Showing results for "free" in Coming of Age

Honest stories about friendship, pressure, and figuring yourself out without pretending. Growing up is messy, emotional, and confusing, especially when it feels like everyone else has it figured out. This collection of short stories meets girls right where they are, in the middle of friendship drama, quiet insecurity, overthinking, and small moments that feel huge. Not Another Cheesy Teen Book — Realistic, emotionally honest stories that feel true to life.

An unhappy girl who engages in self-harm, a woman ostracized by society, and an old woman looking to live out her twilight years in peace--what could three such different people have in common? That's what grade schooler Koyanagi Nanoka is trying to find out. Assigned by her teacher to define what "happiness" means to her, Nanoka sets out to get to know these three strangers--and through them, perhaps, to know herself too.

I’ve been listening to my father sing for my whole life. I carry him in my pocket on my MP3 player. It’s just that we’ve never met face to face. My mother would never tell me how I came to be, or why my rock star father and I have never met. I thought it was her only secret. I was wrong. When she dies, he finally appears. Suddenly I have a first-class ticket into my father’s exclusive world. A world I don’t want any part of - not at this cost. Only three things keep me going: my a cappella singing group, a swoony blue-eyed boy named Jake, and the burning questions in my soul.

Ryan wakes up to find his contractor dad building walls to turn their big old house into a duplex. The family that moves into the other side includes Bizzy Horvat, the pretty girl he has a crush on at school. Bizzy claims her mother is a witch with the power to curse people with clumsiness or, in Bizzy’s case, astonishing beauty. When a bee gets caught in Bizzy’s hair, Ryan acts so quickly and radically to save her from getting stung that he attracts the attention of a group of micropotents - people with micropowers.

My name is Adelaide Edington, and my life was mapped out for me before I even entered the world: who I'd date, where I’d attend college, what I'd be when I grew up. But there comes a time in everyone's life when they face a fork in the road. Should I go left, or should I go right? It didn't matter as long as I didn't remain stagnant any longer. Jett Stone opened me up to a whole new world, reminding me that it was okay to find my own way. I could have roots in Willow Springs and still spread my wings and fly. What I didn't expect was to fall in love with the broody football player.

It’s 2788 and only the "handicapped" live on Earth. Eighteen-year-old Jarra is among the one in a thousand people born with an immune system that cannot survive on other planets. Sent to Earth at birth to save her life, she has been abandoned by her parents. She can't travel to other worlds, but she can watch their vids, and she knows all the jokes they make. She's an ape, a throwback, but this is one ape girl who won't give in.

The heathland is in turmoil. In these four original stories from the heathland, you’ll meet new characters in the ongoing chronicles of the heathland and discover their personal sagas of loss and failure, of loyalty and triumph, born in the struggle for the heart and soul of the heathland. This volume contains three short stories and one novella. It is not a single novel and can be read or listened to at any time during the series.

Young wizards coming of age in a time of war... Will they be ready? Eynon was excited to leave his village and set off on his wander year. He’d turned sixteen today, and hoped for at least a few adventures. At high noon, he arrived a crossroads and saw a shimmer of silver in the mud. It was a thin and dirty oval, about the size of his palm. He washed it with squirts of water from his goatskin, then marveled at what was revealed.

High school student Ichika has a secret. She allows Riku, her childhood friend and crush, to explore his interest in cross-dressing by acting as his personal dress-up doll: a canvas upon which he can present his ideal of feminine beauty. One day, an unexpected kiss upends this arrangement, sending Ichika fleeing in a panic. What was she really hoping for in their private meetings–and what does Riku want, deep in his heart? And they're not the only students in their class who struggle with love and identity.

Five high school classmates hold secrets close to their hearts--hidden talents, unspoken feelings, and buried pain. As they collide with each other on the path to growing up, they might jostle some of those secrets free. From Yoru Sumino, acclaimed author of I Want to Eat Your Pancreas and I Had That Same Dream Again comes a gentle, intriguing tale about love, life, and the things we leave unsaid.

