Showing results by narrator "Elsa Lepecki Bean" in All Categories

A boyband fandom becomes a conduit to coming out. A former bully becomes a first-kiss prospect. One nonbinary kid searches for an inclusive athletic community after quitting gymnastics. Another nonbinary kid, who happens to be a pirate, makes a wish that comes true - but not how they thought it would. A tween girl navigates a crush on her friend's mom. A young witch turns herself into a puppy to win over a new neighbor. A trans girl empowers her online bestie to come out.

The Sacred Sons are University royalty, and the most vicious pricks on campus. They're as beautiful as they are cruel. And him. He's their leader. Their twisted king, who's chosen to make me his personal property. Roman Rush. The more I fight him, the more he tightens his grip. I want to be left alone, to disappear into the shadows. But when my best friend goes missing, I'm pulled into a world full of dark secrets—a world where Roman reigns supreme.

Goldengrove’s towers and twisted chimneys rose at the very edge of the peaceful Weald, a stone’s throw from the poisonous marshes and merciless waters of Rye Bay. Young Tabby Palethorp had been running wild there, ever since her mother grew too ill to leave her room. I was the perfect choice to give Tabby a good English education: thoroughly respectable and far too plain to tempt her lonely father, Sir Kit, to indiscretion. I knew better than to trust my new employer with the truth about my past. But knowing better couldn’t stop me from yearning for impossible things.

Can coming home bring redemption? Or at least a measure of peace? Recently released from prison, Blake Alvares returns to the only place she ever felt safe, the now derelict Maine town in which she harbored as a teen. Determined to conceal her secrets and losses, she soon finds herself dragged into others’ lives when she takes a job on a boat owned by a notorious young lobsterman.

My best friend is missing, and it's clear that the Sacred Sons know more than they're willing to admit. And as much as I despise them, I need answers, so I decide I'll play them at their own vicious game. When I'm drawn deeper into the viper's den, and my life is threatened, I'm faced with an impossible choice—trust the handsome devil I know or face a world of unknown dangers myself. The wrong choice could be the last one I make…

“My life’s done a somersault,” wrote Mário de Andrade in a letter, on the verge of taking a leap. After years of dreaming about Amazonia, and almost fifty years before Bruce Chatwin ventured into one of the most remote regions of South America in In Patagonia, Andrade, the queer mixed-race “pope” of Brazilian modernism and author of the epic novel Macunaíma, finally embarks on a three-month steamboat voyage up the great river and into one of the most dangerous and breathtakingly beautiful corners of the world.

This town has become my nightmare, and Roman Rush is both my tormentor and my salvation. I've been drawn into his dark world, caught in his snare, and the more I pull against his control, the tighter his grip. I'm desperate to break free, but I have to stay for Bree. There's a mystery shrouding her that I'm determined to uncover. As my relationship with Roman intensifies, I discover something that brings my entire world crashing down—a dark truth that makes me question everything I thought I knew about Roman and the Sacred Sons…

Fifteen-year-old Brynn can’t stop thinking about death. Her intrusive thoughts and severe anxiety leave her feeling helpless—and hopeless. So after her mom interprets one of Brynn’s blog posts as a suicide note, she takes extreme measures, confiscating Brynn’s phone, blocking her Internet access, and banishing her to stay with her father who lives “off the grid” on a houseboat in the Florida mangroves. Isolated from her online friends—her only friends—Brynn resigns herself to a summer of mind-numbing boredom and loneliness… until Skylar appears.

Ten years have passed since Marcia de Souza fled through The Rift to the fae realm in search of freedom. With a new name and a place to call home, she fills her days doing odd jobs alongside a diverse band of misfits. Things are going well… until a high-risk opportunity throws a wrench in things. The job sounded simple: find the missing heiress, bring her home, and claim the substantial reward.

They say it is not the fall that kills you. Maybe for humans this is true. Perhaps one could go on falling forever, and yet live on. I have heard them say you can get used to anything. Among my people, though, it is the fall itself that is the end. It is not, as you might imagine, a literal casting out. God does not throw us down from on high. It is, like many things, a process: One decision on top of another until you realize suddenly that you are too far gone to turn back. It is too late to do anything but go on falling. Or so, at least, it went for me.

On the soccer field, Magic Mel is in her element. She’s ready to lead her team to victory at the city championship in her new role as captain. Off the field, however, is a totally different story. Mel can’t get a handle on her class presentation, her friend group has completely dissolved, and her ex-friend-current-teammate, Tory, is being the worst. The only place she feels like herself is in her text conversations where she shares her secret poetry with BTtoYouPlease.