Behind every closed door is a woman you may never truly know. . . Alison, Julie, Sarah, Heather. Four friends living the suburban ideal. Their jobs are steady, their kids thriving. But each of them is keeping a dangerous secret—and hidden behind the veneer of their perfect lives is a mystery that will consume them all. “Compulsively readable.”—O, The Oprah Magazine When Alison spots a nasty bruise on Heather’s wrist, she shares her suspicions with Julie and Sarah, compelling all three to investigate into their friend’s marriage. As mysterious injuries and erratic behavior mount, Heather can no longer deny the abuse—but she refuses to leave her husband. Desperate to save her, Alison and the others dread the phone call telling them that Heather is dead. “Twisty and compelling.” —Associated Press But the shocking call they get changes everything. In a moment they’ll come to regret, the women must decide what lengths they’ll go to in order to save a friend...and themselves. “Tense, bombshell-laden, and action-packed.” —Publishers Weekly

With a star that rose from unforgettable child acting roles, such as A. C. Slater in Saved by the Bell, to the forefront of today’s entertainment media, Mario Lopez is nothing short of a pop culture sensation. Now, as he turns forty, Mario looks back on his life with a newfound perspective and a humorous sensibility of how things have changed with age, divulging for the first time the endearing, surprising, and sometimes difficult experiences that shaped him into the loving father and husband he is today. In Just Between Us, Mario shares a behind-the-scenes look into his successes and disappointments in the entertainment business and how his tight-knit family and long-standing values helped keep him grounded, no matter what. With wit and candor, Mario reveals his most intimate never-before-told stories, including the details of his often tumultuous and largely public love life—giving readers a look at the ups and downs of his romantic past leading up to his happily-ever-after with his beautiful wife and their two children. This is Mario Lopez unfiltered, for the first time ever.

A photograph of two men, cowboy-hatted and -booted and discreetly holding hands, is the departure point in a groundbreaking study on masculinity and homosexuality in Mexico. Just Between Us, an ethnography of intimacy and affection between men, explores the concept of masculine identity and homoeroticism, expressing the difficulties men face in maintaining their masculinity while expressing intimacy and affection. Using fieldwork from rural Sonora, Mexico, Guillermo Núñez Noriega posits that men accept this intimacy outside gender categories and stereotypes, despite the traditional patriarchal society. This work contests homophobia and the heterosexual ideal of men and attempts to break down the barriers between genders. The photograph Núñez Noriega uses to explore the shifting attitudes and perceptions of sexuality and gender provokes more questions than answers. Recognizing the societal regulations at play, the author demonstrates the existence in contemporary Mexico of an invisible regime of power that constructs and regulates the field of possibilities for men’s social actions, especially acts of friendship, affection, and eroticism with other men. The work investigates “modes of speaking” about being a man, on being gay, on the implicit meanings of the words homosexual, masculine, trade, fairy, and others—words that construct possibilities for intimacy, particularly affective and erotic intimacy among men. Multiple variants of homoeroticism fall outside the dominant model, Núñez Noriega argues, a finding that offers many lessons on men and masculine identities. This book challenges patriarchal definitions of sex, gender, and identity; it promotes the unlearning of dominant conventions of masculinity to allow new ways of being.

In the Irish country town of Kinvara, the fabulous Miller girls are generally reckoned to have it all, but nothing in the lives of Rose and her daughters is as it seems. As plans are made for the party of the decade, the secret heartaches the four women have kept hidden begin to emerge.

Seventeen-year-old Luke Chesser is trying to forget his spectacular failure of a love life. He practices marching band moves for hours in the hot Texas sun, deals with his disapproving father, and slyly checks out the new band field tech, Curtis Cameron. Before long, Luke is falling harder than he knew he could. And this time, he intends to play it right. Since testing positive for HIV, Curtis has careened between numbness and fear. Too ashamed to tell anyone, Curtis can't possibly act on his feelings. And Luke--impulsive, funny, and more tempting than he realizes--won't take a hint. Even when Curtis distances himself it backfires, leaving him with no idea how to protect Luke from the truth. Confronting a sensitive topic with candor and aplomb, acclaimed author J. H. Trumble renders a modern love story as sweet, sharp, and messy as the real thing, where easy answers are elusive, and sometimes the only impossible thing is to walk away. Praise For J. H. Trumble's Don't Let Me Go "A sexy, vibrant, and heartfelt debut." --Martin Wilson, award-winning author of What They Always Tell Us "Deeply moving. . .will be appreciated by adults and teens alike." --Publishers Weekly, starred review "A charming story. Trumble's love for the characters is evident on every page, and it's contagious." --Robin Reardon, author of A Secret Edge

Empathetic, supportive and respectful... Or competitive, manipulative and downright bitchy?Or somewhere in between?In Just Between Us, a host of Australia's best-loved female writers bare all on this age-old quandary: Are female friendships all-natural and nurturing? Or are some more damaging than delightful? And most of all, what happens when female relationships go off the rails? And who is to blame? While falling in and out of romantic love is a well-documented experience, losing a friend rarely gets discussed. Which doesn't mean the pain is less - quite the opposite, as we discover in this extraordinary collection of heartfelt fiction and non-fiction works that put female friendship in the spotlight.Nikki Gemmell looks at the hardwiring that keeps us bonded in tightly knit packs, but makes us feel oh-so-claustrophic in mothers groups and at the school gate. Melina Marchetta reveals the peculiar shame of being overlooked for the high-status netball positions of Centre and Goal Attack. Liz Byrski conducts a forensic examination of her own friendship history, and finds some uncomfortable patterns. And Merridy Eastman pens a letter from Helena to Hermia from A Midsummer Night's Dream, which shines the light on one of literature's most famously dysfunctional female friendships.

“There are few things I love more than curling up with a Jenny B. Jones cast of characters. Save the Date was no exception.” —Kristin Billerbeck, author of The Theory of Happily Ever After The only thing scarier than living on the edge is stepping off it. Maggie Montgomery lives a life of adventure. Her job as a cinematographer takes her from one exotic locale to the next. When Maggie's not working, she loves to rappel off cliffs or go skydiving. Nothing frightens her. Nothing, that is, except Ivy, Texas, where a family emergency pulls her back home to a town full of bad memories, painful secrets, and people Maggie left far behind . . . for a reason. Forced to stay longer than she intended, Maggie finds her family a complete mess, including the niece her sister has abandoned. Ten-year-old Riley is struggling in school and out of control at home. The only person who can really handle the pint-sized troublemaker is Conner, the local vet and Ivy's most eligible bachelor. But Conner and Maggie keep butting heads—he’s suspicious of her and, well, she doesn't rely on anyone but herself. As Maggie humorously fumbles her way from one mishap to another, she realizes she's going to need to ask for help from the one person who scares her the most. To save one little girl—and herself—can Maggie let go of her fears and just trust God? “Jenny B. Jones strikes a perfect balance of quirkiness and vulnerability.” —Allison Pittman, author of Stealing Home “Jones’s sassy style is merely one of this romance novelist’s many endearing talents . . . Some subtle faith messages about trusting God despite painful pasts round out this fast-paced, lighthearted romantic escape.” —Publishers Weekly review of Save the Date