Someday, Someday, Maybe


Lauren Graham - 2013
    But so far, all she has to show for her efforts is a single line in an ad for ugly Christmas sweaters and a degrading waitressing job. She lives in Brooklyn with two roommates - Jane, her best friend from college, and Dan, a sci-fi writer, who is very definitely not boyfriend material - and is struggling with her feelings for a suspiciously charming guy in her acting class, all while trying to find a hair-product cocktail that actually works. Meanwhile, she dreams of doing "important" work, but only ever seems to get auditions for dishwashing liquid and peanut butter commercials. It's hard to tell if she'll run out of time or money first, but either way, failure would mean facing the fact that she has absolutely no skills to make it in the real world. Her father wants her to come home and teach, her agent won't call her back, and her classmate Penelope, who seems supportive, might just turn out to be her toughest competition yet. Someday, Someday, Maybe is a funny and charming debut about finding yourself, finding love, and, most difficult of all, finding an acting job.

Sneaking Candy


Lisa Burstein - 2013
    Of course, secretly I already have made a name for myself: as Candy Sloane, self-published erotic romance writer. Though thrilled that my books are selling and I have actual fans, if anyone at UM found out, I could lose my scholarship…and the respect of my faculty advisor, grade-A-asshole Professor Dylan.Enter James Walker, super-hot local barista and—surprise!—my student. Even though I know a relationship is totally off-limits, I can’t stop myself from sneaking around with James, taking a few cues from my own erotic writing…if you catch my drift. Candy’s showing her stripes for the first time in my real life, and I’ve never had so much fun. But when the sugar high fades, can my secrets stay under wraps?

The Backup Plan


Sherryl Woods - 2005
    The world-weary correspondent wants to settle down with the sweet guy she left behind in South Carolina’s Low Country. Instead, she’s confronted by his black-sheep brother, and—despite her longing for serenity—sparks fly.How can she possibly trade her perfectly safe backup plan for a risk-taking guy like Cordell Beaufort after all the dangers she’s already faced? But to Dinah’s dismay—backup plan or not—her heart has its own ideas.

A Robot in the Garden


Deborah Install - 2015
    Refusing to throw it on the skip as his wife Amy advises, he takes it home.

Where We Belong


Emily Giffin - 2012
    With a fulfilling career and satisfying relationship, she has convinced everyone, including herself, that her life is just as she wants it to be. But one night, Marian answers a knock on the door . . . only to find Kirby Rose, an eighteen-year-old girl with a key to a past that Marian thought she had sealed off forever. From the moment Kirby appears on her doorstep, Marian’s perfectly constructed world—and her very identity—will be shaken to its core, resurrecting ghosts and memories of a passionate young love affair that threaten everything that has come to define her. For the precocious and determined Kirby, the encounter will spur a process of discovery that ushers her across the threshold of adulthood, forcing her to re-evaluate her family and future in a wise and bittersweet light. As the two women embark on a journey to find the one thing missing in their lives, each will come to recognize that where we belong is often where we least expect to find ourselves—a place that we may have willed ourselves to forget, but that the heart remembers forever.

