But when you're the best at what you do and have the hottest restaurant on the west coast, with enough Michelin stars to make Gordon Ramsay's head spin, you've earned the right to your confidence.When I give an instruction in the kitchen, it's not a suggestion--it's an order. So when a new chef thinks she can do things her way, and dares to say so to my face, even her sharp wit and gorgeous pouty lips don't make it okay. But I have to admit, she's got talent. She's creative in the kitchen and not even that double-breasted chef jacket can hide her perfect body. As I get to know her, I can't help wanting to know everything she thinks. I've never met a more talented chef. And I've never met a sassier and sexier woman in my life. There's only one way this push and pull can end.With her in my bed, begging for more.

    A humorous, debut novel about a Korean-American teenager who accidentally lands her own column in her high school newspaper, and proceeds to rant her way through the school year while struggling to reconcile the traditional Korean values of her parents with contemporary American culture.

    It’s an expanded version of Milan Trenc’s picture storybook for children, The Night at the Museum, which was first published by Barron’s several seasons ago. On his very first night at work, the night guard at New York’s Museum of Natural History begins to see the museum’s exhibits come to life. He tells his son about the many strange things he sees each night. At first reluctant to believe his father’s fanciful tales, the son begins to see Dad in a new light when he, too, spends a night at the museum. He discovers that his father’s amazing world is real. The film’s unusual and entertaining story, starring Ben Stiller, Robin Williams, Mickey Rooney, and Dick Van Dyke, is faithfully recreated in this funny and fanciful novelization for young readers.

    Merlin. Mr. Merlin used to be a spy, and he knows all about secret codes and the strange and gross ways the police solve mysteries. Now there's a mystery in their very own class -- someone sent Amber Lee Johnson an anonymous letter. Noelle and Todd want to solve the mystery before anyone else. But first they have to figure out Mr. Merlin's clues. How can a bunch of envelopes tell them who sent the letter?

    We all know the stories of Cinderella, Snow White, and Rapunzel.  But have you ever heard of Alice Bingley-Beckerman, Reena Paruchuri, or Molly Miller?  Of course you haven’t.  Not yet.  What these girls have in common with their fairy tale sisters is this:  they are the stepdaughters of three very evil stepmothers.  And they’re not happy about it.  They think they are alone in their unhappiness until they arrive at Putnam Mount McKinsey, a posh boarding school located in lovely rural Massachusetts.  Here is where they will plot their revenge.  But first they have to meet. In her first novel, Lily Archer tells a knowing, wickedly funny story about how friendship just may turn out to be more happily-ever-after than family.

    Girl loves boy. They get married. In India, there are a few more steps: Boy loves Girl. Girl loves Boy. Girl's family has to love boy. Boy's family has to love girl. Girl's Family has to love Boy's Family. Boy's family has to love girl's family. Girl and Boy still love each other. They get married.Welcome to 2 States, a story about Krish and Ananya. They are from two different states of India, deeply in love and want to get married. Of course, their parents don't agrees. To convert their love story into a love marriage, the couple have a tough battle in front of them. For it is easy to fight and rebel, but it is much harder to convince. Will they make it?From the author of blockbusters Five Point Someone, One Night @ the Call Center and The 3 Mistakes of My Life, comes another witty tale about inter-community marriages in modern india.

    But after their parents disappear n the job, the kids are suddenly thrust into the biggest treasure hunt of their lives. They'll have to work together to defeat dangerous pirates and dodge the hot pursuit of an evil treasure hunting rival, all while following cryptic clues to unravel the mystery of what really happened to their parents--and find out if they're still alive.

    At the sound of his footsteps, she suddenlystops reading only to look up and let out a squeal, onethat he found adorable.Her already rosy cheeks become even brighter. "Hello."He melts at the sound of her angelic voice and says hisnext words carefully, softly. "Hi sweetheart."She tilts her head to the side as he unknowingly staresat her with a certain longing. "Who are you?""I'm Seth. What's your name?" He questions, taking astep into her room.She grins, causing two cute dimples to appear onher cheeks."Daisy."In which Seth Andrews, who is usually quiet andbrooding, becomes captivated by his best friends littlesister, Daisy Miller, who believes everyone has at leasta little good in them.

    She's going to take notes on all of the boys in her grade (and a few elsewhere) in order to answer a seemingly simple question: How can she get a boyfriend?But Kara's project turns out to be a lot more complicated than she imagined. Soon there are secrets, lies, and an embarrassing incident in the boy's bathroom. Plus, Kara has to deal with mean girls, her slightly spacey BFF, and some surprising uses for duct tape. Still, if Kara's research leads her to the right boy, everything may just be worth it. . . .Full of charts and graphs, heart and humor, this hilarious debut will resonate with tweens everywhere.

