Showing titles in Physical & Emotional Abuse

Only women and girls are allowed in the Red Abbey, a haven from abuse and oppression. Maresi, a 13-year-old novice there, arrived in the hunger winter and now lives a happy life in the Abbey, protected by the Mother and reveling in the vast library in the House of Knowledge, her favorite place. Into this idyllic existence comes Jai, a girl with a dark past. She has escaped her home after witnessing the killing of her beloved sister. Soon the dangers of the outside world follow Jai into the sacred space of the Abbey.

Loann's always wanted to be popular and pretty like her sister, Claire. So when Claire's ex-boyfriend starts flirting with her, Loann is willing to do whatever it takes to feel special even if that means betraying her sister. But as Loann slips inside Claire's world, she discovers that everything is not as it seems. Claire's quest for perfection is all-consuming, and comes at a dangerous price. And Loann is frightened she could lose the sister she's always idolized.

Loosely based on a true story, this is an inspiring and unflinching account of a brave boy's struggle to recover from abuse. Josh is sexually abused in an institution where he goes after his grandmother falsely accuses his father of abusing him. Told from the boy's perspective as a 16 year old looking back, this is a very personal story of triumph over the odds and also a confronting look at some of society's systems and institutions.

As the daughter of the wildly successful inspirational singer-author Skye - who died in a plane crash when Marnie was young - Marnie Skyedottir stands to inherit great wealth. But until she is old enough, she must survive a dreary life in private boarding school. She endures by escaping into an online role-playing game as much as possible, and steering well clear of the other girls. So when Marnie is kidnapped by someone who also claims to be Skye's daughter, she is terrified.

A powerful YA debut, told with astonishing insight and wit, about the depths and boundaries of true friendship and obsessive teenage love - perfect for fans of Sarah Dessen, E. Lockhart, and Sara Zarr. When Betts meets Aiden at the candy store where she works, their connection is like a sugar rush to the heart. Betts already knows the two of them are infinite. Inevitable. Destined to become an us. Betts has only ever kept one secret from her best friend, Jo, but suddenly there’s a long list of things she won’t tell her, things Jo wouldn’t understand.

Trained and traumatised by a secret assassin program for minors, Isabel Ryans wants nothing more than a new life as a normal civilian. And she might just be in with a shot when she befriends Emma Westray, because for the first time in her life things are looking up. But when Isabel blows her cover by impulsively murdering a burglar, she draws the attention of the guilds—the two organisations who control the city of Espera. An unaffiliated killer like Isabel is either a potential asset...or a threat to be eliminated.

Running away from home hasn’t solved Iphigenia Murphy’s problems. In fact, it’s only a matter of time before they’ll catch up with her. Iffy is desperate to find her long-lost mother, and, so far, in spite of the need to forage for food and shelter and fend off an unending number of creeps, living in Queens’ Forest Park has felt safer than living at home. But as the summer days get shorter, it all threatens to fall apart.

Johanna is steadfast, patient, reliable; the go-to girl, the one everyone can count on. But always being there for others can’t give Johanna everything she needs - it can’t give her Reeve Hartt. Reeve is fierce, beautiful, wounded, elusive; a flame that draws Johanna’s fluttering moth. Johanna is determined to get her, against all advice, and to help her, against all reason. But love isn’t always reasonable, right? In the precarious place where attraction and need collide, a teenager experiences the dark side of a first love, and struggles to find her way into a new light.

It's Newfoundland, 1986. Fourteen-year-old Bun O'Keefe has lived a solitary life in an unsafe, unsanitary house. Her mother is a compulsive hoarder, and Bun has had little contact with the outside world. When Bun's mother tells Bun to leave one day, she does. Hitchhiking out of town, Bun ends up on the streets of St. John's, Newfoundland. Fortunately, the first person she meets is Busker Boy, a street musician who senses her naivety and takes her in. Together they live in a house with an eclectic cast of characters.

For the past eight years, 16-year-old Emilia DeJesus has done her best to move on from the traumatic attack she suffered in the woods behind her elementary school. She's forced down the memories. Most of all, she's tried to forget about Jeremy Lance, the boy responsible, the boy who caused her such pain. Emilia believes that the crows who watched over her that day, who helped her survive, are still on her side, encouraging her to live fully. And with the love and support of her mother, brother, and her caring boyfriend, Emilia is doing just that.

