Showing titles in Physical & Emotional Abuse

Seventeen-year-old Deedee's life is full of family ghosts and questions she can't ask. She longs to escape her stifling home, but guilt holds her back—that, and the fact that her strict, single Filipino mom won't let her learn to drive. But one sleepless night leads Deedee down a road she never thought possible: secret driving lessons with the new boy next door, Jay, whose turbulent family life also keeps him up until sunrise.

It all starts when Matthew observes a heroic scene in a convenience store: A man named Murdoch puts himself between an abusive father and his son. Matt is determined to get to know this man. And when, amazingly, Murdoch begins dating Matt's mother, it seems as if life may become peaceful for the first time.

When everything has been taken from you, what else is there to do but run? So that’s what Annabelle does - she runs from Seattle to Washington, DC, through mountain passes and suburban landscapes, from long lonely roads to college towns. She’s not ready to think about the why yet, just the how - muscles burning, heart pumping, feet pounding the Earth. But no matter how hard she tries, she can’t outrun the tragedy from the past year, or the person - The Taker - that haunts her.

Sixteen-year-old Sarah can't draw. This is a problem, because as long as she can remember, she has "done the art." She thinks she's having an existential crisis. And she might be right; she does keep running into past and future versions of herself as she wanders the urban ruins of Philadelphia. Or maybe she's finally waking up to the tornado that is her family, the tornado that six years ago sent her once-beloved older brother flying across the country for a reason she can't quite recall.

Alvie Fitz doesn't fit in, and she doesn't care. She's spent years swallowing meds and bad advice from doctors and social workers. Adjust, adapt. Pretend to be normal. It sounds so easy. If she can make it to her 18th birthday without any major mishaps, she'll be legally emancipated. Free. But if she fails, she'll become a ward of the state and be sent back to the group home. All she wants is to be left alone to spend time with her friend, Chance, the one-winged hawk at the zoo where she works.

Have you ever longed for a bedtime story that not only soothes your soul but also transports you to a magical world of hope and healing? Welcome to Bear and Girl, a heartwarming tale set in the majestic Canadian Rockies. This is the extraordinary story of a woman with a heartbreaking past who meets a gentle, enchanted bear in a most unexpected way. As their bond deepens, they both discover the healing power of affection and the emotional strength to overcome their pasts. But the inspiration for Bear and Girl is as touching as the tale itself!

David Espinoza is tired of being messed with. When a video of him getting knocked down by a bully’s slap goes viral at the end of junior year, David vows to use the summer to bulk up - do what it takes to become a man - and wow everyone when school starts again the fall. Soon David is spending all his time and money at Iron Life, a nearby gym that’s full of bodybuilders. Frustrated with his slow progress, his life eventually becomes all about his muscle gains. As it says on the Iron Life wall, What does not kill me makes me stronger.

Shelby is completely fine. A semi-professional fighter, she’s been hit more times than she can count. Just because it’s her boyfriend that broke her nose this time, it doesn’t mean she’s damaged. If she was as traumatized as everyone thinks she is, she wouldn’t be able to move on with the new boy at school, who helps her realize everything she wants to be.

In one thread of Duey’s compelling dual story line, Sadima findsherself taking refuge in a cave rumored to have once been populated by magicians of untold power. And many years past Sadima’s time, Hahp faces daunting challenges at an academy of magic.

Six months ago, season four of the hugely popular reality TV show The Escape Game ended in horror when contestant Alicia Angelos was found murdered in the escape room on set. Now season five is underway, and new contestants are ready to put their skills to the test solving the show's trickiest escape rooms. There's Adi, the cryptographer; Carter, the math whiz influencer; Beck, the escape room enthusiast and wannabe game master, and . . . Sierra Angelos, the girl who got away with her sister's murder. Or so everyone believes. But Sierra's not just here to win. She's here for justice . . .

Heartache, betrayal, and abuse: These are Mia’s lifelong companions, inflicted upon her by parents who wish she’d never been born. The night she was kicked out of the house, Mia would have frozen to death—if not literally, then emotionally—were it not for the love of her best friend’s family. Intuition, love, and wonder: These are Sophie’s gifts, unleashed by her struggle with Cystic Fibrosis and her determination to live fully. When Mia tells Sophie about the long walk down the mountain in the snow, Sophie instinctively knows there is more to the story of Mia’s survival.

