As the hours tick by deeper into the night, the familiar drops away and the unfamiliar beckons. Adults are asleep, and a hush falls over the hum of daily life. Anything is possible. It’s a time for romance and adventure. For prom night and ghost hunts. It’s a time for breaking up, for falling in love—for finding yourself. Stay up all night with these thirteen short stories from bestselling and award-winning YA authors like Karen McManus, Tiffany D. Jackson, Nina LaCour, and Brandy Colbert, as they take readers deep into these rarely seen, magical hours. Full contributor list: Brandy Colbert, Kathleen Glasgow, Maurene Goo, Tiffany D. Jackson, Amanda Joy, Nina LaCour, Karen M. McManus, Anna Meriano, Marieke Nijkamp, Laura Silverman, Kayla Whaley, Julian Winters, Francesca Zappia

    She doesn’t know he’s been secretly in love with her since grade school. A Holiday Rescue BY TAMIE DEAREN Despite her fame as an author, Amy is all alone at Christmas. Stranded in a snowstorm, she's rescued by a handsome stranger. Can shared cocoa lead to love?  A Second Chance for Christmas BY MICHELLE PENNINGTON Grace planned to spend December moving into her new apartment and getting ready for Christmas with her daughter, not falling for her neighbor, Sam--whose heart she broke years ago.  The Billionaire’s Perfect Match BY ANNIE HOUSTON Heading up large corporations is tough on your love life. A trip home throws high school friends Aurelia and Lander together and sparks fly. They each have everything, except love.

    

    Then they hear the faint strains of a waltz in the library of the empty abbey. The music is said to be heard only by those truly in love, and it gives James the courage to tell Dylan the story. In December 1841, Lord Hugo Pell-Charnley is in a terrible mess. The youngest son of the late Marquis, youngest brother of the incumbent, never felt to fit. When his life comes crashing down, and his life and his family are threatened, he is forced to face his elder brother and confess his deepest secret. When he arrives at Winsford Abbey he finds he must also confront the shame from his past in the form of Lyndon Cross. The boy he’d loved but betrayed in school. As they clear the ghosts from the past, they dance in each other’s arms in the library to the soft strains of the waltz, but long buried secrets threaten to destroy their happiness. Two hundred years later, can those dances long forgotten give James and Dylan the courage to hold on to love?

    Featured writers include Ellen Hart, Judith Guest, William Kent Krueger and Carl Brookins. This is a must-have for mystery buffs.

    

    The only foreseeable problem is insuring they applied enough sunscreen to their pasty-white Wisconsinite skin. This is Jayne O’Shea’s plan for her Hawaiian vacation. The one thing, the biggest thing that wasn’t on her agenda was solving any kind of crime. Which means she shouldn’t have told the woman across the street she was a small-town sheriff in her real life. Gemi Kittredge is the top-ranked women’s bantamweight MMA fighter on the island. She’s capable of taking down a man twice her size in under thirty seconds. When Gemi begs for her help, how can Jayne possibly say no?

    

    It's perfect for anyone who loves Sherlock Holmes -- or any mystery fan who's looking for the very best in short fiction.Contents include:The Watch Night Bell by Anne PerryThe Sleuth of Christmas Past by Barbara PaulA Scandal in Winter by Gillian LinscottThe Adventure in Border Country by Gwen MoffatThe Adventure of the Three Ghosts by Loren D. EstlemanThe Adventure of the Canine Ventriloquist by Jon L. BreenThe Adventure of the Man Who Never Laughed by J.N. WilliamsonThe Yuletide Affair by John StoesselThe Adventure of the Christmas Tree by William L. DeAndreaThe Adventure of the Christmas Ghosts by Bill CriderThe Thief of Twelfth Night by Carole Nelson DouglasThe Italian Sherlock Holmes by Reginald HillThe Christmas Client by Edward D. HochThe Adventure of the Angel's Trumpet by Carolyn Wheat