While preparing for and going on vacation to Italy with her friends and family, food-loving English teenager Angelica deals with her unrequited love for Sydney, her fear of being seen in public in a bikini, and her worries that her mother might be having an affair.
Realistic Fiction
Realistic Fiction genre
Jinx
With the help of her understanding mother and a close friend, Jen eventually outgrows her nickname, Jinx, and deals with the deaths of two boys with whom she had been involved.
True Confessions Of A Heartless Girl
Lucas
Caitlin is spending the summer on the windswept island that is her home. She is caught between girlhood and maturity, and feels utterly isolated from the rest of the world. Then she meets Lucas, who is the embodiment of freedom and honesty. She is instantly drawn to him. But Caitlin must also grapple with the darker forces that seem to be confronting her family. Lucas himself further complicates matters when he is hunted for an awful crime that Caitlin herself becomes involved in. This gripping story, which takes place over one incredible month, will captivate young adult readers.
Shopaholic
Taylor, Sam, and Sophie have been best mates forever. But lately things have been changing. Taylor is starting to sense that maybe Sam and Sophie would rather hang out only with each other rather than with her. And she can’t talk to her mum about it — she’s been acting even more depressed than usual, spending the day watching the telly in her bathrobe and only eating when Taylor makes her dinner. Then Taylor meets Kat while out shopping one day. Kat is glamorous. Kat is planning on becoming a model. Kat has dozens of older blokes following her around. And suddenly Taylor’s life is looking brighter. Kat seems to understand exactly how Taylor feels and Taylor is willing to do anything to be friends with her. The thing is, Kat loves to go shopping and if Taylor wants to continue to be her friend, then she’ll have to come up with the money to keep Kat happy…even if that means going against everything Taylor knows is right. An emotionally-charged novel about what loneliness can drive you to do, and how a little credit card can lead to lots of trouble.
Dear Sylvia
Fighting Ruben Wolfe
Cameron and Ruben Wolfe come from a family clinging to the ragged edge of the working class. To make money, the boys hook up with a sleazy fight promoter who sees something marketable in the untrained brothers¹ vulnerability. But the Wolfe brothers are fighting for more than tips and pay-off money. It soon becomes a fight for identity, for dignity, and for each other.
Gothic Lolita: A Mystical Thriller
TWO GIRLS, THOUSANDS OF MILES APART…Chelsea lives in Los Angeles; Miya lives in Tokyo. Other than the fact they’re both half Japanese and obsessed with dressing like Gothic Lolitas, they would seem to have nothing in common. Or do they? THE BLOG THAT WENT AWAY. They got to know each other through their blogs. But three years ago something happened to Chelsea, an event so terrible that she stopped writing altogether. Miya’s been checking Chelsea’s blog ever since, to see if she’s come back, but she never has. Until today. A LIFE AND DEATH CONNECTION. Today is the day Chelsea finally goes back online and tells Miya everything. And today is the day that Miya’s life could change forever because of it. Like a Japanese manga come to life, Gothic Lolita is a mythic fairy tale about love, death, and rebirth…and the courage it takes to reach out to another soul.
More Than You Can Chew
Marty Black has retreated from a difficult family situation into the area she can best control, her own appetites. She may not be able to control her parents’ behavior, but she can decide what she will and will not eat. Eventually, she stops eating altogether. Marty is close to death when she finally asks for help and finds herself in a psychiatric institution. But recognizing her need for help is only the first tenuous step on a long road to recovery. Marty’s ability to find a way to live, despite the powerful lure of anorexia, is the core of this novel.
See No Evil
Twelve-year-old Nettie’s sheltered and privileged life changes after her beloved tutor mysteriously disappears and Nettie, aided by the son of a household employee, begins to learn the truth about her father, whose wealth began with trafficking in illegal aliens.