Seventeen-year-old Phoenix has spent much of her life drifting from town to town with her mom Nina, using their charms to swindle and steal to get by. Now they’ve made it to their ultimate destination, Mom’s hometown of Jasper Hollow. The plan: bring down Ellis Bowman, the man who ruined Nina’s life. When Phoenix gets caught spying on Ellis, she spins a convincing story that inadvertently gives her full access to the Bowman family.

Maya has always belonged to Alana. After four years of dating, and on the precipice of graduating high school, Maya has been too terrified to consider the idea of life outside of their volatile relationship. Until she finds the courage to break up with Alana while they’re hiking in Southern California. Then Alana goes missing. As the police get involved and the media run wild with the story, everyone seems to think that Maya is lying about Alana’s disappearance. Secretly, Maya knows they’re right: if Alana’s dead, she’s the one to blame.

Allison is in danger at home. Her stepmother has run away and her father is getting worse. So she runs away too and with no where to live finds herself hiding out, miles from home, in an elderly woman’s shed. But this woman, Marla, has dementia and doesn’t recognise her as Allison, believing she is an old friend from her past called Toffee. So this is who Allison becomes, morphing into a person Marla usually knows and trusts but sometimes fears and fights. Eventually Allison’s stepmother shows up, armed with a new baby girl, a new sibling.

When Caroline's little brother is kidnapped, his subsequent rescue leads to the discovery of Ethan, a teenager who has been living with the kidnapper since he was a young child himself. In the aftermath Caroline can't help but wonder what Ethan knows about everything that happened to her brother, who is not readjusting well to life at home. And although Ethan is desperate for a friend, he can't see Caroline without experiencing a resurgence of traumatic memories.

Sisters Cheta and Zam couldn’t be more different. Cheta, sharp-tongued and stubborn, never shies away from conflict—either at school or at home, where her mother fires abuse at her. Timid Zam escapes most of her mother’s anger, skating under the radar and avoiding her sister whenever possible. In a lucky turn, Zam is invited to live in her aunt’s luxurious home. Jealous, Cheta also leaves home, but to a hard existence that will drive her to terrible decisions. When the sisters are reunited, Zam alone sees just how far Cheta has fallen—and Cheta’s fate is in Zam’s hands.

The only curse Jesse Lachlin believes in is his grandmother’s will: In order to inherit his family farm, he must win the approval of his childhood best friend, the girl he froze out his freshman year. A fortune-teller tells Scarlett she's psychic, but what is real is Scarlett’s father’s controlling attitude and the dark secrets at home. She may be able to escape, but only if she can rely on the one boy who broke her heart. Each midnight meeting pushes Jesse and Scarlett to confront their secrets and their feelings, but as love blooms, the curse rears its ugly head....

Katina King is the reigning teen jiujitsu champion of Northern California, but she's having trouble fighting off the secrets in her past. Robin Thornton was adopted from an orphanage in Kolkata, India, and is reluctant to take on his future. Since he knows nothing about his past, how is he supposed to figure out what comes next? Robin and Kat meet in the most unlikely of places - a summer service trip to India to work with survivors of human trafficking. As bonds blossom between the travel mates, Robin and Kat discover the healing superpowers of friendship.

A new town, a new school, a new start. That's what 14-year-old Gray Wilton believes as he chants, "It's gonna be better, gonna be better here." But it doesn't take long for Gray to realize that nothing's going to change--there are bullies in every school, and he's always their punching bag. Gray feels trapped in a world where he has no control and no way out--until the day he enters the halls with his father's semiautomatic in hand.

After 17-year-old David is forced to stand trial for his girlfriend's death, he is sent to live with his aunt and uncle and their young daughter, Lily, to avoid the media frenzy. But all is not well at his relatives' house. His aunt and uncle are not speaking to each other, and Lily seems dead set on making David's life a torment. And then there's the issue of their older daughter, Kathy, who died under mysterious circumstances a number of years back.