Books with category 💝 Heartwarming
Displaying books 145-192 of 614 in total

Friends for Life

2015

by Andrew Norriss

Friends for Life is a timeless and uplifting book about friendship, filled with humor and heart. When Jessica sits next to Francis on a bench during recess, he's surprised to learn that she isn't actually alive—she's a ghost. And she's surprised, too, because Francis is the first person who has been able to see her since she died.

Before long, Francis and Jessica are best friends, enjoying life more than they ever have. When they meet two more friends who can also see Jessica, the question arises: What is it that they have in common? And does it have something to do with Jessica being a ghost?

George

2015

by Alex Gino

When people look at George, they think they see a boy. But she knows she's not a boy. She knows she's a girl.

George thinks she'll have to keep this a secret forever. Then her teacher announces that their class play is going to be Charlotte's Web. George really, really, REALLY wants to play Charlotte. But the teacher says she can't even try out for the part . . . because she's a boy.

With the help of her best friend, Kelly, George comes up with a plan. Not just so she can be Charlotte -- but so everyone can know who she is, once and for all.

The Lost Boy

2015

by Dave Pelzer

Imagine a young boy who has never had a loving home. His only possessions are the old, torn clothes he carries in a paper bag. The only world he knows is one of isolation and fear. Although others had rescued this boy from his abusive alcoholic mother, his real hurt is just beginning — he has no place to call home.

This is Dave Pelzer's long-awaited sequel to A Child Called "It". In The Lost Boy, he answers questions and reveals new adventures through the compelling story of his life as an adolescent. Now considered an F-Child (Foster Child), Dave is moved in and out of five different homes. He suffers shame and experiences resentment from those who feel that all foster kids are trouble and unworthy of being loved just because they are not part of a "real" family.

Tears, laughter, devastation, and hope create the journey of this little lost boy who searches desperately for just one thing — the love of a family.

The Lightning-Struck Heart

2015

by T.J. Klune

Once upon a time, in an alleyway in the slums of the City of Lockes, a young and somewhat lonely boy named Sam Haversford turns a group of teenage douchebags into stone completely by accident. Of course, this catches the attention of a higher power, and Sam's pulled from the only world he knows to become an apprentice to the King's Wizard, Morgan of Shadows.

When Sam is fourteen, he enters the Dark Woods and returns with Gary, the hornless gay unicorn, and a half-giant named Tiggy, earning the moniker Sam of Wilds. At fifteen, Sam learns what love truly is when a new knight arrives at the castle: Sir Ryan Foxheart, the dreamiest dream to have ever been dreamed.

Naturally, it all goes to hell through the years when Ryan dates the reprehensible Prince Justin, Sam can't control his magic, a sexually aggressive dragon kidnaps the prince, and the King sends them on an epic quest to save Ryan's boyfriend, all while Sam falls more in love with someone he can never have. Or so he thinks.

The Enchanted Barn

The Hollisters, a bright, spirited, wholesome family, are compelled to move into the country. After many efforts to secure a home, Shirley, eldest of the Hollisters, contrives a way out by renting a magnificent old stone barn at a ridiculously low price, transforming it into a house.

The owner of the barn is not an ordinary landlord, as you will see, for he is a young man with fine ideals. He is not content with simply establishing Shirley and her family in the quaintly beautiful old place, but makes the world a much happier place to live in for all of them.

With four younger siblings to support as well as her invalid mother, since her father died unexpectedly the previous year, Shirley was really up against it. Her tiny secretary's salary could only afford rent for a house that was too small and located in an area with excessive heat, traffic, and pollution. To compound the problems, she had been served notice that the family must move in a few weeks.

This is why a large stone barn outside the city, in a spacious natural setting with cool, fresh air seemed so inviting. The barn's owner, Sidney, was also up against it in trying to get the barn not only in a habitable, but also in a truly homelike and comfortable state without appearing to be offering charity nor compelling an increase in rent.

Shirley completely refused charity of any kind, but was so completely conscientious and loyal in her work, at times jeopardizing her own safety and even risking her life, that abundant help came her way in many forms, leading eventually to property ownership that guaranteed lifetime security for her family.

Along the way she taught Sidney the meaning of inner wealth, which is what he really wanted rather than the haughty, condescending, shallow, superficial, undeserving hypocrisy of some of his rich acquaintances. His curiosity about how someone could really live in a barn came to be richly rewarded. Shirley found that her daring bravery in attempting actual life in a barn was also richly rewarded. As she and Sidney discovered what real wealth was, it wasn't only the barn that was enchanted.

The Little Paris Bookshop

2015

by Nina George

Monsieur Perdu calls himself a literary apothecary. From his floating bookstore in a barge on the Seine, he prescribes novels for the hardships of life. Using his intuitive feel for the exact book a reader needs, Perdu mends broken hearts and souls. The only person he can't seem to heal through literature is himself; he's still haunted by heartbreak after his great love disappeared. She left him with only a letter, which he has never opened.

