Showing titles in Physical & Emotional Abuse

Every year, summer begins when the Callahans arrive on Mariposa Island. That's when Elena Finney gets to escape her unstable, controlling mother by babysitting for their two children. And the summer of 1986 promises to be extra special when she meets J.C., the new boy in town, whose kisses make Elena feel like she's been transported to a new world. Joaquin Finney can't imagine why anyone would want to come to Mariposa Island. He just graduated from high school and dreams about going to California to find his father and escape his mother's manipulation.

Seventeen-year-old Darcy Prentiss has long held the title of "town slut". She knows how to have a good time, sure, but she isn't doing anything all the guys haven't done. But when you're a girl with a reputation, every little thing that happens seems to keep people whispering - especially when your ex-best friend goes missing. But if anyone were to look closer at Darcy, they'd realize there's a lot more going on beneath the surface.

Fourteen-year-old Stark McClellan (nicknamed Stick because he’s tall and thin) is bullied for being "deformed" - he was born with only one ear. His older brother, Bosten, is always there to defend Stick. But the boys can’t defend each other from their abusive parents. When Stick realizes Bosten is gay, he knows that to survive his father's anger, Bosten must leave home. Stick has to find his brother, or he will never feel whole again. In his search, he will encounter good people, bad people, and people who are simply indifferent to kids from the wrong side of the tracks. But he never loses hope of finding love - and his brother.

Amala has spent her whole life trying to be the perfect princess: delicate, quiet, obedient. But when she’s murdered on the night of her wedding, her story is cut short before it begins. Kha’dasia has been told her whole life that she is too rough, too loud, too much. She’s no ordinary princess but a ruthless warrior on a quest to fulfill her late brother’s dying wish. Except she dies before reaching her destination. When both girls wake up in a cursed forest, the gods offer them a second chance at life—if they can find true love’s kiss.

A powerful YA debut, told with astonishing insight and wit, about the depths and boundaries of true friendship and obsessive teenage love - perfect for fans of Sarah Dessen, E. Lockhart, and Sara Zarr. When Betts meets Aiden at the candy store where she works, their connection is like a sugar rush to the heart. Betts already knows the two of them are infinite. Inevitable. Destined to become an us. Betts has only ever kept one secret from her best friend, Jo, but suddenly there’s a long list of things she won’t tell her, things Jo wouldn’t understand.

Marcos Rivas yearns for love, a working cell phone, and maybe a pair of sneakers that aren't falling apart. But more than anything, Marcos wants to get out of Maesta, his hood, away from his indifferent mom and her abusive boyfriend - which seems impossible. When Marcos is placed in a new after-school program, he meets Zach and Amy, whose friendship inspires Marcos to open up to his Maesta crew, too, and starts to think more about his future and what he has to fight for.

The enigmatic Black Coats have been exacting vengeance on men who have hurt girls and women for years. The killer of Thea's cousin went free, and Thea has just received an invitation to join the Black Coats' balancings - acts of revenge meant to teach a lesson. Justice for Natalie has never felt so close. But as the balancings escalate in brutality, Thea’s clear-cut mission begins to unravel, and she must decide just how far she is willing to go for justice.

Rosalinda Fitzroy has been asleep for 62 years when she is woken by a kiss. Locked away in the chemically induced slumber of a stasis tube in a forgotten subbasement, 16-year-old Rose slept straight through the Dark Times that killed millions and utterly changed the world she knew. Now her parents and her first love are long dead, and Rose -  hailed upon her awakening as the long-lost heir to an interplanetary empire - is thrust alone into a future in which she is viewed as either a freak or a threat. Rose must face the ghosts of her past with open eyes....

When Michael saw a chance to leave town with a traveling carnival a year ago, he took it. Back then, his home life was spinning violently out of control. The carnival, with its "no questions asked" policy, seemed like a welcome escape. But now Michael's job has brought him back to Miami, where his mother is on trial for murder, making him wonder how much longer he can hide from his past... and his future.