Disney Declassified


Aaron H. Goldberg - 2014
    Some of the situations are heartbreaking, others are head-scratching, and all of them are tales Disney would rather you not hear.Walt Disney, the company bearing his name, and their theme parks have been analyzed and chronicled almost ad nauseam. The word Disney conjures up different feelings for different people. For many, the Walt Disney Company stands for all things wholesome, family-centric, moral and entertaining, but every now and then scandalous and salacious behavior seeps into the utopian world of Disney. Disney Declassified isn’t about the analysis of the Disney Company at a deep or philosophical level—actually it’s quite the contrary; it is a collection of true stories with Disney being the setting or the catalyst in situations that are very un-Disney-like. In some of these instances, not every Disney story ends happily ever after;•The shocking time a baby was born and abandoned in a Magic Kingdom toilet. •When an eight-year-old girl was randomly shot in the back while riding aboard the Disneyland Railroad.•The controversial story of a handicapped woman having her Disneyland annual pass suspended for speeding and running into other guests with her motorized scooter.•What do a priest accused of molesting multiple children and the founder of a Ponzi scheme have in common? They both fled their situations and went to work at Walt Disney World.•The diabolical tale of a woman who sold her newborn baby for $15,000 to take her other children on a trip to Walt Disney World. •The role a former Nazi SS member played in the construction of Walt Disney World.•Two hostage situations at Walt Disney World, with one at EPCOT tragically ending in suicide.•How a peeping Tom set up an elaborate system to spy on female cast members as they changed for work inside Cinderella’s Castle.•Ever hear of something called “Sphinctering?” If you were one of the unlucky guys working for the fire company on Walt Disney World property, you may have been subjected to this form of male-on-male sexual harassment. •Find out how the public helped to identify and track down a despicable child pornographer based on the Disney resort in the background images the police released from his reprehensible videos. The Disney docket doesn’t end with cases of ride accidents, sex, crimes, death and violence. There are multiple stories of people faking cancer to score a free trip to Disney World, interesting copyright infringement and Americans with Disability Act lawsuits and a touching story of how a young boy with autism utilizes Disney characters to communicate with his family. However you feel about Disney, lover or hater, explore these stories and many more, when the real world collides with Disney and their world. Chances are you may never view Disney the same way again!

Fame Adjacent


Sarah Skilton - 2019
    It's not easy being the only cast member of a 1990s song-and-dance show who didn't become famous. When she was eleven, she used to do anything for a laugh (or at least a laugh-track) on "Diego and the Lion's Den." If she talked about it--which she almost never does--Holly might explain how her childhood best friends came to dominate the worlds of pop music, film, and TV while she was relegated to a few near-misses and a nanny gig for her niece. She'd even be telling the truth about making peace with the whole thing years ago. But when she finds out there's a 25th anniversary for the show planned--a televised reunion, clip show, and panel--and she wasn't invited, it's time for an impromptu road trip to crash the event and set the record straight. Three problems: she's currently in Internet Rehab (perhaps she's not quite as well-adjusted as she believes...), she has no cash, and the only person who can get her across the country in time is Thom Parker, a handsome, infuriatingly level-headed patient who doesn't think she should confront her famous ex-friends.FAME ADJACENT is a contemporary, realistic, and humorous look at love, friendship, and fame, as seen through the eyes of a girl who lived it--from the sidelines.

Restoring Harmony


Joelle Anthony - 2010
    Sixteen-year-old Molly McClure has lived a relatively quiet life on an isolated farming island in Canada, but when her family fears the worst may have happened to her grandparents in the US, Molly must brave the dangerous, chaotic world left after global economic collapse. One of massive oil shortages, rampant crime, and abandoned cities. Molly is relieved to find her grandparents alive in their Portland suburb, but they are financially ruined and practically starving. What should have been a quick trip turns into a full-fledged rescue mission. And when Molly witnesses something the local crime bosses wishes she hadn't, Molly's only way home may be to beat them at their own game. Luckily, there's a handsome stranger who's willing to help.Restoring Harmony is a riveting, fast-paced dystopian tale complete with adventure and romance that readers will devour.

She Dims the Stars


Amber L. Johnson - 2016
    Ask his roommate, Elliot Clark, and he would say that Audrey is the enigmatic girl who randomly showed up outside a window one day and turned his whole world upside down in a matter of moments. Ask Audrey herself and she’ll tell you that she has no idea who she is, because her entire life is a lie. However, the older she gets the more she needs answers about who she really is. What she discovers is a tangled web of secrets better left in the dark. Some truths do more harm than good. ***Recommended for readers 18+ due to sensitive subject matter, language and situations.

Paris in Love


Eloisa James - 2012
    Paris in Love: A Memoir chronicles her joyful year in one of the most beautiful cities in the world.   With no classes to teach, no committee meetings to attend, no lawn to mow or cars to park, Eloisa revels in the ordinary pleasures of life—discovering corner museums that tourists overlook, chronicling Frenchwomen’s sartorial triumphs, walking from one end of Paris to another. She copes with her Italian husband’s notions of quality time; her two hilarious children, ages eleven and fifteen, as they navigate schools—not to mention puberty—in a foreign language; and her mother-in-law Marina’s raised eyebrow in the kitchen (even as Marina overfeeds Milo, the family dog).  Paris in Love invites the reader into the life of a most enchanting family, framed by la ville de l’amour.

