Showing results by narrator "Mela Lee" in All Categories

A sharp-witted and deeply insightful look into the storied world of elite prep schools from the first African American legacy student to graduate from the Taft School. In Admissions, Kendra looks back at the three years she spent at Taft, chronicling clashes with her lily-White roommate, how she had to unlearn the respectability politics she'd been raised with, and the fallout from a horrifying article in the student newspaper that accused Black and Latinx students of being responsible for segregation of campus.

Powerful marketing executive Kemi Adeyemi has finally found the man she needs, but Tobias Wikström thinks she’s the most selfish woman he has ever met for asking him to give up his life in Sweden and move to the US for her own comfort. Will Kemi be forced to stay if she wants to keep him while chipping away at her hard-earned career? As things begin to sour and challenge her relationship with Tobias, someone else moves back into the picture.

This year’s selection of science fiction and fantasy stories, chosen by series editor John Joseph Adams and bestselling author of the Divergent series Veronica Roth, showcases a crop of authors that are willing to experiment and tantalize readers with new takes on classic themes and by exchanging the ordinary for the avant-garde. Folktales and lore come alive, the dead rise, the depths of space are traversed, and magic threads itself through singular moments of love and loss, illuminating the circulatory nature of life, death, the in-between, and the hereafter.

For Renee “Nay” Favreau, food is life. She’s the owner of a Los Angeles taco truck who dreams of becoming a respected chef and expanding her fleet, and whose greatest enemy is an unhappy food critic. Always hunting for her next great dish, the search eventually leads her to a near-fatal encounter with an interdimensional spider. Awaking in a strange world where words appear before her eyes, a talking tentacle befriends her, and people are trying to kill her, Nay learns she has the ability to become an Epicurist.

When Dwayne and Alice Odom are killed, the police report states clearly that it was a drug overdose. So why is their daughter, who was there when they died, claiming that's not the truth? Betsy Odom doesn't trust the police but when she finds herself in their custody after her parents' death, she knows she has to be careful. Her uncle wants to adopt her and as he is a very rich and powerful man, she wants to let him. His criminal connections, however, mean the police aren't so sure.

In 2004, Rosemarie, Ada, Caroline, and Kasey are in their final days of high school and on the precipice of all the things teenagers look forward to when anything in life seems possible . . . from falling in love, to finding their dream jobs, to becoming who they were meant to be. In 2019, Kasey has returned to her small Southern hometown of Goldie for the first time since high school—and she still hasn’t told even her closest friends the truth of what really happened that summer after graduation, or what made her leave so abruptly without looking back.

When Dwayne and Alice Odom are killed, the police report states clearly that it was a drug overdose. So why is their daughter, who was there when they died, claiming that’s not the truth? Betsy Odom doesn’t trust the police but when she finds herself in the FBI’s custody after her parents’ deaths, she knows she has to be careful. Her uncle wants to adopt her and as he is a very rich and powerful man, she wants to let him. His criminal connections, however, mean the authorities aren’t so sure.

Maggie hasn't told this story in years. More than two decades ago, she fell in love. She was 16 and far from home, waiting to give her baby up for adoption. Bryce showed Maggie how to take photographs, and he didn't judge her for the way her belly swelled under her jumper. They had the perfect first kiss. Theirs was a once-in-a-lifetime kind of love. Now, as Maggie sits by the Christmas tree in her gallery telling her story, surrounded by the photographs that made her famous - the photographs Bryce never saw - her new gallery assistant asks her a question.

Around the clock, across the country, these highly skilled and compassionate men and women sacrifice and struggle for us and our families. You have never heard their true stories. Not like this. From big-city and small-town hospitals. From behind the scenes. From the heart. This book will make you laugh, make you cry, make you understand.

