Stephanie Life of Determination

SYNOPSIS Warsaw, Poland. The year is 1940 and Lillia is 15 when her mother, Alenka, disappears and her father flees with Lillia and her younger sister, Naomi, to Shanghai, one of the few places that will accept Jews without visas. There they struggle to make a life; they have no money, there is little work, no decent place to live, a culture that doesn't understand them. And always the worry about Alenka. How will she find them? Is she still alive? Meanwhile Lillia is growing up, trying to care for Naomi, whose development is frighteningly slow, in part from malnourishment. Lillia finds an outlet for her artistic talent by making puppets, remembering the happy days in Warsaw when they were circus performers. She attends school sporadically, makes friends with Wei, a Chinese boy, and finds work as a performer at a "gentlemen's club" without her father's knowledge. But meanwhile the conflict grows more intense as the Americans declare war and the Japanese

  SYNOPSIS In his magnificent, heroic, adventure fantasy, Dragonslayer, Duncan M. Hamilton debuts the first book in a fast-moving trilogy: a dangerous tale of lost magic, unlikely heroes, and reawakened dragons. Once a member of the King's personal guard, Guillot dal Villevauvais spends most days drinking and mourning his wife and child. He’s astonished—and wary—when the Prince Bishop orders him to find and destroy a dragon. He and the Prince Bishop have never exactly been friends and Gill left the capital in disgrace five years ago. So why him? And, more importantly, how is there a dragon to fight when the beasts were hunted to extinction centuries ago by the ancient Chevaliers of the Silver Circle? On the way to the capital city, Gill rescues Solène, a young barmaid, who is about to be burned as a witch. He believes her innocent…but she soon proves that she has plenty of raw, untrained power, a problem in this land, where magic is forbidden. Yet the Prince Bishop beli

SYNOPSIS Descendants of the Amazons, the Scythians work alongside prominent governments but answer to no one. Warriors living on the fringe of civilization, they live by one credo: Strength through Equality. Power through Knowledge. Nya Thalestris is the brightest Scythian of her generation. Strong, capable, ruthless, she is sure to earn a spot in the Trials, a time-honored mating ritual responsible for the evolution of her species. Abducted by their sworn enemy, the Drahzda, Nya is forever altered and spirals out of control. The Society sends in Jax Nickius. Infamous psychologist and one of the most brutal warriors of their kind, he discovers triggers planted in Nya’s mind. As Nya solidifies her spot in the Trials, Jax develops a plan to help—while pursuing her as a mate. But, Nya’s attraction to Jax is at war with her instinct to never let anyone get too close. During the Trials, Nya’s repressed memories surface, revealing a new enemy—one from inside the consulate walls—an

                       SYNOPSIS Before Sam Baron broke Odin's curse on the witches to become the first son born to a witch and the hero of the Legends of Orkney series, his mother was a young witchling growing up in the Tarkana Witch Academy. In this first book of the prequel series, the Witches of Orkney, nine-year-old Abigail Tarkana is determined to grow up to be the greatest witch of all, even greater than her evil ancestor Catriona. Unfortunately, she is about to fail Spectacular Spells class because her witch magic hasn't come in yet. Even worse, her nemesis, Endera, is making life miserable by trying to get her kicked out. When her new friend Hugo's life is put in danger by a stampeding sneevil, a desperate Abigail manages to call up her magic―only to find out it's unlike any other witchling's at the Tarkana Witch Academy! As mysteries deepen around her magic and just who her true parents are, Abigail becomes trapped in a race against time to undo

SYNOPSIS High School Can Be a Real Killer Break a mirror Walk under a ladder Step on a crack Innocent childhood superstitions … But someone at the secluded Trask Academy of Performing Arts is taking things one deadly step further when the campus is rocked with the deaths of some of its star students. Layna Curtis, a talented, popular senior, soon realizes that the seemingly random, accidental deaths of her friends aren’t random—or accidents—at all. Someone has taken the childhood games too far, using the idea of superstitions to dispose of their classmates. As Layna tries to convince people of her theory, she uncovers the terrifying notion that each escalating, gruesome murder leads closer to its final victim: her. Will Layna’s opening night also be her final bow?   AMAZON  |  BARNES & NOBLE  |  BOOK DEPOSITORY ABOUT THE AUTHOR Born and raised in Upstate New York,  Thommy Hutson  graduated from UCLA and launched his career co-writing the story fo

SYNOPSIS Some boys go too far. Some boys will break your heart. But one boy can make you whole. When Grace meets Ian she's afraid. Afraid he'll reject her like the rest of the school, like her own family. After she accuses the town golden boy of rape, everyone turns against Grace. They call her a slut and a liar. But...Ian doesn't. He's funny and kind with secrets of his own. But how do you trust the best friend of the boy who raped you? How do you believe in love? A gut-wrenching, powerful love story told from alternating points of view by the acclaimed author of Send.   AMAZON  |  BARNES & NOBLE  |  BOOK DEPOSITORY Praise for  SOME BOYS "You will be satisfied at the end of this powerful work. " ― RT Book Review "A largely sensitive treatment of an emotionally complex topic. " ― Kirkus "Some Boys" belongs in every YA collection." ― School Library Journal   EXCERPT FROM BOOK Minutes pass, but they feel