Showing titles in Loners & Outcasts

Eighteen year-old Star Wars-obsessed aspiring comic book artist Josh McCreary has a problem: despite being accepted to the prestigious Indianapolis Art Institute, he needs almost twenty thousand dollars to pay for his tuition, and he needs it quick. But then his friend Dustin finds something that could change his fortune: at an estate sale a thousand miles away is the rarest of all Star Wars collectibles: a one-of-a-kind action figure that they could resell for six figures. All they have to do is drive to Texas to buy it before the greedy local comic shop owner Jeff Reynolds gets to it first.

Cat lives in her high school. She never leaves, and for a long time her school has provided her with everything she needs. But now things are changing. The hallways contract and expand along with the school’s breathing, and the showers in the bathroom run a bloody red. Cat’s best friend is slowly turning into cardboard, and instead of a face, Cat has a cat mask made of her own hardened flesh.

Jerusalem, 1192. The Third Crusade rages on. Rahma al-Hud loyally followed her elder sister Zeena into the war over the Holy Land, but now that the Faranji invaders have gotten reinforcements from Richard the Lionheart, all she wants to do is get herself and her sister home alive. But Zeena, a soldier of honor at heart, refuses to give up the fight while Jerusalem remains in danger of falling back into the hands of the false Queen Isabella. And so, Rahma has no choice but to take on one final mission with her sister.

Magpie Lewis started writing in her yellow notebook the day her family self-destructed. That was the night Eryn, Magpie's sister, skipped town and left her to fend for herself. That was the night of Brandon Phipp's party. Now, Magpie is called a slut whenever she walks down the hallways of her high school, her former best friend won't speak to her, and she spends her lunch period with a group of misfits who've all been socially exiled like she has. And so, feeling trapped and forgotten, Magpie retreats to her notebook, dreaming up a place called Near.

Mark. The name sends shivers down Charlie's spine. A year of relentless bullying left its mark, deep and painful. But the first day of summer throws a curveball crueler than any prank: Mark appears on Charlie's doorstep, begging for forgiveness. Can a bully truly transform? Or is this just another cruel manipulation? Charlie grapples with a decision that could change everything. Can he find the strength to forgive, or will the anger and fear fester?

Once, Catriona Macgregor led a charmed life. Daughter of a wealthy rancher, pretty and educated, she looked forward to all the world had to offer—until fate took a turn. Now family, home, and even her name have been stripped away. As “Black Cat Whitfield,” adopted daughter of an outlaw, she’s wanted by the authorities. It certainly wasn’t the destiny she imagined—especially as one of the Blessed.

Teddy needs to act fast to save Clan Ember from Link's tyranny and protect the Underground from the City's clutches. She has no choice but to trust Hunter—a stranger from outside the wall—to help her infiltrate the City Council, find her missing mother and discover the truth. But will the truth really set the Underground, and Teddy, free?

When Jenna Dallas and Adam Cole find Colleen O’Dell’s body floating off the shore of their coastal town, the community of Gardiners Bay is shaken. But even more shocking is the fact that her drowning was no accident. Once Jenna’s best friend becomes a key suspect, Jenna starts to look for answers on her own. As she uncovers scandals inside Preston Prep School leading back to Rookwood reform school, she knows she needs Adam on her side. As lies unravel, the truth starts to blur. Only one thing is certain: somebody must take the fall.

It's been more than 50 years since a tornado tore through a drive-in movie theater in tiny Mercer, Illinois, leaving dozens of teens - a whole generation of Mercerites - dead in its wake. So when another tornado touches down in the exact same spot on the anniversary of this small-town tragedy, the town is shaken. For Brenna Ortiz, Joshua Calloway, and Callie Keller, the apprehension is more than just a feeling. Though they seem to share nothing more than a struggle to belong, the teens' paths continue to intersect, bringing them together when they least expect it.

Before the massacre at Nariin, Enebish was one of the greatest warriors in the Sky King’s Imperial Army: a rare and dangerous Night Spinner, blessed with the ability to control the threads of darkness. Now, she is known as Enebish the Destroyer - a monster and murderer, banished to a monastery for losing control of her power and annihilating a merchant caravan. Guilt stricken and scarred, Enebish tries to be grateful for her sanctuary, until her adoptive sister, Imperial Army commander Ghoa, returns from the war front with a tantalizing offer.

Sofia lever tillsammans med sina syskon i det nordliga samhället Aleå. Köldgraderna utomhus är livsfarliga, men så länge det finns elektricitet så går det att överleva. Men när samhället en dag helt oväntat drabbas av strömavbrott tvingas Sofia konfrontera den fruktansvärda kyla som väntar utomhus. Och det är oklart hur omfattande strömavbrottet är. Inte minst undrar Sofia hur Elias klarar sig, och om han kommer att kunna ta sig tillbaka henne oskadd.

Some people are just weird. They don't fit in - not at school, not at home, not with other kids no matter how hard they try. In the age of dwarves and dragons, outcasts end up as slaves, thieves, or worse. For the ones lucky enough to live in the land of Iasos, there is an alternative school - a last chance for the leftovers of society to find their path before it's assigned for them.

