SShea
By SShea
Thirteen-year-old Devontae is poor and often homeless. He sleeps on the floor of apartments or in their rundown car without complaint. He eats one meal a day. He moves from school to school, and spends time in the principal’s office, which his mom attributes to the color of his skin, his intimidating height, and the ignorance of teachers and administrators. People stare at his parents – a petite woman with blond curly hair and blue eyes, and a basketball-tall man with a magnificently thick afro and skin as beautiful and dark as the black keys of a piano. He is a loner; his parents the only people he trusts.
When eviction slips litter their apartment, Devontae’s dad panics. He breaks his creed to never accept help or trust anyone outside of the family and makes a deal with a stranger to work a job for two days in exchange for staying at the man’s house for two nights. He didn’t ask questions; the pay screamed high risk.
They move in and two days later, his father comes back from the job to find Devontae beaten by the man’s oldest son.
In the backseat of the car, Devontae forces himself to face the truth about his parents and his dream to live a different kind of life. But, who can help him? Who can he trust?
A 30-year urban educator, SShea gives voice to the stories of children who experience homelessness and the foster care system.
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Denisa Stefania Stoian
Expect the Unexpected by Denisa Stefania Stoian
An abused engaged woman starts a new illegal life with her stalker teenager sweatheart.
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Fiona Kehoe
The Twilight Stone by Fiona Kehoe
For a normal human like May, having one of the mysterious fae for a boyfriend should really be more difficult than it is. Things in her life are pretty simple, up until the day another of the fae kidnaps him, dragging May into a magical world she doesn’t understand. When she meets the kidnapper face-to-face, he threatens to send her boyfriend’s head in a box if she doesn’t bring the Twilight Stone to him. As if that wasn’t enough, he then promises that her boyfriend won’t be the only loved one whose head she’ll find in a box on her doorstep if she fails.
May doesn’t react well to being threatened. She’d rather show the kidnapper the barrel of her revolver, but it seems the fae aren’t as impressed by bullets as most humans. She also has no idea what the Twilight Stone is, let alone where it is, and no one she talks to seems to know either.
Unfortunately, she isn’t the only one interested in the stone’s whereabouts. Just as she thinks she’s getting close, a strange group of fae appears, willing to kill her if it means keeping the Twilight Stone out of her hands. Her neighbor, a sidhe whose motivation for helping her is unclear, and a gnome who deals in both fae gems and information, are unlikely allies in the race to save her loved ones. With their help, May might finally locate the Twilight Stone. Or at the very least, save her loved ones.
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Georgiana Derwent
Northern Souls by Georgiana Derwent
Sadie Sadler lives in London. Practices human rights law. Drinks fair trade coffee, reads the Guardian, and never, ever burns her enemies alive using just the power of her mind. She’s totally grown out of that sort of thing.
Sadie’s relatives have used their dark magic to control the Yorkshire town of Mannith for centuries. But now, Sadie’s brother, Brendan, is on trial for murder, and Gabe Miller, the charismatic and sinister head of the Sadlers’ only rivals, is preparing to destroy her family. Only Sadie combines both the legal skills to defend an unwinnable case and the magical strength to face down their enemy’s spells.
The trouble is, there’s a good reason Sadie left Mannith and turned her back on magic: she sold her soul to Gabe Miller to save her damn brother the last time Brendan got himself into trouble. If she returns and takes the case, he’ll try to collect. But there’s no way she’s going to allow her brother to rot in jail or the Sadlers’ power to wane.
Sadie’s determination to forge her own path and stick to her principles is pushed to the limit as her family drag her back into their world of magic, violence, and power. And as she fights Gabe with spells and statute books, battling both her long-standing terror of him and her growing, twisted attraction, Sadie must decide who Mannith’s real villains are and how far she’ll go for her family.
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Margarita Maldonado
Love Boy by Margarita Maldonado
Barely a month after her twelve year old shi tzu, Rocky, dies from cancer, a still grieving Janet Flores learns that her employer of the last seven years, the local newspaper, is cancelling her bi-monthly garden column, In the garden with Flores. That same week, Janet’s grown son, Liam, a recently graduated computational mathematician, announces he’s off to the Arctic to study climate change and Janet’s older sister informs her that their father is exhibiting signs of dementia.
In desperate need to exert some control over something in her life, Janet decides to start a big new garden project at home, but winds up throwing her back out in the process. When new neighbors move in next door with a dog they leave tied up in the yard 24/7, a recuperating Janet befriends him, calling him Love Boy whenever she speaks to him through the fence; in part because she’s never heard the new neighbors address him at all beyond telling him to, Shut up!
Increasingly worried about the approaching summer heat, Janet decides she’s going to try and help Love Boy get free of his tether, but both the neighbors and events conspire against Janet forcing her to determine just how far she’s willing to go to try and create change and whether one person ever really can make a difference or not.
Based in part on true events that are still unfolding.
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Becky Ances
Confessions of a Chameleon by Becky Ances
In our mid-30’s, my husband and I left our cats and cozy home in the New England hills to teach English in a small, dirty, industrial city in southern China. We thought we were living the dream of following our bliss and leading an adventurous life as a unstoppable couple.…and then my husband asked me for a divorce.
I was truly alone, friendless and lost in a foreign country surrounded by a strange culture and strange people where I could barely order food at a restaurant, much less contact my friends on facebook or twitter for support (both were blocked by the Chinese government). Faced with those problems, most women would pack it up and go back to the comforts of home, but I decided I wanted to stop being most women. I saw living alone in a foreign country as a challenge that I could overcome….if only I could find the courage to leave my house.
