Craving something creepy? Explore the Cirque Du Freak, an underworld of grotesque creatures and bizarre beings--truly A Living Nightmare! Want another blood-curdling morsel? Uncover the gruesome untold history of Larten Crepsley, the Cirque's head vampire, and find out what led to the Birth of a Killer. Still have a taste for terror? In the Demonata's dark world, werewolves roam, and Lord Loss, a powerful demon, feeds on the pain and suffering of others. And stick around for dessert, because in a bonus sneak peak of Shan's next series, zombies invade. There's plenty of stomach-turning gore to go around!

    It’s just a two-hour drive…Pondering math problems is Esther Ainsworth’s obsession. If only life’s puzzles required logic. Her stepfather’s solution? Avoidance. He’s exiled the family to Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, to erase a big secret from Esther’s past. So much for the truth. Now for the consequences: an empty swimming pool, a water-sucking cactus outside her window, a goldfish rescued from a church festival, and Esther’s thirst for something real.Step one: forget about her first love. Step two: make allies. Esther finds them in Jesús from the local coffee bar; a girl named Color who finds beauty in an abandoned video store; Beth, the church choir outcast; and Moss, a boy with alluring possibilities. Step three: confess her secret to those she hopes she can trust. Esther’s new friends do more than just listen. They’re taking Esther one step further.Together, they hit the road to face Esther’s past head-on. It’s a journey that will lead her to embrace her own truth—in all its glory, pain, and awesomeness.

    Talented pretty and popular. She was enjoying life and planing her future. She and Peter, the love of her life, were sharing their dreams. Now she and Peter share a problem...Except it turns out to be Val's problem. Peter says he loves her, but he has to finish school, go to college, get on with his life. Valerie wishes she could get on with her life and her music career. But she lives each day with the reality Peter wants to forget -- and it is she who must make the impossible choices...When love has no answers.

    She's also way too smart to fall for the charms of man-slut and slimy school hottie Wesley Rush. In fact, Bianca hates him. And when he nicknames her "the Duff," she throws her Coke in his face. But things aren't so great at home right now, and Bianca is desperate for a distraction. She ends up kissing Wesley. Worse, she likes it. Eager for escape, Bianca throws herself into a closeted enemies-with-benefits relationship with him. Until it all goes horribly awry. It turns out Wesley isn't such a bad listener, and his life is pretty screwed up, too. Suddenly Bianca realizes with absolute horror that she’s falling for the guy she thought she hated more than anyone.

    "Why what?" He asks. "Why you're being so nice to me," I say quietly, vulnerability seeping into my words. "How we even became friends." He sighs, "I want to know how."I scrunch my brow. "How what?"His response is soft, the opposite of his burly personality. "How you don't see it."*******Reagan Holt was about as average as a high school student could be. She didn't play any sports, didn't participate in the popular activities, and wasn't the girl all the boys chased after. All except one boy. He wrote her a letter every week. Each letter described something new for him to love about her. Whether it was how beautiful her laugh was or how his heart swelled with every smile she gave, he never failed to write how he felt. So the two should be together, right? That's the way Reagan wants it, but there's just one problem. He signs his letters"Love, Anonymous." Now add an obnoxious, conceited, sex god into the equation and you get a teenage girl confused on who really loves her. The sweet, tender written anonymous lover, or the cocky, ignorant asshole?

    Lesley Cozens wrote Nicky a letter before she died, the contents of which the reader does not know until much later in the novel, but the letter triggers a rage in Nicky that could have had tragic consequences if Chloe had not got involved. When Nicky begins hanging around Chloe's house with a mixture of curiosity and anger that she has had a happy life compared with his, he is prepared to hate her, but instead the two of them form a strange kind of bond. Chloe is her mother's daughter, and finds herself wanting to help Nicky find his real mother, the one who abandoned him at birth. Ironically, the clues she pieces together about what happened lead her back to her mother's home town, and to her childhood friend, Sonia, who is keeping a painful secret of her own. Chloe finds comfort in helping Nicky, a boy who is almost like a brother in that her own mother looked out for him for so long, and Nicky discovers that sometimes you have to trust in people in order to move on and build a life...

    Kiley’s way out? A pricey school in California that she can only afford if she’s a resident of the Golden State. That’s why she’s on Platinum Nanny, vying for the chance to work for a wacko rock star–or be sent home nationally humiliated.Wild girls.Lydia has spent eight years stuck in the Amazon with her do-gooding parents. When her aunt offers her a lifeline–babysitting in posh Bel Air–Lydia hops the next plane to civilization. Pucci sandals, poolside cabanas, clubbing in Hollywood It spots–was there even a question she’d accept? Now she just has to find a cute pool boy to make up for all that lost time. . . .Wilder boys.Moving into the guesthouse of one of Beverly Hills’ most powerful families isn’t exactly what Esme had in mind for a summer job. Neither was losing her head over Jonathan, her new boss’s almost famous (and already hot) son. Safe to say her boyfriend isn’t going to like this.Grab your sunglasses and welcome to The Nannies, a crazy world of Hollyweird backstabbing and skyscraping palm trees, spoiled tots and private swim lessons. But how hard can a nanny job be? After all, eight to four is kid time. After that? It’s our time.

