A Love Story Starring My Dead Best Friend


Emily Horner - 2010
    Then Julia is killed in a sudden car accident, and while Cass is still reeling from her death, Julia’s boyfriend and her other drama friends make it their mission to bring to fruition the nearly-completed secret project: a musical about an orphaned ninja princess entitled Totally Sweet Ninja Death Squad.Cass isn’t one of the drama people. She doesn’t feel at home with Julia’s drama friends, and she doesn’t see a place for her in the play. Things only get worse when she finds out that Heather Galloway, the girl who made her miserable all through middle school, has been cast as the ninja princess.Cass can’t take a summer of swallowing her pride and painting sets, so she decides to follow her original plan for a cross-country road trip with Julia. Even if she has a touring bicycle instead of a driver’s license, and even if Julia’s ashes are coming along in Tupperware.Totally Sweet Ninja Death Squad is a story about friendship. About love. About traveling a thousand miles just to find yourself. About making peace with the past, and making sense of it. And it’s a story about the bloodiest high school musical one quiet suburb has ever seen.

The Summer I Wasn't Me


Jessica Verdi - 2014
    And now she's afraid that what's left of her family is going to fall apart for good.Lexi knows she can fix everything. She can change. She can learn to like boys. New Horizons summer camp has promised to transform her life, and there's nothing she wants more than to start over.But sometimes love has its own path...

All That Glitters


Ashley Quinn - 2012
    Michelle is playful, determined and ambitious - Despite being the only child of a teenaged, alcoholic mother who sometimes lets her judgment of the men she allows in their home throw wrenches in her relationship with her daughter. Michelle knows what she has to do to leave the small, redneck surf town in Florida where she's lived her entire life to make it as a singer in Hollywood. Nothing - and nobody - will come between her and that goal. Alexis, who moves to Florida from New York City with her Jewish father, French Catholic mother and autistic younger brother, is wildly intelligent and becomes instantly enamored with the feisty Michelle after she accidentally wipes out in their driveway on her skateboard. Over the course of a year, the two girls become close, passionately involved best friends and, as high school starts, they begin to question whether their feelings toward one another are 'normal' and 'right', two things that Michelle desperately knows she needs to be in order to fit into their tiny, prying town. As high school progresses, rumors of their relationship surface among the other students. Michelle throws their friendship - and everything else - to the wayside, shattering Alexis's heart in the process and forcing Michelle to realize that no matter how much she tries to control her actions, she still can't control her feelings. Ten years after high school and Michelle is at the brink of stardom. Having just finished her first international tour, a guilty conscience forces the twenty-seven year old singer to return to Florida after her mother is involved in a bad car accident. Disillusioned with the direction of her career, she leaves her cautious, nit-picky agent and action movie star boyfriend - who is harboring a deep secret of his own that could ruin his image and career if it were to go public - to return home, tend to her mother and be back in Hollywood just in time to accompany Tyler to the premiere of his newest summer blockbuster. What on Earth could go wrong? What nobody, not even Michelle, counts on is crossing paths with Alexis Vlodosky again. Alexis is eager to move on after finishing her residency at the hospital as the harsh memories of high school have soured her taste of this small town. After one night, they quickly realize that the fire is still burning deep within each of them. Michelle has to make a decision, but when faced with scores of paparazzi, an alcoholic mother desperate to make amends before her own secret is revealed, run-ins with unsavory past acquaintances, gossipy nurses, a neurotic agent and a fake boyfriend that needs Michelle for his image just as much as she needs him for hers, who will run first?

Most Ardently


Susan Mesler-Evans - 2019
    If someone doesn’t like her, that’s their problem, and Elisa couldn’t care less. Particularly if that person is Darcy Fitzgerald, a snobby, socially awkward heiress with an attitude problem and more money than she knows what to do with. From the moment they meet, Elisa and Darcy are at each other’s throats -- which is a bit unfortunate, since Darcy’s best friend is dating Elisa’s sister. It quickly becomes clear that fate intends to throw the two of them together, whether they like it or not. As hers and Darcy’s lives become more and more entwined, Elisa’s once-dull world quickly spirals into chaos in this story of pride, prejudice, and finding love with the people you least expect.

The Chosen One


T.B. Markinson - 2016
    Her powerful political family sees her as the Chosen One who will someday be president. Upholding a carefully crafted veneer is second nature until the first day of class when Maya's mysterious gray eyes hold her in thrall. Ainsley may be out publicly regarding her sexual orientation, but she lives under the shadow of the Carmichael's ancient but shrewd matriarch in this contemporary lesbian romance. The girls pair up for a history project, and it soon becomes clear Maya is hiding something when she cuts their first kiss short by pointing out they come from different worlds. The privileged world of the Carmichael clan stands in stark contrast to Maya's limited means. Ainsley's sexually fluid, quirky, and carefree cousin helps her investigate, only to discover details of Maya's past are sketchy at best as the suspense builds in this work of LGBT fiction. Family scandal erupts, making the inevitable truth come out about Maya the Gray. Will Ainsley’s love for the enigmatic girl enable her to break her Carmichael shackles?

