Adult World

This is a story about love. It's also a story about hate, which is why I left New York in the first place. You don't fly halfway across the world to live with a bunch of people you never met, just for a laugh.

Irene Gut was just 17 in 1939, when the Germans and Russians devoured her native Poland. Just a girl, really. But a girl who saw evil and chose to defy it.

#1 New York Times best-selling, Pulitzer Prize–winning author Anthony Doerr brings his“stunning sense of physical detail and gorgeous metaphors” (San Francisco Chronicle) to selecting The Best American Short Stories 2019. Doerr and the series editor, Heidi Pitlor, winnow down twenty stories out of thousands that represent the best examples of the form published the previous year.

Hailo, a typical high school teenager in his last year, at the bottom of the social ladder, always felt like he doesn't fit in. And how could he? Being adopted and having no recollection of his early childhood are not Hailo's only challenges. The blood of the notorious Northerners courses through his veins, evident in his features like a mark of Cain. Yet, Hailo is unaware that he is far from ordinary, a truth that only becomes clear to him after a series of unfortunate events unveil new and surprising facets of his identity. Forced to flee, Hailo embarks on a journey across the central ...

Before he was freed by Neferet, Kalona was imprisoned within the earth for centuries because of the Darkness in his heart. But what happened to the Other World's Kalona? It's as though he's been forgotten, or maybe he never existed at all.... In the present, Other Neferet may have left her House of Night, but she has far from given up her goal of immortality and world domination. As she operates in secret to gain access to Old Magick, the new High Priestess, Anastasia Lankford, works toward peace and acceptance for the vampyres of the Other World.

Twillo lies bleeding out in a volcanic desert. Towering over him is a snarling red wolf, death only seconds away. Right as his vision is going black, a mysterious voice offers Twillo a chance at survival. Do you agree to bind souls? It is the voice of a dragon, one that hasn't been seen for hundreds of years. By agreeing to soulbind with the dragon, Twillo will tie himself to the dragon's destiny, one of future conflict. He will need to cultivate the highly illegal magic power known as dragonessence, and seek instruction across the Four Kingdoms of the Sagaland.

Twelve-year old Sheldon Horowitz is still recovering from the tragic loss of his mother only a year ago when a suspicious traffic accident steals the life of his father near their home in rural Massachusetts. It is 1938, and Sheldon, who was in the truck, emerges from the crash an orphan hell-bent on revenge. He takes that fire with him to Hartford, where he embarks on a new life under the roof of his buttoned-up Uncle Nate.

Following the events of Lobizona, Manu and her friends cross the mystical border into Kerana - a cursed realm in Argentina - searching for allies and a hiding place. As they chase down leads about the Coven - a mythical resistance manada that might not even exist - the Cazadores chase down leads about Manu, setting up traps to capture and arrest her.

As she is pursued deeper into the mountains, Jak must face her own inner demons. Jak is on the run. After the mysterious reappearance of her friend, Marek, she must decide whether to stay with the body of her army, or go off in search of the illusive second Pillar of Eternity. But she must decide fast. Cain is on his way, and his demons pursue her. And no one knows whether they should trust Jak's childhood friend, whom they had long presumed to be dead.

On the outside, Ruby’s a normal college student. On the inside? She’s something else completely. Magic pulses in Ruby’s veins. She’s terrified to unleash it…but she may not have a choice. Ruby never realized there was something different about her. It turns out not every girl has a dragon as a best friend. Now that she’s in college, the call to magic is getting stronger. She knows that she has powers, but she has no idea how to control them. With both her parents gone, she has no answers to the question of who she really is. Until a dark and handsome stranger from another world ...

In the winding underground tunnels of the Library, the great peacekeeper of the three systems, a heinous secret lies buried—and Freida is the only one who can uncover it. As the daughter of a Library god, Freida has spent her whole life exploring the Library's ever-changing tunnels and communing with the gods. Her unparalleled access makes her unique—and dangerous.

