I'll Protect You (The Royalty Series, #1)


orangechicken - 2014
    Meet Park Sparrow, a feisty, sarcastic, and reckless outcast who's just a small-town girl, living in a lonely world. With an attitude and personality that gets her in more trouble than anything, she's a wild splash of color in the otherwise monotone and regal life of the academy she attends. But there's more than meets the eye. Park isn't a random nobody in a town only famous for a school. Park Sparrow is the princess of Cimeria, and heir to one of the last remaining monarchies in the entire world. Unluckily for her, being an heir also means having a target painted on her back day and night. Park is determined to find out who's behind the attempts on her life. With the unlikely help of Logan Cross, a boy she's hated since the dawn of time, the two must learn how to put aside their differences and get along because Park is in grave danger.As they work together to put together the mystery of who wants Park's throne, they must face new complications and obstacles that will be much more difficult than just a school yard grudge.** This story is NOT edited. This is the original version of I'll Protect You (2013-2014)**

Less


Andrew Sean Greer - 2017
    A wedding invitation arrives in the mail: your boyfriend of the past nine years now engaged to someone else. You can’t say yes--it would all be too awkward--and you can’t say no--it would look like defeat. On your desk are a series of half-baked literary invitations you’ve received from around the world. QUESTION: How do you arrange to skip town?ANSWER: You accept them all. If you are Arthur Less.Thus begins an around-the-world-in-eighty-days fantasia that will take Arthur Less to Mexico, Italy, Germany, Morocco, India and Japan and put thousands of miles between him and the problems he refuses to face. What could possibly go wrong?Well: Arthur will almost fall in love in Paris, almost fall to his death in Berlin, barely escape to a Moroccan ski chalet from a Sahara sandstorm, accidentally book himself as the (only) writer-in-residence at a Christian Retreat Center in Southern India, and arrive in Japan too late for the cherry blossoms. In between: science fiction fans, crazed academics, emergency rooms, starlets, doctors, exes and, on a desert island in the Arabian Sea, the last person on Earth he wants to see. Somewhere in there: he will turn fifty. The second phase of life, as he thinks of it, falling behind him like the second phase of a rocket. There will be his first love. And there will be his last.A love story, a satire of the American abroad, a rumination on time and the human heart, by an author The New York Times has hailed as “inspired, lyrical,” “elegiac,” “ingenious,” as well as “too sappy by half,” Less shows a writer at the peak of his talents raising the curtain on our shared human comedy.

Submarine


Joe Dunthorne - 2008
    At once a self-styled social scientist, a spy in the baffling adult world surrounding him, and a budding, hormone-driven emotional explorer, Oliver is stealthily (and perhaps a bit more nervously than he’d ever admit) nosing his way forward through the murky and uniquely perilous waters of adolescence. His objectives? Uncovering the secrets behind his parents’ teetering marriage, unraveling the mystery that is his alluring and equally quirky classmate Jordana Bevan, and understanding where he fits in among the pansexuals, Zoroastrians, and other mystifying, fascinating beings in his orbit.“It’s in my interests to know about my parents’ mental problems,” he reasons. Thus, when he discovers that his affable dad is quietly struggling with depression, Oliver marshals all the daytime-TV pop-psychology wisdom at his command–not to mention his formidable, uninhibited powers of imagination–in order to put things right again. But a covert expedition into the mysterious territory of middle-aged malaise is bound to be tricky business for a teenager with more to learn about the agonies and ecstasies of life than a pocket thesaurus and his “worldly” school chum Chips can teach him. Ready or not, however, Oliver is about to get a crash course. His awkwardly torrid and tender relationship with Jordana is hurtling at the speed of teenage passion toward the inevitable magic moment . . . and whatever lies beyond. And his boy-detective exploits have set him on a collision course with the New Age old flame who’s resurfaced in his mother’s life to lead her into temptation with lessons in surfing, self-defense . . . and maybe seduction. Struggling to buoy his parents’ wedded bliss, deep-six his own virginity, and sound the depths of heartache, happiness, and the business of being human, what’s a lad to do? Poised precariously on the cusp of innocence and experience, yesterday’s daydreams and tomorrow’s decisions, Oliver Tate aims to damn the torpedoes and take the plunge.

