book of a new fantasy adventure, written in the best world-hopping tradition and reinvented in N. D. Wilson’s inimitable style.
Publication Date: 12/26/07
Age Level: 8 - 12
Genre: Chick Lit
Breathe Into Me
Sara Fawkes
Synopsis: How did my life get so broken?  It's a question Lacey St. James asks herself every day.  Stuck raising her little brother in a trailer park while she works a dead end job at a grocery store, she has a stalker exboyfriend, a bad reputation, and no way out.  

And then she meets Everett, whose presence changes her life.

Everett is an enigmatic outsider who is only visiting for the summer, and for reasons Lacey can't understand, he seems completely transfixed by her. He's determined to show her that life can offer more than she'd ever hoped for, if only she believes in herself.  She desperately yearns to trust him, but what happens when she finds out that everything he's told her is a lie?
Publication Date: 07/29/14
Age Level: Mature Young Adult
Genre: Chick Lit
Kissing Italian
Lauren Henderson
Synopsis:

Travel, romance, intrigue, and fun, set against the backdrop of the glorious Italian countryside are what you’ll find in this companion to Flirting in Italian by Lauren Henderson, author of Kiss Me Kill Me.

It’s been a terrific summer in Italy so far. Violet’s summer studies program is interesting, she’s made new friends, and the shopping is amazing. And now her lighthearted romance with handsome aristocrat Luca di Vesperi has developed into something deeper. For the first time in her life, she understands the true meaning of the word amore. Luca feels the same about her. But there are certain rumors circulating that, if proven to be true, will mean they can never be together. What they need are answers—but are they prepared for the truth?

Publication Date: 03/11/14
Age Level: Mature Young Adult
Genre: Chick Lit
Delusional
Sue Publicover, Scott Spotson
Synopsis: Don’t believe everything you see! When rising marketing executive Patricia Fowler falls for Paul Blast, a married co-worker, she tries to put her life into perspective—a task that becomes increasingly difficult when she starts having eerie hallucinations. Patricia’s dreams of a happily ever after turn into one nightmare after another as she battles threats that go beyond her imagination. Is her new love behind the torment? After all, his former girlfriend ended up in an asylum. Or could Paul’s wife be more than a bored, spoiled, rich girl? Meanwhile, the FBI is trying to track down a thief who magically appears and disappears, taking priceless gems and artwork with her. “Delusional” is a fast-paced thriller that blurs the lines of reality and fantasy, leading to an explosive climax where what you see isn’t necessarily what you’re going to get!
Publication Date: 09/20/13
Age Level: Mature Young Adult
Genre: Chick Lit
Capital Girls
Ella Monroe
Synopsis:

Jackie Whitman, Washington DC's "It Girl." She's drop-dead gorgeous, brilliant and dating the President's son. Under 24/7 media scrutiny, she never makes a mistake…but there's a new guy on the scene with all the right moves. Suddenly, being bad has never looked so good.

Taylor Cane, blonde bombshell and wild child extraordinaire. She's the leader of the pack and the glue that binds the four of them together. Reckless adventure is her specialty, flirting with danger her drug of choice, no matter the consequences.

Lettie Velasquez, she's all brains and blind ambition. Her goal: Princeton. Though money and privilege elude her, she's counting on hard work to pay off one of these days. So long as her heart doesn't lead her astray.

Laura Beth Ballou, poor little rich girl and a real southern belle. She dreams of Julliard and the bright lights of Broadway. She's sweet as pie…until the new girl in town starts messing with her friends.

Capital Girls forever…But when one of them dies in a mysterious accident, their once impenetrable bond is shaken. And as secrets long kept rise to the surface, the future of their friendship hangs in the balance. One thing's for certain, though: Washington DC will never be the same again.