There is a significant divide between autistic advocates and parents of autistic children. Parents may feel attacked for their lack of understanding, and autistic adults who offer insight and guidance are also met with hostility and rejection. Meghan Ashburn, a mother of two autistic boys, and Jules Edwards, an autistic parent, were no strangers to this tension and had an adversarial relationship when they first met. Over time, the two resolved their differences and are now co-conspirators in the pursuit of disability justice.

Everyone is separated, and no one is safe. Raven Danvers didn’t think her life could get any crazier since the night a demon attacked her in an alley and abducted her mom. She was wrong. Because now that same demon has abducted her too. He’s thrown her into a secret bunker with a group of humans who have unique abilities that make them “gifted.” They don’t know what the demons want with them, and the bunker is impossible to escape.

Best-selling author Leigh Bardugo takes listeners deeper into her world than ever before. Out of the Shadow and Bone Trilogy, from the hands of Alina Starkov to yours, the Istorii Sankt’ya is fully realized for the first time. These tales include miracles and martyrdoms from familiar Saints like Sankta Lizabeta of the Roses and Sankt Ilya in Chains, to the strange and obscure stories of Sankta Ursula, Sankta Maradi, and the Starless Saint.

Tomi was born in Hawaii. His grandfather and parents were born in Japan and came to America to escape poverty. World War II seems far away from Tomi and his friends, who are too busy playing ball on their eighth-grade team, the Rats. But then Pearl Harbor is attacked by the Japanese, and the United States declares war on Japan. Japanese men are rounded up, and Tomi’s father and grandfather are arrested. It’s a terrifying time to be Japanese in America. But one thing doesn’t change: the loyalty of Tomi’s buddies, the Rats.

John is an ordinary individual striving to survive as best he can. He lives off the grid and makes money wherever he can find it. But everything changes when he discovers the horrifying truth about his reality and realizes that he may be the harbinger of death for untold billions. “Destroyer of Worlds takes you on an incredible ride into a world where ancient secrets and cosmic forces collide. With non-stop action and a fast-paced plot, this sci-fi adventure keeps you hooked from start to finish. It's like a wild rollercoaster ride, blending action, fantasy, and supernatural elements in ...

Sixteen-year-old Sasha Lawson has only ever known one small, ordinary life. When she was young, she loved her grandfather's stories of parallel worlds, inhabited by girls who looked like her but led totally different lives. Sasha never believed such worlds were real - until now, when she finds herself thrust into one against her will. To prevent imminent war, Sasha must slip into the life of an alternate version of herself, a princess who has vanished on the eve of her arranged marriage. If Sasha succeeds in fooling everyone, she will be returned home; if she fails, she'll be trapped in another girl's life forever.

Megan Crewe has received both critical accolades and popular acclaim for her young adult novels. The Way We Fall launches a new series featuring 16-year-old Kaelyn, whose island community is quarantined after the outbreak of a deadly virus. Before long, people begin to turn against each other as they fight for dwindling supplies. Remarkably, in the midst of this chaos, Kaelyn discovers both an unlikely ally and a surprising love interest. And with prospects for survival growing dimmer with each passing moment, she will need all the help she can get.

Somehow, Raven has convinced Noah and Sage - the two wolf shifters who saved her from a demon attack - to let her tag along on their quest to kill 10 demons. The payoff for completing the mission? Entrance to the mystical island of Avalon, where Raven will go through trials to gain the strength she needs to save her mom’s life. Raven wants to help the shifters on their quest. But Noah refuses to put her in any danger - which makes no sense, since he hates her. At least she thinks he hates her...until he catches her off guard and kisses her.

In a shadowy underworld governed by crime and deception, Archer Donovan, a renowned womanizer and the son of a notorious crime boss, unexpectedly crosses paths with Adele, an enigmatic woman untouched by the darkness surrounding them. Drawn to her innocence, Archer fights his desires, bound by the unspoken rules of loyalty among "brothers." But one fateful night, fueled by alcohol and a tempest of emotions, he succumbs to the irresistible pull of their chemistry, changing both their lives forever. Years pass, and fate weaves its intricate threads once more, bringing Archer and Adele ...