In a series of interwoven fictionalized stories, Deborah Noyes gives voice to the marginalized women in P. T. Barnum’s family - and the talented entertainers he built his entertainment empire on. Barnum was a legendary showman, entrepreneur, marketing genius, and one of the most famous nineteenth-century personalities. For those who lived in Barnum’s shadow, however, life was complex.

It was New Year’s Eve the night that dead blackbirds descended, hours before 14-year-old Alex McCarthy's sister Olivia went missing from a party. Committed to finding out what happened to her sister within the previously safe walls of their subarctic Orkney village, Alex knows that dishevelled, sometimes intoxicated Detective Inspector Birkens is her best shot.

Cliff Hubbard is a huge loser. Literally. His nickname at Happy Valley High School is Neanderthal because he's so enormous - 6'6" and 250 pounds to be exact. Life in his trailer-park home has gone from bad to worse ever since his older brother's suicide. There's no one Cliff hates more than the nauseatingly cool quarterback Aaron Zimmerman. Then Aaron returns after a near-death experience with a bizarre claim: while he was unconscious he saw God, who gave him a list of things to do to make Happy Valley High suck less. And God said there's only one person who can help: Neanderthal.

On the run from the king who banished her and the allies who betrayed her, Enebish travels with Serik and a band of rebels to find the deposed king of Verdenet, who is their only hope of uniting the Protected Territories and bringing peace to Ashkar. Meanwhile, the Sky King’s patience with Ghoa has run its course. Enemy forces are bearing down on the Sky Palace, and when Ghoa throws all her power into a last-ditch effort to prove herself, the Sky King and her fellow warriors abandon her. Captured by enemy Zemyans, Ghoa is imprisoned and tortured by the merciless Kartok.

Leah is a child from Away, isolated from her peers because of her stutter. After her family moves to Mattingly, she begins painting scenes that are epic in scope, brilliant in detail, and suffused with rich, prophetic imagery. When the event foreshadowed in the first painting dramatically comes true, the town takes notice. Leah attributes her ability to foretell the future to an invisible friend she calls the Rainbow Man. Some of the townsfolk are enchanted with her. Others fear her. But there is one thing they all agree on—there is no such thing as the Rainbow Man.

When Megan Van Helsburg gets kicked off the USA climbing team, she has no choice but to return home and leave her climbing career behind. With no coach, no money, and no prospects, she joins the corps de ballet determined to improve her strength and agility. But the ballet theater is in dire straits. Not only do a series of murders break loose, but the ballerinas are becoming deathly thin and brain-dead. Megan must find a way to not only save her climbing career, but balance her feelings for Bellamy, and stop the murders and dying girls before she, too, is numbered among the dead.

The worst thing that ever happened to Craig is also the best: Amy. Amy and Craig never should've gotten together - Craig is an awkward Dungeons & Dragons-playing geek, and Amy is the beautiful, fiercely intelligent student-body president of their high school. Yet somehow they did - until Amy dumped him. Then got back together with him. Then dumped him again. Then got back together with him again. Over and over and over. Unfolding over their senior year, Amy and Craig's relationship is a kaleidoscope of joy, pain, and laughter as an uncertain future looms on the horizon.

The Outcasts, a ragged band of teenagers, search for a place of peace on a planet of chaos. Danger lies in every shadow, and the fragile thread that holds them together threatens to fall apart. A powerful, faceless army pursues them, as well as a special breed of creature both mysterious and lethal. Hiding in the Font of Knowledge, the Outcasts encounter new friends and old enemies. But nothing is simple or clear in this ravaged world.

Pen's life is about secrets: the secret of the city's spirits, deities and monsters, living just beyond the notice of modern Londoners; the secret of Pen's intricate scars that disfigure her so cruelly; and the most closely guarded secret of all: Parva, her mirror-sister, forged from her reflections in a school bathroom mirror.

Some days it's just easier not to go to school at all. Adam has been slacking off lately, but today he stuck around to see his girlfriend. When Josh, who has been bullied mercilessly, brings a gun to school, the building is locked down and Adam is forced to risk everything to save himself and to find Zoe before Josh does. Calling on reserves he didn't know he had, Adam could end up a hero—or a victim.

When a series of seemingly unrelated murders occur in his community, Sheriff Hyde Stinson grapples with how to protect the citizens of Telluride, Colorado. The killers take responsibility, but their motives are a mystery, and they remain on the loose. Hyde must now face the roughest group of outlaws in the area, The McCaffery Gang. Can he stop them alone, or will he need to rely on three brothers with bad reputations and questionable pasts?

I’d do anything for Bianca...except introduce her to my family. I know she wants to meet them, but I can’t predict what my dad might do. How can I tell her that? Our ugly family secret stays locked within our house, just the way Mum wants it to be. I won’t expose Bianca to it. But she’s starting to pull away from me. I can feel the wedge growing between us, and I don’t know how to stop it. Maybe she’s hiding something from me too. The light in her eyes doesn’t shine so bright these days. I wish I could figure out what is eating at her.