After Perdu is finally tempted to read the letter, he hauls anchor and departs on a mission to the south of France, hoping to make peace with his loss and discover the end of the story. Joined by a bestselling but blocked author and a lovelorn Italian chef, Perdu travels along the country’s rivers, dispensing his wisdom and his books, showing that the literary world can take the human soul on a journey to heal itself.

Internationally bestselling and filled with warmth and adventure, The Little Paris Bookshop is a love letter to books, meant for anyone who believes in the power of stories to shape people's lives.

Extraordinary Means

2015

by Robyn Schneider

Extraordinary Means is a heart-wrenching yet ultimately hopeful story about the miracles of first love and second chances.

When Lane is sent to Latham House, a boarding school for sick teens, he thinks his life may as well be over. But when he meets Sadie and her friends—a group of eccentric troublemakers—he realizes that maybe getting sick is just the beginning.

This darkly funny novel explores how illness doesn't have to define you and that falling in love can be its own cure.

Join Lane and Sadie on their journey through an insular world with paradoxical rules, med sensors, and true friendships that defy all odds.

Our Souls at Night

2015

by Kent Haruf

Our Souls at Night is a spare yet eloquent, bittersweet yet inspiring story of a man and a woman who, in advanced age, come together to wrestle with the events of their lives and their hopes for the imminent future.

In the familiar setting of Holt, Colorado, home to all of Kent Haruf's inimitable fiction, Addie Moore pays an unexpected visit to a neighbor, Louis Waters. Her husband died years ago, as did his wife, and in such a small town they naturally have known of each other for decades; in fact, Addie was quite fond of Louis's wife.

His daughter lives hours away in Colorado Springs, her son even farther away in Grand Junction, and Addie and Louis have long been living alone in houses now empty of family, the nights so terribly lonely, especially with no one to talk with.

Their brave adventures—their pleasures and their difficulties—are hugely involving and truly resonant, making Our Souls at Night the perfect final installment to this beloved writer's enduring contribution to American literature.

The Porcupine of Truth

2015

by Bill Konigsberg

The author of OPENLY STRAIGHT returns with an epic road trip involving family history, gay history, the girlfriend our hero can't have, the grandfather he never knew, and the Porcupine of Truth.

Carson Smith is resigned to spending his summer in Billings, Montana, helping his mom take care of his father, a dying alcoholic he doesn't really know. Then he meets Aisha Stinson, a beautiful girl who has run away from her difficult family, and Pastor John Logan, who's long held a secret regarding Carson's grandfather, who disappeared without warning or explanation thirty years before.

Together, Carson and Aisha embark on an epic road trip to find the answers that might save Carson's dad, restore his fragmented family, and discover the "Porcupine of Truth" in all of their lives.

The Lord God Made Them All

2015

by James Herriot

The Lord God Made Them All is the bestselling sequel to All Things Wise and Wonderful and the fourth volume in James Herriot's classic collections of animal stories. After serving in the RAF in World War II, Herriot gladly returns home to Yorkshire to his beloved family and multitude of patients, with many more tender, funny, sad and wise stories to share with us and warm our hearts.

Animal lovers of all ages, and fans of Herriot's original classics, won't want to miss this beautiful treasure.

The Heat

Lily St. Claire is a southern girl, born and raised, with a soft spot in her heart for Baton Rouge. But when she returns after being out of town for a few years, she finds that things have changed. Hurricane Katrina rearranged the city’s face, there are more people, the streets are meaner, and most importantly, the boy she had a crush on her entire childhood is all grown up. In a big, bad way.

Daniel Kane is the youngest police chief Baton Rouge has ever known. Standing well over two meters high, with a hard body, jet black hair that needs a cut, eyes like blue slate, and a quick mind, not much gets past him. But what could hold more sway than a handsome, young, competent chief of police? A handsome, young, competent chief of police who also happens to be a werewolf. And not just any werewolf, but an alpha.

Yet, all that power doesn’t seem to mean a damn thing when it comes to claiming the one thing he wants more than anything on Earth – the girl who, as far as he is concerned, was meant for him: Lily St. Claire. Not only is Lily head-strong, independent, and more than a little capable of slipping through his tightly gripped fingers, it turns out, Daniel’s not the only one who’s ready to claim her as his mate. And as bad luck would have it for Chief Kane, his competition is also an alpha werewolf. And a notorious cold-blooded killer.

Aflame

Everyone wants to be me. Maybe it’s the sway of my skirt or the way I flip my hair, but I don’t care. Even though their attention is the last thing I crave, I just can’t stop. I dominate the track, the speed rattles my bones, and the wind and the crowd screams my name.