Publication Date: 08/07/12
Age Level: Mature Young Adult
Genre: Chick Lit
Twilight
Stephenie Meyer
Synopsis: Isabella Swan's move to Forks, a small, perpetually rainy town in Washington, could have been the most boring move she ever made. But once she meets the mysterious and alluring Edward Cullen, Isabella's life takes a thrilling and terrifying turn. Up until now, Edward has managed to keep his vampire identity a secret in the small community he lives in, but now nobody is safe, especially Isabella, the person Edward holds most dear. The lovers find themselves balanced precariously on the point of a knife-between desire and danger.Deeply romantic and extraordinarily suspenseful, Twilight captures the struggle between defying our instincts and satisfying our desires. This is a love story with bite.
Publication Date: 10/05/05
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Chick Lit
From Twinkle, With Love
Sandhya Menon
Synopsis: “Utterly charming.” —NPR
“Cinematic.” —Teen Vogue
“Funny and sweet.” —Buzzfeed
“Dazzling.” —Bustle

Three starred reviews for this charming romantic comedy about an aspiring teen filmmaker who finds her voice and falls in love, from the New York Times bestselling author of When Dimple Met Rishi.

Aspiring filmmaker and wallflower Twinkle Mehra has stories she wants to tell and universes she wants to explore, if only the world would listen. So when fellow film geek Sahil Roy approaches her to direct a movie for the upcoming Summer Festival, Twinkle is all over it. The chance to publicly showcase her voice as a director? Dream come true. The fact that it gets her closer to her longtime crush, Neil Roy—a.k.a. Sahil’s twin brother? Dream come true x 2.

When mystery man “N” begins emailing her, Twinkle is sure it’s Neil, finally ready to begin their happily-ever-after. The only slightly inconvenient problem is that, in the course of movie-making, she’s fallen madly in love with the irresistibly adorkable Sahil.

Twinkle soon realizes that resistance is futile: The romance she’s got is not the one she’s scripted. But will it be enough?

Told through the letters Twinkle writes to her favorite female filmmakers, From Twinkle, with Love navigates big truths about friendship, family, and the unexpected places love can find you.
Publication Date: 05/22/18
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Chick Lit
Emergency Contact
Mary H. K. Choi
Synopsis: “Smart and funny, with characters so real and vulnerable, you want to send them care packages. I loved this book.” —Rainbow Rowell

From debut author Mary H.K. Choi comes a compulsively readable novel that shows young love in all its awkward glory—perfect for fans of Eleanor & Park and To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before.

For Penny Lee high school was a total nonevent. Her friends were okay, her grades were fine, and while she somehow managed to land a boyfriend, he doesn’t actually know anything about her. When Penny heads to college in Austin, Texas, to learn how to become a writer, it’s seventy-nine miles and a zillion light years away from everything she can’t wait to leave behind.

Sam’s stuck. Literally, figuratively, emotionally, financially. He works at a café and sleeps there too, on a mattress on the floor of an empty storage room upstairs. He knows that this is the god-awful chapter of his life that will serve as inspiration for when he’s a famous movie director but right this second the seventeen bucks in his checking account and his dying laptop are really testing him.

When Sam and Penny cross paths it’s less meet-cute and more a collision of unbearable awkwardness. Still, they swap numbers and stay in touch—via text—and soon become digitally inseparable, sharing their deepest anxieties and secret dreams without the humiliating weirdness of having to see each other.
Publication Date: 03/27/18
Age Level: Mature Young Adult
Genre: Chick Lit
The Audition
Maddie Ziegler
Synopsis: From Dance Moms star and So You Think You Can Dance: The Next Generation judge Maddie Ziegler comes the first novel in a brand-new middle grade trilogy about friendship, dance, and going after your dreams.

Twelve-year-old Harper has been dancing practically since she learned to walk. She loves her dance studio and team, and just won her first ever top junior solo in a regional competition. But right before the school year starts, Harper’s parents drop a bombshell—the family has to relocate from their cozy town in Connecticut to sunny Florida for their jobs. That means saying goodbye to her friends, dance team, trips to see shows in NYC—and did she mentioned dance team?

