Showing results by publisher "Recorded Books" in Literature & Fiction

Will is a 17-year-old on the cusp of freedom—freedom from providing and caring for their abusive, addicted mother, freedom from their small town with an even smaller mindset, and freedom from having to hide who they truly are. When their mother dies months before their 18th birthday, Will is granted this freedom earlier than expected. They begin to dream of escaping to the big city of Baltimore, of dating the magnetic and gorgeous Julian, and of living, unencumbered and free.

Next-door neighbors and ex-best friends Hannah and Emory haven't spoken in months. Not since the fight - the one where they said things they couldn't take back. Now, Emory is fine-tuning her UCLA performing arts application and trying to make the most of the months she has left with her boyfriend, Luke, before they head off to separate colleges. Meanwhile, Hannah's strong faith is shaken when her family's financial problems come to light, and she finds herself turning to unexpected places - and people - for answers to the difficult questions she's suddenly facing.

Lora Jones has always known that she’s different. On the outside, she appears to be an ordinary sixteen-year-old girl. Yet Lora’s been keeping a heartful of secrets: She hears songs that no one else can hear, dreams vividly of smoke and flight, and lives with a mysterious voice inside her that insists she’s far more than what she seems. England, 1915. Raised in an orphanage in a rough corner of London, Lora quickly learns to hide her unique abilities and avoid attention.

It's 1915, and sixteen-year-old Lora Jones is finishing up her first year as a charity student at Iverson, a prestigious, gothic boarding school on England's southern coast. While she's always felt different from everyone around her, now she finally knows why: She is a drákon, a rare, enchanted being with astonishing magical abilities. As war hits Britain's shores, and Lora reels from an unimaginable loss, she finds that her powers come with grave and dangerous responsibilities.

After escaping Internment, Morgan and her fellow fugitives land on the ground to finally learn about the world beneath their floating island home. The ground is a strange place where water falls from the sky as snow, and people watch moving pictures and visit speakeasies. A place where families can have as many children as they want, their dead are buried in vast gardens of bodies, and Internment is the feature of an amusement park. It is also a land at war.

In Compound Eleven, the hierarchy of the floors is everything. My name is Eve Hamilton, and on my floor, we fight. Which at least is better than the bottom floor, where they toil away in misery. Only the top floor has any ease in this harsh world; they rule from their gilded offices. Because four generations ago, Earth was rendered uninhabitable—the sun too hot, the land too barren. Those who remained were forced underground. While not a perfect life down here, I’ve learned to survive as a fighter. Except my latest match is different.

War is destroying the galaxy. Esmae has vanished without a trace. A terrifying, ravenous beast is devouring the stars one by one. Titania is offered a gift that may well be a curse. Alexi, the exiled prince, is asked to pay a heavy price for his mistakes. And far, far away, on a dark, mysterious planet, a sleeping god stirs awake. As the end of the world draws ever closer, Esmae and Alexi must decide how far they’ll go to win - and who they’ll sacrifice along the way.

Dean Foster knows he’s a trans guy. He’s watched enough YouTube videos and done enough questioning to be sure. But everyone at his high school thinks he’s a lesbian - including his girlfriend, Zoe, and his theater director, who just cast him as a “nontraditional” Romeo. He wonders if maybe it would be easier to wait until college to come out. But as he plays Romeo every day in rehearsals, Dean realizes he wants everyone to see him as he really is now - not just on the stage, but everywhere in his life. Dean knows what he needs to do.

Simone Thibodeaux is about to switch things up. Check her life: It’s sealed in a boy-proof container. Her Haitian immigrant parents send Simone to an all-girls high school and enforce strict no-dating rules. As for prom? Simone is allowed to go on one condition: Her parents will select her date (a boy from a nice Haitian-immigrant family, obviously). Simone is desperate to avoid the setup - especially since she has a serious crush on another boy. It’s time to take action.

In the town of St. Hilaire, most make their living by talking to the dead. In the summer, the town gates open to tourists seeking answers while all activity is controlled by The Guild, a sinister ruling body that sees everything. Dec Hampton has lived there his entire life, but ever since his parents died, he's been done with it. He knows he has to leave before anyone has a chance to stop him.

