“People have abandoned their loved ones for much less than you’ve been through,” Mira Bartók is told at her mother’s memorial service. It is a poignant observation about the relationship between Mira, her sister, and their mentally ill mother. Before she was struck with schizophrenia at the age of nineteen, beautiful piano protégé Norma Herr had been the most vibrant personality in the room. She loved her daughters and did her best to raise them well, but as her mental state deteriorated, Norma spoke less about Chopin and more about Nazis and her fear that her daughters would be kidnapped, murdered, or raped.
When the girls left for college, the harassment escalated—Norma called them obsessively, appeared at their apartments or jobs, threatened to kill herself if they did not return home. After a traumatic encounter, Mira and her sister were left with no choice but to change their names and sever all contact with Norma in order to stay safe. But while Mira pursued her career as an artist—exploring the ancient romance of Florence, the eerie mysticism of northern Norway, and the raw desert of Israel—the haunting memories of her mother were never far away.
Then one day, a debilitating car accident changes Mira’s life forever. Struggling to recover from a traumatic brain injury, she was confronted with a need to recontextualize her life—she had to relearn how to paint, read, and interact with the outside world. In her search for a way back to her lost self, Mira reached out to the homeless shelter where she believed her mother was living and discovered that Norma was dying.
Mira and her sister traveled to Cleveland, where they shared an extraordinary reconciliation with their mother that none of them had thought possible. At the hospital, Mira discovered a set of keys that opened a storage unit Norma had been keeping for seventeen years. Filled with family photos, childhood toys, and ephemera from Norma’s life, the storage unit brought back a flood of previous memories that Mira had thought were lost to her forever.
Gossip from the Girls’ Room fills readers in on all there is to learn about middle school life at Middlebrooke, where Sofia has her very own blog and discusses all the juicy gossip that comes out of the Girls’ room.
In Sofia's words . . .
Mia St. Claire is only the most popular girl in all of Middlebrooke Middle School. For three very obvious reasons:
1. She's very rich.
2. She has tons of money.
3. She can buy anything and everything she wants. And she does.
I'm sure people like her for other reasons too, but none of those reasons are obvious enough for me to really know. Or care about, for that matter.
When a Pincent Pharmaceutical van is ambushed by the rebel group known as the Underground, its contents come as a huge surprise-not drugs, but corpses in a horrible state. It appears that the pharmaceutical company's top drug, Longevity-which is supposed to eradicate disease and ensure eternal life-isn't living up to its promises. Now a virus is sweeping the country, killing hundreds in its wake, and Longevity is powerless to fight it. But when the unscrupulous head of Pincent claims that the Underground is responsible for releasing the virus, it's up to Peter, Anna, and their friends to alert the world to the terrifying truth behind Longevity before it's too late.
Rescued from her precarious existence as an orphan in the slums of the capital city, Averalaan, by Rath -- a recluse whose family is powerful within House Terafin -- Jewel is gathering together children less fortunate than herself, creating her own den.
But now times are truly desperate within Averalaan's hundred holdings. Street children are disappearing, theft and violence are increasing, and even Jewel's den is finding it hard to make ends meet.
They've been living on their own for some time, but Rath is still their mentor and continues to sell items they find in the ancient undercity hidden beneath the streets of Averalaan. Then suddenly, Rath orders them to avoid the undercity.
Yet Rath himself refuses to heed the warnings of Jewel's seer dreams. Instead, he allies with the mages of the Order of Knowledge in a secret war against demonic foes, knowing he'll be targeted for death -- or worse. In a last attempt to protect Jewel and her den-kin, he provides a note of introduction to the head of House Terafin -- Rath's sister, whom he'd sworn never to contact.
For only withing the well-guarded Terafin manse will the den stand any chance of escaping the unnatural forces reaching out to claim them....
On top of spending most of her time in a bunkerlike safe house and having her dates hijacked by a formidable Fae bodyguard, Faeriewalker Dana Hathaway is in for some more bad news: the Erlking and his pack of murderous minions known as the Wild Hunt have descended upon Avalon. With his homicidal appetite and immortal powers, the Erlking has long been the nightmare of the Fae realm. A fragile treaty with the Faerie Queen, sealed with a mysterious spell, is the one thing that keeps him from hunting unchecked in Avalon, the only place on Earth where humans and Fae live together. Which means Dana's in trouble, since it's common knowledge that the Faerie Queen wants her – and her rare Faeriewalker powers – dead. The smoldering, sexy Erlking's got his sights set on Dana, but does he only seek to kill her, or does he have something much darker in mind?
Featuring original stories by Gene Wolfe, Timothy Zahn, Chris Pierson, Mickey Zucker Reichert, Steven Savile, Elizabeth A. Vaughan, Jay Lake, Anton Strout, and many more.
