Showing results by narrator "Elena Rey" in All Categories

Over the past five years, Mitra Esfahani has known two constants: her best friend Bea Ortega and The Book—a dogeared moleskin she and Bea have been filling with the stanzas of an epic, never-ending poem since they were 13. For introverted Mitra, The Book is one of the few places she can open herself completely and where she gets to see all sides of brilliant and ebullient Bea. There, they can share everything—Mitra’s complicated feelings about her absent mother, Bea’s heartache over her most recent breakup—nothing too messy or complicated for The Book.

At the elite West Archer Academy, all the students are gifted, but four are exceptional. Though the Evers look twelve, they're actually centuries old, possessing knowledge and talents that make them extraordinary. And boarding school is the perfect cover for their brilliance—and their secret.

When her father is attacked under mysterious circumstances, 22-year-old Trini Duran must return home to Chavez Ravine, a neighborhood mostly abandoned after the government sent letters to residents demanding that they leave. Only 200 stubborn holdouts remain. While the Mexican American community fights to save their homes, they face a new threat that is even harder to combat than the politicians who want them gone.

Magdalena Herrera is about to graduate high school, but she already feels like an adult with serious responsibilities: caring for her ailing grandmother; working a part-time job; clandestine makeouts with a girl who has a boyfriend. And then there's her secret, which pulls her into the basement each night, drains her of energy, and leaves her bleeding. A secret that could hurt and even kill if it ever got out—like it did once before.

Ivy Stewart thought West Archer Academy was the first step to everything she’d always wanted. The key to her entire future. But now…she might not even have a future. It’s the start of a new semester, and Ivy’s very old friends and her very new immortality are at odds. The Evers, kids who are hundreds of years old and never age, are determined to save Ivy from suffering that same miserable fate…even if it means she won’t remember them. But what’s worse? Forgetting her family, her friends, her life or never turning thirteen?

Aspiring journalist Noa has a secret she's been keeping. Ever since her sister's tragic death, she's felt almost...relieved. Noa and Leah had been locked in competition with one another since childhood, and things came to a head when her sister scored a glitzy internship at a New York society newspaper. Noa can't help but revel in her new found autonomy.

Cellphones have become a fact of life, with children as young as eight (yes, eight!) getting their very own “devices.” Such boundless access means our kids are in nearly constant contact with technology that was designed specifically for adults. And they’re doing so without any type of road map. Enter First Phone: the essential audiobook that apprehensive parents can confidently hand to their kids to listen to as they begin their journey into the digital world.

Alex Eager lives in Faillin, OR with her grandmother, a retired librarian. Life should be great for Alex, since she finally worked up the courage to ask her best friend PJ if they could be more than friends and she said yes. But their new relationship will have to be long distance, because PJ is moving. On top of that, Alex is worried that something is wrong with her increasingly forgetful grandmother. And to make matters worse, Faillin is holding a referendum on library funding, and things aren’t looking good. Will anything good for Alex ever last?

There is no universal adoption experience, and no two adoptees have the same story. This anthology for teens edited by Shannon Gibney and Nicole Chung contains a wide range of powerful, poignant, and evocative stories in a variety of genres. These tales from fifteen bestselling, acclaimed, and emerging adoptee authors genuinely and authentically reflect the complexity, breadth, and depth of adoptee experiences.

Vampires and merpeople, angels and demons—the stories in this anthology imagine worlds where the only thing more powerful than the supernatural, is love. A girl in a graveyard goes on an unexpected date, a shipwrecked sailor makes a connection on a forbidden island, a piano melody summons a soul mate. Creatures of folktales and legend, of land and sea, of centuries past and life after life, all wrapped into one spellbinding compendium. Once you sink into its story, it’ll never let you go.

