Nighttime storms are her favorite way to fall asleep, listening to the rain falling against the window and the thunder booming, because she knows a secret about them. Storms are the safest place to be, especially when hidden by darkness only broken by flashes of lightning. When the other children are at their cruelest, when the adults who claim to have her best interests in mind show the most indifference, she’s safe within the storms.
Until they begin to speak back.
Next title: A collection of things I was too smart to say aloud
A Collection of Things I Was Too Smart to [name_m]Say[/name_m] Aloud
“Why say it when you can write it?”
That has been high schooler [name_f]Tirza[/name_f] Katz’s philosophy for years. [name_m]Don[/name_m]'t say it, just scribble it down in her leather notebook. She’s kept many secrets this way, including that of her sexuality from her mainly homophobic classmates. But all hell breaks loose when [name_f]Tirza[/name_f]'s journal is accidentally made public property by her crush, [name_f]Eleanor[/name_f], and she’s left to scramble through the wreckage as her school life is torn to shreds.
Next title: Girl Next [name_f]Dora[/name_f]
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Girl Next [name_f]Dora[/name_f]
I have a new neighbor. She’s super nice, smart, and also has moderate skill with magic.
I mean, at least that’s what our little group of friends calls it. It might not actually be magic. But what else do you call something that regularly changes things around you with seemingly no explanation? What else do you call the walls changing color, the dancing shadows she manipulates so skillfully?
But here’s the other thing. She’s the worst secret keeper I have [name_u]EVER[/name_u] met in my life, always going out of her way to help people while assuming they’re significantly less observant than they actually are. It’s not that she wants people to know. She just tends to forget about the existence of eyesight and hearing and cameras and…
…she really needs our help. Hopefully, we can survive at least the summer without the world discovering who turned the pond pink for a child’s birthday party.
Next title: Crisis Never Asks Politely
[name_m]Don[/name_m]'t talk too loud. [name_m]Don[/name_m]'t interrupt others. [name_m]Don[/name_m]'t speak up if you’re being interrupted.
[name_m]Don[/name_m]'t speak with your mouth full. Use a napkin. Compliment the food but don’t finish your plate.
[name_m]Don[/name_m]'t say you need to go to the bathroom, and god help me if you say you need to go pee. [name_m]Say[/name_m] you’re looking for a place to wash your hands.
Pants are for playtime; we wear dresses when we have guests over.
Smile.
All throughout her life, [name_f]Susannah[/name_f] had rules for everything in her life. Her mother made sure of that. It isn’t before the death of said mother, leaving 19 year old [name_f]Susannah[/name_f] alone with some distant relatives she’d never met, and who don’t seem to care about any of those rules, that she discovers that they’re of no use outside of her very small social circle, how fast she was to judge others, and that there’s not always a right way to go.
Next: [name_m]Say[/name_m] When
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anyone still wanna play this?
When Avocet had never seen the sky, nor had she seen the sea. But oh, how she longed to. She longed to breath, to dance, to see the many wonders of the world. Instead, she weaved. With her fingers ever running, she weaved the lives of men and women, young and old, the innocent and the broken. [name_m]New[/name_m] threads formed from whispers and laughter, from secrets and mourning, but they were never hers to choose. She only weaved. But when a young man steals her heart, she weaves for him. [name_m]Even[/name_m] if it means twisting and tearing and knotting, she is determined to give him the life that she so desperately desires. [name_m]Even[/name_m] though she sees the edges unraveling from the corner of her eye; she could stop anytime she want, really. [name_m]Just[/name_m] say When
(hope my English is good enough for this :))
Next: Women of Babel
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Women of Babel My mother told me to ignore the way the history books romanticized the past. The present’s nothing amazing, she said, but things were worse before this community existed. Those on the outside call us Babel because they think we’re destined to fail, to splinter into a million pieces. Those of us inside say we fought for everything we created and we will never give it up. And I loved growing up here. It’s nothing like the terrible world beyond that wants us gone. But protecting this refuge requires all of us to make sacrifices from time to time, and what I inherited from the mothers who built this community from the ashes will require one I don’t know I can make. And I may not be alone.
Next title: They Promised It Was [name_m]Just[/name_m] a Joke
They Promised It Was [name_m]Just[/name_m] a Joke
Of course they had to say that. [name_f]Else[/name_f] I would never have agreed to climb down into that barrel, let alone allow them to close the lid. They’d come get me after an hour, they said. It’s been three.
I don’t know how much longer the air in this thing will last, but it can’t be a lot. That’s good. I’ll take suffocating over starving.
