More Than Just a Pretty Face

More Than Just a Pretty Face
Author: Syed M. Masood
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Total Pages: 352
Release: 2020-08-04
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
ISBN: 0316492388

Perfect for fans of Becky Albertalli and Jenny Han, this sweetly funny coming-of-age story is about falling in love, family expectations, and being a Renaissance Man. Danyal Jilani doesn't lack confidence. He may not be the smartest guy in the room, but he's funny, gorgeous, and going to make a great chef one day. His father doesn't approve of his career choice, but that hardly matters. What does matter is the opinion of Danyal's longtime crush, the perfect-in-all-ways Kaval, and her family, who consider him a less than ideal arranged marriage prospect. When Danyal gets selected for Renaissance Man, a school-wide academic championship, it's the perfect opportunity to show everyone he's smarter than they think. He recruits the brilliant, totally-uninterested-in-him Bisma to help with the competition, but the more time Danyal spends with her...the more he learns from her...the more he cooks for her...the more he realizes that happiness may be staring him right in his pretty face. In this young adult debut full of depth and heart, author Syed M. Masood will have readers laughing, sighing, tearing up, and shouting "YES!" at the top of their lungs.

We Are All Constellations

We Are All Constellations
Author: Amy Beashel
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 346
Release: 2022-10-06
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
ISBN: 0861540662

'This poignant YA story of long-frozen grief and gradual self-discovery is slyly funny, romantic and filled with unlikely beauty.' The Guardian A heartbreaking but hope-filled tale about the stories we tell ourselves to survive... You are strong. You are brave. You are not alone. Seventeen-year-old Iris is happy. She's fearless, she's strong. She is everything but a girl who lost her mum. But Iris's dad and step-mum have been keeping a secret. One big enough to unravel her. Only the magnetic Órla can provide an escape, until things get...complicated. As Iris questions who she is, it becomes clear she can't run away from grief. What happens when someone who has never faced up to the darkness lets it in?

Everybody (Else) Is Perfect

Everybody (Else) Is Perfect
Author: Gabrielle Korn
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 272
Release: 2021-01-26
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1982127783

From the former editor-in-chief of Nylon comes a provocative and intimate collection of personal and cultural essays featuring eye-opening explorations of hot button topics for modern women, including internet feminism, impossible beauty standards in social media, shifting ideals about sexuality, and much more. Gabrielle Korn starts her professional life with all the right credentials. Prestigious college degree? Check. A loving, accepting family? Check. Instagram-worthy offices and a tight-knit group of friends? Check, check. Gabrielle’s life seems to reach the crescendo of perfect when she gets named the youngest editor-in-chief in the history of one of fashion’s most influential publication. Suddenly she’s invited to the world’s most epic parties, comped beautiful clothes and shoes from trendy designers, and asked to weigh in on everything from gay rights to lip gloss on one of the most influential digital platforms. But behind the scenes, things are far from perfect. In fact, just a few months before landing her dream job, Gabrielle’s health and wellbeing are on the line, and her promotion to editor-in-chief becomes the ultimate test of strength. In this collection of inspirational and searing essays, Gabrielle reveals exactly what it’s truly like in the fashion world, trying to find love as a young lesbian in New York City, battling with anorexia, and trying not to lose herself in a mirage of women’s empowerment and Instagram perfection. Through deeply personal essays, Gabrielle recounts her struggles to reconcile her long-held insecurities about her body while coming out in the era of The L Word, where swoon-worthy lesbians are portrayed as skinny, fashion-perfect, and power-hungry. She takes us with her everywhere from New York Fashion Week to the doctor’s office, revealing that the forces that try to keep women small are more pervasive than anyone wants to admit, especially in a world that’s been newly branded as woke. From #MeToo to commercialized body positivity, Korn’s biting, darkly funny analysis turns feminist commentary on its head. Both an in-your-face take on impossible beauty standards and entrenched media ideals and an inspiring call for personal authenticity, this powerful collection is ideal for fans of Roxane Gay and Rebecca Solnit.

Girl Rebuilt

Girl Rebuilt
Author: Tracy Shields
Publisher: Bookbaby
Total Pages: 326
Release: 2020-08-08
Genre:
ISBN: 9781098313845

You're miserable, in pain, frustrated. He says he loves you, but he's never available. Wtf? No matter what you do, no matter how successful you are, you can't seem to break the pattern of dating unavailable, avoidant guys, and you're sick of it. "Girl Rebuilt" is designed for women who are seeking to avoid dating those partners. It requires asking yourself a tough question: could you be a love addict? Tracy Shields is the bestie you need to talk it out with. She offers up fresh, intense insight on how to reconfigure your defense mechanisms, ditch your fears of abandonment, and become the person you need to be to experience healthy love.

What’s Your Vibe?

What’s Your Vibe?
Author: Craig David
Publisher: Random House
Total Pages: 179
Release: 2022-10-06
Genre: Self-Help
ISBN: 1473593115

*** I'm still learning, still making mistakes, but I feel ready now - after a lot of twists and turns along the way - to share my journey with you. In his much-anticipated first book, celebrated singer-songwriter Craig David takes us on a journey of connecting, disconnecting and reconnecting, weaving together stories of his life and music - starting with his early days in Southampton working with The Artful Dodger, to his overnight chart-topping success, through to the present day, and everything in between. This is Craig as we've never seen him before - the always-positive showman, baring his soul for the first time. From physical pain, lost love, public humiliation and depression, Craig takes us past his comfort zone, in a raw, honest and courageous account of his own lived experience. In opening up about how he overcame these obstacles, Craig shares his insight and provides practical advice that will help us to navigate the daily challenges we all face. This is Craig's story of how he learned to tune into his best life.