I’m her. The girl driver. The queen of the race. And I’m surviving—something he thought I’d never do. They all talk about him. Did you see Jared Trent on T.V? What did you think of his last race, Tate? When is he coming back to town, Tate?

But I refuse to care too much. Because when Jared does come home, I won’t be here. Tatum Brandt is gone. I’m someone new.

Things We Know by Heart

2015

by Jessi Kir

In this unforgettable novel, Quinn Sullivan falls for the recipient of her boyfriend’s donated heart.

After Quinn’s boyfriend, Trent, dies in an accident their junior year, she reaches out to the recipients of his donated organs in hopes of picking up the fragments of her now-unrecognizable life. But whoever received Trent’s heart has chosen to remain silent. Quinn has always believed that the essence of a person is in the heart. If she finds Trent’s, then in a way, she will still have a piece of him.

Risking everything to get closure once and for all, Quinn goes outside the system to track down nineteen-year-old Colton Thomas, whose life has been forever changed by this priceless gift. What starts as an accidental run-in quickly develops into something more, sparking an undeniable attraction. She doesn’t want to give in to it—especially since he has no idea how they’re connected—but the time Quinn spends with Colton makes her feel alive again.

No matter how hard she’s falling for Colton, though, each beat of his heart reminds her of all she’s lost and all that remains at stake.

This unique and emotional story about an unexpected bond between two strangers will leave no heart untouched.

One Plus One

2015

by Jojo Moyes

One single mom. One chaotic family. One quirky stranger. One irresistible love story from the New York Times bestselling author of The Giver of Stars.

Suppose your life sucks. A lot. Your husband has done a vanishing act, your teenage stepson is being bullied, and your math whiz daughter has a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that you can’t afford to pay for. That’s Jess’s life in a nutshell—until an unexpected knight in shining armor offers to rescue them. Only Jess’s knight turns out to be Geeky Ed, the obnoxious tech millionaire whose vacation home she happens to clean.

But Ed has big problems of his own, and driving the dysfunctional family to the Math Olympiad feels like his first unselfish act in ages... maybe ever.

One Plus One is Jojo Moyes at her astounding best. You’ll laugh, you’ll weep, and when you flip the last page, you’ll want to start all over again.

How to Love

2015

by Katie Cotugno

Before:
Reena Montero has loved Sawyer LeGrande for as long as she can remember: as natural as breathing, as endless as time. But he's never seemed to notice that Reena even exists until one day, impossibly, he does. Reena and Sawyer fall in messy, complicated love. But then Sawyer disappears from their humid Florida town without a word, leaving a devastated—and pregnant—Reena behind.

After:
Almost three years have passed, and there's a new love in Reena's life: her daughter, Hannah. Reena's gotten used to being without Sawyer, and she's finally getting the hang of this strange, unexpected life. But just as swiftly and suddenly as he disappeared, Sawyer turns up again. Reena doesn't want anything to do with him, though she'd be lying if she said Sawyer's being back wasn't stirring something in her. After everything that's happened, can Reena really let herself love Sawyer LeGrande again?

In this breathtaking debut, Katie Cotugno weaves together the story of one couple falling in love—twice.

Confess

2015

by Colleen Hoover

Auburn Reed is determined to rebuild her shattered life and she has no room for mistakes. But when she walks into a Dallas art studio in search of a job, she doesn’t expect to become deeply attracted to the studio’s enigmatic artist, Owen Gentry.

For once, Auburn takes a chance and puts her heart in control, only to discover that Owen is hiding a huge secret. The magnitude of his past threatens to destroy everything Auburn loves most, and the only way to get her life back on track is to cut Owen out of it—but can she do it?

Fighting Silence

2015

by Aly Martinez

Sound is an abstract concept for most people. We spend our lives blocking out the static in order to focus on what we believe is important. But what if, when the clarity fades into silence, it's the obscure background noise that you would give anything to hold on to?

I've always been a fighter. With parents who barely managed to stay out of jail and two little brothers who narrowly avoided foster care, I became skilled at dodging the punches life threw at me. Growing up, I didn’t have anything I could call my own, but from the moment I met Eliza Reynolds, she was always mine. I became utterly addicted to her and the escape from reality we provided each other. Throughout the years, she had boyfriends and I had girlfriends, but there wasn't a single night that I didn’t hear her voice.

Meeting the love of my life at age thirteen was never part of my plan. However, neither was gradually going deaf at the age of twenty-one. They both happened anyway. Now, I'm on the ropes during the toughest battles of my life. Fighting for my career. Fighting the impending silence. Fighting for her.

Every night, just before falling asleep, she sighs as a final conscious breath leaves her. I think that's the sound I'll miss the most.

A Spool of Blue Thread

2015

by Anne Tyler

From the beloved Pulitzer Prize-winning author--now in the fiftieth year of her remarkable career--a brilliantly observed, joyful and wrenching, funny and true new novel that reveals, as only she can, the very nature of a family's life.