Trapped with an arrogant bad ass


xXMopelXx - 2012
    "Baby girl, trouble is my middle name." - - - - - - - - - - - - - - When the season's biggest snow storm is brewing outside, and you somehow end up locked inside school, saying that you are freaking out is an understatement. Who knew that printing out her biology paper after school would cost Ella Collins to spend the night trapped inside her own personal hell-hole with none other than her arch-nemesis. Who knew that putting an ex-cheerleader and a bad boy together could be such a disastrous combo? Certainly not the big man upstairs. A model student, Ella Collins is the perfect definition of a good girl. Cade Brown just so happens to be every parents worst nightmare. Oh, and let me tell you something: They hate each other with a burning passionso strong that it could put flames to shame. The thought of spending more than five minutes in each others presences makes them want to strangle each other to death. Oh, and there's also the fact that they have an interesting past. Yeah, one they would never, ever dare to talk about. So now what ? Join these two teens as they dodge the obstacles thrown their way and try to make it trough one crazy night packed with secrets, truths, and lies. This is a short tale about forgiving and forgetting. Are these two willing to forget every grudge they've held and finally come to an understanding?

Beautiful Disaster


Jamie McGuire - 2011
    She doesn’t drink or swear, and she has the appropriate number of cardigans in her wardrobe. Abby believes she has enough distance from the darkness of her past, but when she arrives at college with her best friend, her path to a new beginning is quickly challenged by Eastern University's Walking One-Night Stand. Travis Maddox, lean, cut, and covered in tattoos, is exactly what Abby needs—and wants—to avoid. He spends his nights winning money in a floating fight ring, and his days as the ultimate college campus charmer. Intrigued by Abby’s resistance to his appeal, Travis tricks her into his daily life with a simple bet. If he loses, he must remain abstinent for a month. If Abby loses, she must live in Travis’s apartment for the same amount of time. Either way, Travis has no idea that he has met his match.

Early Morning Riser


Katherine HeinyKatherine Heiny - 2021
    He is charming, good-natured, and handsome but unfortunately, he has also slept with nearly every woman in Boyne City, Michigan. Jane sees Duncan’s old girlfriends everywhere–at restaurants, at the grocery store, even three towns away.While Jane may be able to come to terms with dating the world’s most prolific seducer of women, she wishes she did not have to share him quite so widely. His ex-wife, Aggie, a woman with shiny hair and pale milkmaid skin, still has Duncan mow her lawn. His coworker, Jimmy, comes and goes from Duncan’s apartment at the most inopportune times. Sometimes Jane wonders if a relationship can even work with three people in it–never mind four. Five if you count Aggie’s eccentric husband, Gary. Not to mention all the other residents of Boyne City, who freely share with Jane their opinions of her choices.But any notion Jane had of love and marriage changes with one terrible car crash. Soon Jane’s life is permanently intertwined with Duncan’s, Aggie’s, and Jimmy’s, and Jane knows she will never have Duncan to herself. But could it be possible that a deeper kind of happiness is right in front of Jane’s eyes? A novel that is alternately bittersweet and laugh-out-loud funny, Katherine Heiny’s Early Morning Riser is her most astonishingly wonderful work to date.

The Bette Davis Club


Jane Lotter - 2013
    Spending three decades in love with a wonderful but unattainable man is pretty high up on her list of missteps, as is a long line of unsuccessful love affairs accompanied by a seemingly endless supply of delicious cocktails.When the young bride flees—taking with her a family heirloom and leaving behind six hundred bewildered guests—her mother offers Margo fifty grand to retrieve her spoiled brat of a daughter and the invaluable property she stole. So, together with the bride’s jilted and justifiably crabby fiancé, Margo sets out in a borrowed 1955 red MG on a cross-country chase. Along the way, none of what she discovers will be quite what she expected. But it might be exactly what she’s been seeking all along.From acclaimed humor writer Jane Lotter comes this madcap, laugh-out-loud adventure, The Bette Davis Club. Revised edition: This edition of The Bette Davis Club includes editorial revisions.

Love is Blind


Tara L. Declan - 2016
    Reece has the money, killer looks, and the perfect family. His life was perfect. Until the shooting. Now meet Payton Jennings. Payton is a quiet, shy, nobody that no one even knows she exists. She has little money, a severed family and bad looks. Most people don't even know she attends Washington high. She is the definition of a no body. The school is rattled and turned upside down when a weird, troubled kid brought a gun to school and opened fire in the hall. Luckily no one was killed or had any serious injuries besides one. Reece Collins and that's because the boy envied him so much it made him hate him so he meant to kill Reece. He almost did, but Reece survived. He lost his sight though and is now, blind. This changes his whole life and brings him to Payton a girl who doesn't care that he is blind.

Juliet, Naked


Nick Hornby - 2009
    Duncan loves Annie, but then, all of a sudden, he doesn’t. Duncan really loves Tucker Crowe, a reclusive Dylanish singer-songwriter who stopped making music ten years ago. Annie stops loving Duncan, and starts getting her own life.In doing so, she initiates an e-mail correspondence with Tucker, and a connection is forged between two lonely people who are looking for more out of what they’ve got. Tucker’s been languishing (and he’s unnervingly aware of it), living in rural Pennsylvania with what he sees as his one hope for redemption amid a life of emotional and artistic ruin—his young son, Jackson. But then there’s also the new material he’s about to release to the world: an acoustic, stripped-down version of his greatest album, Juliet—entitled, Juliet, Naked.What happens when a washed-up musician looks for another chance? And miles away, a restless, childless woman looks for a change? Juliet, Naked is a powerfully engrossing, humblingly humorous novel about music, love, loneliness, and the struggle to live up to one’s promise.