Redeemed

Redeemed
Author: Liv Rancourt
Publisher: Liv Rancourt
Total Pages: 258
Release: 2022-04-20
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1736852051

Trajan has been given one command: kill Connor. Connor has only one objective: stay alive. David has a single desire: save them both. When Connor crosses Trajan’s maker, the results are deadly. Trajan is instructed to kill his lover, and it’s impossible for a vampire to disobey the one who made him. Impossible. The lovers are on the run, relying on their unique skills to survive. Connor has the authority of the Elites and David possesses the power of an alpha wolf. And Trajan? He’s got his vampire heritage…if he can figure out how to use it. He needs to work quickly, though, or his life – and Connor’s – will be forfeit.

Something to Live For

Something to Live For
Author: Garrett S. L. King Jr.
Publisher: Xlibris Corporation
Total Pages: 122
Release: 2011-03-10
Genre: Poetry
ISBN: 1456880942

The literary contents of Something to Live For’s 122 pages consist of a variety of works by a single author that includes poems, short stories, and a small bio. Positioned towards the middle of the book are the meaningful twenty-one poems with several of them having the ability to touch any reader’s heart. Starting off is the poem, Remember Me?, a simple dedication to LaTasha Harlins, a young African-American teen killed during the post-L.A. riots of the early 90’s; another memorable poem would be, The Rent is Too Damn High, the humorous poetic play on the phrase by Jimmy McMillan III, the political activist and Vietnam War veteran in Brooklyn, New York. The short stories have the same purpose as the poems, and that is to entertain, enlighten, and provoke thought but they are longer! Beginning after the bio and completing the end of the book are the ‘meat and potatoes’, the eighteen imagination capturing short stories that are quite moving at times and are sure to stay in one’s mind. Each story has its own character overcoming circumstances and situations to prevail and inspire. LaTasha’s Song is another dedication to the slain Ms. Harlins of Los Angeles, it shows the family struggle of a teen girl with the ability to sing and trying to keep herself together along with school and family life through music; in Baby Girl, another inspiring story of a teen girl dealing with having a baby and getting married at an early age; and with Lawson’s Rule, there is the tale of an African-American governor taking matters into her own hands after her city explodes into violence during her election term. Overall, Something to Live For is an exceptional work of fiction that has the capability to become a classic over time and there is the possibility of several short stories having the potential to be transformed into novels by themselves or into short films if scripted properly.

Sweet and Vicious

Sweet and Vicious
Author: David Schickler
Publisher: Dial Press
Total Pages: 215
Release: 2004-08-31
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0440242320

“Fascinating and hilarious,” “relentlessly clever,” and “truly haunting” are all phrases that have been used to describe David Schickler’s unique talent. And all apply to this brash, brilliant novel featuring two of the most memorable characters in contemporary fiction: Grace McGlone and Henry Dante. Sexy and willful, Grace McGlone is saving herself for the right man. When Henry Dante pulls into the small Wisconsin town where she works at the car wash, she instantly knows he’s the one. He knows it too. But when Grace discovers Henry has “The Planets”—a stolen set of famous Spanish diamonds—stashed in the back seat of his truck, she’s having none of it. She’s “trying for heaven,” and the ill-gotten jewels must go. And so they do, in a race across the American landscape from Chicago to Yellowstone, purusued by a savage gangster obsessed by the diamonds he thought were his. Passionate, criminal, comical, and possessing all the dark enchantment of a fairy tale, Sweet and Vicious is a modern love story shot straight from the heart of David Schickler’s miraculous imagination.

My Breaking Point

My Breaking Point
Author: Tarah Camille Kingford
Publisher: Lulu.com
Total Pages: 240
Release: 2006-02-26
Genre: Family & Relationships
ISBN: 1411680758

Mimi isn't far from her Southern hometown in Tennessee going to college in Mississppi. She was a good girl, made straight A's, and studied all the time, but when it came time for her Senior year this girl went wild. When she finally reached her breaking point, it felt as though a knife was piercing through her heart. She didn't know what to do but to write her experiences on paper. Travel with Mimi in her college experience of becoming a wild girl to her finally walking away from her Alma Mata of Bricklawn with her head high on her shoulders. Though, she still has to find love somewhere, and I'm sure she has a lot more books ahead of her in the near future. So, be on the lookout! Explicit Language ! Mature Audiences only!

An Experiment in Leisure

An Experiment in Leisure
Author: Anna Glendenning
Publisher: Random House
Total Pages: 252
Release: 2021-06-03
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1473582385

'I adore this book! ... An Experiment in Leisure shows us the burning, intense, messy beauty of youth and what it means to be alive' Maxine Peake 'Can I get a refund?' I asked the bus driver. 'You taking the piss, love?' It's the eve of Brexit, and Grace is supposed to have what she wants. She's swapped West Yorkshire for north London, her accent carefully edited. Her friends drink beer out of artful tins. She makes flat whites for people with berets. She's found a psychoanalyst. But this fantasy of metropolitan cool is turning out to be more costly than she thought and Grace faces complicated crises of identity, class, sexuality and geography. Can she remember how to love? Can she find a way home? 'A dizzying yet powerful read' Claire-Louise Bennett, author of Checkout 19