My phone will outlive me, that much is for sure. There’s no signal out here, I checked that already, but it grants me some light and something to do in these final hours. I am going to tell the story of how it came to this, in every ugly detail, not to accuse those who did this to me, just because I feel it needs to be told. So when they find me - not if they find me, because I know they will, be it tomorrow or in 100 years - they will know. Of course I don’t have all the pieces, no one ever has, but I will tell everything I know as well as I remember, so maybe someone, sometime, can put it all together to get the full picture.
next: [name_f]Luna[/name_f] Lunatic or how I found someting I never knew was missing
[name_f]Luna[/name_f] Lunatic, or [name_m]How[/name_m] I Found Something I Never Knew I was Missing
[name_f]Luna[/name_f] earned her nickname for her tendency to gasp stand up for what she believes in rather than stepping aside. She’s too protective. She takes things too seriously. The list of crimes just goes on and on. [name_f]Luna[/name_f]'s friends are less than supportive, but that’s fine! That’s just life.
At least, that’s what [name_f]Luna[/name_f]‘s always assumed. But as her patience towards her friends’ relentless emotional manipulation wears down, and she sees what true loyalty looks like, she begins to realize there are more kids who think like her than she originally thought. And when your whole school life is tearing you to pieces sometimes it only takes one person to change your perspective.
Next title: There are Three Things I Cannot Stand
There are Three Things I Cannot Stand
All I can see is white lights swirled with flat gray, and I’m not sure if the sirens screaming in my ears are real or just in my head. I think someone is screaming my name, but I don’t know who it would be. I wasn’t lying to [name_m]Bennett[/name_m] when I told her that I had no one. I feel the dull punch of a dry heave in my stomach and I try to fight away the darkness that threatens to engulf me. In some twisted irony of fate, I can see my mother’s sunken face the way it was when I saw it last–red-eyed, shaking, telling me that she loved me, she’d be back. Well, that was a lie. A hoarse shrieking laugh slaps the wet pavement back in front of my face. I clutch my stomach when I realize that the sound came from my lips. There’s blood on my clothes and I don’t recognize the paramedic who bends over me, voice gentle as she shines a flashlight in my eyes. But I’m here, this is reality. I’m here, I’m alive. I made it.
Next title: If You Let Go
If You Let Go
[name_f]Sarah[/name_f] is letting go. One thing at a time, she is removing everything from her life, and it feels amazing. It was hard at first, but it got easier with every step. First it was only useless possessions. Getting rid off all that clutter in her room was long overdue anyway. The goldfish was an accident, of course, it just swam belly-up one morning, and [name_f]Sarah[/name_f] decided this was a good thing. She let go of more and more things: Gave the cat away, threw out all of her clothing except for one outfit per day of the week, deleted her facebook. Cut off her hair, gave up sleeping in on weekends, told her little brother to stop talking to her. She let go of habits, of things, of friends. And the more [name_f]Sarah[/name_f] did that, the better it felt. Now there’s only three things left on her list to let go: her childhood teddybear, her phone, and her virginity, before she can finally take that last step to perfection, in which she lets go of herself.
next: 41 places on [name_m]Jupiter[/name_m] to see before you die
bumping again because this is fun
41 Places on [name_m]Jupiter[/name_m] to See before You Die
I was here, breathing, alive, and that was pretty darn good for now. Bia on my other side was shaking, folded in on herself against a scrap of metal. Part of the [name_f]Hera[/name_f], probably. Breathe. I stare across the puckered face of what had once been the base and felt all the adrenaline drain out of me, like someone had stuck a straw in my stomach and drawn out every emotion I had been feeling for the past forty-eight hours in one slurp.
Slowly I registered glazed blue eyes in a grime-streaked face staring back at me from–from…
Adrenaline kicked in again as I hit the ground, screaming out to [name_m]Callan[/name_m] just as the chemicals came searing up from the explosion-ridden dust.
Breathe. Breathe. Breathe. It took a second for me to realize that the words were being spoken aloud–not just in my head. Blurry, white. [name_u]Blue[/name_u] eyes.
“Lieutenant Waka? Can you say something for me? Can you hear me okay? Can you nod to show you can hear me?”
Breathe. hospital. safe. Breathe. I’m here, I’m alive, breathe.
Next: The Rise
The Rise
[name_u]Emmett[/name_u] [name_m]Holden[/name_m] grew up in a small town, raised by a single mother who refused to speak about his father. He maintained his spot firmly in the middle of the pack, never wanting to draw attention to himself. Now, two years into college, he is given a strange note by a sorority girl at a frat party he wasn’t even invited to.
The Agency is under attack. The time has come for the chosen to rise.
[name_u]Emmett[/name_u] looks up to ask what it means but the girl is gone and he is left utterly confused. What is The Agency? Who is that mysterious girl? Was this a prank or a mistake?
