Meet Clara Lee. Likes: her best friends, her grandpa, her little sister (when she's not being annoying, which is almost always), candy necklaces, and the Apple Blossom Festival. Dislikes: her little sister (when she's being annoying, which is almost always), her mom's yucky fish soup, and bad dreams (even though Grandpa says they mean good luck). After a bad dream, Clara Lee has a whole day of good luck. But when her luck changes, she upsets her friends and family. Will Clara Lee have good luck again in time to try out for the Little Miss Apple Pie pageant? Clara Lee is a delightful character from acclaimed author Jenny Han. This charming, humorous chapter book is perfect for fans of Clementine and Judy Moody!

From the award-winning, bestselling author of "The Red-Hot Cajun" comes this new spicy and sexy romance about a woman, her former husband, a search for pink diamonds, and an elderly Cajun matchmaker. BAITED+Straitlaced Boston lawyer Veronica "Ronnie" Jinkowsky knows something's fishy when her estranged grandfather lures her to his New Jersey treasure-hunting business with woeful tales of old age and bankruptcy. But she never expected the salty old dog to shanghai her into a hunt for pink diamonds with her poker-playing, four-time ex-husband Jake Jensen in tow. HOOKED...Betting her heart on Jake was always a losing proposition, yet just the sight of his come-hither blue eyes is still enough to melt her steely resolve. Now Ronnie's on a high seas adventure that throws together lost gems, a lost ship, and lost love - not to mention a Mafia widow, her two goons, and an elderly Cajun matchmaker. AND GOING DOWN FOR THE LAST TIME! Trapped with the man she could never learn to live with - and was never happy without - is Ronnie fated to be forever jinxed in matters of the heart? Original.

Sent by her family to work in a silk factory just prior to World War II, young Pei grows to womanhood, working fifteen-hour days and sending her pay to the family who abandoned her. In "Women of the Silk" Gail Tsukiyama takes her readers back to rural China in 1926, where a group of women forge a sisterhood amidst the reeling machines that reverberate and clamor in a vast silk factory from dawn to dusk. Leading the first strike the village has ever seen, the young women use the strength of their ambition, dreams, and friendship to achieve the freedom they could never have hoped for on their own. Tsukiyama's graceful prose weaves the details of "the silk work" and Chinese village life into a story of courage and strength.

From New York Times bestselling author, “one of America’s top cultural critics” (Entertainment Weekly), and “The Ethicist” for The New York Times Magazine, comes a new book of all original pieces on villains and villainy in popular culture.Chuck Klosterman has walked into the darkness. As a child, he rooted for conventionally good characters like wide-eyed Luke Skywalker in Star Wars. But as Klosterman aged, his alliances shifted—first to Han Solo and then to Darth Vader. Vader was a hero who consciously embraced evil; Vader wanted to be bad. But what, exactly, was that supposed to mean? When we classify someone as a bad person, what are we really saying (and why are we so obsessed with saying it)? In I Wear the Black Hat, Klosterman questions the very nature of how modern people understand the culture of villainy. What was so Machiavellian about Machiavelli? Why don’t we see Batman the same way we see Bernhard Goetz? Who’s more worthy of our vitriol—Bill Clinton or Don Henley? What was O.J. Simpson’s second-worst decision? And why is Klosterman still obsessed with some kid he knew for one week in 1985? Masterfully blending cultural analysis with self-interrogation and limitless imagination, I Wear the Black Hat delivers perceptive observations on the complexity of the anti-hero (seemingly the only kind of hero America still creates). I Wear the Black Hat is the rare example of serious criticism that’s instantly accessible and really, really funny. Klosterman is the only writer doing whatever it is he’s doing.

From the New York Times bestselling author of It Happened One Wedding comes a novel about a man and a woman whose summer is about to get very, very steamy… Divorce lawyer Victoria Slade has seen enough unhappy endings to swear off marriage forever. That doesn't mean she's opposed to casual dating—just not with her cocky new neighbor, who is as gorgeous and tempting as he is off-limits. But once she agrees to take on his sister's case, she's as determined to win as ever—even if that means teaming up with Ford… Investigative journalist Ford Dixon is bent on finding the man who got his sister pregnant and left her high and dry. He's willing to partner with Victoria, despite the fact that the beautiful brunette gets under his skin like no other woman. He might not be looking to settle down, but there's no denying the scorching attraction between them. Still, the more time he spends with Victoria, the more he realizes that the one woman as skeptical about love as he is might be the only woman he could really fall for…

Four best friends, one lucky bracelet, and an utterly charming new middle-grade series! When she's not hanging out at her family's sweetshop, Libby loves walking her dog around London. She always meets the most interesting people -- like Cedric, who's her age and also has a dog. They become fast friends, until Libby finds out his family are the new owners of a competing store! Libby tries to keep her parents' business a secret, because she really likes Cedric and wants to be his friend. But the secrets start adding up, and Libby needs the charm bracelet she shares with her besties to bring her some luck . . . right now!