While her parents reassure her that they will find her a new studio as soon as they move, Harper is not happy. When she arrives, she realizes that the competition in Florida will be fierce and it doesn’t matter how talented she is—she is the new girl and will have to prove herself. During her very first class, Harper finds it harder than she thought it would be. Even though they are all the same age and have been dancing for roughly the same amount of time, it feels like everyone has better feet, quicker turns, and faster taps than Harper. And it doesn’t help that a group of girls, who nicknamed themselves The Bunheads, wonder how she made the team if she can’t even do a simple turn sequence in front of the class.

Thankfully, Harper befriends Lily, a fellow newbie in the studio who is just as eager to make her mark and find a friendly face. With a big competition coming up for the dance team, Harper is determined to show everyone—especially those Bunheads—what she’s made of! And when a very badly timed sprained ankle threatens all of the work they have done, the Bunheads, Lily, and Harper must learn to truly work together to give them their best shot at the top spot!
Publication Date: 10/31/17
Age Level: 8 - 12
Genre: Chick Lit
The Nowhere Girls
Synopsis: “A call-to-action to everyone out there who wants to fight back.” —Bustle

“Subversive anti-sexism—just try to put it down.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“Cuts straight to the core of rape culture—masterfully fierce, stirring, and deeply empowering.” —Amber Smith, New York Times bestselling author of The Way I Used to Be

Three misfits come together to avenge the rape of a fellow classmate and in the process trigger a change in the misogynist culture at their high school transforming the lives of everyone around them in this searing and timely story.

Who are the Nowhere Girls?

They’re everygirl. But they start with just three:

Grace Salter is the new girl in town, whose family was run out of their former community after her southern Baptist preacher mom turned into a radical liberal after falling off a horse and bumping her head.

Rosina Suarez is the queer punk girl in a conservative Mexican immigrant family, who dreams of a life playing music instead of babysitting her gaggle of cousins and waitressing at her uncle’s restaurant.

Erin Delillo is obsessed with two things: marine biology and Star Trek: The Next Generation, but they aren’t enough to distract her from her suspicion that she may in fact be an android.

When Grace learns that Lucy Moynihan, the former occupant of her new home, was run out of town for having accused the popular guys at school of gang rape, she’s incensed that Lucy never had justice. For their own personal reasons, Rosina and Erin feel equally deeply about Lucy’s tragedy, so they form an anonymous group of girls at Prescott High to resist the sexist culture at their school, which includes boycotting sex of any kind with the male students.

Told in alternating perspectives, this groundbreaking novel is an indictment of rape culture and explores with bold honesty the deepest questions about teen girls and sexuality.
Publication Date: 10/10/17
Age Level: Adult
Genre: Chick Lit
Paper Butterflies
Lisa Heathfield
Synopsis: June's life at home with her stepmother and stepsister is a dark one—and a secret one. Not even her dad knows the truth, and she can't find the words to tell anyone else. She's trapped like a butterfly in a net. Then June meets Blister, a boy from a large, loving, chaotic family. In him, she finds a glimmer of hope that perhaps she can find a way to fly far, far away. Because she deserves her freedom. Doesn't she?
Publication Date: 10/01/17
Age Level: Mature Young Adult
Genre: Chick Lit
The Glass Town Game
Rebecca Green, Catherynne M. Valente
Synopsis: A Parents’ Choice Gold Award Winner

“Dazzling.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Charlotte and Emily Brontë enter a fantasy world that they invented in order to rescue their siblings in this “lovely, fanciful” (Booklist, starred review) novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making.

Inside a small Yorkshire parsonage, Charlotte, Branwell, Emily, and Anne Brontë have invented a game called Glass Town, where their toy soldiers fight Napoleon and no one dies. This make-believe land helps the four escape from a harsh reality: Charlotte and Emily are being sent away to a dangerous boarding school. But then something incredible happens: a train whisks them all away to a real Glass Town, and the children trade the moors for a wonderland all their own.

This is their Glass Town…almost. Their Napoleon never rode into battle on a fire-breathing porcelain rooster. And the soldiers can die; wars are fought over a potion that raises the dead, a potion Anne would very much like to bring back to England. But returning is out of the question—Charlotte will never go back to that horrible school.

