There are few things Ray loves more than going to Marigold’s Bakery and sitting down with a cup of tea and one of the bakery’s signature romance-filled treats. Ray has stopped trying to pursue romance in her own life knowing that her unique abilities as a seer can make that level of intimacy uncomfortable. Laurie works as a barista at Marigold’s while waiting for his music career to take off. He knows he has what it takes, but he isn’t sure how much longer he can wait for something to finally happen. When Ray and Laurie meet (at Marigold’s, of course) their connection is immediate. Laurie is q ..read more

Like most fifteen-year-olds, Liv isn’t thrilled to be moving to a new town with her mother in the middle of high school. Dealing with one school as a bisexual goth was bad enough. Now she has to start over at a new school? Gross. Making friends is hard but at least her classes are managable–especially thanks to attention from her English teacher. Except the more Liv talks to him the more it starts to feel like it’s too much attention. And not the right kind for a teacher to be giving to one of his students. Thank goodness for the mall. With its open spaces, greasy food court, and bright stores ..read more

“History is the story you tell about yourself.” Becoming a knight is Aiza’s only path to full citizenship as an Ornu living in the Bayt-Sajji Empire. With the country in the depths of a famine and war on the horizon, Aiza knows this could be her only opportunity to enlist in the Squire training program. She also knows that the best way to make it through training is to hide her Ornu background despite her pride in her family and their traditions. With rigorous training and rivalries, Squire training isn’t what Aiza expects. But it also offers her the stability she’s craved and a chance to bu ..read more

After a whirlwind summer and the formation of a life-changing friendship, Jamila Waheed and Shirley Bones are heading back to school while balancing basketball practice and new friends (for Jamila, anyway). It doesn’t take long before Shirley enlists Jamila’s help with another case. Shirley’s nemesis Chuck is up to his old tricks. The obnoxious eighth grader is blackmailing kids left and right. And Shirley is determined to stop him once and for all. Retrieving Chuck’s hidden blackmail materials should be easy. Except another intruder interrupts Shirley and Jamila while they’re breaking in. Is ..read more

Jamila Waheed is not excited about summer. What good is time out of school when you just moved and don’t have any friends? Especially when Jamila isn’t even allowed to go play basketball by herself. Shirley Bones might be the answer. Their moms hit it off immediately even if Jamila is slower to warm up to Shirley. But both girls need a friend–even if it’s a pretend one–if they want to walk to the park in their neighborhood which they very much do. Jamila is happy so long as she can play basketball. But then this kid comes to Shirley asking for help finding his stolen pet gecko. It turns out Sh ..read more

Egyptian American Huda Fahmy finally has school figured out after the family’s recent move to Dearborn, Michigan. But her sisters are still largely a mystery despite her mother’s constant efforts to initiate forced family bonding. Which is why a family road trip isn’t a big surprise. The shock is that Huda and her Muslim family are heading to Disney World. Even though magic is haram, Huda and her sisters are hype to visit the most magical place on earth–especially when their parents announce the trip is the perfect time for the sisters to … you guessed it … bond! Driving from Michigan to Flori ..read more

Jung-Jin Lee started going by Deborah after her family emigrated from South Korea to the United States. It’s just easier than watching every teacher struggle to pronounce her Korean name–especially now that her English has improved and she can work harder to blend in. Except high school makes that harder too when Deb gives up violin to focus on her art. Losing the structure and predictability of her orchestra schedule and her orchestra friends makes it clear how many other things are off kilter for Deb. Her mom is becoming more volatile as she swings between intensely supportive of Deb’s art a ..read more

Safia loves reading about adventures in her audiobooks but she never reads about adventurers who are blind like her. When she is sent to live with her reclusive and mysterious aunt, Lord Whimsy, Safia soon realizes she might be ready to have some adventures of her own. Aunt Whimsy used to be a renowned traveler and adventure–things she set aside after her accident. That is until Whimsy’s old rival Professor Doctor Cecilia Choi resurface with news of their greatest discovery yet–a discovery that Whimsy found years before. Whisked along while her aunt tries to best her rival one last time, Safia ..read more

“It felt like I had a second to decide, and an eternity to live with it.” Before she ever appeared on the New York Times bestseller list for her comics, Kate Beaton was Katie: A university graduate drowning in debt like a lot of the young people in Canada’s Cape Breton. She knows nowhere else will ever feel like home the way Mabou does. She knows she’ll return. But Kate also knows that if she ever wants a future without crippling debt, she has to leave because everyone in Cape Breton knows there is no work there. Which brings Kate, like so many others, to Fort McMurray–a camp in the oil sand ..read more

Bookish Gabby Jordan, athletic Priya Gupta, and trendy Mindy Kim don’t have a lot in common when they first meet at school. That is until the girls realize they all adore animals even if none of them can have a pet of their own. Desperate to get in some face time with literally any furry friends, the girls come up with a few plans. After their initial attempts don’t go as well as they’d hoped, PAWs (Pretty Awesome Walkers) is born to fill the gap in their neighborhood for afterschool dog walking. While the dogs are great, it turns out running a business can be hard–even when it’s with your bes ..read more