The third sizzling novel in New York Times bestselling author Karen Hawkins’s Duchess Diaries series, featuring three unruly sisters and their headstrong godmother with a penchant for matchmaking.Reclusive Viscount Kirk, horribly scarred by a tragic accident that stole the life of his beloved first wife, is a man defined by fury. For years he’s eschewed society, growing abrupt and curmudgeonly. But now, when he’d given up on life, he’s fallen madly in love with the refreshingly naive daughter of his neighbor, dainty and charming Dahlia Balfour. Desperate to win her attention, Kirk calls in a favor from the Duchess of Roxburghe and asks that she transform him into a fashionable suitor for Dahlia’s hand. But what’s easy to change on the outside, isn’t as easy to change on the inside…Dahlia’s always dreamed of a fairytale romance. Although Viscount Kirk is only seven years her senior, because of his cantankerous ways and lack of social graces she thinks of him as her “older neighbor,” and is blissfully unaware that he sees her as anything other than an acquaintance. She is shocked to see him at the duchess’s grand house party, trying to fit with the very societal rules he so frequently mocks. Surprised by his attention, irritated at his bald honesty, and intrigued that he finds her worth the effort, Dahlia regards Kirk as the opposite of Prince Charming. Without the pretty words and grand gestures she yearns for, can true love find its way into her unwilling heart?

A sharply honest and moving debut perfect for fans of The Perks of Being a Wallflower and Ask the Passengers.Riley Cavanaugh is many things: Punk rock. Snarky. Rebellious. And gender fluid. Some days Riley identifies as a boy, and others as a girl. But Riley isn't exactly out yet. And between starting a new school and having a congressman father running for reelection in über-conservative Orange County, the pressure—media and otherwise—is building up in Riley's life.On the advice of a therapist, Riley starts an anonymous blog to vent those pent-up feelings and tell the truth of what it's really like to be a gender fluid teenager. But just as Riley's starting to settle in at school—even developing feelings for a mysterious outcast—the blog goes viral, and an unnamed commenter discovers Riley's real identity, threatening exposure. And Riley must make a choice: walk away from what the blog has created—a lifeline, new friends, a...

The second novel, and first quick read title, from bestselling author Cathy Glass. My Dad's a Policeman is a dramatic and engaging story of a young boy with an alcoholic mother and no knowledge of his father. Lonely, bullied and desperate for a life of happiness and security he tells everyone he meets his dad's a policeman. Fast-paced and compelling, this short story from Cathy Glass follows the experiences of a Ryan, a small and lonely 12-year-old boy who struggles to fit in. In an attempt to make friends, and discourage the school bullies from picking on him, Ryan tells his peers that his dad is a policeman. When the police actually turn up on Ryan's doorstep, to take him away from his alcoholic mother and put him in care, his life crumbles. It's not long before Ryan has run away, taking a long bus ride back across the city, desperate to get back to the inner-city life he knows. Keeping a low profile, and sneaking in to his best friend's house late a night for shelter, he soon...

From the preface: It is a proverbial truth that thunderstorms clear the air. And it would seem as though that eventful and terrible period of English history, known as the Wars of the Roses, had cleared the political air for the coming Reformation. How little those who took part in it realised the time to follow! To the men of that day it was either a wrestle for personal fame, or a passionate enthusiasm for the establishment of Right. To the women with whom it was not the latter, it must have been a meaningless agony—a passion with no visible end, and with no conceivable moral purpose. Alas for him who loses his faith in the providence of God, for the key of the world has dropped out of his hand. And happy are they who can calmly walk on in the dark by the side of the Father, it may be feeling the atmosphere painfully oppressive, yet willing to wait His time, and knowing that when they come forth into the light of the Golden City, they will be satisfied with it.

In the not too distant future, the world is threatened with drought and starvation. Washington’s elite are invited to a mysterious gala at a giant old movie house. There, they become part of the entertainment, and meet the Primagnon, a more-than-human-being, who offers...The Alternative.

An university student, a boy needing a home, and a mother trying to fix her life. A sotry about courage, family, and love.After Emily Helsing died in a tragic accident, Amber Helsing, her mother, uncovers a letter that explains everything about emily's death. And the answer points to one specific boy. This boy holds the key to the universe, Emily's life, and Amber's heart.

Somebody turned on the art room ceiling fans to their highest position and their wind ruined a beautiful work of art. Charlie Thomson gets the blame, so he sets out to clear his name in this mystery yarn which has a crime, suspects, a detective and clues. And this story, like all good mystery yarns, also has a denouement — the bit at the end where the detective unmasks the real culprit.This is a story about a small crime in a primary school. It’s hardly worth bothering about, but it worries Charlie Thomson. After all, Charlie’s the one who got the blame. So he sets out to do some detective work and find the real culprit, then clear his name.The tale has all the elements of a proper detective yarn, a whodunit. It has a crime and suspects with motives, means and opportunities. It also has a detective, who happens to be Charlie Thomson.It also has clues for the sharp-eyed reader to spot. And this story, like all good mystery yarns, also has a denouement — the bit at the end where the detective unmasks the real culprit.

Mario Vargas Llosa, the internationally acclaimed author of The Storyteller, adds his own finely-tuned poetic polish to this erotic exploration of carnality in one family. He turns the proverbial romantic triangle on its ear to create this New York Times bestselling erotic novel. French flaps and six full-color pages of classic artworks.