"It was a beautiful, breezy, yellow-and-green afternoon." This is the way Abby Whitshank always begins the story of how she fell in love with Red that day in July 1959. The whole family--their two daughters and two sons, their grandchildren, even their faithful old dog--is on the porch, listening contentedly as Abby tells the tale they have heard so many times before. And yet this gathering is different too: Abby and Red are growing older, and decisions must be made about how best to look after them, and the fate of the house so lovingly built by Red's father.

Brimming with the luminous insight, humor, and compassion that are Anne Tyler's hallmarks, this capacious novel takes us across three generations of the Whitshanks, their shared stories and long-held secrets, all the unguarded and richly lived moments that combine to define who and what they are as a family.

Smoke

2015

by Ellen Hopkins

Pattyn’s father is dead. Now she’s on the run in this riveting companion to the New York Times bestseller Burned. Pattyn Von Stratten’s father is dead, and Pattyn is on the run. After far too many years of abuse at the hands of her father, and after the tragic loss of her beloved Ethan and their unborn child, Pattyn is desperate for peace.

Only her sister Jackie knows what happened that fatal night, but she is stuck at home with their mother, who clings to normalcy by allowing the truth to be covered up by their domineering community leaders. Her father might be finally gone, but without Pattyn, Jackie is desperately isolated.

Alone and in disguise, Pattyn starts a new life as a migrant worker on a California ranch. But is it even possible to rebuild a life when everything you’ve known has burned to ash and lies seem far safer than the truth?

Bestselling author Ellen Hopkins continues the riveting story of Pattyn Von Stratten she began in Burned to explore what it takes to rise from the ashes, put ghosts to rest, and step into a future.

First Love

First Love is an extraordinary portrait of true love that will move anyone who has a first love story of their own. Axi Moore is a "good girl": She studies hard, stays out of the spotlight, and doesn't tell anyone how all she really wants is to run away from it all. The only person she can tell is her best friend, Robinson—who she also happens to be madly in love with.

When Axi spontaneously invites Robinson to come with her on an impulsive cross-country road trip, she breaks the rules for the first time in her life. But the adventure quickly turns from carefree to out of control after the teens find themselves on the run from the police. And when Robinson suddenly collapses, Axi has to face the truth that this trip might be his last.

A remarkably moving tale very personal to James Patterson's own past, First Love is a testament to the power of first love—and how it can change the rest of your life.

Abuse

2015

by Nikki Sex

Bonjour, my name is André Chevalier. It has been my joy and my great honor to help those who have lost their way.

Not long after I began my journey, I met two such wounded souls. Renata Koreman, my little mouse. She came to me as a child—shy, mute, injured… broken. It took oh-so many years to start to bring her back to herself! Yet, I could not fully heal her.

Years later, Grant Wilkinson, he too fell into my hands. The ex-Army Ranger was badly disfigured and saw himself as a monster. Isolated by secrets, solitary and self-contained, his colleagues affectionately named him ‘Frosty.’ Yet, how should one behave when besieged by a lifetime of confusion and guilt?

The moment I saw him, I thought of her and I wondered. The eyes, they cannot always see clearly. And the heart? Ah, the heart can only guess at the truth. So it was that I remained uncertain.

Could the mouse and the monster heal each other?

Pay It Forward

Pay It Forward is a wondrous and moving novel about Trevor McKinney, a twelve-year-old boy in a small California town who accepts a challenge from his teacher. This challenge offers a chance to earn extra credit by coming up with a plan to change the world for the better—and to put that plan into action.

The idea that Trevor comes up with is so simple and so naive that when others learn of it, they are dismissive. Even Trevor himself begins to doubt when his "pay it forward" plan seems to founder on a combination of bad luck and the worst of human nature.

In the end, Pay It Forward is the story of seemingly ordinary people made extraordinary by the simple faith of a child. It is a story of hope for today and for many tomorrows to come.

After We Collided

2014

by Anna Todd

Tessa has everything to lose. Hardin has nothing to lose… except her.

After a tumultuous beginning to their relationship, Tessa and Hardin were on the path to making things work. Tessa knew Hardin could be cruel, but when a bombshell revelation is dropped about the origins of their relationship—and Hardin’s mysterious past—Tessa is beside herself.

Hardin will always be… Hardin. But is he really the deep, thoughtful guy Tessa fell madly in love with despite his angry exterior—or has he been a stranger all along? She wishes she could walk away. It’s just not that easy. Not with the memory of passionate nights spent in his arms. His electric touch. His hungry kisses.

Still, Tessa’s not sure she can endure one more broken promise. She put so much on hold for Hardin—school, friends, her mom, a relationship with a guy who really loved her, and now possibly even a promising new career. She needs to move forward with her life.

