Enduring a hardscrabble existence as the children of alcoholic and absent parents, four siblings from a coastal Mississippi town prepare their meager stores for the arrival of Hurricane Katrina while struggling with such challenges as a teen pregnancy and a dying litter of prize pups.

The Twelfth Card is a two-day cat-and-mouse chase through the streets of uptown Manhattan as quadriplegic detective Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs try to outguess Thompson Boyd a man whose past has turned him into a killing machine as unfeeling and cunning as a wolf. Boyd is after Geneva Settle, a high school girl from Harlem, and it's up to Lincoln and Amelia to figure out why.

"Fifteen-year-old Amani Kendall's biggest problem is being the only plus-size Black girl at a white private school--until her house burns down and her family is unexpectedly on the run. Worse, her formerly boring mom is being pursued by an ex-boyfriend turned stalker and her scientist dad has gone MIA. Amani also has to navigate her new underfunded school in the city and suffer the cultural whiplash of being surrounded by other Black students, including...

"Gia doesn't have the hair or the clothes, but she's got the moves and the attitude to make her sophomore year at Longfellow High unforgettable. But not everyone agrees, so Gia decides it's time for a makeover. With her stylish new look, she scores a date with hottie football player, Romeo, snags a spot on the Hi-Steppers dance squad, and makes a ton of new friends.

"Sunday Tolliver is now the hottest singer-songwriter in the business-but too much personal drama is spinning her crazy-busy life totally out of control. Her boyfriend, Sam, won't discuss the online buzz pulling them apart, and Sunday is past done putting up with him. Her two best friends are way far gone over one irresistible boy and it's messing with their tight-knit group. And Sunday's jealous diva cousin, Dreya, will do anything to stop her own...

T. Greenwood's new novel is a powerful, haunting tale of enduring love, destructive secrets, and opportunities that arrive in disguise . . . In Two Rivers, Vermont, Harper Montgomery is living a life overshadowed by grief and guilt. Since the death of his wife, Betsy, twelve years earlier, Harper has narrowed his world to working at the local railroad and raising his daughter, Shelly, the best way he knows how. Still wracked with sorrow over the...

In Mississippi, fourteen-year-old Maddy Dangerfield has just impulsively drawn a naked woman on the pages of Genesis in bright red lipstick during Sunday service. The community is scandalized, and her devout, long-suffering mother's response is to force her to spend weekends nursing her Aunt Pip-an outcast who lives on the edge of town. Now Maddy moves between her own home-which she shares with her hard-working, Bible-reading mother and her drinking,...

Emmy Award winner Rita Coburn Whack's writing has been favorably compared to the work of Maya Angelou. In Meant to Be, Whack tells the story of a wise young woman named Patience who is about to embark upon a journey of the soul. When a traumatic incident causes Patience to lose sight of God's path, she must find a way to regain her spirituality and cross the bridge into womanhood. With a heartfelt dual narration, listeners will savor this tale of...