Sherry Bille

Isra has come a long way to the prestigious Wingdom's Academy to learn the art of magic. The classes are dull, but Isra quickly finds a companion in Everilda. They click instantly, striking up a rapport. Isra finds Everilda to be rebellious toward the craft, whereas Everilda finds Isra too innocent, especially when it comes to romance. Imagine Everilda's shock when she discovers her part-time plaything Jonathan has taken a liking to Isra. Isra is naïve and inexperienced in love, but she sees Jonathan as quite charming and instantly takes a shine to him.

In 48 hours, the Earth will be hit by a coronal mass ejection (CME) from the sun, a "Carrington Event" that has the power to shut down and possibly destroy the world's electrical infrastructure. To try and prevent permanent damage, everything goes dark prior to the hit: Global communications are shut down; hospital emergency generators are disconnected; the entire internet, media broadcasting, and cell phone systems are turned off. Will the world's population successfully defend itself in the wake of the CME, or will mass panic lead to the breakdown of society as we know it?

This is probably the most extraordinary book that you have ever read. Why? Because I can read the people who read me and that is very, very strange.

Fourteen-year-old Greg Dixon is living a nightmare. Attending boarding school outside of Boston, he is separated from his family when a pandemic strikes. His classmates and teachers are dead, rotting in a dormitory-turned-morgue steps from his room. The nights are getting colder, and his food has run out. The last message from his father is to get away from the city and to meet at his grandparents' town in remote New Hampshire.

Since the 1970s, FantasticLand has been the theme park where "Fun is Guaranteed!" But when a hurricane ravages the Florida coast and isolates the park, the employees find it anything but fun. Five weeks later, the authorities who rescue the survivors encounter a scene of horror. Photos soon emerge online of heads on spikes outside of rides and viscera and human bones littering the gift shops, breaking records for hits, views, likes, clicks, and shares.

Aging and reclusive Hollywood movie icon Evelyn Hugo is finally ready to tell the truth about her glamorous and scandalous life. But when she chooses unknown magazine reporter Monique Grant for the job, no one in the journalism community is more astounded than Monique herself. Why her? Why now? Monique is not exactly on top of the world. Her husband, David, has left her, and her career has stagnated.

Abby Thomas is spending the summer in a run-down old house with a bratty pre-teen named Merrideth she is supposed to tutor. Not a dream job. But it does come with perks. There's John Roberts, a devastatingly attractive neighbor who is almost too wonderful to be real. And there's the new computer program Beautiful Houses - also too amazing to be real. No one knows how it works, but with it she can rewind and fast-forward the lives of all the people who ever lived in the house, including Charlotte Miles.

Adrian is an alpha descendant with gifts that allow him to call and charm others like himself. After the apocalypse, caused by his father, Adrian is charged with gathering all free descendants in America for the remaining government. Instead, the Marine forms Safe Haven Refugee Camp and creates a dream that even his betrayals can’t crush. “This is Safe Haven Refugee Camp. Is anyone alive out there? …hello?”

Tori Helpern always wanted to be a music star, just like her hometown hero Tracy Slater. But Tori never quite found her big break, and now she works as a music teacher at the same high school she couldn't wait to get away from. Feeling washed up, Tori believes her only taste of fame will come from the solo in the holiday choir. Isaac Powell never needed much to make him happy. Nervous about performing in front of a full audience, Isaac asks Tori to help him prepare, and she needs to decide whether she should help him succeed or steal the solo away from him.

Tanya Bennett is still feeling the effects of her mental breakdown from last year after her parents died. She lost a lot of loved ones in a short period of time but most notably her son, who she can't see without supervision. With some help from her friends, she's back on the right track with a new job and volunteering with the school play her son's in. But a bad reputation is hard to overcome, and whether she can spend Christmas with her son hinges on how well her upcoming court date goes.