Eighteen-year-old Ruadora Dammacus now possesses the Immortal Blade. But when Rua discovers the Northern King’s uncle is alive and has cast a spell on a blue witch army, she realizes that the battle is just beginning. Venturing into the Northern Court, Rua finds herself with an ally in the new King. Her problems are mounting, and the handsome King is only one of them. With the eyes of her newfound family on her, can Rua prove herself worthy of the Immortal Blade, or will its magic be too powerful? Danger, intrigue, and passion ensue as Rua battles to break the witches’ curse.

In the fifth and final novel in the Five Crowns of Okrith romantasy series from bestselling author A.K. Mulford, a young fae warrior is hellbent on winning the Eastern Court crown. But when her fated lover—and hated nemesis—Ersan enters the trials, she struggles to balance the competition and the chance at love. The crown is calling her name, but can her head bear the weight when passion sets her heart racing?

After moving from a small country town to Seattle, Heather Baxter marries Tom, a widowed doctor with a young son and teenage daughter. A working vacation overseas seems like the perfect way to bring the new family together, but once they’re deep in the Australian outback, the jet-lagged and exhausted kids are so over their new mom. When they discover remote Dutch Island, off-limits to outside visitors, the family talks their way onto the ferry. But as soon as they set foot on the island, which is run by a tightly knit clan of locals, everything feels wrong.

If allowed, Neelo Emberspear would never leave the library. Reluctant to take the throne despite their mother’s faltering health, the neurodivergent bookworm craves escape from their arranged marriage to charming fae warrior Talhan Catullus. They know their duty can be put off no longer when their mother, the drug-addled queen, disastrously lights the castle on fire.

In recent years, condemnations of racism in America have echoed from the streets to corporate boardrooms. At the same time, politicians and commentators fiercely debate racism’s very existence. And so, our conversations about racial inequalities remain muddled. In Metaracism, pioneering scholar Tricia Rose cuts through the noise with a bracing and invaluable new account of what systemic racism actually is, how it works, and how we can fight back.

Determined to uncover who killed the Western Queen, fae warrior Briata Catullus sets out on a mission to defeat the witch hunters and safeguard her princess. But when she arrives at the Western Court, things are even worse than she feared. The icy reception from the fae is the least of her problems—they’ve heard the prophecy that Bri will seize the crown from its sovereign, and the last thing they want is for her to usurp the throne. No, the witch hunters are out for royal blood, and it will take everything Bri has to keep them at bay.

Clumsy teenager Marinette struggles through everyday school life in Paris - the highlights of her day are the moments when she sees her big crush Adrien. When Marinette finds a "Miraculous" one day, she miraculously transforms into the superhero Ladybug. Ladybug must first get her newly acquired superpowers under control, but help comes from the charismatic superhero Cat Noir. What Marinette doesn't suspect: Adrien is hiding behind Cat Noir's mask! When a nasty mega-villain with dark magic threatens Paris, Ladybug and Cat Noir must team up.

When Jordyn Jones transfers to Edgewood High, it's her opportunity to forget everything that happened at her old school. To forget what she and her friends did. To forget who she used to be. That was a different person—this is a fresh start. Now, she's someone new, someone better.

The epic history of African American women's pursuit of political power - and how it transformed America.

When Selly and Leander began their treacherous voyage to the Isles of the Gods, the captain’s daughter and the playboy prince were strangers. But amid talk of war and a deadly attack on their ship, the unthinkable happened. They fell in love. Leander’s ritual at the island temple was meant to prevent a war between the gods. Instead, it nearly cost him his life, and drew the goddess Barrica back from exile. Now, as her Messenger, Leander is imbued with her deadly magic, and only Selly’s presence can stop it from consuming him.

Romance author Sophie Lyon’s ironic secret just went viral: she’s never been in love—and it’s ruining her reputation. With a manuscript deadline looming, Sophie makes an ambitious plan to overcome her writer’s block: reunite with her exes (including her last girlfriend Carla, the one person she could have loved) to learn why she’s never fallen in love, and document it all for her millions of new online followers.