Showing results by publisher "W. F. Howes Ltd" in Coming of Age

When Michael is uprooted to his mum’s hometown of Belfast, he isn’t just hoping for a fresh start. He’s determined to discover the truth about his dad’s mysterious absence. But from the moment he arrives, he’s plagued with visions of the city’s troubled past. Michael begins settling into his new life and even meets a boy who helps erase the painful memories of his ex. But as the visions grow stronger and more intense, the only person he can really confide in is his new friend Meg.

Sixteen-year-old Starr lives in two worlds: the poor neighbourhood where she was born and raised and her posh high school in the suburbs. The uneasy balance between them is shattered when Starr is the only witness to the fatal shooting of her unarmed best friend, Khalil, by a police officer. Now what Starr says could destroy her community. It could also get her killed.

Margo is on a train to a new boarding school when she slips into another dimension, passing from the height of Irish summer into the chill of an alien winter, from a 24-hour day to one that begins and ends in just six hours. From a stranger on the train–a travelling salesman by the name of Moon–she learns that New Davia is part of a world scarred by uprisings, travel bans, and world sealings. Power is determined by time–who has it, who doesn’t, and who has the freedom to travel between time zones.

Meet Finlay. He's studying for his nursing degree at Glasgow University, against all the odds. But coming straight from care means he has no support network. How can he write essays, find paid work, and NOT fall for the beautiful boy at uni, when he's struggling to even feed himself?

Everyone wants a piece of the Drew Schafer, the talented and troubled lead singer of up-and-coming band The Kerbs. Only his girlfriend Ruby knows the real Drew–the gentle, vulnerable boy beneath the stardust. But no one else even knows that Ruby exists...

Fifteen-year-old Tyler's teenage angst turns to outright rebellion when his family leaves London for a new life in Yorkshire. He's angry with his parents about the upheaval and furious at losing his home. With only the dog to confide in, Tyler has no idea that a chance meeting with a skinny girl called Spider will lead him into a world he never even knew existed. Spider is sofa surfing, and Tyler finds himself spinning a tangled web of lies in his efforts to help her escape her world of fear and insecurity. 

Perfect Mexican daughters do not go away to college. And they do not move out of their parents' house after high school graduation. Perfect Mexican daughters never abandon their family. But Julia is not your perfect Mexican daughter. That was her sister Olga's role. Then a tragic accident on the busiest street in Chicago leaves Olga dead and Julia left behind to reassemble the shattered pieces of her family. And no one seems to acknowledge that Julia is broken, too. 

It has been two weeks, and now Ruby is totally alone. People weren’t prepared for the rain, got caught out in it, didn’t realise that you couldn’t drink water from the taps either. Even a drip of rain would infect your blood and eat you from the inside out. Ruby sets off on a journey that will take her the length of the country – surviving in the only way she knows how.

Mati's family is reeling from the death of Mati's mother. Her Baba has drawn into himself, her sister Chichi is rebelling, and her young brother Tana is desperate for love and normalcy. When Chichi pulls her worst stunt yet, Baba uproots the family from their home in England for an extended camping holiday in their native Zimbabwe. Along for the trip is Meticais, a fabulously attired gender-neutral spirit--or ghost? or imaginary friend?—who only Mati can see and converse with.

Lily Rose is used to people paying attention to her gorgeous twin sister, Daisy. But even though Lily loves her own fat body, she can't shake the idea that no one would ever choose her over Daisy–not when they could have the thin twin. That is, until she meets Cal, the gorgeous, sweet guy from New Zealand who can't seem to stay away. The gorgeous, sweet guy who also happens to be Daisy's summer crush.

Periods, sex and online shaming. An extraordinary verse novel from a bold new voice in YA fiction. During astronomy-lover Frankie's first sexual experience with the quiet and lovely Benjamin, she gets her period. It's only blood, they agree. But soon a graphic meme goes viral, turning their fun, intimate afternoon into something disgusting, mortifying and damaging. As the online shaming takes on a horrifying life of its own, Frankie begins to wonder: is her real life over? 

Zhilan was assigned female at birth. Despite a gift for illusions, they know they are destined to live out their life within the confines of the women’s quarter. But when civil war sets the empire aflame, Zhilan is determined save their disabled father from the battlefield. By taking his place. Surviving brutal army training as a boy - Zhi - is only the first challenge. In the glittering court of the Land of Dragons, love and betrayal are two sides of the same smile, and soon the fate of a nation rests on Zhi’s shoulders. 

Kalothia has grown up in the shadows of her kingdom, hidden away in the forested East after her parents were outed as enemies of the king. Raised in a woodland idyll by a few kindly adult caretakers, Kalothia can hunt and fish and fend for herself but knows little of the outside world. When assassins attack her home on her sixteenth birthday, she must flee to the king's court in the West—a beautiful but lethal nest of poison, plots, and danger, overseen by an entrenched patriarchy. Guided by the Goddess herself, can Kalothia navigate this most worldly of places to find her own role?

In this malignant world, two boys struggle to succeed. Kitt, who is suffering from Midas-fingers and turns whatever he touches to gold with dangerous consequences, and Os, a young doctor who has an unusual ability–to read the feelings of others. Unless the boys can work together, a toxic disaster will end it all. A stunning teen urban fantasy set five years after the events of the original and critically-acclaimed Once Upon a Fever.

Nineteen-year-old Elisabeth can finally breathe. Her cosy cabin is quiet. Isolated. Safe. She is determined to be alone–far away from everyone she knows and the memories that haunt her. When a snowstorm plunges the town into darkness, Elisabeth reluctantly accepts help from Noah, the town’s young sheriff. As the two grow close, Elisabeth begins to realise that she can’t stay hidden forever; embracing the dark might be the only way to let the light in.