Friendship Fiction

Debut novelist Crystal Allen’s lifelong enthusiasm for bowling shines through in this gripping tale of a boy going after his dream girl—and trying not to land in too much trouble along the way. On the lanes, Lamar rolls dazzling strikes. But outside his favorite bowling alley, it’s all gutter balls with the ladies. Lamar has a few tricks up his sleeve, though, and hatches a plan to get everything he wants. Pulling off the hustle of his life, however, proves harder than the dreaded 7-10 split.

Disguised as a peasant, Cecilia has been hiding for years from the evil people who killed her parents. Now the time has come to reclaim her title. There's just one problem. Princess Desmia - supposedly Cecilia's decoy - believes a different version of the story.

Three lonely riverside dwellers - a boy, a firefly, and a cricket - are all trying to make sense of unexpected changes in their world. Each has a secret dream, but each finds himself trapped. Becoming friends brings them happiness and solidarity, but more changes are in store. Each character stands up to his greatest fear, and, in doing so, finds his greatest strength.

Stephanie Greene’s beloved children’s books include Owen Foote, Frontiersman - a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year. This charming tale, a Gryphon Honor Book, introduces six-year-old Posey as she nervously prepares to start the first grade. Before her little brother came along, Posey was treated like a princess. But now she’s expected to be a Big Girl - which means facing the first day of school without the comfort of her favorite pink tutu.

When a little girl gets a plush stingray for her birthday, it makes friends with some of her other toys as they all try to navigate in the world of real people.

As Persephone's mom encourages her to do, she often "goes along to get along" instead of doing what she really wants. But when she meets Mount Olympus Academy bad-boy Hades, she finally feels she has found someone with whom she can be herself. He's the first person who actually listens to her, and she finds herself liking him, despite the fact the other goddessgirls think he's bad news. But if he makes her feel so special - and she's so comfortable hanging around him - can he really be all that bad?

As a part of her father's bug-extermination contract, 14-year-old Nikki J. Maxwell has been awarded a scholarship to a prestigious private middle school. So...new school. New mean girl. New crush. New diary, so Nikki can spill about all of it....

In school, Milly Beckett and Nicole Raven were as close as sisters. Now, years later, a gulf separates them, and not just because of the different spheres they inhabit. Nicole is a global superstar with the world at her fingertips, but when scandal breaks, she turns to the only person she trusts. Fresh from a painful divorce and struggling to balance her work and raising her daughter alone, Milly is tempted to refuse her friend’s plea for help.

Get ready, because Cowgirl Kate and her horse, Cocoa, are back for more adventures on the range. These two best friends love to spend time together - they just don't always see eye to eye. When Kate decides it's time for Cocoa to get new horseshoes, her favorite horse has other ideas. And Kate might have to get sneaky to convince Cocoa to get new footwear.

New York City meets small-town charm in this laugh-out-loud romantic comedy about second chances, family secrets, and unexpected sparks. Ashley Winters doesn’t do small towns, or flowers, for that matter. But when her free-spirited grandmother takes a nasty fall in her beloved Maple Ridge flower shop, Ashley begrudgingly trades skyscrapers for sunsets to help out for the summer. Despite her utter lack of gardening skills and a black thumb that could kill a cactus, Ashley sees this as her chance to finally connect with the grandmother her parents kept at arm’s length her entire childhood...

Always a bride's maid--never a bride. That's part of the story of the life of Mildred Budge in this third novel in the series. But there is more to know about this Sunday School teacher who has been recruited to be a maid of honor for her good friend's wedding. As someone who has routinely had to muzzle herself at weddings by not calling out when the preacher asks if anyone knows a reason these two should not be wed, "It's not going to work out," this new role of supporting the bride has its challenges for this church lady of the South, Mildred Budge. But being a bride's maid also has its ...

Suddenly widowed with no means of support, Evelyn Peerbaugh hangs a “for rent” sign in front of her large Victorian home and her life changes in ways she never dreamed of. In a matter of days she becomes the owner of a busy boardinghouse and must now cope with the lives and emotions of the most incompatible group of women ever gathered under one roof. How will Evelyn manage? What will her future be like now? “The Sister Circle,” Book One of this charming contemporary series, introduces Peerbaugh Place, the quaint Victorian house that becomes a refuge to seven women of vastly ...

Self exiled from her family of traders in mystical goods and services on her 23rd birthday, the Friendship Magician must make her way in the world: meeting a Scandinavian werewolf, a business minded minotaur, an air elemental with a taste for smutty stories, Canadian elves, an incompetent valkyrie, and the one creature she was always told to never deal with. Blending an economic view of the value of friendships with a coming-of-age story in an urban fantasy setting, this book will appeal to fans of Jim Butcher, Charles de Lint, and Neil Gaiman.

Kristen Petersen doesn't do drama, will fight to the death for her friends, and has no room in her life for guys who just don't get her. She's also keeping a big secret: facing a medically necessary procedure that will make it impossible for her to have children. Planning her best friend's wedding is bittersweet for Kristen - especially when she meets the best man, Josh Copeland. He's funny, sexy, never offended by her mile-wide streak of sarcasm, and always one chicken enchilada ahead of her hangry. Even her dog, Stuntman Mike, adores him. The only catch: Josh wants a big family.

New York Times best-selling author Nikki Grimes has received numerous accolades for her writing, including the Coretta Scott King Award. In Planet Middle School, 12-year-old Joylin Johnson is satisfied with her life. Everything seems pretty simple: a nice, relaxed game of basketball with the boys is all she needs to keep her happy. But it all changes when her best girlfriend starts flirting with her best guy friend.

Laid off from her department store job, Carmen has perilously little cash and few options. The prospect of spending Christmas with her perfect sister Sofia, in Sofia’s perfect house with her perfect children and her perfectly ordered yuppie life, does not appeal. Frankly, Sofia doesn’t exactly want her prickly sister Carmen there, either. But Sofia has yet another baby on the way, a mother desperate to see her daughters get along, and a client who needs help revitalizing his shabby old bookshop. So Carmen moves in and takes the job.

The move from elementary school to middle school can be difficult for boys. Many new to middle school guys find themselves struggling with grades, behavior, and relationships with family, friends, and teachers. Boys often grow frustrated and embarrassed as they strain to figure out what to do and what not to do in their new world...called middle school. Best-selling author Jonathan Catherman and his two sons (one current and one former middle schooler) offer boys ages 10 to 12 the practical help they need to make the move to middle school as painless as possible.

Acclaimed author Wong Herbert Yee earned a Toy Oppenheim Gold Award with Mouse and Mole: A Winter Wonderland, the fifth installment of the author’s popular series. Mouse and Mole wake one winter morning to find that it’s snowed. But while Mouse can’t wait to play outside, Mole prefers to stay in bed where it’s cozy and warm. Can a special snowman bring the two together?

In the middle of the twenty-first century Jeremy Delahass came from out of nowhere much as history decreed that his ancestor did some two hundred years before him. It was his legacy, that of a man counted among those who fought in some of the harshest battles of the Revolutionary War for Independence, that Jeremy waved like a beacon and eventually reached the pinnacle as his ancestor before him had been unable to. Now…200 years later…Family Promise is the sixth book in the Delahass Legacy series, the continuing saga of one family’s search for answers to questions rooted in events that...

Ronke wants happily ever after and 2.2. kids. She’s dating Kayode and wants him to be “the one” (perfect, like her dead father). Her friends think he’s just another in a long line of dodgy Nigerian boyfriends. Boo has everything Ronke wants—a kind husband, gorgeous child. But she’s frustrated, unfulfilled, plagued by guilt, and desperate to remember who she used to be.