Every month, the great black dragon comes. Every month, a child is snatched. That's all the village of Kalma knows. Semra is one of those children, and she knows the truth: there is a dragonlord in the mountain, raising the children into his personal syndicate of assassins. When seventeen-year-old Semra learns they aren't fighting evil but are in fact evil themselves, she risks everything to expose the dragonlord.

Willow Covington has conquered every obstacle thrown at her to become one of the best figure skaters in the nation until a devastating injury shatters her Olympic dreams. She’ll do anything to get back on the ice, though, and if that means rehabbing while blocking shots and slapping a puck around, so be it. Coach says no dating, but that’s A-Okay with her anyway - she’s singularly focused on her goal. If only the team captain, Brodie Windom, wasn’t so infuriatingly hot as he shows her the ropes.

Raised among the ruins of a conquered mountain nation, Maren dreams only of sharing a quiet life with her girlfriend Kaia - until the day Kaia is abducted by the Aurati, prophetic agents of the emperor, and forced to join their ranks. Desperate to save her, Maren hatches a plan to steal one of the emperor's coveted dragons and storm the Aurati stronghold.

In 1932, Americans’ dreams were simple: a job, food to eat, a place to sleep, and shoes without holes. But for millions of people these simple needs were nothing more than dreams. When he was just 15 years old, Josh had to make his own way through a country of angry and frightened people. This is the story of his struggle to find a life for himself during those turbulent times.

Poppy Pullman has her life all planned out. Her social media is carefully curated. Her list of extracurriculars is flawless. All so she can achieve her ultimate goal: Stanford. Her best friends say she’s missing out. But Poppy’s playing a long game. And the morning of her Stanford alumni interview, she’s positive everything is going to work out. 

Ce premier tome d'une trilogie captivante qui se déroule sur fond de légende arthurienne est raconté du point de vue antagoniste, à travers les yeux de Morgane la fée.Depuis son plus jeune âge, Morgane a toujours été rebelle, aussi indomptable que la mer de Cornouailles qui déferle sur les falaises aux pieds du château de Tintagel, son château. Mais elle a aussi toujours été en sécurité. Jusqu’au jour où son père est appelé à la guerre ; il n’en reviendra pas. À sa place s’impose le Haut Roi, Uter Pendragon, le sorcier Merlin tapi dans son sillage.

Quand le père de la jeune Pollyanna Whittier décède, la petite fille est envoyée vivre chez sa tante Polly à Beldingsville, dans le Vermont. Mais autant Pollyanna est lumineuse et passionnée, autant sa tante hurle dès qu'une porte claque ou qu'une fenêtre reste ouverte. Cependant Pollyanna a été élevée en apprenant à voir toujours le bon côté des choses, grâce au jeu du bonheur. Peu importe que la situation soit dramatique, il est toujours possible de trouver matière à être heureux. Un dîner composé de pain et de lait dans la cuisine est accueilli avec ravissement.

Marley doesn't just want to be labeled The Gay Kid, but he doesn't have much else going on. He doesn't have any hobbies. Or interests. He's the only kid he knows without a passion...until Christopher comes to town. He's smart, cute, gay, and...the son of the country's most famous, most bigoted television evangelist. Marley and Christopher immediately spark - and become inseparable. For a month, it's heaven. Then Christopher's parents send him to a Pray Away the Gay program, which leads to even worse things.

Amelie Ayres has impeccable taste in music. Bowie. Bush. Bob. So when she finds herself backstage at The Keep’s only UK gig, she expects to hate it; after all, they are the world’s most tragic band. In fact, she feels a grudging respect - not (obviously) for their music, but for the work that goes into making them megastars. But the next morning she wakes up, rolls over, and discovers a million new mentions on social media. Overnight, a photo of her backstage has made her the subject of global speculation.

Napoléon revient sur ses 15 ans pour poser un regard à la fois sensible et amusé sur les évènements marquants qu’il a alors été appelé à vivre. Après avoir aperçu, au premier jour de la rentrée scolaire, celle de qui il tombe follement amoureux, Napoléon se lance dans une double quête : se rapprocher de cette fille tout en vainquant ce sentiment d’angoisse qui l’empêche de se réaliser pleinement.