Next: Surviving Greenwood Academy And Other Impossible Things
Greenwood Academy is a magical school unlike any others. It is home to more than 20 different species, creatures of the day and night alike. Our protagonist, [name_m]Bob[/name_m], still manages to be the odd one out, as he is the school’s only human: shorter than most of his classmates, a little clumsy and not exactly popular. His only friends are Nihal, a tree nymph, and [name_f]Mona[/name_f], a humanoid cat, and all three of them get bullied by football star [name_m]Jake[/name_m], a werewolf, and his cheerleader girlfriend Alinor, a fairy.
Greenwood Academy is also the hottest teenage soap opera of the year. When it suddenly wins every possbile award, the five main actors are faced with overnight fame no one could have prepared them for: [name_u]Aiden[/name_u], who plays [name_m]Bob[/name_m], is drowning in love letters from boys and girls alike but tries to play it cool.
[name_u]Mackenzie[/name_u], who plays [name_f]Mona[/name_f], sees the show as a stepping stone to the big screen and thinks her friends are only holding her back on her way to fame.
[name_f]Sofie[/name_f], who plays Alinor and has been acting since she could walk, fears this might be the last point in her career and tries questionable methods of coping with the pressure.
[name_f]Tamar[/name_f], who plays Nihal, couldn’t be happier when [name_m]Jake[/name_m], who’s also called [name_m]Jake[/name_m] in real life, confesses his love to her after the end of season one - but as soon as they start shooting season two, has to watch him kiss [name_f]Sofie[/name_f] for the camera again. [name_f]Do[/name_f] the two young lovers have a chance for a normal teenage life? Does any of them?
next: [name_f]Do[/name_f] cowards really live longer?
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[name_f]Do[/name_f] cowards really live longer?
Aylie McCullom is an ordinary girl in an extraordinary world. In a universe where everyone has a special gift, unique to their specific DNA set, everyone has their life planned out for them from birth to death. Aylie has never thought to wnder about the system run so smoothly by the government until she is chosen for a special top-secret government task. As Aylie is forced to make painful decisions and step far beyond any semblance of ordinary life, she can’t help but question the workings of the world around her. Step into her life and times in the thrilling new novel, [name_f]Do[/name_f] cowards really live longer, available at bookstores near you.
Next: Turn at the Next [name_m]Light[/name_m]
Turn at the Next Light
Fallon was born into a picture-perfect family. With her younger brother, Aaron, her mother, Susanna, and her father, Judson, her family seems to be perfect, at least, to the outside world.
What they don’t see is the tired look in Susanna’s eyes when she comes home, the way Aaron clings to Fallon when Judson comes home late and Susanna begins to yell. They don’t know how many nights Fallon has spent with her head shoved under a pillow, trying to block out the angry shouts.
When it finally ends, and Fallon is left in the rubble, she is the one who holds the house up. Her mother has given up on life, and her brother is completely traumatized. Her father is off with his fiancée, traveling to a tropical island with her.
But what nobody seems to realize is that Fallon is breaking. She’s carrying the weight of an entire family on her shoulders. And when she is invited to her father’s wedding, it is the final straw.
She Loves Me Not
She Loves Me Not
Kaylan’s the perfect child, the one that everyone else’s parents compare their kids to. She gets good grades and helps with charities and has lots of friends and she’s been with the same boy since she was thirteen. Sometimes is all gets to be just a little too much though, the expectations, the pressure. And the only person Kaylan can really be herself around is a blue-eyed girl who wears leather jackets and doesn’t seem to mind the parts of Kaylan that no one else sees.
Next: Everything I Never Wanted, Everything I [name_u]Ever[/name_u] Dreamed Of
Everything I Never Wanted, Everything I [name_u]Ever[/name_u] Dreamed Of
[name_f]Lilias[/name_f], an insecure and gangly fourteen-year-old, is not expecting love at first sight on the first day of high school, but when she sees the new kid, she’s instantly head-over-heels. Unfortunately, love like this comes with a price, especially when you’re a girl, in love with another girl in a small conservative town in Idaho.
Next Title:
There’s Nothing Wrong With [name_f]Alice[/name_f]
There’s Nothing Wrong with [name_f]Alice[/name_f]
[name_f]Alice[/name_f] [name_u]Jensen[/name_u] grew up with the perfect life: loving parents, a nice large house, a private school education. But when her best friend [name_f]Kyla[/name_f] tells her a secret she never could have predicted, she begins to question everything. When [name_f]Alice[/name_f] begins to question her own life, she finds she must choose between her family and the unknown.
Next Title:
Stairways to the Grave
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