Hardin knows he made a mistake, possibly the biggest one of his life. He’s not going down without a fight. But can he change? Will he change for love?

Second Chance Boyfriend

2014

by Monica Murphy

Lost. That one single word best describes my life at this very moment. I lost the last games of the season and both my team and my coach blame me. I lost the last two months because I drowned in my own despair like a complete loser. And I lost the only girl who ever mattered because I was afraid being with me would destroy her.

But now I realize how truly lost I am without her. She has become my story…and even though she acts like she’s moved on, I know she still thinks about me just as much as I think about her. She’s beautiful, sweet—and so damn vulnerable, all I want to do is help her. Be there for her. Love her…

If only I could convince Fable to give me a second chance. Then I wouldn’t feel so lost anymore, and neither would she. We could be found together. Forever.

A Christmas Memory

2014

by Truman Capote

A Christmas Memory is a heartwarming short story by Truman Capote, first published in 1956. This autobiographical recollection of Capote's rural Alabama boyhood has become a modern-day classic.

Seven-year-old Buddy knows that the Christmas season has arrived when his cousin, Miss Sook Falk, exclaims: "It's fruitcake weather!" Thus begins an unforgettable portrait of an odd but enduring friendship between two innocent souls—one young and one old—and the memories they share of beloved holiday rituals.

This reminiscence of a Christmas shared by a seven-year-old boy and a sixtyish childlike woman is filled with enormous love and friendship, capturing the essence of holiday spirit and nostalgia.

Finding Parker

2014

by Scott Hildreth

We have all heard it before. From a mother, father, friend, or maybe a complete stranger. "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is." But what if it wasn’t? Parker Bale finds himself in this exact predicament.

A gentleman with a very unique past, Parker completed college and is on the hunt for a job. Almost immediately, he is offered the career of a lifetime. His new assignment? Find a woman to love. His boss? Kenton Ward - a self-made millionaire with a strange desire to witness a love he never had an opportunity to experience.

One small catch... Parker must sign a contract with Kenton, binding him to conditions of the search for a woman. Eagerly, he signs the document without reading the legal language.

Victoria Fisker doesn’t trust people, has no faith in the male species, and lives a quiet life keeping to herself and caring for her narcotic-addicted mother. Can they look beyond their sordid pasts? Can Parker fall in love under the scrutiny of an employment contract? Can Victoria learn to trust?

The love depicted in Finding Parker is not simply read, it is experienced. After reading this novel, you will without a doubt view love differently…and question the life you have been living.

“I wanted to resist, allowing the night to go on forever. As we walked along the beach, I pressed my feet into the sand firmly, leaving an impression deep enough to last a lifetime. And I did not look back...”

My True Love Gave to Me: Twelve Holiday Stories

If you love holiday stories, holiday movies, made-for-TV holiday specials, holiday episodes of your favorite sitcoms and, especially, if you love holiday anthologies, you’re going to fall in love with My True Love Gave To Me: Twelve Holiday Stories by twelve bestselling young adult writers, edited by international bestselling author Stephanie Perkins.

Whether you enjoy celebrating Christmas or Hanukkah, Winter Solstice or New Year's, there's something here for everyone. So curl up by the fireplace and get cozy. You have twelve reasons this season to stay indoors and fall in love.

Slow Burn

Forced to represent an outlaw biker, a married attorney must come to terms with her feelings for her client while avoiding the danger he brings into her sedate life.

President of the Lost Kings MC, Rochlan "Rock" North, hasn't managed to find a woman capable of making him want to curb his wild ways—until he meets sweet, innocent, married lawyer Hope Kendall. Forced to represent the outlaw biker, Hope is rattled by her immediate attraction to Rock. Hope is a good girl in a good marriage. Rock thrills her, but she's not going to throw away everything she's built on a fling with her criminal client.

Rock respects Hope enough to leave her alone, even as he realizes he's become a little obsessed with her. When their connection endangers her life, he'll have to destroy her in order to save her. After tragedy strikes, Rock is determined to earn Hope's forgiveness and convince her that even with their staggering differences, they're meant to be together.

Liliana

Book 1 of the Liliana series

Boom! That deafening sound changed Liliana's life forever. Her mother sits dead beside her, shot to death on the streets of Chicago.

Within weeks, Liliana is sent to live with a father she doesn’t know in Colombia - a foreign land filled with challenges for Liliana. While working to pay off her father’s debt, she meets the love of her life, who frees her from her father's illusory home, only to bring her into a new world of twisted surprises, dangers, and deceit.

Whatever Life Throws at You

2014

by Julie Cross

Life loves a good curveball…

Seventeen-year-old Annie Lucas's life is completely upended the moment her dad returns to the major leagues as the new pitching coach for the Kansas City Royals. Now she's living in Missouri (too cold), attending an all-girls school (no boys), and navigating the strange world of professional sports.