To complicate things even more, Kara has pledged herself to one of the most powerful of demons—Demon Lord Rhyzkahl—who helped save her partner's life, but now expects things in return. Meanwhile, she's trying to solve a string of murders that are somehow tied together by money, sex, rock music and...mud. But how can she concentrate on the case when she's not even sure who—or what—her partners are? Secrets of the Demon is the exciting third installment of the Kara Gillian series.
Reimagining the days surrounding this unforgettable event in history, readers are brought back to 1986 as the astronauts prepare for the Challenger mission, and Christa McAullife trains to be the first teacher in space. When a teen named Annie meets Christa, she is fascinated by Christa's courage. Truly inspired, Annie is determined to make it to Florida to see the Challenger launch, a trip that will forever change how she thinks about herself and her secret desire for her own future. Although she is devastated when tragedy strikes, Annie honors Christa by following her own dream, despite the obstacles. Bringing in her experience as a NASA engineer, Jenny Moss weaves a moving story that recaptures the inspiration teens must have felt years ago as they watched Christa McAuliffe reach for the sky.
When you're the daughter of the bestselling Queen of Romance, life should be pretty good. But 16-year-old Alice Amorous has been living a lie ever since her mother was secretly hospitalized for mental illness. After putting on a brave front for months, time is running out. The next book is overdue, and the Queen can't write it. Alice needs a story for her mother-and she needs one fast.
That's when she meets Errol, a strange boy who claims to be Cupid, who insists that Alice write about the greatest love story in history: his tragic relationship with Psyche. As Alice begins to hear Errol's voice in her head and see things she can't explain, she must face the truth-that she's either inherited her mother's madness, or Errol is for real.
Best Kept Secret is the second novel in Debra Moffit's Pink Locker Society series.
At the end of Only Girls Allowed, the Pink Locker Society was shut down by the principal of Margaret Simon Middle School, due to hacking by two jealous classmates. But Jemma, Piper, and Kate won't be kept down! The Pink Locker Society is back in operation. But this time, they're running the show from the spooky school basement, without any adult help. They'll discover why the society was shut down years before, and learn that they'll need to watch their backs to stay afloat this time around.
All the while, Jemma is dealt a rude awakening when her beautiful best friend, Piper, secretly asks Jemma's crush Forrest to the annual Backwards Dance. Will Jemma and Piper resolve their differences? And will the Pink Locker Society survive?
Herbie Brennan's popular and critically acclaimed Faerie Wars series is well known for its cast of magical characters, hilarious dialogue, and wildly inventive flights of fantasy. Now, with The Faeman Quest, Brennan returns to the world of Faerie to introduce a new character - Mella, the daughter of King Consort Henry and Queen Holly Blue. When Mella accidentally travels to the country of Haleklind, she discovers rebel forces preparing an invasion using a terrifying new magical weapon.
This novel features old favorites-Brimstone, Pyrgus, and Lord Hairstreak's head-but readers will identify immediately with Mella, whose stubborn streak and fiesty daring must save the Faerie realm from mass destruction.
He didn't ask to be a hero, but now all that stands between us and chaos . . . is Colt.
Colt McAlister was having the summer of his life. He spent his days surfing and his nights playing guitar on the beach with friends. He even met a girl and got his first car. But everything changes when his parents are killed in a freak accident.
He's forced to leave his old life behind and move to Arizona with his grandfather. The only person he knows at the new high school is a childhood friend named Dani. And Oz, a guy he's sure he's never met but who is strangely familiar.
But what if his parents' death wasn't an accident? His mother, an investigative reporter, was going to expose a secret mind-control program run by one of the world's largest companies. Before she could release the story, what if agents from Trident Biotech made sure she couldn't go public?
Vowing to uncover truth, Colt is drawn into a secret world of aliens, shapeshifters, flying motorcycles, and invisible getaways.
The invasion has begun.
Secrets, secrets are no fun.
Secrets, secrets hurt someone. . . .
An eccentric new girl. A brooding socialite. The scion of one of New York's wealthiest families. A promising filmmaker. As students at the exclusive Chadwick School, Phoebe, Lauren, Nick, and Patch already live in a world most teenagers only dream about.
They didn't ask to be Society members. But when three of them receive a mysterious text message promising success and fame beyond belief, they say yes to everything. Even to the harrowing initiation ceremony in a gritty warehouse downtown, and to the ankh-shaped tattoo they're forced to get on the nape of their necks.
Once they're part of the Society, things begin falling into place for them. Week after week, their ambitions are fulfilled. It's all perfect—until a body is found in Central Park with no distinguishing marks except for an ankh-shaped tattoo.