At Coral Tree Prep in Los Angeles, who your parents are can make or break you. Case in point:
As the son of Hollywood royalty, Derek Edwards is pretty much prince of the school--not that he deigns to acknowledge many of his loyal subjects.
As the daughter of the new principal, Elise Benton isn't exactly on everyone's must-sit-next-to-at-lunch list.
When Elise's beautiful sister catches the eye of the prince's best friend, Elise gets to spend a lot of time with Derek, making her the envy of every girl on campus. Except she refuses to fall for any of his rare smiles and instead warms up to his enemy, the surprisingly charming social outcast Webster Grant. But in this hilarious tale of fitting in and flirting, not all snubs are undeserved, not all celebrity brats are bratty, and pride and prejudice can get in the way of true love for only so long. Views: 554
Although it won the Pulitzer Prize in 1922, this stirring novel about World War I remains far less known than Cather's established classics such as My �ntonia and Death Comes for the Archbishop. In the lucid, unadorned prose that was her hallmark, Cather brings to life the simple Nebraska farm folk and their tranquil rural lifestyle, showing how the Great War, seemingly so far away on the Old Continent, eventually touches them all.
More than half of the novel is devoted to the slow rhythms of the prairie farmland centering on the Wheeler homestead. The novel's protagonist, Claude Wheeler, a strong, healthy, red-headed farm boy, is physically a typical representative of his sturdy sodbuster family and hard-working neighbors. But mentally the boy has little in common with their narrow outlooks, and the limited horizons of his parochial community make him restless and filled with a barely suppressed discontent. Through a series of striking vignettes, Cather brilliantly reveals Claude's search for some greater purpose to his life beyond the routines of farm life.
Gradually, the widening war in Europe sneaks up on the rural Nebraska region, as newspaper reports of refugees and German atrocities begin to stir the emotions of the local young men. When the United States finally enters the conflict, Claude is one of the first to enlist, seeing purpose, adventure, and commitment to some larger ideal in the call to arms.
Claude's longings for radically new experiences are more than amply realized overseas in sobering encounters with suffering French women and children, the battle-scarred English "Tommies," and the tenacious German enemy.
One of Ours is a memorable testament to the shattering effects of war on youth and ideals, a powerful depiction of mechanized battle, and its life-changing effects on one Nebraska farm boy and the people he left behind. Views: 553
In an unforgettable novel that traces a centuries-old curse to its source, beloved author Alice Hoffman unveils the story of Maria Owens, accused of witchcraft in Salem, and matriarch of a line of the amazing Owens women and men featured in Practical Magic and The Rules of Magic.Where does the story of the Owens bloodline begin? With Maria Owens, in the 1600s, when she's abandoned on in a snowy field in rural England as a baby. Under the care of Hannah Owens, Maria learns about the "Unnamed Arts." Hannah recognizes that Maria has a gift and she teaches the girl all she knows. It is here that she learns her first important lesson: Always love someone who will love you back. When Maria is abandoned by the man who has declared his love for her, she follows him to Salem, Massachusetts. Here she invokes the curse that will haunt her family. And it's is here that she learns the rules of magic and the lesson that she will carry with her for the rest of... Views: 553
Harper Grant is trying to get out of attending yoga classes with her sister, when she makes a gruesome discovery.Grandma Grant is intent on causing her usual mischief, and the townsfolk of Abbott Cove cause Harper no end of trouble as she tries to help the most difficult ghost she has ever had to deal with.With the help of police officer, Joe McGrady, Harper finds herself on the trail of the perpetrator. Will Harper uncover the killer’s identity before anyone else is murdered?Genre: Mystery Cozy Views: 553
Edward Dawson is sent by his widowed mother to be educated at Kirkham, a Catholic boarding school run by Benedictine monks. Conscientious and idealistic, Dawson is persuaded that he has a monastic vocation and joins the community upon leaving school. He soon feels that educating the sons of the rich is an inadequate response to suffering and injustice and so leaves Kirkham to serve as a secular priest in London. Under the eye of an indulgent archbishop, Dawson’s radical sermons and provocative articles in the Catholic press gain him many admirers, but they also persuade him that the solutions to human suffering are to be found in social work, politics and perhaps psychology but not religion. Views: 553
A collection of Antonia Fraser's compelling stories exploring the dark hearts and lethal secrets of criminals. This collection features the tale of the jealous wife who engineers revenge for the lovers who wronged her. Views: 553
The New York Times bestselling author of Every Day, Someday, and Two Boys Kissing is back with a short story collection about love—perfect for Valentine's Day or year-round reading!A resentful member of a high school Quiz Bowl team with an unrequited crush. A Valentine's Day in the life of Every Day's protagonist "A."A return to the characters of Two Boys Kissing.19 Love Songs, from New York Times bestselling author David Levithan, delivers all of these stories and more. Born from Levithan's tradition of writing a story for his friends each Valentine's Day, this collection brings all of them to his readers for the first time. With fiction, nonfiction, and a story in verse, there's something for every reader here. Witty, romantic, and honest, teens (and adults) will come to this collection not only on Valentine's Day, but all year round. Views: 553
In which we find Jherek Carnelian, one of the small population of hedonistic immortals remaining on earth at the end of time, still obsessively in love with Mrs. Amelia Underwood, a reluctant time-traveler from Victorian England. After narrowly escaping death in nineteenth-century London, Jherek again is separated from his love by several millenniums. And so he begins a new, headlong campaign - seesawing through space and time regardless of risk or consequence - to reunite himself with Mrs. Underwood.
This is volume II in a trilogy, The Dancers at the End of Time, of which An Alien Heat was the first. It is full of astounding antics and incredible characters. Another outstanding book by one of the most esteemed and prolific writers of science fiction. Views: 553
Inspired by the life and adventures of his own great-great grandmother, Betty Zane was Zane Grey\'s first novel and launched his career as a master writer of rousing frontier and Western adventures. Betty Zane is the story of the events culminating in the last battle of the American Revolution, when two hundred Redcoats from British-controlled Detroit along with four hundred Shawnee Indian attacked the small, wood-palisaded Ford Henry on the western frontier. The heroine of the battle--a young, spunky, and beautiful frontier girl--was Betty Zane Views: 553
Abel Jackson's boyhood belongs to a vanishing world. On an idyllic stretch of coast whose waters teem with fish, he lives a simple, tough existence. It's just him and his mother in the house at Longboat Bay, but Abel has friends in the sea, particularly the magnificent old groper he meets when diving. As the years pass, things change, but one thing seems to remain constant: the greed of humans. When the modern world comes to his patch of sea, Abel wonders what can stand in its way.
Blueback is a deceptively simple allegory about a boy who matures through fortitude, and finds wisdom through living in harmony with all forms of life. It is a beautiful distillation of Winton's art and concerns.
'In true fable style, this is a simple story, but one so beautiful, poignant and moving it is impossible to ignore.' Daily Telegraph
'Winton . . . convince[s] us of the preciousness of our oceans not through lectures but through his characters' steady wonder.' New York Times Views: 553
