So Here's the Thing . . .

So Here's the Thing . . .
Author: Alyssa Mastromonaco
Publisher: Twelve
Total Pages: 184
Release: 2019-03-05
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1538731541

From the New York Times bestselling author of Who Thought This Was a Good Idea? comes a fun, frank book of reflections, essays, and interviews on topics important to young women, ranging from politics and career to motherhood, sisterhood, and making and sustaining relationships of all kinds in the age of social media. Alyssa Mastromonaco is back with a bold, no-nonsense, and no-holds-barred twenty-first-century girl's guide to life, tackling the highs and lows of bodies, politics, relationships, moms, education, life on the internet, and pop culture. Whether discussing Barbra Streisand or The Bachelor, working in the West Wing or working on finding a wing woman, Alyssa leaves no stone unturned...and no awkward situation unexamined. Like her bestseller Who Thought This Was a Good Idea?, SO HERE'S THE THING... brings a sharp eye and outsize sense of humor to the myriad issues facing women the world over, both in and out of the workplace. Along with Alyssa's personal experiences and hard-won life lessons, interviews with women like Monica Lewinsky, Susan Rice, and Chelsea Handler round out this modern woman's guide to, well, just about everything you can think of.

The Gilded Girl

The Gilded Girl
Author: Alyssa Colman
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
Total Pages: 226
Release: 2021-04-06
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 0374313946

Heartfelt, fast-paced, and utterly absorbing, The Gilded Girl is Alyssa Colman’s sparkling debut novel about determination, spirit, and the magic of friendship. Any child can spark magic, but only the elite are allowed to kindle it. Those denied access to the secrets of the kindling ritual will see their magic snuffed out before their thirteenth birthday. Miss Posterity’s Academy for Practical Magic is the best kindling school in New York City—and wealthy twelve-year-old Emma Harris is accustomed to the best. But when her father dies, leaving her penniless, Emma is reduced to working off her debts to Miss Posterity alongside Izzy, a daring servant girl who refuses to let her magic be snuffed out, even if society dictates she must. Emma and Izzy reluctantly form a pact: If Izzy teaches Emma how to survive as a servant, Emma will reveal to Izzy what she knows about magic. Along the way, they encounter quizzes that literally pop, shy libraries, and talking cats (that is, house dragons). But when another student’s kindling goes horribly wrong, revealing the fiery dangers of magic, Emma and Izzy must set aside their differences or risk their magic being snuffed out forever.

The New Southern Style

The New Southern Style
Author: Alyssa Rosenheck
Publisher: Abrams
Total Pages: 479
Release: 2020-09-22
Genre: House & Home
ISBN: 1647001757

A vibrantly illustrated exploration of the creative, inclusive, and inspiring movement happening in today’s Southern interior design The American South is a place steeped in history and tradition. We think of sweet tea, thick drawls, and even thicker summer air. It is also a place with a fraught history, complicated social norms, and dated perspectives. Yet among the makers and artists of the South, there is a powerful movement afoot. Alyssa Rosenheck shines a much-needed spotlight on a burgeoning community of people who are taking what’s beloved, inherent, and honored in the South and making it their own. The New Southern Style tours more than 30 homes and includes interviews with the designers, artists, and creative entrepreneurs who are reinventing Southern design and culture. This beautifully illustrated book is sure to inspire the home and soul.

The Tarnished Garden

The Tarnished Garden
Author: Alyssa Colman
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
Total Pages: 217
Release: 2022-04-05
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 0374313962

In this enchanting follow-up to The Gilded Girl, Maeve and Izzy O'Donnell must adjust to a new life together at the Manhattan School for Magic—but when Maeve's magic goes rogue and their school is in danger, they'll need to lean on one another to make things right. The Manhattan School for Magic is the newest kindling school in New York, but Maeve O’Donnell knows she doesn't deserve her place there. Though her sister, Izzy, is one of the school's founders and a hero to those who can now kindle, Maeve can't control her magic and she lives in fear of anyone—especially Izzy—finding out. When Maeve’s worst fears come true and her magic goes rogue, it damages not only the new school but Izzy’s reputation as well. While trying to repair what she’s broken, Maeve discovers a mysterious garden in the tenement neighborhood of the Tarnish, a hidden place where her magic actually works. As her magic and confidence grow, she befriends the others for whom the garden is a haven: a litter of talking kittens (house dragons, of course) who need Maeve’s help to find their missing mother. But someone else is searching for the kittens, too, someone who doesn’t care how many magical sites they have to destroy to stop magic’s expansion. And Maeve’s unstable magic might be the only way to save her sister’s school from being snuffed out next. The Tarnished Garden is a sparkling middle-grade novel from Alyssa Colman.