Part travelogue, part personal journey, CONFESSIONS OF A CHAMELEON (memoir 86,000 words) is a journey around China, from small villages in which no foreigner had been seen in remembered history to modern, fast-paced cities like Hong Kong and Shanghai. But really it is a journey into an even more exotic location: myself, and figuring out who I am without the title of “wife,” “friend,” or “American.” What color is a chameleon when is has nothing around it to blend into?
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Amren Ortega
Girls Break Things by Amren Ortega
High school senior Joyce Liu-Stone is the odd one out in her family. While her moms are both talented artists, Joyce is only interested in one thing: robotics. Well, robotics and dating her teammate, Nyx, but Joyce isn’t ready to admit to herself that she actually has something in common with her moms. When Nyx breaks her ankle in a freak accident, the school board bans their combat robotics team from competing in a prestigious tournament. But the team isn’t that easily defeated. They decide to compete in secret, no matter the cost – even if that cost is expulsion.
As the competition advances, Joyce blurts out her feelings for Nyx and discovers that Nyx has been crushing on her, too. They promise the team not to let their relationship affect the competition, but high school love isn’t that easy to control. Joyce and Nyx forget to bring an important part to their competition, seriously jeopardizing their chances of winning the state championship and the college scholarship Joyce needs to attend her dream school. It’s up to Joyce to stitch the team back together and win the competition – and get the girl.
GIRLS BREAK THINGS combines the female/female romance of HOW TO MAKE A WISH with the Discovery Channel show BattleBots. GIRLS BREAK THINGS is a 70,000 word, #OwnVoices LGBT YA contemporary work based on my partner’s experience as a half-Taiwanese high school student and my own coming-out.
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Bob Luckett
Solving for X
An inside look at the investigation that captured America’s most prolific serial arsonist Thomas Anthony Sweatt Federal Case # 76010-030065 by Bob Luckett
Solving for X is an inside look at the twenty two month investigation that tracked, hunted, arrested and successfully prosecuted the most prolific serial arsonist in the history of the United States. The work takes each reader on the roller coaster ride, which is being a part of the task force that did outstanding work. The Washington DC region was under siege in 2003 when a group of residential fires with an eerily similar ignition source was discovered. They become part of the sleepless nights, they feel the anger investigators dealt with while dealing with information leaks and the politics of being part of a group that had to please, local state and federal administrators. They feel the exhilaration of the arrest and confession. The reader then gets an inside look at the emotions and actions of the sociopathic murder, Thomas Sweatt, as he sits and talks with investigators about why he did things, what he was thinking and how he lived. The readers are with investigators in the federal prison in Indiana when Sweatt tells them just how difficult it was for him to be in a simple conversation with other men. He just could never be himself. When guys would be talking about cars or sports he wanted to be talking about gardening or cooking. Finally the readers also learn about the things that went well and the things that failed in this 73,000 word book that is solidly grounded in factual information and intrigue.
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Veronica Monet
Love, Lust and Romance in the Age of #MeToo: Consent Made Sexy for All Genders by Veronica Monet
Whether you are dating or in a long-term relationship, it’s crucial that you know how to say no to things you don’t want to do. But that can be difficult when you are afraid of damaging the connections you care about.
We need a way to set boundaries while creating intimacy. We need to know how to say no with joy and enthusiasm. And we need to be able to do that even when we are naked and in the throes of passion.
Relationship coach Veronica Monet revolutionizes the way we express our preferences in an intimate context while keeping the connection we want.
Instead of “giving in” or “compromising” because you don’t want to “hurt his/her feelings,” or “make him/her mad,” or “lose” the relationship, you CAN make your preferences and boundaries clear and firm while drawing your person CLOSER to you and creating MORE connection.
Too many of us have learned to feel ashamed about our no. So we may mumble or yell a defiant no. Not surprisingly, our no’s are often met with hurt feelings. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Saying no can bring us closer to each other and spark sexual interest – if you know how to do it.
Veronica’s simple and sexy five-step formula creates love, lust and romance – especially in the age of #MeToo!
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S. A. Sinclair
Amelia Raglan and the Haunted Barn by S. A. Sinclair
Before she moved to Lexington, Kentucky with her parents and cat-on-a-leash Sulu, ten-year-old Amelia Raglan didn’t think she would get to spend the summer horseback riding. She didn’t think she would explore a creepy, potentially haunted old barn in her own backyard. And she definitely didn’t think she would hunt down a thief responsible for stealing horse country’s most valuable racehorses.
Amelia’s dream of taking riding lessons comes true when she moves next door to Jemma Sage. Jemma’s dad runs a racing Thoroughbred farm, and her mom is a riding instructor. Amelia learns all about riding and horses – including how to stop Loki the pony from eating her hair.
But Amelia’s new life isn’t peaceful. Jemma’s claim that the Raglan’s crumbling barn is haunted by Mr. Emerson, the former occupant of Amelia’s house, leads to a terrifying ghost-hunting mission. Then the plague of horse thefts sweeping Lexington strikes the Sage’s farm, and Amelia’s new friend Santi is blamed for the disappearance of their most promising racehorse. If Amelia and Jemma cannot discover the identity of the real thief and their connection to Mr. Emerson, Santi will stay in jail, the stolen horses will be lost forever, and Jemma’s brother could get hurt – or worse.
Amelia Raglan and the Haunted Barn is Stacy Gregg’s Pony Club Secrets meets Linda Fairstein’s Devlin Quick Mysteries with a little Small Spaces by Katherine Arden thrown in. This middle-grade mystery novel is full of ghost-hunting, friendship, and facing fears – but mostly it’s full of horses.
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