Between her dad’s pest-control company, her mom’s pond-cleaning service, and her side gig at Caddysnack (Santa Barbara’s premier small plates and minigolf destination), Hallie Mayhew puts the “work” in working class. But Hal has qualms about gassing gophers, she’s tired of ditching friends to skim dead fish from fountains, and she’s freaking weary of divorced-parent politics. So she has a plan: win the prestigious Verhaag Scholarship, go to an east-coast school, never come back.

Four high-school friends suffer daily humiliation at the hands of three bullies. When the friends accidentally open a portal to another dimension, they unintentionally allow terrifying, other-worldly creatures to invade their small Arkansas town. Discovering that they are now endowed with strange superpowers, the four teens dub themselves “Freaks”, the very name their tormentors used to ridicule them. The Freaks must fight to save the lives of family and friends now in mortal peril and thwart a secret government task force that appears to be hunting them.

From author SC Alban comes a tender and humorous, coming-of-age novel that follows the journey of a girl who must give up her heart in order to find love. For the past five years, 17-year-old Megan Cooper has built a wall around her heart with little room to experience true feelings. However, her entire world shifts the moment she hits Cupid with her car driving home from finals. With his shooting arm significantly injured, she has no choice but to take his place. This YA debut is a touching and heartwarming shot through the heart for all listeners - a perfect holiday listen!

Eighteen-year-old Brenna Whit is entering college as a freshman and starting to meet new people, but she hides a dark secret. Because of an accident that happened three years ago, her spirit wanders the Fade whenever she falls asleep. It's something she wants to keep hidden from the world, but when she sees someone watching her in spirit form, she fears the secret's out.

Fifteen-year-old RJ Armante has never known a life outside his dead-end hometown of Arcangel, CA. The Blackjacks rule as they have for generations, luring the poorest kids into their monopoly on petty crime. For years, they’ve left RJ alone, but now they have a job for him: Prey upon an old loner in town. In spite of the danger, RJ begins to resist.

Abby never expected life to be easy. The daughter of a father she's never met and a mother who works three jobs just to get by, she walks herself to her middle school in Chicago, fixes her own dinners, and keeps herself company. Despite all the disadvantages stacked against her, however, Abby manages to keep a smile on and even dedicates her time to helping others who have even less than her. But one July day, something happens in the city that causes a mass panic while she's out grocery shopping, and Abby's life is forever changed.

Be careful what you wish for. Sixteen-year-old Mark Chamberlain always dreamed of playing in a state championship basketball game. But he never envisioned a nightmare performance that would bring utter humiliation and scar him as an outcast at school. Classmates begin to call Mark "Wilt" Chamberlain because he melts under pressure.To top it off, Mark's father won't come to his games.

The Dreaded Summons and Other Misplaced Bills investigates seven unfortunate accounts piled together to make you laugh. The collection opens with Tina Teatree, who has a compulsion for weeding that soon digs up the root of her problem. The title story is "The Dreaded Summons", about an introvert and his friendship with a lost manatee. Other stories reveal the Breakfast Hunter, J.J. Whitweather, Shirley Short, and Fig B. Willingsbee.

Beautiful but troubled Colleen Minou is the only girl who ever looked at Ben Bancroft as more than just a spaz - more than that kid with cerebral palsy. But the more time Ben spends with Colleen, the more glaring their differences appear, which makes him wonder if what he feels for her is actual affection or if it’s just gratitude. And then there’s A.J. She’s everything that Colleen isn’t, and everything that Ben’s grandma wants for him: clean-cut and upper-class, academically driven, and just as obsessed with movies as Ben is. But what does she see when she looks at Ben? C.P.?

Willkommen in den obersten Rängen der Gesellschaft... Kurz vor ihrer Volljährigkeit stellt sich heraus, dass Malia zu den Glücklichen der Gesellschaft gehört - den Menschen, denen eine außerordentliche Gabe zuteil geworden ist. Von einem Tag auf den anderen zählt sie zur High Society des Landes: der ELITE. Aber für die verschlossene, immerzu unsichtbar bleibende Malia geht damit ein Albtraum in Erfüllung.

Layla Harrison, Aster Amirpour and Tommy Phillips always dreamed of the ultimate celebrity lifestyle. But Layla, Aster and Tommy never imagined it would come with a cost - their involvement in the disappearance of Madison Brooks, a story that's blinded the world like a starlet dazzled by paparazzi flashbulbs. Now Layla is receiving mysterious messages from an anonymous source, Aster faces a looming murder trial and Tommy is retracing his steps as the last person Madison saw alive.

When her diplomat father is kidnapped and the US government refuses to help, 17-year-old Gwendolyn Bloom sets off across the criminal underbelly of Europe to rescue him. As she journeys from the slums of Paris to the nightclubs of Berlin to the violent heart of the most feared criminal family in Prague, Gwendolyn discovers that to survive in this new world she must become every bit as cruel as the men she's hunting.