My Life Undecided


Jessica Brody - 2011
    Here’s the deal. My name is Brooklyn Pierce, I’m fifteen years old, and I am decisionally challenged. Seriously, I can’t remember the last good decision I made. I can remember plenty of crappy ones though. Including that party I threw when my parents were out of town that accidentally burned down a model home. Yeah, not my finest moment, for sure. But see, that’s why I started a blog. To enlist readers to make my decisions for me. That’s right. I gave up. Threw in the towel. I let someone else be the one to decide which book I read for English. Or whether or not I accepted an invitation to join the debate team from that cute-in-a-dorky-sort-of-way guy who gave me the Heimlich Maneuver in the cafeteria. (Note to self: Chew the melon before swallowing it.) I even let them decide who I dated! Well, it turns out there are some things in life you simply can’t choose or have chosen for you—like who you fall in love with. And now everything’s more screwed up than ever. But don’t take my word for it, read the book and decide for yourself. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll scream in frustration. Or maybe that’s just me. After all, it’s my life.

Girl's Guide to Witchcraft


Mindy Klasky - 2006
    And another that turns a cat into her witch's familiar (a snarky, critical, self-absorbed man—pretty much a typical male). Though her impulsive acts of magic have brought a warder (sexy, grouchy, elusive and determined to stop her from using magic) down on her, Jane's not willing to let go of this fantastic new life.Though she wonders about having things that aren't "real," she's having too much fun to stop. After all, no one ever said being a witch was easy….

The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper


Phaedra Patrick - 2016
    He gets out of bed at precisely 7:30 a.m., just as he did when his wife, Miriam, was alive. He dresses in the same gray slacks and mustard sweater vest, waters his fern, Frederica, and heads out to his garden. But on the one-year anniversary of Miriam's death, something changes. Sorting through Miriam's possessions, Arthur finds an exquisite gold charm bracelet he's never seen before. What follows is a surprising and unforgettable odyssey that takes Arthur from London to Paris and as far as India in an epic quest to find out the truth about his wife's secret life before they met--a journey that leads him to find hope, healing and self-discovery in the most unexpected places. Featuring an unforgettable cast of characters with big hearts and irresistible flaws, The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper is a curiously charming debut and a joyous celebration of life's infinite possibilities.

Carsick: John Waters Hitchhikes Across America


John Waters - 2014
    Armed with wit, a pencil-thin mustache, and a cardboard sign that reads "I’m Not Psycho," he hitchhikes across America from Baltimore to San Francisco, braving lonely roads and treacherous drivers. But who should we be more worried about, the delicate film director with genteel manners or the unsuspecting travelers transporting the Pope of Trash?Before he leaves for this bizarre adventure, Waters fantasizes about the best and worst possible scenarios: a friendly drug dealer hands over piles of cash to finance films with no questions asked, a demolition-derby driver makes a filthy sexual request in the middle of a race, a gun-toting drunk terrorizes and holds him hostage, and a Kansas vice squad entraps and throws him in jail. So what really happens when this cult legend sticks out his thumb and faces the open road?

The Man Who Rained


Ali Shaw - 2011
    For some years she has been haunted by a sight once seen from an airplane: a tiny, isolated settlement called Thunderstown. Thunderstown has received many a pilgrim, and young Elsa becomes its latest, drawn to this weather-ravaged backwater, this place rendered otherworldly by the superstitions of its denizens. In Thunderstown, they say, the weather can come to life, and when Elsa meets Finn Munro, an outcast living in the mountains above the town, she wonders whether she has witnessed just that. For Finn has an incredible secret: he has a thunderstorm inside of him. Not everyone in town wants happiness for Elsa and Finn. As events turn against them, can they weather the tempest—can they survive at all? This work of lyrical, mercurial magic and imagination is a modern-day fable about the elements of love.