Looking back on that day, December 16, 2012, I wish I would have enjoyed it more. If wishes were fishes, right? Everything was so simple then. If I had known my whole world was about to spiral out of control, I would have called in sick to work and slept the afternoon away. Nineteen-year-old Abigail Thornton's family means everything to her. Her quarreling brother and sister, her ailing father, and her overbearing mother matter more to Abigail than anything in the world. That is until one fateful December day changes her life forever. Betrayal and death sweep through her family and life as she knows it will never be the same. Abi is drawn into a battle waged for eternities between the Arkos and the Scrios. Abigail is the Arkos' Chosen Soldier and with the help of Harrison, her Guardian, she fights the ultimate battle to save the souls of mankind. Abigail's sister, Josephine, falls in with the Scrios, the enemy bent on destroying the world. If Abigail succeeds in her mission, she must battle her sister and leave what's left of her family forever. Should she fail, she will cease to exist, and the world will fall into an irreversible darkness. In the midst of chaos, she finds a love truer than she's ever known and the courage to defy those whose only mission is to destroy her. But will it be enough? Will she be able to save the world from a terrible fate? How will Abigail be able to fight a sister who she once loved? Join Abigail as she finds her way in Josephine Lost!

Revealing the roots of Johnnie Wise's family tree, the author takes readers to Nigeria where a beautiful sixteen-year-old girl, preparing to marry a much older man, escapes with her young lover on the night before the arranged marriage is to take place on a Dutch slave ship bound for America where she becomes Josephine Baptiste.

A summer romp full of mystery, new friends, and maybe a mermaid! Eleven-year-old Anthoni Gillis is not the kind of kid who believes in fairies, unicorns, or even the word “maybe.” She’s more of a comic-books girl. So when her mom brings her to Thunder Lake for a summer at the Showboat Resort, she doesn’t believe the local rumors about the Boulay Mermaid. Anthoni has bigger fish to fry. She’s always wanted a True Blue Friend. But it’s been hard to find one, since for the past five years she’s been bouncing from town to town, helping her mother sell Beauty & the Bee cosmetic products to keep them both afloat. This summer will be different, though. Anthoni has a plan—a foolproof checklist for making lifelong friends! There won’t be any maybes this time. But as she grows entangled in local gossip, and her mother stretches the truth, Anthoni must decide if she’ll “stick to the plan,” like always, or dive into a summer full of extraordinary possibilities. Josephine Cameron’s energetic and heartfelt debut raises timeless questions about truth, lies, and the hope that grows between them.

Even though her family moved across the country for a “fresh start” after her little brother’s death, eleven-year-old Zinnia Helinski still feels like she’s stuck waiting for her new life to begin. Then she spots her new neighbor, Kris, climbing down the fire escape of their apartment building. He’s wearing a black eye mask! And Spandex leggings. . . . And a blue body suit? Soon Zinnia finds herself in a secret club for kids who want to be heroes. The Reality Shifters don’t have superpowers, but they do have the power to make positive change in their neighborhoods. And a change is just what Zinnia is looking for! At first, she feels invincible. Zinnia finally has friends and is on the kind of real-life adventures her little brother, Wally, would have loved. But when her teammates lose sight of their goals, Zinnia must find the balance between bravery and recklessness, and learn to be a hero without her cape.

Twelve-year-old Josephine Russing lives alone with her father. Mr. Russing is a distant, cold man best known for his insistence that every member of their town wear gloves at all times, just as he does--even at home--and just as he forces his daughter to do as well. Then one day Josephine meets a boy named Fargus. But when she tries to follow him, he mysteriously disappears and Josephine finds herself in another world called Gulm. Gulm is ruled by the "Master," a terrifying villain who has taken all the children of Gulm. With Fargus by her side, and joined by Fargus's friend Ida, Josephine must try to find her way home. As the trio attempt to evade the Master, they encounter numerous adventures and discover the surprising truth about the land of Gulm, and Josephine's own life back home.

In Utah in 1963, twelve-year-old Joseph Martin falls into an abandoned mine, discovers a mysterious, long-lost treasure, and is transported to 1846 on an adventure involving pirates, cannibals, and a Ute princess.

Josephine Cameron's A Dog-Friendly Town is a delightful middle-grade cozy caper sure to excite dog-lovers and gentle mystery readers alike! Twelve-year-old Epic McDade isn't ready for middle school. He'd rather help out at his family's dog-friendly bed n' breakfast all summer, or return to his alternative elementary school in the fall, where learning feels safe. But change comes in all shapes and fur colors. When Carmelito, California is named America's #1 Dog-Friendly Town, all the top dogs and their owners pour into Epic's sleepy seaside neighborhood for a week of celebration. The McDades are in dog heaven with all the new business until a famous dog's jewel-encrusted collar goes missing. Every guest is a suspect, and Epic will have to embrace new friends and new ideas to sniff out the culprit before the week is through.

Passion intertwines with fate in this riveting and historically rich novel about the journey of a woman from poverty to ultimate power in Revolution-era France. In this first of three books inspired by the life of Josephine Bonaparte, Sandra Gulland has created a novel of immense and magical proportions. We meet Josephine in the exotic and lush Martinico, where an old island woman predicts that one day she will be queen. The journey from the remote village of her birth to the height of European elegance is long, but Josephine's fortune proves to be true. By way of fictionalized diary entries, we traverse her early years as she marries her one true love, bears his children, and is left betrayed, widowed, and penniless. It is Josephine's extraordinary charm, cunning, and will to survive that catapults her to the heart of society, where she meets Napoleon, whose destiny will prove to be irrevocably intertwined with hers.