coming of age

  • The Choices We Make by Barbara C. Doyle

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    We were the initials engraved in the bark of the town willow tree, with the expectation of forever whispering away to the fading tune of an old lullaby, and nothing but broken promises haunting our memories.

    Six years have passed since Sebastian “Bash” Everly left behind high school sweetheart Opal Anderson to pursue his love of music. With his now world famous rock band, Relentless, on break from their continental tour, he returns home to small town USA hoping to win back the girl he left behind.

    But nothing is the same in Clinton, New York. Old ghosts begin taunting the ex-lovers until their deepest secrets threaten to unravel their very fragile existence, leaving a trail of truth and lies in their wake.

    While Bash hopes to rekindle what he’d regrettably left behind so many years ago, Opal holds onto the choices they’ve made in the past, letting them determine the fate of their future.

    … if they even have one anymore.

  • I Promise by Tonya Coffey

    0 out of 5

    My daddy warned me to not walk down Cider Avenue after school. I thought the threat on my life was nonsense, just like the other times before… But when arms engulfed me, tugging me into a van, on that very street, I wished I had listened.

    My only hope is in the motorcycle club, Night Hawks. I couldn’t deny, the son of the club’s president had swept me off my feet. I was drawn to the boy with rugged looks and a heart of gold.

    As my world collapses into chaos, will he pull me from the clutches of my enemies or will our families be drawn into a war of blood, guns and broken promises?

  • The Complete X-Ray Rider: Mileposts on the Road to Childhood’s End by Wayne Kyle Spitzer

    0 out of 5

    Jonesing for a drive-in theater and a hotrod El Camino?

    It’s the dawn of the 1970s and everything is changing. The war in Vietnam is winding down. So is the Apollo Space Program. The tiny northwestern city of Spokane is about to host a World’s Fair. But the Watergate Hearings and the re-entry of Skylab and the eruption of Mount Saint Helens are coming…as are killer bees and Ronald Reagan.

    Enter ‘The Kid,’ a panic-prone, hyper-imaginative boy whose life changes drastically when his father brings home an astronaut-white El Camino. As the car’s deep-seated rumbling becomes a catalyst for the Kid’s curiosity, his ailing, over-protective mother finds herself fending off questions she doesn’t want to answer. But her attempt to redirect him on his birthday only arms him with the tool he needs to penetrate deeper—a pair of novelty X-Ray Specs—and as the Camino muscles them through a decade of economic and cultural turmoil, the Kid comes to believe he can see through metal, clothing, skin—to the center of the universe itself, where he imagines something monstrous growing, spreading, reaching across time and space to threaten his very world.

    Using the iconography of 20th century trash Americana—drive-in monster movies, cancelled TV shows, vintage comic books—Spitzer has written an unconventional memoir which recalls J.M. Coetzee’s Boyhood and Youth. More than a literal character, ‘The Kid’ is both the child and the adult. By eschewing the technique of traditional autobiography, Spitzer creates a spherical narrative in which the past lives on in an eternal present while retrospection penetrates the edges. X-Ray Rider is not so much a memoir as it is a retro prequel to a postmodern life—a cinematized “reboot” of what Stephen King calls the “fogged out landscape” of youth.

    Want to go for a ride?

  • All the Little Things by B. Hollidae

    0 out of 5

    After being homeless for three years, nineteen-year-old Rafael Ortiz takes up his sister’s offer to live with her in Atlanta and Akilah, his new hot mouthed classmate with an answer to everything, inserts herself into his life despite his protests.

    He’s suspicious of her first. No one has ever cared about him unless he could give them something in return. Then terrified. He may be seven-hundred miles away from Miami, but it’ll never be far enough from the stepdad that raped him and left him with two ways out as a kid. Running or killing himself. Some days, Rafael still thinks it might be easier to do the latter. For her own sake, he should keep Akilah at a distance.

    Rafael falls for her anyway.

    Then his stepdad shows up in Atlanta and the man still wants to have sex with him and sabotage everything good Rafael has going for him.

    He could run again—but that would mean breaking Akilah’s heart and leaving his future with her behind. Killing himself still means more or less the same thing. But at least then Akilah could move on with her life.

    His last option—one he never considered—is to reveal what his stepdad did to him. Otherwise his stepdad will sabotage his relationship with Akilah and the future Rafael thought was just in his grasp. He might just kill himself anyway if that happens.

  • A Thin Line Between Love and Lust by C E Long

    0 out of 5

    Dominique- Louisiana’s most devastating natural disaster tore Dominique from her loved ones. She moved to California to escape the memories and forget the pain. With top-notch looks and a keen business sense, she has all the tools to get what she wants out of life. But the loss she suffered might have crippled her from seeking the one thing she needs most, love.
    Angela- A single mother of two young boys, Angela’s overwhelmed with responsibilities. After divorcing a husband who chose the streets over his family, she’s ready to experience life in new ways. When she meets Prince, she sees the opportunity to test her fresh independence. When emotions get involved, will she settle for the fling and move on, independence intact, or allow herself to depend on others for once.
    Nyla- Young and strong, yet tender of heart, Nyla jumped into adulthood with both feet. She’s driven by passion and courage, while still hindered by innocence and fear. All men have an agenda. They want the same thing. She quit them all until she met Prince. She didn’t know what he had going on. Something so uncommon can’t be safe. Can she see herself diving into something so bizarre, or has her experiences already left her too jaded to explore the unknown?
    Prince- All his life girls thought his friendship was too valuable to risk losing by having sex with him. Tired of being stuck in the friend zone, he thought leaving Mr. Nice Guy behind would be the answer to all his problems. But after meeting Dominique… and Angela… and Nyla, his idea of who he’s supposed to be changes. What he comes to find will challenge our expectations, question the rules of love, and redefine the cliché of Happily Ever After…

  • In Short – A Four Story Collection by Siddhesh

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    ‘In Short’ is a compilation of four stories in forms of short stories and novelettes including the titles, ‘The Dream Chant’, ‘Anabia’, ‘Vicious Bottles’, and ‘Unearth’. The stories endeavour to explore themes like surrealism, psychology, love, science, religion, politics etc and tries to paint a perspective through each with tales of love, friendship, heartbreak, betrayal, power, lust and war.

  • Asher by JO Raven

    0 out of 5

    Almost three years ago, a car crash took Audrey’s dad and scarred her for life. Now eighteen, she returns to her hometown for the first time after the accident.

    She’s here to start again. Go to college and have fun. Make new friends. Get over the past.

    But the past won’t let go.

    Asher is here—her first kiss, her first heartbreak. More handsome and distant than ever, he’s still the boy who used to be her best friend. That was before he changed into someone she hardly knows anymore—the boy who started getting into fights and gave her the cold shoulder for years.