Bina has never forgotten the time she and her mother ran away from home. Her mother promised they would hitchhike to the city to escape Bina's cruel father and start over. But before they could even leave town, Bina had a new stepfather, two new stepsisters, and a humming sense of betrayal pulling apart the bond with her mother - a bond Bina thought was unbreakable. Eight years later, after too many lies and with trouble on her heels, Bina finds herself on the side of the road again, the city of her dreams calling for her.

Olivia Mead is a headstrong, independent girl - a suffragist - in an age that prefers its girls to be docile. It’s 1900 in Oregon, and Olivia’s father, concerned that she’s headed for trouble, convinces a stage mesmerist to try to hypnotize the rebellion out of her. But the hypnotist, an intriguing young man named Henri Reverie, gives her a terrible gift instead: She’s able to see people’s true natures, manifesting as visions of darkness and goodness, while also unable to speak her true thoughts out loud.

Nova Ren Suma bursts onto the young adult scene with this tantalizing debut novel. During a drunken party - hosted by her beloved sister Ruby - 14-year-old Chloe discovers a dead body floating in the reservoir. Sent away for two years, Chloe returns to face unsettling surprises, including a disturbing truth that Ruby has been suppressing.

After losing her parents in a tragic accident, surfer girl Janie Mason trades the sunny beaches of Hawaii for the cold fog of San Francisco and new guardians - the Rochesters - she's never even met. Janie feels hopelessly out of place in their world of Napa weekends, fancy cotillions, and chauffeurs. The only person she can relate to is Daniel, a fellow surfer. Meeting him makes Janie feel like things might be looking up. Still, something isn't right in the Rochester mansion.

Everyone knows Alice slept with two guys at one party. When Healy High star quarterback Brandon Fitzsimmons dies in a car crash, it was because he was sexting with Alice. Ask anybody. Rumor has it Alice Franklin is a slut. It's written all over the "slut stall" in the girls' bathroom: "Alice had sex in exchange for math test answers" and "Alice got an abortion last semester." After Brandon dies, the rumors start to spiral out of control.

One of the most critically acclaimed books of 2001, Lord of the Deep is a vivid fishing adventure that takes place off of the great blue island of Hawaii. Since Bill married Mikey’s mom, Mikey’s life has become truly incredible. At age 13, Mikey is the youngest deckhand on the whole island, working hard on Bill’s deep-sea charter fishing boat. It’s his second week out on the boat, and he’s busy trying to prove himself to both Bill and the disrespectful charter guests. But after making a mistake at a crucial moment, Mikey begins to feel more and more alone.

Marked by Darklings and Death alike, Saskia is a mechanically minded Mundane, raised by Barton and Phae on daring stories about Roan Harken. But the world Roan left behind is in turmoil. The Darklings now hang in the sky as a threatening black moon, and with the order-maintaining Elemental Task Guard looking to get rid of all Denziens before they rebel, Saskia's only option is to go into the Brilliant Dark and bring Roan back.

A year has passed since the fall of Lightspire. The Inquisitor Miles Hampstedt has usurped the throne and rules Noveris with a blood-soaked iron fist. Tilla and her friends have become hardened rebels in the Unbroken, a band of guerrilla fighters hiding out in the fringes of the kingdom. Tilla is plagued with doubt and regret; Lyriana struggles with the burdens of being a fugitive queen; Zell atones for his guilt by killing for the cause. And even as they all fight, they know their cause is doomed, that with every passing day, Miles' power grows, his army of bloodmages spreading.

Jamal Lawson just wanted to be a part of something. As an aspiring journalist, he packs up his camera and heads to Baltimore to document a rally protesting police brutality after another Black man is murdered. But before the protest even begins, the city implements a new safety protocol: the Dome. The Dome surrounds the city, forcing those inside it to subscribe to a total militarized shutdown. No one can get in, and no one can get out. Alone in a strange place, Jamal doesn’t know where to turn….

A dance to the death. A girl who’s just as monstrous as H.H. Holmes. A hallway that’s constantly changing and hungry. All of these stories exist in the same place within the frame of a particular house that isn’t bound by the laws of time and space.