Adult

Nina is a struggling writer, a college drop-out, a liar and a cheater. More than anything, she wants love. She deserves it. From the burned-out suburbs of Florida to the anonymous squalor of New York City, she eats through an incestuous cast of characters in search of it: her mother, a narcissistic lesbian living in a nudist polycule; Odessa, a single mom with even worse taste in men than Nina; Seth, an artist whose latest show is comprised of three Tupperware containers full of trash; Brian, whose roller-coaster affair with Nina is the most stable “relationship” in his life; and Aaron, an aspiring filmmaker living at home with his parents, with whom Nina begins to write her magnum opus.

The town of Bentley holds two things dear: its football and its secrets. When star quarterback Dylan Whitley goes missing, fear grips this remote corner of Texas. Dylan’s brother, Joel, a gay man with secrets of his own, is convinced there is more to the disappearance than meets the eye, as does Sheriff’s Deputy Starsha Clark. But their search for answers will bring them to the dark truth behind an urban legend whispered about in the locker rooms and bleachers of this All-American town: The Bright Lands.

Nina and Marie were best friends --- until Nina was diagnosed with a terminal illness. Before she died, Nina asked Marie to fulfill her final wishes. But her mistake was in thinking Marie was someone she could trust. What Nina didn’t know was that Marie always wanted her beautiful life, and that Marie has an agenda of her own. She’ll do anything to get what she wants. Marie thinks she can keep her promise to her friend’s family on her own terms. But what she doesn’t know is that Nina was hiding explosive secrets of her own.

Excel knows that his family is far from normal. His mother, Maxima, was once a Filipina B-movie action star who now makes her living scamming men online. The old man they live with is Maxima’s lifelong martial arts trainer. And years ago, on Excel’s 10th birthday, Maxima revealed a secret that he must keep forever: he is undocumented, and one accidental slip could uproot his entire life. Excel joins his girlfriend, Sab, on a journey south to a ramshackle desert town called Hello City, which offers him a chance to forge his own path for the first time. But after so many years of trying to be invisible, who does he want to become? And is it possible to put down roots in a country that has always considered you an outsider?

After a rage-inducing scandal and the realization that her dreamy fiancé is faker than a faux Fendi purse, Victoria Bryant moves her psychology practice and 10-year-old daughter, Rachel, to Mayfair Close, an idyllic Westchester, NY, suburb. At first, she manages to balance the demands of her practice, single parenthood, and her budding romance with Jim, a handsome school administrator. All seems well until Rachel is suddenly targeted --- first by the girls at school and then by an anonymous cyberbully. As Rachel spirals, becoming isolated, playing hooky, and exhibiting signs of depression and disordered eating, Victoria vows to find out who has been messing with her daughter.

It is the morning of the reaping that will kick off the 10th annual Hunger Games. In the Capitol, 18-year-old Coriolanus Snow is preparing for his one shot at glory as a mentor in the Games. The once-mighty house of Snow has fallen on hard times, its fate hanging on the slender chance that Coriolanus will be able to outcharm, outwit and outmaneuver his fellow students to mentor the winning tribute. The odds are against him. He’s been given the humiliating assignment of mentoring the female tribute from District 12, the lowest of the low. Their fates are now completely intertwined --- every choice Coriolanus makes could lead to favor or failure, triumph or ruin. Inside the arena, it will be a fight to the death. Outside the arena, Coriolanus starts to feel for his doomed tribute...and must weigh his need to follow the rules against his desire to survive no matter what it takes.

On a hot day in Bethlehem, a 12-year-old Palestinian-American girl is yelled at by a group of men outside the Church of the Nativity. She has exposed her legs in a biblical city, an act they deem forbidden, and their judgment will echo on through her adolescence. When our narrator finally admits to her mother that she is queer, her mother’s response only intensifies a sense of shame: “You exist too much,” she tells her daughter. Told in vignettes that flash between the U.S. and the Middle East --- from New York to Jordan, Lebanon and Palestine --- Zaina Arafat’s debut novel traces her protagonist’s progress from blushing teen to sought-after DJ and aspiring writer.

Twelve years ago, Jessica Williams escaped a cult. Thanks to the private detective who rescued her, she reintegrated into society, endured an uncomfortable notoriety, and tried to put it all behind her. Then, at an airport bar, Jessica meets a woman with an identical name and birth date. It appears to be just an odd coincidence --- until a week later, when Jessica finds her bank account drained and her personal information stolen. Following a trail of the grifter’s victims, each with the same name, Jessica gathers players --- one by one --- for her own game. According to her plan, they’ll set a trap and wait for the impostor to strike again. But plans can go awry, and trust can fray, and as Jessica tries to escape the shadows of her childhood, the risks are greater than she imagined.

While on vacation in Barcelona, Jack Ryan, Jr. is surprised to run into Renee Moore, an old friend, at a small café. After making plans to meet later, Jack leaves, and the café is destroyed by a suicide bomber. A desperate Jack plunges back into the ruins to save his friend, but it's too late. As she dies in his arms, she utters one word: "Sammler." When the police show up, they are initially suspicious of Jack until they are called off by a member of the Spanish Intelligence Service. This mysterious sequence of events sends the young Campus operative on an unrelenting search to find out the reason behind Renee's death. Along the way, he discovers that his old friend had secrets of her own --- and some of them may have gotten her killed.