The Miseducation of Cameron Post


Emily M. Danforth - 2012
    Relief they'll never know that, hours earlier, she had been kissing a girl.But that relief doesn't last, and Cam is soon forced to move in with her conservative aunt Ruth and her well-intentioned but hopelessly old-fashioned grandmother. She knows that from this point on, her life will forever be different. Survival in Miles City, Montana, means blending in and leaving well enough alone (as her grandmother might say), and Cam becomes an expert at both.Then Coley Taylor moves to town. Beautiful, pickup-driving Coley is a perfect cowgirl with the perfect boyfriend to match. She and Cam forge an unexpected and intense friendship--one that seems to leave room for something more to emerge. But just as that starts to seem like a real possibility, ultrareligious Aunt Ruth takes drastic action to "fix" her niece, bringing Cam face-to-face with the cost of denying her true self--even if she's not exactly sure who that is.The Miseducation of Cameron Post is a stunning and unforgettable literary debut about discovering who you are and finding the courage to live life according to your own rules.

Witching Moon


Poppy Woods - 2020
    She doesn't have an affinity for an element, like her sister. She can't speak to the dead, like her mother. Even her familiar--Beezelbub the moth--is a plain, non-threatening insect. Alandra is fine with that; she knows what she is and what she isn't. Or so she thought . . . When a spell goes wrong and a gorgeous woman shows up in her living room claiming to be the Moon, everything changes for Alandra and her magical abilities will be put to the test. Can she reverse the spell and send Luna back to her realm? Celestials never go to Earth anymore. When witches figured out they could harness their energy for ultimate power, celestials closed the doors to their own realms. When a beautiful young witch accidentally summons Luna to Earth, the clock begins ticking. Can she make it home before she's sacrificed for her power? Will she even want to?

Love by the Numbers


Karin Kallmaker - 2012
    When her academic tome is treated as a viral “love manual” her ecstatic publisher books her to appear all over the U.S. and Europe. Worse yet, her quiet, managed life has been shattered by a series of incompetent assistants. And she’s certain this Lily Smith creature isn’t going to be any less a burden than the last assistant they sent her. Or the one before that. Or before that...Lillian Linden-Smith needs this job. With a relentless TV lawyer and public mob still out for her blood for crimes committed by her “American royalty” parents, getting out of the country is her only hope for anonymity. If that means cleaning up and presenting an antisocial know-it-all Ph.D. for bookstores, clubs and lectures, fine. Dr. Hathaway may have succeeded in driving away all the others, but not this time.From their first meeting the sparks fly, and each is thinking: She has no idea who she’s dealing with.It’s hate at first sight in this love adventure from the author of Above Temptation, Roller Coaster and dozens of other best-selling, award-winning novels.

No After You


Nicole Pyland - 2020
    She had no idea that she’d meet the love of her life that night. There were only a couple of problems with that chance meeting. Dani had a boyfriend. That chance meeting – it was with Peyton Gloss, the world’s most famous music star, who also happened to be a woman.Peyton had only planned on performing that night. When she’d seen the most beautiful woman in the world in the crowd, she had to talk to her. Dani Wilder was a beautiful, kind, smart supermodel, who also happened to have a boyfriend. When the two women spend time together, though, it’s clear to both of them that this is more than merely a close friendship.In this prequel to “All the Love Songs,” find out what happened the night these two met, and discover how their relationship began.

Love's Falling Star


B.D. Grayson - 2021
    With her gorgeous stage presence and pitch-perfect voice, she’s earned her countless awards and sold out shows. But being famous hasn’t changed the fact that her favorite place to write music is in the quiet confines of libraries. Everything changes the moment she meets college student Vanessa and her fast-paced, very closeted world of country music is turned upside down.Vanessa Wallace, a serious pre-med student, aspires to becoming a pediatric oncologist. During a late-night session at the campus library, an annoying hum coming from a secluded section leads to an encounter with Lochlan Paige. Little does Vanessa know she is about to take off on a whirlwind adventure that may end in love…or loss.

Who I Was with Her


Nita Tyndall - 2020
    And to make things even more complicated, the only person she can turn to is Elissa — Maggie’s ex and the single person who understands how Corinne is feeling. As Corinne struggles to make sense of her grief and what she truly wants out of life, she begins to have feelings for the last person she should fall for. But to move forward after losing Maggie, Corinne will have to learn to be honest with the people in her life…starting with herself.

Annie on My Mind


Nancy Garden - 1982
    The book has been banned from many school libraries and publicly burned in Kansas City. Of the author and the book, the Margaret A. Edwards Award committee said, “Using a fluid, readable style, Garden opens a window through which readers can find courage to be true to themselves.”

Behind the Green Curtain


Riley Lashea - 2013
    As vicious as she is beautiful, Amelia threatens Caton’s position and her sense of decorum.As the attraction between the two women spirals into a torrid affair, Caton is drawn deeper into Jack and Amelia’s world of privilege and prestige, where everything is at stake and nothing is what it seems.

Landing


Emma Donoghue - 2007
    Síle is a stylish citizen of the new Dublin, a veteran flight attendant who's traveled the world. Jude is a twenty-five-year-old archivist, stubbornly attached to the tiny town of Ireland, Ontario, in which she was born and raised. On her first plane trip, Jude's and Síle's worlds touch and snag at Heathrow Airport. In the course of the next year, their lives, and those of their friends and families, will be drawn into a new, shaky orbit. This sparkling, lively story explores age-old questions: Does where you live matter more than who you live with? What would you give up for love, and would you be a fool to do so?

Nottingham: The True Story of Robyn Hood


Anna Burke - 2020
    All she really wants to do is provide for her family and stay out of trouble, but when the Sheriff of Nottingham levies the largest tax in the history of England, she’s forced to take matters into her own hands. Relying on the help of her band of merry women and the Sheriff’s intriguing—and off limits—daughter, Marian, Robyn must find a way to pull off the biggest heist Sherwood has ever seen.With both heart and freedom at stake, just how much will she risk to ensure the safety of the ones she loves?