    Drafted by the Detroit Red Wings as a 19-year-old defenseman out of his native Sweden, Lidstrom spent the next two decades manning the Motor City blueline. During those years he became a Hockeytown legend, amassing a mind-boggling collection of accomplishments and accolades: four Stanley Cups, seven Norris Trophies as the NHL’s best defenseman, a Conn Smythe Trophy, 12 All-Star selections, and gold medals in both the Olympics and World Championships. Off the ice, life appears equally idyllic: Lidstrom is uniformly respected and admired by opponents, observers, and teammates alike, and he and his wife of more than 20 years have four boys who split their time between Sweden and their adopted homeland. Perhaps only one question remains unanswered about the man teammates referred to as the Perfect Human: exactly how did he do it? In Nicklas Lidstrom: The Pursuit of Perfection, the Hall of Fame defenseman and a who’s-who of hockey luminaries investigate and reveal precisely how he made dominating the game he loves appear so effortless. How did an unimposing prospect catch the eye of Red Wings scouts during an era when few Swedes made it to the NHL? What was the secret to his remarkable endurance and longevity, allowing him to miss just 44 games in 20 grueling NHL seasons? And what level of preparation and study was required to transform a man who was not the biggest or fastest at his position into one of the greatest defensemen in hockey history? You’ll find the answers to all of this and more in Nicklas Lidstrom: The Pursuit of Perfection

    A smart, funny junior novelization of Despicable Me, an animated movie about "world's greatest villain" Gru, coming from Universal Studios in Summer 2010! Includes a color insert of stills from the film!

    Sunny Skyland longs to be reunited with her twin sister, Starr. With only an old photograph, taken a few days before the girls were separated at age three, to guide her, Sunny begins the cross-country journey that she has dreamed of during her ten years in various foster homes. Sunny manages to locate her twin, only to be faced with a whole new challenge.Award-winning author Peg Kehret combines suspense and action with reflections on the true meaning of family as Sunny learns that sometimes we must let go of our dreams in order to embrace a different, better future.

    Their parents' divorce has not made family life any easier in either home. The children bounce to and from their volatile mother, Miranda, and their out-of-work actor father, Daniel. Then Miranda advertises for a cleaning lady who will look after and mind the children after work - and Daniel gets the job, disguised as Madame Doubtfire. This bittersweet, touching and extremely funny book inspired the highly successful film "Mrs Doubtfire", starring Robin Williams

    So. Gross. But she kinda, sorta stole $287.22 from her college fund that she's got to pay back ASAP or her mom will ground her for life. Which is even worse than working for her mother's new cleaning business. Maybe. After all, becoming a maid is definitely not going to help her already loserish reputation.But Rachel picks up more than smelly socks on the job. As maid to some of the most popular kids in school, Rachel suddenly has all the dirt on the 8th grade in-crowd. Her formerly boring diary is now filled with juicy secrets. And when her crush offers to pay her to spy on his girlfriend, Rachel has to decide if she's willing to get her hands dirty...

    She was a stray; my mother found her and brought her home to me. We spent 19 full years together. Always the perfect cat, she died in her sleep when she was growing too frail for fun. She must have known I would never have had the strength to put her to sleep myself. I was (understandably) devastated when she died -- and my phone rang off the hook. Many of my friends had grown up with my cat, too, and were calling to express their grief. The weeks after her death are a weepy blur, but one conversation stands out in my mind. A woman I wasn't very close to called to tell me about the death of her dog. There was something overwhelmingly comforting about her story. Even though she didn't know me or my "kitten" well, her shared experience just made me feel less alone. Shared stories are the idea of Chocolate for a Teen's Soul by Kay Allenbaugh. "Rich stories, like chocolate, not only make you feel good, they can also serve as comfort through confusing times," she writes in her introduction. (Allenbaugh is apparently a chocolate freak; she has also written Chocolatefor Woman's Soul, ...for a Lover's Heart, ...for a Woman's Heart, ...for a Mother's Heart, etc.) Her collected stories, written by women young and old and bundled by theme in chapters like "Onward and Upward," "Making Memories," and "What Is This Thing Called Love?", are not always uplifting -- and therein lies the strength of Chocolate for a Teen's Soul. The emotional range of Allenbaugh's selected stories is impressive. One girl explains how the death of her great-grandfather gave her the strength to ask a popular boy to dance with her. Experiencing death taught her to "make each moment count." Which is also why she is capable of handling it when he turns her down. (Never fear, another cute boy comes along in a moment.) Another young woman writes of a teacher who doubts her poetry skills and forces her to stand up and defend herself for the first time in her life. Yet another girl writes about fear, roller coasters, and her father. There are, of course, the perennially interesting tales of first loves, as well as the now ubiquitous but unfortunately necessary essays on abuse (by a boyfriend) and eating disorders.Allenbaugh wasn't satisfied to leave it at that. She smartly chose to vary the voices in her book. Hence the story written by a mother coming to terms with her daughter growing up. Or the wonderful story of a woman who fled Soviet-occupied Hungary. This "global" story demonstrates the universality of adolescent worries; she, too, thinks about clothes and friends.Allenbaugh has bound together a delightful mix of stories. Her goal, as stated in her introduction, is to mentor teens with her stories, and surely she has succeeded. The bulk of her success lies in her somewhat quirky sensibility. In the middle of Allenbaugh's "Love" chapter is a delightful story, "Grooming Nisha." This is no first-kiss tale but rather the experience of a girl who raises seeing-eye dogs -- caring for them until they are old enough to perform their duties. She details the bittersweet pain of giving Nisha up. There is also a story on the death of a family dog.Which leads me right back to my kitten. Sometimes, especially when you are 14, the word "love" means romantic love. Friends are surely sympathetic if you and your boyfriend break up. But what about if your kitty dies? Adults usually understand that kind of pain better. In Chocolate for a Teen's Soul, Allenbaugh opens up the definition of love and of other experiences. She teaches and offers comfort in the form of shared experience...just like that acquaintance of mine did. --Alexandra Zissu