But Annie has dreams of her own—most of which involve placing first at every track meet… and one starring the Royals' super-hot rookie pitcher.

But nineteen-year-old Jason Brody is completely, utterly, and totally off-limits. Besides, her dad would kill them both several times over. Not to mention Brody has something of a past, and his fan club is filled with C-cupped models, not smart-mouthed high school “brats” who can run the pants off every player on the team.

Annie has enough on her plate without taking their friendship to the next level. The last thing she should be doing is falling in love.

But baseball isn't just a game. It's life. And sometimes, it can break your heart…

Deacon

2014

by Kristen Ashley

Deacon has an ugly history, a history that broke him, leaving him a ghost of a man. Out of necessity, he left the normal world to descend into the criminal world and found he fit. So he stayed. Cold as ice and living off the grid, Deacon has no intention to connect, not with anyone.

Then he returns to some remote cabins in the Colorado Mountains and finds they have new owners. One of them is Cassidy Swallow, a young woman willing to work hard to live her quiet dream in a house by a river surrounded by aspen and pine. Suddenly, Deacon finds he’s at war. Cassidy’s pull for him to connect is strong. He fights it, but he loses, always coming back for more. But when he does, he gives her nothing.

From the first time she sees him, Cassidy knows Deacon is dead inside. She knows he’s the kind of man who could destroy a woman. But one night when Deacon’s control slips, Cassidy takes a chance. He might break her. He also might be her dream come true.

Counting by 7s

Willow Chance is a twelve-year-old genius, obsessed with nature and diagnosing medical conditions, who finds it comforting to count by 7s. It has never been easy for her to connect with anyone other than her adoptive parents, but that hasn’t kept her from leading a quietly happy life...until now.

Suddenly Willow’s world is tragically changed when her parents both die in a car crash, leaving her alone in a baffling world. The triumph of this book is that it is not a tragedy. This extraordinarily odd, but extraordinarily endearing, girl manages to push through her grief. Her journey to find a fascinatingly diverse and fully believable surrogate family is a joy and a revelation to read.

Loving Mr. Daniels

To Whom it May Concern,

It was easy to call us forbidden and harder to call us soulmates. Yet I believed we were both. Forbidden soulmates.

When I arrived in Edgewood, Wisconsin, I didn’t plan to find him. I didn't plan to stumble into Joe's bar and have Daniel's music stir up my emotions. I had no clue that his voice would make my hurts forget their own sorrow. I had no idea that my happiness would remember its own bliss.

When I started senior year at my new school, I wasn’t prepared to call him Mr. Daniels, but sometimes life happens at the wrong time for all the right reasons.

Our love story wasn’t only about the physical connection. It was about family. It was about loss. It was about being alive. It was silly. It was painful. It was mourning. It was laughter. It was ours.

And for those reasons alone, I would never apologize for Loving Mr. Daniels.

-Ashlyn Jennings

Lullabies

2014

by Lang Leav

Lullabies is a sequel to the hugely popular, best-selling Love & Misadventure. This collection continues to explore the intricacies of love and loss, set to a musical theme.

Love's poetic journey in this new, original collection begins with a Duet and travels through Interlude and Finale with an Encore popular piece from the best-selling Love & Misadventure.

Lang Leav's evocative poetry speaks to the soul of anyone who is on this journey. Her talent for translating complex emotions with astonishing simplicity has won her a cult following of devoted fans from all over the world.

Lang Leav is a poet and internationally exhibiting artist.

Sisters

Three weeks. Two sisters. One car. A True Story.

Raina can’t wait to be a big sister. But once Amara is born, things aren’t quite how she expected them to be. Amara is cute, but she’s also a cranky, grouchy baby, and mostly prefers to play by herself.

Their relationship doesn’t improve much over the years, but when a baby brother enters the picture and later, when something doesn’t seem right between their parents, they realize they must figure out how to get along. They are sisters, after all.

Raina uses her signature humor and charm in both present-day narrative and perfectly placed flashbacks to tell the story of her relationship with her sister, which unfolds during the course of a road trip from their home in San Francisco to a family reunion in Colorado.

Sweet Thing

2014

by Renee Carlino

You have to teach your heart and mind how to sing together... then you'll hear the sound of your soul.

Mia Kelly thinks she has it all figured out. She's an Ivy League graduate, a classically trained pianist, and the beloved daughter of a sensible mother and offbeat father. Yet, Mia has been stalling since graduation, torn between putting her business degree to use and exploring music, her true love.

When her father unexpectedly dies, she decides to pick up the threads of his life while she figures out her own. Uprooting herself from Ann Arbor to New York City, Mia takes over her father's cafe, a treasured neighborhood institution that plays host to undiscovered musicians and artists.

