Showing results by publisher "Recorded Books" in Difficult Situations

Lia and Beck. Beck and Lia. Despite army-brat life orbiting them in and out of each other's worlds, Lia knows they are destined to be together. It's more than their friendship and chemistry. When Lia's mom was a teen, a fortune teller said her daughter would fall in love with her best friend's son. Lia and Beck were always meant to be. Or so they thought.

Senior year is going to be perfect. Meghan won't settle for anything less. She's already crushing her classes and dating the star of the basketball team. Nate's friends have been less than welcoming, but it's never easy being one of the only Black kids at a mostly white prep school. Still, Meghan did not expect the scene at pep rally. Robin and Bria dated Nate too. Correction: are dating him. He never broke up with them, and Meghan is furious.

She doesn't want to go, but Em must chaperone her little sister to the grand opening of a new Stark Megastore. Her sister can't wait to see the heartthrobs and supermodels that will make an appearance, including hunky Gabriel Luna and beautiful Nikki Howard.

A terrible accident. A horrible loss. A regrettable tragedy. That's all anyone in Fenix can talk about when a fire consumes the local high school, taking the life of a student. The town mourns, except who really knew―let alone cared about―Eden when she was alive? And why was she in the building that night? Five teens each hold a piece of the truth about what happened. They also have their own secrets, secrets they will fight to protect with the same fury as the blaze that killed Eden. But silence is meant to be broken, and this story can't be extinguished…

In Runaway, Emerson Watts continues her fight against the twisted Stark Enterprises while her brain remains trapped inside the body of super model Nikki Howard. Whisked away to Brandon Stark’s secluded love nest, Em has alienated her true love Christopher and her parents, while hoping to learn the terrifying secret Nikki—in her own new body—harbors.

Priya worked hard to pursue her premed dreams at Stanford, but a diagnosis of chronic Lyme disease during her sophomore year sends her back to her loving but overbearing family in New Jersey. Thankfully she has her online pen pal, Brigid, and the rest of the members of “oof ouch my bones”, a virtual support group for chronic illnesses. When Brigid suddenly goes offline, Priya does something out of character: she steals the family car and drives to Pennsylvania to check on Brigid. Priya isn’t sure what to expect, but it isn’t the horrifying creature that's shut in the basement.

Millicent Chalmers isn’t here to make friends. She’s here to win, and she’s on track to set a record if—no, when—she wins the state debate tournament for the fourth year in a row. Millie doesn’t care what anyone thinks of her, least of all the sexist bullies bent on destroying her reputation. Taggart Strong couldn’t care less about winning debate, much to the consternation of his teammates, school, and parents. But when a tournament takes a scary turn, Millie and Tag find themselves unexpectedly working together. Maybe they can teach each other a thing or two.

Heaven is the perfect name for the small Ohio town where 14-year-old Marley lives. Or at least she thought so until the fateful day when the mysterious letter arrived. Now her life has been turned upside down. Twelve years ago Momma chose to live in Heaven because she liked the name of the town and the white picket fences and the little schoolhouse by the river.

As if her parents' divorce and sister's departure for college weren't bad enough, 14-year-old Ricky Bloom has just been diagnosed with a life-changing chronic illness. Her days consist of cursing everyone out, skipping school - which has become a nightmare - daydreaming about her crush, Julio, and trying to keep her parents from realizing just how bad things are. But she can't keep her ruse up forever.

When Brooks volunteered to be a stand-in for Burdette's cousin who got stood up for homecoming, it was with the noblest of intentions - helping a fellow human being, free of charge. But when he gets a tip of more than 300 bucks, word spreads quickly and Brooks seizes the opportunity to offer his impeccable escort services to super-wealthy parents who want their daughters to experience those big social events of senior year. So what if along the way he goes along with a few minor deceptions and cuts a few moral corners? What could be the harm?

At Jonesville High, casual misogyny runs rampant, slut-shaming is a given, and school athletes are glorified above all else. Best friends Suze, Nikki, Ani, and Lydia swear they'll always have each other's backs against predatory guys - so when Suze suddenly starts dating wrestling star and toxic douchebag Tarkin Shaw, it's a big betrayal. Turns out, it's not a relationship - it's blackmail. At first, Suze feels like she has no choice but to go along with it, but when Tarkin starts demanding more, she enlists the help of intelligent misfits DeShawn and Marcus....

