A heartwarming story about childhood friends, broken lives, and a long ago promise that just might offer the hope of love for today. Years ago, the day before Ellie moved from Georgia to California, she and her best friend Nolan sat beneath the Spanish moss of an ancient oak tree where they wrote letters to each other, and sealed them in a rusty old metal box. The plan was to return eleven years later and read them. But now, as that date arrives, much has changed. Ellie, bereft of the faith she grew up with, is a single mom living in a tired apartment trying to make ends meet. Sometimes she watches television to catch a glimpse of her old friend -Nolan, now an NBA star, whose terrible personal tragedies fueled his faith and athletic drive in equal measure. But Nolan also suffers from a transcendent loneliness that nothing has ever eased. In their separate lives, as Ellie and Nolan move toward the possibility of a reunion at the oak tree, Kingsbury weaves a tale of heart-wrenching loss, the power of faith, and the wounds that only love can heal.

One of Cosmo's Best YA of 2022 A bighearted novel about falling in love, making a mess, and learning to let go, from Emma Lord, the New York Times bestselling author of the Reese Witherspoon YA Book Club pick You Have a Match. **An Indie Next Pick** Nothing will get in the way of Millie Price’s dream of becoming a Broadway star. Not her lovable but super introverted dad, who raised Millie alone since she was a baby. Not her drama club rival, Oliver, who is the very definition of Simmering Romantic Tension. And not her “Millie Moods,” the feelings of intense emotion that threaten to overwhelm. Millie needs an ally. And when an accidentally left-open browser brings Millie to her dad’s embarrassingly moody LiveJournal from 2003, Millie knows just what to do—find her mom. But how can you find a new part of your life and expect it to fit into your old one without leaving any marks? And why is it that when you go looking for the past, it somehow keeps bringing you back to what you’ve had all along? PRAISE FOR EMMA LORD: "Brimming with energy, rapid-fire banter, and affectionate theater references, this memorable Mamma Mia! retelling...thoughtfully pays homage while skillfully modernizing it for today’s readers." -Publishers Weekly (starred review) "Chock-full of musical theater references and humor, the novel includes high-stakes emotional drama that is balanced by supportive friendships and strong, deep family connections...An entertaining personal journey with plot twists galore." - Kirkus Reviews

Come back to a small town on the Oregon coast, in book 4 of the beloved Thunder Point series only from New York Times bestselling author Robyn Carr. With its breathtaking vistas and down-to-earth people, Thunder Point is the perfect place for FBI agent Laine Carrington to recuperate from a gunshot wound and contemplate her future. The locals embraced Laine as one of their own after she risked her life to save a young girl from a dangerous cult. Knowing her wounds go beyond the physical, Laine hopes she’ll fit in for a while and find her true self in a town that feels safe. She may even learn to open her heart to others, something an undercover agent has little time to indulge. Eric Gentry is also new to Thunder Point. Although he’s a man with a dark past, he’s determined to put down roots and get to know the daughter he only recently discovered. When Laine and Eric meet, their attraction is obvious to everyone. But while the law enforcement agent and the reformed criminal want to make things work, their differences may run too deep…unless they take a chance on each other and find that deep and mysterious bond that belongs to those who choose love over fear. Originally published in 2014

"Dr. Eldon Chance is a man primed for spectacular ruin. His wife has left him for a dyslexic fitness instructor, his teenaged daughter is disappearing into drugs; he owes the IRS untold sums; his neuro-psychiatry practice has been reduced to analyzing people with brain injuries on behalf of insurance companies. He drinks too much. His work is repetitive, disturbing, and devoid of emotional satisfaction. And things are about to get worse. Into Dr. Chance's blighted life walks Jaclyn Blackstone, the abused, attractive wife of an Oakland homicide detective, a violent and jealous man. To say that Chance is smitten is one thing, to say that he has no idea who he is really dealing with is quite another. Jaclyn appears to be suffering from an apparent dissociative identity disorder. In time, he will fall into bed with her--or it is with her alter ego, the voracious and volatile Jackie Black? The not-so-good doctor, despite his professional training, isn't quite sure--and thereby hangs his fascination with her. She unnerves him. He likes being unnerved. But when you get Jaclyn, you get her husband Raymond, a formidable and dangerous adversary. Meanwhile, Chance also meets a young man named "D," a self-styled Samurai and street-wise philosopher skilled in the art of the blade. It is around this trio of unique and dangerous individuals that long guarded secrets begin to unravel, obsessions grow in intensity, and the doctor's carefully arranged life comes to the brink of implosion. Amid San Francisco's fluid, ever-shifting fog, in the cool, gray city of love, Dr. Chance will at last be forced to live up to his name"--

A heartfelt middle-grade novel about a theater-loving girl who uses a wheelchair for mobility and her quest to defy expectations—and gravity—from Tony award–winning actress Ali Stroker and Stacy Davidowitz Thirteen-year-old Nat Beacon loves a lot of things: her dog Warbucks, her best friend Chloe, and competing on her wheelchair racing team, the Zoomers, to name a few. But there’s one thing she’s absolutely OBSESSED with: MUSICALS! From Hamilton to Les Mis, there’s not a cast album she hasn’t memorized and belted along to. She’s never actually been in a musical though, or even seen an actor who uses a wheelchair for mobility on stage. Would someone like Nat ever get cast? But when Nat’s family moves from California to New Jersey, Nat stumbles upon auditions for a kids’ production of Wicked, one of her favorite musicals ever! And she gets into the ensemble! The other cast members are super cool and inclusive (well, most of them)— especially Malik, the male lead and cutest boy Nat’s ever seen. But when things go awry a week before opening night, will Nat be able to cast her fears and insecurities aside and “Defy Gravity” in every sense of the song title?

In this innovative study, Crystal Sanders explores how working-class black women, in collaboration with the federal government, created the Child Development Group of Mississippi (CDGM) in 1965, a Head Start program that not only gave poor black children access to early childhood education but also provided black women with greater opportunities for political activism during a crucial time in the unfolding of the civil rights movement. Women who had previously worked as domestics and sharecroppers secured jobs through CDGM as teachers and support staff and earned higher wages. The availability of jobs independent of the local white power structure afforded these women the freedom to vote in elections and petition officials without fear of reprisal. But CDGM's success antagonized segregationists at both the local and state levels who eventually defunded it. Tracing the stories of the more than 2,500 women who staffed Mississippi's CDGM preschool centers, Sanders's book remembers women who went beyond teaching children their shapes and colors to challenge the state's closed political system and white supremacist ideology and offers a profound example for future community organizing in the South.

For Cris and Miguel, creating a family will take a little luck and lots of determination. A Chance is the engrossing, heartwarming story of their struggles and triumphs. The narrative follows Cristina Durán and Miguel Giner Bou as they rebuild and reinvent themselves after their daughter Laia is born with cerebral palsy. Hospitals, rehabilitation centers, and doctors become part of their daily routine. There is one chance in a thousand that Laia will pull through—and they hold on to that chance with tremendous strength and indomitable joy. Years later, with the same courage and determination, Cristina and Miguel embark on the arduous process of adopting their second daughter, Selam, from Ethiopia. This time, they face a long period of training, psychological tests, interviews, and formalities before they can even pack their bags. And when they return with Selam, the challenge of reinvention awaits them yet again.