She's denied herself the thrilling and unpredictable life of a musician, but a chance encounter with Will, a sweet, gorgeous, and charming guitarist, offers her a glimpse of what could be. When Will becomes her friend and then her roommate, she does everything in her power to suppress her passions—for him, for music—but her father's legacy slowly opens her heart to the possibility of something more.

Sweet Thing explores the intensity and complexities of first love and self-discovery.

Friend-Zoned

2014

by Belle Aurora

Nikolai Leokov never thought he'd fall in love with the only girl he's ever befriended. Valentina Tomic has issues with commitment after the ultimate betrayal. When Tina decides to make broody Nik's day better, she never thought she would end up friends with the hard man.

Nik has never had a woman be so affectionate to him without expecting something in return. Nik and Tina cordially invite you to read Friend-zoned. A story of friendship, humour and love.

A Man Called Ove

2014

by Fredrik Backman

Meet Ove. He's a curmudgeon—the kind of man who points at people he dislikes as if they were burglars caught outside his bedroom window. He has staunch principles, strict routines, and a short fuse. People call him the bitter neighbor from hell, but must Ove be bitter just because he doesn't walk around with a smile plastered to his face all the time?

Behind the cranky exterior there is a story and a sadness. So when one November morning a chatty young couple with two chatty young daughters move in next door and accidentally flatten Ove's mailbox, it is the lead-in to a comical and heartwarming tale of unkempt cats, unexpected friendship, and the ancient art of backing up a U-Haul. All of which will change one cranky old man and a local residents' association to their very foundations.

More Than Forever

2014

by Jay McLean

Lucy - There is a love so fierce it cannot be measured.
A heart so strong it will never slow.
There is a promise so sure it can never lie.
He promised me that love forever. Even when it wasn't enough.

Cameron - Forever. Everlasting. Eternal.
There is no measure of time. No sounds of the ticking of a clock.
Just the rising and falling of the sun.
And our own sense of forever.
But our forever isn't always.

Light in the Shadows

How do you keep going when you feel like your life is over?

Maggie never thought she’d see Clay again. So, she attempts to put her life back together after her heart has been shattered to pieces. Moving on and moving forward, just as Clay wanted her to.

Clay never stopped thinking of Maggie. Even after ripping their lives apart and leaving her behind to get the help he so desperately needed. He is healing... slowly. But his heart still belongs to the girl who tried to save him.

When a sudden tragedy brings Maggie and Clay face to face again, nothing is the same. Yet some things never change. Can the darkness that threatened to consume them be transformed into something else and finally give them what they always wanted? And can two people who fought so hard to be together, finally find their happiness? Or will their demons and fear drive them apart for good?

The thing about love is that even when it destroys you, it has a way of mending what is broken. And in the shadows, you can still see the light.

If I Stay Collection

2014

by Gayle Forman

If I Stay Collection recounts the poignant story of Mia, a gifted cellist, who is faced with an unimaginable choice after a tragic accident claims the lives of her family. This collection delves into survivor's guilt, personal growth, and the power of love and music to heal.

Join Mia on her journey as she navigates the complexities of life, love, and loss. Will she choose to stay, or let go? This is a tale of resilience and hope that will resonate with anyone who has ever faced a crossroads in their life.

Puddle Jumping

When it comes to love, there’s no such thing as conventional.

Everyone thinks Colton Neely is special. Lilly Evans just thinks he’s fascinating. Once friends when they were younger, their bond is cut short due to her accident-prone nature, and they go their separate ways. Years later, they meet again, and Lilly learns that there is something special about the boy she once knew, but she has no idea what it all means. And she’s not sure if she’s ready to find out.

When he walks through the corridor of her school the first day of her senior year, she knows that it’s time to get to know the real Colton Neely. The more she learns, the deeper she falls. Their friendship grows into love, even as Colton does not express it in words. But one decision threatens to break down the world that Lilly has tried so hard to integrate into, and she must figure out if the relationship can survive if they are apart.

The Notebook

2014

by Nicholas Sparks

Set amid the austere beauty of the North Carolina coast, The Notebook begins with the story of Noah Calhoun, a rural Southerner recently returned from the Second World War. Noah is restoring a plantation home to its former glory, and he is haunted by images of the beautiful girl he met fourteen years earlier, a girl he loved like no other. Unable to find her, yet unwilling to forget the summer they spent together, Noah is content to live with only memories...until she unexpectedly returns to his town to see him once again.

Like a puzzle within a puzzle, the story of Noah and Allie is just the beginning. As it unfolds, their tale miraculously becomes something different, with much higher stakes. The result is a deeply moving portrait of love itself, the tender moments and the fundamental changes that affect us all. It is a story of miracles and emotions that will stay with you forever.

Under Locke

2014

by Mariana Zapata

He was my boss, my brother’s friend, a widower, an ex-felon, and a man I’d seen casually with a handful of women. But he was everything that gripped me, both the good and the bad. Worst case scenario if things turned awkward between us, I could go somewhere else. I’d gotten over epic heartbreak before, one more wouldn’t kill me.