Sorry Not Sorry

Sorry Not Sorry
Author: Alyssa Milano
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 304
Release: 2021-10-26
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0593183312

Alyssa Milano’s sharply observed, uproarious, and deeply intimate ode to the life she has lived and the issues that matter most. Alyssa Milano, actress and activist, delivers here a collection of powerful personal essays that get to the heart of her life, career, and all-out humanitarianism. These essays are unvarnished and elegant, funny and heartbreaking, and utterly real. A timely book that shows in almost real time the importance of taking care of others, it also gives a gut-punch-level wake-up call in an era where the noise is a distraction from what really needs to happen, if we want to live in a better world. These are stories of growing up in celebrity, of family and of friends, of connections and breaking apart. They have teeth on the page and come from the heart. And they are stories that offer a direct line into the thoughts and life of one of the most visible, hard-working humanitarians we have. A bestselling children's book author, Alyssa's finally giving her fans worldwide what they really want to hear directly from her about: the life she has lived, the things she's seen and experienced, and the way she lives in and with the world.

Author: Marla Morris
Publisher: iUniverse
Total Pages: 246
Release: 2000-07-01
Genre:
ISBN: 0595001874

It's been over four years since the ill-fated marriage between R.C. Wetheringon and Alyssa McKenzie ended with an annulment. Alyssa never expects to see R.C. again. However, he is obsessed with finding her and renewing their relationship. There is no obstacle that will thwart him. The detective hired to locate Alyssa stumbles onto a fact that threatens to reopen wounds and topple the orderly world Alyssa has carved out for herself. Alyssa's future is tied to that of advertising giant, F. Grayson Coulter. The tie that binds them is much deeper than their professions. They are united by a secret that Alyssa must never tell, a secret that R.C. must never discover. Grayson is drawn into a web of deceit that threatens to destroy this life. Alyssa will do whatever it takes to keep the secret. R.C. will do whatever it takes to reunite with Alyssa. The journey is long and laden with pain. While the conclusion is bittersweet, the future is filled with promise. The plot is unforgettable and heartwarming.

Unstoppable Hope

Unstoppable Hope
Author: J.A. Wright
Publisher: J.A. Wright
Total Pages: 331
Release: 2018-11-18
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1548323594

Fleeing with her daughter from her abusive boyfriend Evelyn Danielson takes the first bus out of dodge. Landing in California she must create a new life for them, but that is easier said than done. Between her daily battle with epilepsy, an invisible illness that proceeds to get worse, struggling to raise her spirited pre-teen daughter and trying to keep her head afloat, Evelyn is on the verge of breaking, her hope of survival diminishing with each passing day. To make matters worse she's been found by her ex-boyfriend and he's out for blood; hers. Every time life has kicked her down she has managed to stand back up and dust herself off, but has life finally kicked her too hard?

Dear Reader

Dear Reader
Author: Tiffany Rose
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 31
Release: 2022-06-28
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 1499814127

A young Black girl pens a love letter to libraries and books, powerfully expressing the need to see herself represented in stories. From the author that brought you M Is for Melanin. "A rousing call to action for more racially diverse children's literature." -Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW There was just this one thing, this nagging suspicion, that I didn't meet the criteria for a heroine's condition. In the books that I read, an absence of melanin was a clear omission. A voracious young reader loves nothing more than going to the library and poring through books all day, making friends with characters and going off on exciting adventures with them. However, the more she reads, the more she notices that most of the books don't have characters of color, and the only ones that do tell about the most painful parts of their history. Where are the Black heroines with Afros exploring other planets and the superheroes with 'locs saving the day?

Love Me, If You Dare

Love Me, If You Dare
Author: Alyssa Clarke
Publisher:
Total Pages: 254
Release: 2021-02-22
Genre:
ISBN:

They are wallflowers, bluestockings, merry widows, and debutantes--members of a secret, exclusive Lady's Club in Berkeley Square! There ladies indulge in daring wagers, learn to fight, read scandalous books, and learn the art of wooing the gentlemen they will bring to their knees...Sebastian Crawford, Duke of Hartford, cares about his duty, honor, and family. He has everything planned: his sister is engaged, and now plans to select his duchess from a list of eligible debutantes. The last thing he expects is his sister to go missing a few weeks before her wedding!Lady Theodosia Winfern is upset when a devilishly attractive duke accuses her of persuading his sister to run from her duties. He declares that Theo won't leave his side (even if it means sleeping in his chamber) until his sister is found. Theo has little choice but to go along with his scandalous demands. The last thing she wants is the powerful duke as her enemy, especially as he knows about her secret lady's club!Both are quick to deny the increasingly fiery attraction between them until temptation becomes irresistible and passion can no longer be denied...

Allegedly

Allegedly
Author: Tiffany D. Jackson
Publisher: HarperCollins
Total Pages: 219
Release: 2017-01-24
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
ISBN: 0062422669

4 starred reviews! Orange Is the New Black meets Walter Dean Myer’s Monster in this gritty, twisty, and haunting debut by Tiffany D. Jackson about a girl convicted of murder seeking the truth while surviving life in a group home. Mary B. Addison killed a baby. Allegedly. She didn’t say much in that first interview with detectives, and the media filled in the only blanks that mattered: a white baby had died while under the care of a churchgoing black woman and her nine-year-old daughter. The public convicted Mary and the jury made it official. But did she do it? There wasn’t a point to setting the record straight before, but now she’s got Ted—and their unborn child—to think about. When the state threatens to take her baby, Mary’s fate now lies in the hands of the one person she distrusts the most: her Momma. No one knows the real Momma. But does anyone know the real Mary?