Between the fast-paced New York City, a rural Mississippi town, and a charming Pennsylvania college campus filled with secrets, two young girls learn the consequences of growing up too quickly. Set in alternating sections two decades apart, the parallels between their lives and the unavoidable collision that is bound to happen is revealed. Father Figure is an emotional story filled with mystery, romance, and suspense.

Anke’s father is abusive. But not to her. He attacks her brother and sister, but she’s just an invisible witness in a house of horrors, on the brink of disappearing altogether. Until she makes the volleyball team at school. At first just being exhausted after practice feels good, but as Anke becomes part of the team, her confidence builds. When she learns to yell “Mine!” to call a ball, she finds a voice she didn’t know existed. For the first time, Anke is seen and heard.

Running away from home hasn’t solved Iphigenia Murphy’s problems. In fact, it’s only a matter of time before they’ll catch up with her. Iffy is desperate to find her long-lost mother, and, so far, in spite of the need to forage for food and shelter and fend off an unending number of creeps, living in Queens’ Forest Park has felt safer than living at home. But as the summer days get shorter, it all threatens to fall apart.

Ce roman est l'histoire d'une fulgurante amitié qui tourne au drame. Charlène, jeune adolescente de 13 ans un peu effacée, entre en classe de cinquième. Dès le premier jour de la rentrée, Sarah, nouvelle dans l'établissement, fait sensation auprès de tous les élèves, séduits par cette fille à la personnalité magnétique. Charlène la regarde avec admiration et haine mélangées. Finalement les deux jeunes filles se lient d'amitié.

Kian O'Reilly is flawless as a killer. Well practiced in the art of making murder look like an accident, he is selfish, wealthy, and totally arrogant as a soul-stealing immortal. But when he ends up stranded on Cape Cod with a stolen car and a dead drug dealer in the trunk, he thinks his luck couldn't get any worse.

Seventeen-year-old Cassie Morgan lives with a time bomb (a.k.a. her stepfather, Dino Cavalli). To the public, Dino is a world-renowned violin player and composer. To Cassie, he’s an erratic, self-centered bully. And he’s getting worse: He no longer sleeps, and he grows increasingly paranoid. Before, Cassie was angry. Now she is afraid.

Junk. That's what the kids at school call Bobby Lang, mostly because his rundown house looks like a junkyard, but also because they want to put him down. Trying desperately to live under the radar at school—and at the home he shares with his angry, neglectful father—Bobby develops a sort of proud loneliness. The only buffer between him and the uncaring world is his love of the long, wooded trail between school and home. Life grinds along quietly and hopelessly for Bobby until he meets Rachel, an artist who sees him in a way no one ever has.

Bettina Vasilis can hardly believe it when basketball star Brady Cullen asks her out, and she just about faints when her strict father actually approves of him. Over the course of the summer, Bettina falls in love with Brady - and with the new freedom that comes along with him. But when school starts up again, Brady changes. What happened to the sweet boy she fell in love with? Then she meets a smoldering guy in his twenties, and this "Cowboy" is everything Brady is not.

Poppy, Lily, and Belladonna would do anything to protect their best friend, Raven. So when they discovered he was suffering abuse at the hands of his stepmother, they came up with a lethal plan: petals of poppy, belladonna, and lily in her evening tea so she’d never be able to hurt Raven again. But someone got cold feet, the plot faded to a secret of the past, and the group fell apart.

Held captive by circumstance and forced to choose between love and freedom. At a young age Elizabeth, known as Lizzy to most, develops a bit of a crush on Jones, an older boy she meets under desperate circumstances. Over the next few months, they develop a unique bond, a bond of secrets and lies, which Lizzy struggles to keep hidden from the rest of the world. When Jones moves away, Lizzy knows he’s gone forever, and so she goes on with her life the best she can while attempting to keep her darkness nicely tucked away. Eventually, she meets Peter and falls hard for him. But a wonderful ...

Three junior high school girls accuse their music teacher of inappropriate actions. The story is told through the eyes of one of the accusers, Claire, who lives in the shadow of a disabled younger brother, and the teacher’s daughter Melody. Interwoven in the story are the problems the three accusers face in their own lives and the work Melody does at a horse farm where she helps disabled children - one of whom turns out to be Claire’s brother.