Taste the Heat


Rachel Harris - 2013
    One Cajun chef, One combustible kitchen…When chef Colby Robicheaux returned home to New Orleans to save her family restaurant, the last person she expected to reconnect with was her brother’s best friend and her childhood crush. As tempting as a sugar-coated beignet, Jason is one dish she doesn’t want to taste. Colby is counting down the days till she can leave the place where her distrust of love and commitment originated and go back to Vegas. Fire captain Jason Landry isn’t looking for love, either. He knows he should focus on finding the perfect mother for his daughter, but when he first sees Colby, all grown up and gorgeous, he can’t help but be drawn to her. And when she suggests a no-strings-attached fling, Jason doesn’t want to say no. As their relationship grows more intense, Colby finds that Jason isn’t as easy to leave behind as she thought. Could turning up the heat on something real be worth the possibility of getting burned?

Double Clutch


Liz Reinhardt - 2011
    twice... in one day?Brenna Blixen spent her freshman year homeschooling in Denmark; now that she’s back in the States, she’s determined to make her sophomore year unforgettable. And by unforgettable, she imagined awesome classes, fun friendships, and maybe a little romance. What she got was a whole lot of romance, and all at once.The same day that dark, brooding Saxon Maclean charmed her with his killer good looks and whip-smart wit, Jake Kelly stole her breath away with his heart-wrenching smile and intelligent, thoughtful focus.But Saxon is a proud player who makes it clear that he doesn’t know why he can’t get Brenna off of his mind and out of his system, and Jake’s sweet and humble attitude hides a secret past life that might be more darker and more complex than Brenna’s willing to handle.Complicating the matter is the fact that Saxon and Jake were once best friends and are now arch-enemies... and the more Brenna finds out about their connection to each other, the more intrigued and worried she becomes.Between keeping the peace with her lovingly over-protective parents, designing t-shirts for her high school’s rising punk band, keeping up her grades in both academic and technical high school, and running the track like a maniac, Brenna has enough to worry about with out juggling two guys who make her heart thud and drive her crazy all at once.She has to make a choice. But how can she when giving her heart to one of them might mean breaking the other’s?(Cover Design: Steven Peterson)Recommended Age: Older YA

Cloud Walking


A. Meredith Walters - 2013
    Rachel Bradfield has loved Daniel Lowe for most of her life. She has had to sit quietly by while he throws his feelings away on a girl who doesn’t deserve them. Rachel knows she can be everything he needs.Daniel has always known Rachel was special. She is one of his best friends. But what Daniel doesn’t realize is that the girl he has known forever might just be the one he really wants.Love pulls two people together, while tearing two others apart. As Daniel and Rachel discover the beauty of first love their best friend loses her heart to the deepest darkness. Unable to hold Maggie together, Rachel and Daniel find out that love doesn’t have to hurt and that it can change your life.

Fall For Me


Melanie Marks - 2011
    Finn is so cocky and sure of their relationship that the arrangement seems perfect. He’s not worried Zoey will fall for another guy, and he’s itching to get rid of his feelings of guilt. But the thing is, Zoey knows exactly who she wants to kiss—longs to kiss— Finn’s best friend, Riley. But, she wants the kiss too much. She knows that. So, she resists the “Free Pass.” Still, she’s pushed into it when Finn loses a bet to Riley, and Riley wants his payment—a kiss from Zoey.Novella17,000-words

Noli Me Tángere (Touch Me Not)


José Rizal - 1887
    A passionate love story set against the ugly political backdrop of repression, torture, and murder, "The Noli," as it is called in the Philippines, was the first major artistic manifestation of Asian resistance to European colonialism, and Rizal became a guiding conscience—and martyr—for the revolution that would subsequently rise up in the Spanish province.

HDU


India Lee - 2012
    Louis and her first post-grad job as a receptionist. Forced back under her parents’ roof in Merit, Missouri, the gossipy town she’d spent her life trying to escape, Amanda has but one saving grace – being an anonymous moderator on HDU, the Internet’s largest celebrity gossip community. Unemployed and alone, Amanda relishes in the one thing she has control over – Hollywood gossip. Now, her idea of fun is getting lost in the glamorous lives of others and posting nasty rumors about her former bestie’s favorite actor, Liam Brody, a playboy notorious for dumping his model girlfriends on a monthly basis.So who would’ve thought that Liam Brody would be Amanda’s answer to escaping Merit? When the controversial womanizer needs an image boost to land a new role, he turns to none other than HDU for some good press. As it turns out, Liam is as eager to shed his playboy image as Amanda is desperate to move out of Merit. The solution to both problems? Fake a romance in which Hollywood’s biggest playboy falls for an unknown, sweet and shockingly plain Jane.With the help of Ian, a fellow HDU moderator and self-developed expert on stardom, Amanda packs her bags for her new life in New York, where the overnight fame and glamour of being a celebrity girlfriend awaits. But Amanda soon discovers that their little ploy is a lot more emotionally complicated than she imagined. And while she finds that life works a thousand times better in her Hollywood circle, so does manipulation.