After moving to Austin following six months of unemployment back home, Iris Taylor knows she should be glad to have landed a job so quickly... even if the business is owned by a member of the same motorcycle club her estranged father used to belong to. Except Dex Locke might just be the biggest jerk she’s ever met. He’s rude, impatient and doesn’t know how to tell time. And the last thing they ever expected was each other.

But it was either the strip club or the tattoo shop. … she should have chosen the strip club.

Hold on Tight

2014

by Abbi Glines

Six years ago, Dewayne Falco's life took a tragic turn. He lost someone he never expected to lose and, burdened with guilt, he distanced himself from others. But when the girl across the street, Sienna Roy, returns, Dewayne is reminded of all they both lost: his younger brother, Dustin.

As Dewayne encounters a miniature version of Dustin at the door, he realizes that not everything was lost. Sienna, who once loved Dustin—the boy next door, the high school basketball star, and her best friend—is back in Sea Breeze. She's grateful to have a home for her and Dustin's son but struggles to forgive the Falcos for abandoning her when she needed them the most.

Betrayal, lies, and forbidden attraction threaten to end Dewayne and Sienna's story before it even begins. Can they find the strength to overcome their pasts and embrace a future together?

Say What You Will

2014

by Cammie McGovern

John Green's The Fault in Our Stars meets Rainbow Rowell's Eleanor & Park in this beautifully written, incredibly honest, and emotionally poignant novel. Cammie McGovern's insightful young adult debut is a heartfelt and heartbreaking story about how we can all feel lost until we find someone who loves us because of our faults, not in spite of them.

Born with cerebral palsy, Amy can't walk without a walker, talk without a voice box, or even fully control her facial expressions. Plagued by obsessive-compulsive disorder, Matthew is consumed with repeated thoughts, neurotic rituals, and crippling fear. Both in desperate need of someone to help them reach out to the world, Amy and Matthew are more alike than either ever realized.

When Amy decides to hire student aides to help her in her senior year at Coral Hills High School, these two teens are thrust into each other's lives. As they begin to spend time with each other, what started as a blossoming friendship eventually grows into something neither expected.

We Need New Names

We Need New Names is an exciting literary debut that tells the unflinching and powerful story of a young girl's journey out of Zimbabwe and to America.

Darling is only ten years old, and yet she must navigate a fragile and violent world. In Zimbabwe, Darling and her friends steal guavas, try to get the baby out of young Chipo's belly, and grasp at memories of Before. Before their homes were destroyed by paramilitary policemen, before the school closed, before the fathers left for dangerous jobs abroad.

But Darling has a chance to escape: she has an aunt in America. She travels to this new land in search of America's famous abundance only to find that her options as an immigrant are perilously few.

NoViolet Bulawayo's debut calls to mind the great storytellers of displacement and arrival who have come before her, while she tells a vivid, raw story all her own.

Honor and Polygamy

2014

by Omar Farhad

Heartbreaking and timely novel by Afghan-American author follows one man’s journey from New York to the clutches of the Taliban and into an unintentional polygamist union. "He is picking up the same bags with the same clothes Lisa packed and folded a year ago. He wishes he were like his clothes, untouched by external forces."

Family man Nick Blake is living in New York City and working for the United Nations. Born and raised in the United States with broad knowledge of the Afghan culture, he is living the All-American life with his wife, Lisa, and their children. His life is turned upside down when, while on a diplomatic mission to Afghanistan, Nick is kidnapped and finds himself in the clutches of the Taliban. Omar Farhad’s debut novel Honor and Polygamy follows Nick throughout his eighteen months in Afghanistan and the devastating and unexpected turns his life takes, as he learns the true meanings of home, history and culture. After being held captive for several months, Nick is forced to marry the sixteen-year-old Shaista. Although he cannot forget his beloved wife and children back home, he finds himself falling in love with his second wife and, overwhelmed with guilt, is torn between his old life and his new one.

Honor and Polygamy is far from simply a captivating fiction story, but is also a brilliant commentary on the United States’ situation with Afghanistan. Farhad expresses his views on both the political and the cultural sides of Afghanistan. Politically, he is predicting how he feels the war will ultimately end, while culturally, he shows readers not familiar with Afghanistan that the 35-year-old war has created a population, which is uneducated, disloyal, and without identity. The United States and many other nations have continuously disrupted Afghanistan with no clear political objectives, and, in his novel, Farhad explores the consequences of these actions. The story of Nick Blake represents the reality of the Afghan culture and the results and disappointments of the political realities in Afghanistan, and shows readers just how unaware we all are of other cultures.

Written by an author who has lived both the American and Afghan ways of life, Honor and Polygamy is a harrowing, haunting and deeply moving tale for our times.

Are you sure you want to delete this?