    He's suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder ever since a hurricane hit his house, with him alone in it. He's suffering from indecision in his relationships with girls. He's suffering because he's got a new friend, Charlie Bickle, who seems to like to see him suffer. It's all a part of life, Charlie says. Henry wants to believe it's true. He wants to think that life can be kept at arm's distance. He wants to be convinced that life is bullshit. His curse is that he knows better. And that curse will also be his salvation.

    It's one kick in the belly of a word isn't it? Has a taste, too. It tastes like barbed wire and has wild hyena eyes. Murderer. Murder-her. Did he? Did I? That's when I remember what I want to forget."Jake Upshore has loved Skye Derucci since before he can remember. Volatile, complex and frustrated (he's got a label disorder from all the labels he's been given) at the best of times, Jake's on a desperate quest to find Skye before she aborts the baby he believes is his. As he hurtles headlong toward certain tragedy, Jake relives the fatal choices he's made and the powerful forces that have led him to this to end. A gripping thriller and a heart-wrenching love story, Pluto's Ghost is a raw and powerful novel about anger, escape, and redemptive love.

    Holed up with her mum in a Newcastle suburb and living on a steady diet of Bailey’s and chips, Rowena fantasizes about her absent dad and plans her own funeral music. But when she embarks on an energetic campaign to eliminate her mother’s new boyfriend, Bernard “Filthy” Luker, Rowena starts to lose her slippery grip on reality and is packed off to a teenage therapy group. Meet the Madolescents.

    Gordo) Stevens is at a new school, trying to make friends and struggling to come to terms with his parents' divorce -- and his father's new girlfriend. (Her name is Amie and she's a lot younger than Gord's dad.) It's not surprising that Gord is in no mood for a week-long school trip to a remote island marine teaching station, especially when his new "friends" plot to catch him in the old "hand-in-warm-water-pee-the-bed" trick and his mom packs his old teddy bear. But there are bigger problems on the horizon for Gord -- like the fact that the marine biologist who runs the school suddenly has to leave the island. Or the fact that their radio, the only link to the mainland, expires. Or that a pod of pilot whales is beached on the island and about to die -- unless someone can help them get back to sea.In a story that weaves action, adventure, an environmental mystery, a ghost tale, and a budding romance into one terrific read, Eric Walters also addresses with subtlety and savvy the important pre-teen issues of belonging and self-confidence, friendship and change. With its natural, realistic dialogue, believably drawn characters and exciting -- and plausible -- climax, Stranded is another kid-pleasing story from an author whose career is on a dizzying ascent.

    Sequel to The QB Bad Boy and Me.

    She can barely handle one minute with her controlling, critical mom. But when they arrive, her life gets even worse! Her mother is suddenly acting like she's trying out for Moms Gone Wild, partying with her old high school crowd. Now Tamika's the responsible one: taking care of business and stuck on a nice guy instead of a player. She wouldn't mind a little bit of her old mom back. Wait a minute, did she really say that?

    His family has recently moved to Vancouver from Ireland, and his mother has died of cancer. Now he is desperately trying to fit in — in a new school, a new city, a new country — while holding a part-time job and keeping an eye on his little sister, Annie. Charley’s red hair and Irish accent at first make him a target of the class bullies, but he is tough enough — just — to keep them at bay. So it is almost a relief to him when the bullies find a new target, Benny Mason. Charley keeps hoping that Benny will defend himself, but he fails to intervene. When Benny commits suicide, Charley is overcome with remorse and guilt. He visits Benny’s single mom, Joanna, but instead of confessing, finds himself trying to make amends by doing chores, running errands, and befriending Benny’s little brother. Can Charley find atonement for failing to act? James Heneghan's trademark narrative drive, vivid characters, and strong social message make this a striking study of loss and renewal.

    Life was beautiful and bright, and every day soared with music. Now Ingrid is on a summertime wilderness survival trek for at-risk teens: addicts, runaways, and her. She’s fighting to survive crushing humiliations, physical challenges that push her to her limits, and mind games that threaten to break her. Then When the curtain fell on Margot-Sophia’s singing career, they buried the past and settled into a small, painfully normal life. But Ingrid longed to let the music soar again. She wanted it so much that, for a while, nothing else mattered. Now Ingrid is never going to make it through this summer if she can’t figure out why she’s here . . . and why the music really stopped.