Here is a gripping, chilling, beautifully observed tale of what a teenage girl will do to keep her friends, by one of Australia's finest writers. Growing up during the 1980s in the safe complacency of the Australian suburbs, Plum Coyle should be happy. But on the cusp of her 14th birthday - and on the fringe of her peer group - she lives in terror of the disapproval of her cruel and fickle girlfriends and, most of all, she hates her awkward, changing body with a passion.

Katina King is the reigning teen jiujitsu champion of Northern California, but she's having trouble fighting off the secrets in her past. Robin Thornton was adopted from an orphanage in Kolkata, India, and is reluctant to take on his future. Since he knows nothing about his past, how is he supposed to figure out what comes next? Robin and Kat meet in the most unlikely of places - a summer service trip to India to work with survivors of human trafficking. As bonds blossom between the travel mates, Robin and Kat discover the healing superpowers of friendship.

One step out of line and Becky Vilhauser, first most popular girl in school, will make her life a living hell. So when former loner Logan McDonough shows up one September hotter, smarter, and more mysterious than ever, Anika knows she can't get involved. It would be insane to throw away her social safety for a nerd. So what if that nerd is now a black-leather-jacket-wearing dreamboat, and his loner status is clearly the result of his troubled home life?

Bettina Vasilis can hardly believe it when basketball star Brady Cullen asks her out, and she just about faints when her strict father actually approves of him. Over the course of the summer, Bettina falls in love with Brady - and with the new freedom that comes along with him. But when school starts up again, Brady changes. What happened to the sweet boy she fell in love with? Then she meets a smoldering guy in his twenties, and this "Cowboy" is everything Brady is not.

It's 1995 in Upstate New York, and Nicole Doherty is days away from her college graduation—that is, if she graduates—ready to move into her own apartment and start a new job in a prestigious accounting firm when an unseen assailant attacks her, only steps away from the safety of her dorm, changing her forever. Nicole is desperate to move on, vowing never to tell anyone what happened to her, but her past continues to follow her and pull her back.

Some chains are meant to be broken...When Elise makes a fateful decision, her world is changed forever. Now she and her friends find themselves trapped with a deadly secret and they're running out of time. The clock is ticking. The palace is on the brink of a royal wedding and courtiers have journeyed from every corner of the realm. Torn between a life of servitude and the threat of capture, the friends are faced with a sudden decision, and once they make it, there will be no turning back. Will they stay in the palace or make a desperate bid for freedom?

Genius girl, Bounce, and her two drifter sidekicks, Wiggins and Orange, are holding the Frog hostage. As the stakes grow higher and the guilt and tension mount, Wiggins begins to question his complicity and must choose where his loyalties lie. Not for the faint of heart, Adam Rapp’s mesmerizing narrative told in alternating viewpoints ventures deep into disturbing territory. A powerful, unforgettable story.

In a riveting debut novel, John Halliday takes an unflinching look at the way even tiny events can echo through lives, with both tragic and uplifting consequences. Loners Macy and Danny are each following paths that will lead them to an explosive and unforgettable encounter. And at the intersection of those paths is beautiful Leah, the girl Danny has loved since the first time he saw her.

Sofía es una niña muy distinta a las demás. Odia enfrentarse todos los días al ejército de monjas bigotonas y regañonas que tiene como profesoras. Además, siente que su madre la subestima: «Si repruebas de año, te rapo y te meto de criada». ¿Por qué sus compañeras parecen tan contentas? ¿Sus madres no las atosigan con el mismo sermón? Sofía odia el mundo real, sobre todo el de los adultos, por ello a veces recurre a unos polvos mágicos que le sirven para hacerse invisible y aislarse en un mundo sin enojos ni reclamos.

Bridge and Wil have been entangled in each other's lives for years. Under the white-hot Florida sun, they went from kids daring each other to swim past the breakers to teenagers stealing kisses between classes. But when Bridge betrayed Wil during their junior year, she shattered his heart and their relationship along with it. When Wil's family suffers a violent loss, Bridge rushes back to Wil's side. As they struggle to heal old wounds and start falling for each other all over again, Bridge and Wil discover just how much has changed in the past year.