There’s no one Kelsie Miller hates more than Eric Mulvaney Ortiz—the homecoming king, captain of the football team, and academic archrival in her hyper-competitive prep school. But after Kelsie’s best friend, Brianna, moves across the country and stops speaking to her, she’ll do anything, even talk to Eric, to find out why.

Just when 17-year-old Matt thinks he can't handle one more piece of terrible news, he meets a girl who’s dealt with a lot more - and who just might be able to clue him in on how to rise up when life keeps knocking him down - in this wry, gritty novel from the author of When I Was the Greatest. Matt wears a black suit every day. No, not because his mom died - although she did, and it sucks.

Will is a 17-year-old on the cusp of freedom—freedom from providing and caring for their abusive, addicted mother, freedom from their small town with an even smaller mindset, and freedom from having to hide who they truly are. When their mother dies months before their 18th birthday, Will is granted this freedom earlier than expected. They begin to dream of escaping to the big city of Baltimore, of dating the magnetic and gorgeous Julian, and of living, unencumbered and free.

It is just two weeks before Christmas, and 16-year-old Leah Lewis-Hall is stuck in a hospital room. Leah is lonely and worried, but she doesn’t want to trouble her honeymooning mother. When her new roommate Rebekah needs a friend, Leah forgets her own problems as she comforts the scared little Amish girl. Leah doesn’t understand the Amish customs and beliefs, but she still looks forward to Rebekah’s teenaged sister and brother’s visits. Romantic sparks fly between Leah and brother Ethan.

Kappa Rho Nu—the Ravens—are determined to restore balance to the world. After destroying an ancient talisman and barely saving their sorority in the process, they’ll go to any lengths to keep their secret as Westerly’s most powerful coven of witches. Scarlett Winter, a legacy Raven, has finally gotten what she’s always wanted: Scarlett is Kappa Rho Nu’s newest president. Unlike her mother or older sister before her, Scarlett has a vision for a more unified Kappa, one where no sister falls to the forces of wicked magic. But the powers of the presidency have their own pitfalls.

After the death of his father, Cole and his mother move from New York City to a sleepy town in Jersey for a fresh start. There’s just one problem—Cole is shocked to learn he’s sharing a room in his new house with the ghost of seventeen-year-old Bea, who died in the 1920s and is under the curse of an ancient ring. When Cole wears the ring, he’s able to see Bea, and the two become fast friends over their shared love of music. As Cole and Bea start to develop strong feelings for each other, Cole discovers a way to undo the curse—which would mean that Bea’s spirit can finally move on.

In publishing-speak, here's what we at the LQ office sometimes describe as the Queer lovechild of Sholem Aleichem and Philip Roth: Uriel the angel and Little Ash (short for Ashmedai) are the only two supernatural creatures in their shtetl (which is so tiny, it doesn't have a name other than Shtetl). The angel and the demon have been studying together for centuries, but pogroms and the search for a new life have drawn all the young people from their village to America. When one of those young emigrants goes missing, Uriel and Little Ash set off to find her.

Michael is content to live in the shadow of his best friends, James and Becky. Plus, his brother, Connor, has already been kicked out of the house for being gay, and laying low seems to be Michael's only chance at avoiding the same fate. To pass the time before graduation, Michael hangs out at The Echo, where he can dance and forget about his father's angry words, the pressures of school, and the looming threat of AIDS, a disease that everyone is talking about, but no one understands

Despite hard-won victories, the revolutionary forces known as the Red Hand are more endangered than ever: the Planetary Alliance Commission—the PAC—has branded them public enemy number one, ramping up their efforts to eliminate the Red Hand’s remaining members even as the pandemic rages on. In order to protect the progress they have made, the team must adopt new tactics. Ashiva, armed with a new bionic upgrade, leads a team back into the fray on a dangerous mission across a toxic wasteland wracked by storms.