Together the Brontë siblings must battle their own imaginations in this magical celebration of authorship, creativity, and classic literature from award-winning author Catherynne M. Valente.
Publication Date: 09/05/17
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Chick Lit
Karma Khullar's Mustache
Kristi Wientge
Synopsis: “Kristi Wientge deftly captures the turmoil of adolescence.” —Us Weekly

Debut author Kristi Wientge tackles the uncomfortable—but all too relatable—subject of female body hair and self-esteem with this sweet and charming novel in the tradition of Judy Blume.

Karma Khullar is about to start middle school, and she is super nervous. Not just because it seems like her best friend has found a newer, blonder best friend. Or the fact that her home life is shaken up by the death of her dadima. Or even that her dad is the new stay-at-home parent, leading her mother to spend most of her time at work. But because she’s realized that she has seventeen hairs that have formed a mustache on her upper lip.

With everyone around her focused on other things, Karma is left to figure out what to make of her terrifyingly hairy surprise all on her own.
Publication Date: 08/15/17
Age Level: 8 - 12
Genre: Chick Lit
Katana at Super Hero High
Synopsis: Get your cape on with the DC Super Hero Girls™—the unprecedented new Super Hero universe especially for girls! Readers of all ages can fly high with the all-new adventures of Wonder Woman™, Supergirl™, Batgirl™, and some of the world’s most iconic female super heroes as high schoolers!
 
Sword-wielding Katana isn’t like most high school students—but with classmates like Wonder Woman, Batgirl, and Supergirl, Super Hero High isn’t like most high schools!
 
In addition to training to be a super hero, Katana also follows the noble warrior traditions of the Samurai. Now a mysterious presence has given her the responsibility of guarding a hundred ancient Samurai swords—but why her, and for what purpose? With the help of Wonder Woman, Supergirl, Ms. Martian, and some of her other super friends, she intends to find out. But she just made captain of the fencing team, she has a huge school project due, and a villain with ties to her family’s past seems to be amassing an army. Maintaining her inner peace isn’t going to be easy . . .
 
. . . but Katana has the steel to save the day!
 
Award-winning author Lisa Yee brings this edge-of-your-seat adventure to life with mystery, thrills, and laughs. Move over Batman™ and Superman™—the DC Super Hero Girls are ready to save the day and have fun doing it!

Praise for DC Super Hero Girls:
“Sure to have wide appeal, this book is a solid option to balance collections saturated with male superheroes.” —School Library Journal

"If you have a middle grader in your life looking for super-sized action, or a superhero enthusiast who isn’t sure where to turn to get more of the superheroes they might see on TV or in movies… Or if you just want to dive into a good book that shows young readers—especially young female readers—that girls can be the super heroes of their own stories, look no further: Super Hero High is for you." - Kirkus 
Publication Date: 07/04/17
Age Level: 8 - 12
Genre: Chick Lit
Words in Deep Blue
Cath Crowley
Synopsis: “One of the loveliest, most exquisitely beautiful books I’ve read in a very long time. . . . I didn’t just read the pages, I lived in them.” —Jennifer Niven, New York Times bestselling author of All the Bright Places
 
A beautiful love story for fans of Jandy Nelson and Nicola Yoon: two teens find their way back to each other in a bookstore full of secrets and crushes, grief and hope—and letters hidden between the pages.
 
Years ago, Rachel had a crush on Henry Jones. The day before she moved away, she tucked a love letter into his favorite book in his family’s bookshop. She waited. But Henry never came.
 
Now Rachel has returned to the city—and to the bookshop—to work alongside the boy she’d rather not see, if at all possible, for the rest of her life. But Rachel needs the distraction. Her brother drowned months ago, and she can’t feel anything anymore.
 
As Henry and Rachel work side by side—surrounded by books, watching love stories unfold, exchanging letters between the pages—they find hope in each other. Because life may be uncontrollable, even unbearable sometimes. But it’s possible that words, and love, and second chances are enough.
Publication Date: 06/06/17
Age Level: Mature Young Adult
Genre: Chick Lit

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