Núria, a single-by-choice barista with a little resentment for the “crazy cat lady” label, is a member of The Meow-Yorkers, a group in Brooklyn who takes care of the neighborhood’s stray cats. On her volunteering days, she starts finding Post-it notes left by a secret admirer in an area where she feeds her favorite stray—a black cat named Cat. Like most felines, he is both curious and observant, so of course he knows who the notes are from. Núria, however, is clueless.

Between chronic health issues and an overprotective mother, twenty-two-year-old Oriah Pera feels like she’s stuck waiting for her life to begin. But when her mother’s job takes them to Majora, Ry’s ready to break free and make this summer hers. In her first small act of rebellion, she escapes to explore the island on her own – only to run into an infuriatingly charming Spaniard who sees her as nothing more than a sheltered tourist. With unexpected tension simmering between them, Ry isn't sure if she should start listening to her head or her heart.

Clare's brother, Tom, also known as the pied piper, has stolen away the children of Hamelin. But Clare knows that’s only half the story. Tom isn’t the easiest person to love, but she’s certain that he couldn’t be so cruel. There has to be a good reason why he stole the Fae Queen’s magic pipe and led the children to a faraway land, never to be seen again. Together with Anna, the mayor of Hamelin’s daughter, Clare embarks on a journey into the Faerie Realms. Only she can save the children of Hamelin and clear her brother's name.

When Felice learns that she’s the daughter of La Llorona, she catches a ride to the magical town of Tres Leches, where her mother is said to be haunting the river. Growing up with her uncle Clem in Corpus Christi, Felice knew that she had been rescued from drowning—it’s where her intense fear of water comes from—but she had no idea her mother remained trapped between worlds, looking for her.

Twelve-year-old Barana lives in a coastal village in Honduras, where she spends every spare minute visiting the sea turtles that nest on the beach. Abby is feeling adrift in sixth grade, trying to figure out who she is and where she belongs after her best friend moved away from New Jersey. When Abby’s papi plans a work trip to Honduras, she is finally given the opportunity to see his homeland—with Barana as her tour guide. But Barana has other plans: someone has been poaching turtle eggs, and she’s determined to catch them!

A haunted Aquarius finds love behind the veil. An ambitious Aries will do anything to stay in the spotlight. A foodie Taurus discovers the best eats in town (with a side of romance). A witchy Cancer stumbles into a curious meet-cute. Whether it’s romantic, platonic, familial, or something else you can’t quite define, love is the thing that connects us. All Signs Point to Yes will take you on a journey from your own backyard to the world beyond the living as it settles us among the stars for thirteen stories of love and life.

For most of her life, Lacey has been a prisoner without even realizing it. Her dad rarely let her, her little sister, or her mama out of his sight. But their situation changes suddenly and dramatically the day her grandparents arrive to help them leave. It’s the beginning of a different kind of life for Lacey, and at first she has a hard time letting go of her dad’s rules. Gradually though, his hold on her lessens, and her days become filled with choices she’s never had before.

Sixteen-year-old Mia is stranded in the middle of the Caribbean. After a mortifying incident in the school cafeteria, her parents decide there is only one way to deal with her meltdown: move onto a battered sailboat and leave everything behind. Her mom and dad think it’s the best decision they’ve ever made. Mia feels like she’s been kidnapped and imprisoned in paradise with no internet and no destination. Her only hope is to hack together a solar-powered satellite phone so she can call her best friend and fix everything.

Princess Lyss can’t wait another second to meet the griffin that’s joining her father’s royal menagerie, so she ditches her lessons and heads for the stables. But the griffin isn’t the only new creature she finds. A boy is hiding—or at least trying to—in the griffin’s stall. The boy is Devin, the griffin’s trainer, and he’s refusing to leave his beloved Tam. Lyss agrees to help him. But their arrival coincides with the revelation that someone is stealing creatures from the king’s menagerie.

Grace, Henry, and Ally grew up together on the same block. They used to be best friends—until Grace's testimony put Henry's brother, Jake, away for killing their English teacher. Now, two years later, Ally and Henry hate Grace, and Grace is doubting what she thinks she saw that night.