Lauren Fortgang

Orphaned by the Border Wars, Alina Starkov is taken from obscurity and her only friend, Mal, to become the protegé of the mysterious Darkling, who trains her to join the magical elite in the belief that she is the Sun Summoner, who can destroy the monsters of the Fold.

Each day we face a barrage of images and messages from society and the media telling us who, what, and how we should be. We are led to believe that if we could only look perfect and lead perfect lives, we'd no longer feel inadequate. So most of us perform, please, and perfect, all the while thinking, What if I can't keep all of these balls in the air? Why isn't everyone else working harder and living up to my expectations? What will people think if...

"Desperado Detectives--aka Mo Lo Beau and her best friend Dale, along with newly-appointed intern, Harm Crenshaw--must take on a new case when Dale's daddy goes on the lam just before his trial is about to start"--

"A delicious twist on a Gothic classic, Rachel Hawkins's The Wife Upstairs pairs Southern charm with atmospheric domestic suspense, perfect for fans of B.A. Paris and Megan Miranda. Meet Jane. Newly arrived to Birmingham, Alabama, Jane is a broke dog-walker in Thornfield Estates--a gated community full of McMansions, shiny SUVs, and bored housewives. The kind of place where no one will notice if Jane lifts the discarded tchotchkes and jewelry off...

Researcher, thought leader, and New York Times bestselling author Brené Brown offers a liberating study on the importance of our imperfections—both to our relationships and to our own sense of self

The quest for perfection is exhausting and unrelenting. There is a constant barrage of social expectations that teach us that being imperfect is synonymous with being inadequate. Everywhere we turn, there are messages that...

How far will you go to achieve a dream? That's the question a celebrated coach poses to Katie and Eric Knox after he sees their daughter Devon, a gymnastics prodigy and Olympic hopeful, compete. For the Knoxes there are no limits--until a violent death rocks their close-knit gymnastics community and everything they have worked so hard for is suddenly at risk. As rumors swirl among the other parents, Katie tries frantically to hold her family together...

A rumor that Blackbeard's buried treasure is somewhere near Tupelo Landing causes pirate fever to sweep through the town just as clues about Mo's Upstream Mother surface and the Desperado Detectives--aka sixth grader Mo LoBeau and her best friends Dale and Harm --take on the most important case of Mo's life.

"When Rainy reluctantly agrees to a girls' weekend in Vegas, she's prepared for an exhausting parade of shots and slot machines. But after a wild night, her friend Braithe doesn't come back to the hotel room. And then Rainy gets the text message, sent from Braithe's phone: someone has her. But Rainy is who they really want, and Rainy knows why. What follows is a twisted, shocking journey on the knife-edge of life and death. If she wants to save Braithe--and...

An off-kilter narrator witnesses the slow unraveling of a couple's strained marriage that erupts in unexpected ways, in a chilling tale of domestic suspense.

Fifth-grader Winnie, with notes from her friends, writes of turning her treehouse into an embassy after her newly-divorced parents become unreasonable, where she is joined by nine others with complaints.