Firsts


Laurie Elizabeth Flynn - 2016
    Mercedes lets the boys get their awkward, fumbling first times over with, and all she asks in return is that they give their girlfriends the perfect first time- the kind Mercedes never had herself.Keeping what goes on in her bedroom a secret has been easy- so far. Her absentee mother isn’t home nearly enough to know about Mercedes’ extracurricular activities, and her uber-religious best friend, Angela, won’t even say the word “sex” until she gets married. But Mercedes doesn’t bank on Angela’s boyfriend finding out about her services and wanting a turn- or on Zach, who likes her for who she is instead of what she can do in bed.When Mercedes’ perfect system falls apart, she has to find a way to salvage her reputation and figure out where her heart really belongs in the process. Funny, smart, and true-to-life, FIRSTS is a one-of-a-kind young adult novel about growing up.

Waiting in the Wings


Tara Frejas - 2017
    She is the perfect leading lady—whose heart men would fight for, win, and protect—unfortunately, only until the curtains fall and the lights go down. In real life, Erin is a certified NBSB whose heart has been hoping for a song to dance to.But when two (two!) men enter from stage left and right, Erin is confused. Who deserves to take center stage in her heart—Mr. Theatre Royalty whose attention and displays of affection make her pulse race, or a good friend whose steady support has helped steer her to success and fulfill her dream?

Lourd De Veyra's Little Book of Speeches


Lourd Ernest H. de Veyra - 2014
    Inspire action. Encourage thought. They're also full of sarcastic one-liners, biting wit, and colorful cuss words. Compiled from various events to which Lourd De Veyra - journalist, writer, singer, and blogger - has been invited to speak, some of these 25 speeches may read like an uncontrolled stream of consciousness, and some are precisely written pieces with astute observations about life, work, and the world we live in. But all of them will make you want to keep reading.BONUS! Two new speeches by the Lourd himself, just for this book:Sermon sa Mga FashyownPangks Nat Die: Sa Mga Punks ng Pilipinas

The Proposal


J. Lynn - 2014
    Twitter fiction story of Cam and Avery.http://www.iheartbigbooks.com/2014/03...http://www.scribd.com/doc/231133105/T...

Ben Singkol


F. Sionil José - 2001
    He ran away again from his foxhole in Bataan when the Japanese were closing in. and through much of his life, even when he had become comfortable, he still ran away, haunted by the poverty of his boyhood, of the treachery that he may have committed. This is Benjamin Singkol—perhaps the most interesting character ever created by F. Sionil José. After World War II, Sionil Jose enrolled at the University of Santo Tomas and came under the wing of Paz Latorena, one of the country’s foremost writers and literature teachers and the Dominican writer, Juan Labrador. He worked in journalism and developed his distinctively direct narrative style.Sionil José is best known for his epic work, the Rosales saga—five novels which encompass a hundred years of Philippine history, from 1872 when the three Filipino priests—Gomez, Burgos and Zamora—were martyred, to 1972 when Marcos declared Martial Law.

Wide Awake


Shelly Crane - 2013
    A coma. A life she can't remember. When Emma Walker wakes up in the hospital with no knowledge of how she got there, she learns that she's been in a coma for six months. Strangers show up and claim to be her parents, but she can't remember them. She can't remember anyone. Not her friends, not even her boyfriend. Even though she can't remember, everyone wants her to just pick up where she left off, but what she learns about the 'old her' makes her start to wish she'd never woken up. Her boyfriend breaks up with the new girl he's dating to be with her, her parents want her to start planning for college, her friends want their leader back, and her physical therapist with the hazel eyes keeps his distance to save his position at the hospital. Will she ever feel like she recognizes the girl in the mirror?

But I Love Him


Amanda Grace - 2011
    I think of how I collected each piece from the beach, how I glued it all together into one big sculpture. I wonder if Connor realizes what it means, that he'll always have a piece of me no matter what happens. Each piece of glass is another piece of myself that I gave to him.It's too bad I didn't keep any pieces for myself.At the beginning of senior year, Ann was a smiling, straight-A student and track star with friends and a future. Then she met a haunted young man named Connor. Only she can heal his emotional scars; only he could make her feel so loved - and needed. Ann can't recall the pivotal moment it all changed, when she surrendered everything to be with him, but by graduation, her life has become a dangerous high wire act. Just one mistake could trigger Connor's rage, a senseless storm of cruel words and violence damaging everything - and everyone - in its path.This evocative slideshow of flashbacks reveals a heartbreaking story of love gone terribly wrong.

Ang Tundo Man May Langit Din


Andrés Cristóbal Cruz - 1959
    "As in the Noli, we have in Ang Tundo Man a story of individuals in love, unfolded against a carefully authenticated social background in order to dramatize the contemporary national experience."

Just One Night


Gayle Forman - 2014
    Just One Day followed Allyson’s quest to reunite with Willem; Just One Year chronicled the pair’s year apart from Willem’s perspective. Now, back together at last, this delectable e-novella reveals the couple’s final chapter.