King Dork


Frank Portman - 2006
    In this coming-of-age, rock-and-roll, Da Vinci Code-style tale, high school loser Tom Henderson discovers his deceased father's copy of The Catcher in the Rye and finds himself in the middle of several interlocking conspiracies and at least half a dozen mysteries.

Love Like a Delinquent


3mmaRawrs - 2012
    His name was Hunter.For 13 years of his life, Hunter was neglected and abused by his parents. Beaten and raped, Hunter knew nothing good of the world. His Father eventually became a socio-path and shot the Mother. But as he was about to kill Hunter, Police arrived. The Dad shot himself instead.Hunter is now 16 and has been living in my family for 3 years. It's an understatement to say that we don't get along. Hunter is just angry at the world. He drinks and smokes and swears and fights. He kicks me and punches me simply because he's scared. He pushes everyone away. He has flashbacks and nightmares and can't seem to take anymore.Though I know he has reasons for being such an inconsiderate asshole, I still hate him.Our family has now moved to Cyprus. We're only staying for a while, so we just got a small appartment. Bad part about that? It's got 2 rooms. Me and Hunter have to share.At first I hate it. But then over the weeks, I begin to see how broken Hunter Storm really is. He's not just a dick, he's scared. And I'm slowly starting to comfort him through his troubles.We're getting somewhere, but then the worst possible thing happens.But strangley, it's bringing us closer. He's sleeping in my bed, he's crying to me, he's holding my hand. I'm holding him at night, I'm wearing his hoodies, I'm smiling at his touch.Before I even realize it, I'm in love.{ Strong Language Throughout! Includes Physical/Sexual Abuse Scenes & SexPlease Don't Read If Bad Language Makes You Cry. But If You Like Hot Emo Boys With Lip Rings, Read Ahead ^.^ }

What Alice Forgot


Liane Moriarty - 2009
    Alice must reconstruct the events of a lost decade, and find out whether it’s possible to reconstruct her life at the same time. She has to figure out why her sister hardly talks to her, and how is it that she’s become one of those super skinny moms with really expensive clothes. Ultimately, Alice must discover whether forgetting is a blessing or a curse, and whether it’s possible to start over.

Finding Home


Becka Mack
    Not the space where I sleep or the walls that surround me, but instead, the people that surround me. The ones that make me feel like me. Like I don't need to hide. My brothers, my best friend. It's a small bubble, sure, but one I'm damn happy with. I might be a little lost at times-I mean, who isn't?-but I always know where to go when I need to find myself. It's safe, comfortable, familiar. My home.Until he falls into my lap. No, literally. Into my lap. That beer I spent the last of my money on? Gone. All over me. Damnit. I'm wet, and I'm...oh.Oh dear God.Tall and broad. That surfer hair and those sparkly blue eyes. Cheeky grin and southern drawl that makes a girl wanna drool. All those rippling, tattooed muscles. Oh, yes.Mitchell Hudson, baseball superstar, you may fall into my lap any day, kind sir.Except then he starts making a home inside my heart, and that vital organ? Well, I'm not sure we're ready for what he has to offer. His home is tied to a place thousands of miles away, and mine? Well...mine's right here.The man hits more homeruns than I can count, and that's exactly what I'm afraid he's going to do: run home, and take a piece of my heart with him when he goes.** You do not need to know anything about baseball or even really like the sport to read this story. But if you like athletic men who like to throw their strength and alpha sides (and their women) around, this might be the story for you! **

Black Ice


Becca Fitzpatrick - 2014
    Before Britt can explore her feelings for Calvin, an unexpected blizzard forces her to seek shelter in a remote cabin, accepting the hospitality of its two very handsome occupants—but these men are fugitives, and they take her hostage.Britt is forced to guide the men off the mountain, and knows she must stay alive long enough for Calvin to find her. The task is made even more complicated when Britt finds chilling evidence of a series of murders that have taken place there…and in uncovering this, she may become the killer’s next target.But nothing is as it seems, and everyone is keeping secrets, including Mason, one of her kidnappers. His kindness is confusing Britt. Is he an enemy? Or an ally?

When My Shift Ends


iwearheelys
    What she didn't know she was agreeing to was an obnoxiously cheerful blond boy somehow nudging his way into her life.