Regina Jones, a 16-year old African American girl from Houston, Texas, that deals with many challenges in her life because of the poor, misguided directions of her mother, Deborah Jones. Her desire to be loved leads her to poor decisions that result in sex at an early age, teen pregnancy, and adhering to peer pressure that eventually leads to a criminal conviction! This eventually forces her mother Deborah to come clean about her past in hopes to preserve her daughter, Regina's future.

Black Butterfly is a short story of a journey towards truth and understanding as viewed from the flights of a butterfly. Filled with vivid imagery and poetic lilts, the searching spirit of the protagonist views her world with the thoughts and curiosity of a human being, allowing the reader to observe without prejudice. She travels the small corners of sometimes overlooked pain and need and interacts with animals, people and nature as she reaches for the understanding and the peace we all seek. Set in a lush landscape Butterfly explores understanding and acceptance.

Black Butterfly: A Journey through Life, Love, and Spirituality embraces original, factual emotions and thoughts, with a hint of literary flare. Black Butterfly, was written to encourage, uplift, enlighten, and motivate. And it does just that by use of life occurrences that test dedication to ourselves, loved ones, and more importantly, God. So Black Butterfly, is not only a book of poems, it is a book of inspiration a book of love and it is a book of hope. It encourages dreamers to dream, uplifts spirits to be spiritual, and heartens lovers to love. Black Butterfly, echoes self-love and self-nourishment, it's certain to quench thirsty minds, feed ravenous passions, and stimulate idle souls.

A triumphant memoir by the former editor-in-chief of French Elle that reveals an indomitable spirit and celebrates the liberating power of consciousness. In 1995, Jean-Dominique Bauby was the editor-in-chief of French Elle, the father of two young children, a 44-year-old man known and loved for his wit, his style, and his impassioned approach to life. By the end of the year he was also the victim of a rare kind of stroke to the brainstem. After 20 days in a coma, Bauby awoke into a body which had all but stopped working: only his left eye functioned, allowing him to see and, by blinking it, to make clear that his mind was unimpaired. Almost miraculously, he was soon able to express himself in the richest detail: dictating a word at a time, blinking to select each letter as the alphabet was recited to him slowly, over and over again. In the same way, he was able eventually to compose this extraordinary book. By turns wistful, mischievous, angry, and witty, Bauby bears witness to his determination to live as fully in his mind as he had been able to do in his body. He explains the joy, and deep sadness, of seeing his children and of hearing his aged father's voice on the phone. In magical sequences, he imagines traveling to other places and times and of lying next to the woman he loves. Fed only intravenously, he imagines preparing and tasting the full flavor of delectable dishes. Again and again he returns to an "inexhaustible reservoir of sensations," keeping in touch with himself and the life around him. Jean-Dominique Bauby died two days after the French publication of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. This book is a lasting testament to his life.

Penny is furious, and who can blame her? She has to spend Christmas break alone at the Black Butterfly, an old inn at the coldest, bleakest edge of America—the coast of Maine. This "vacation" is the brainchild of Penny's flaky mother, who's on the other side of the country hunting ghosts. Penny most definitely does not believe in spirits. Or love. Or family. Until, that is, she discovers two very real apparitions which only she can see…and meets George, the handsome son of the inn's owner…and crashes into some staggering family secrets. If only Ghost Girl didn't want Penny dead. If only George were the tiniest bit open to believing. If only she could tell her mother. Then maybe this could still be a vacation. But it's not. It's a race for her life, her first love, and her sanity. Shirley Reva Vernick is rapidly becoming the new hot item in young adult fiction. Her first novel, The Blood Lie, won the Simon Wiesenthal Children's Book Award, was silver medalist for the Sydney Taylor Book Award, and was an ALA 2012 Best Book for Young Adults. Her second novel, Remember Dippy—a feel good adventure about a fourteen-year-old boy shepherding his older autistic cousin through his summer vacation—was released in spring 2013 and won the Dolly Gray Literature Award from the Council For Exceptional Children. This time around, Shirley wanted to let loose with a page-turning coming-of-age romance mixed with ghosts and adventure. Shirley is the creator of the much visited storytelling website storybee.org. She lives in Amherst, Massachusetts.

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* "Villanueva's debut is a beautiful #ownvoices middle-grade novel. Tough topics are addressed, but warmth and humor... bring lightness to Sab's story. This immersive novel bursts with life." -- Kirkus Reviews, starred review When superstitious Sab sees a giant black butterfly, an omen of death, she knows that she's doomed! According to legend, she has one week before her fate catches up with her -- on her 11th birthday. With her time running out, all she wants is to celebrate her birthday with her entire family. But her sister, Ate Nadine, stopped speaking to their father one year ago, and Sab doesn't even know why.If Sab's going to get Ate Nadine and their father to reconcile, she'll have to overcome her fears -- of her sister's anger, of leaving the bubble of her sheltered community, of her upcoming doom -- and figure out the cause of their rift.So Sab and her best friend Pepper start spying on Nadine and digging into their family's past to determine why, exactly, Nadine won't speak to their father. But Sab's adventures across Manila reveal truths about her family more difficult -- and dangerous -- than she ever anticipated.Was the Butterfly right? Perhaps Sab is doomed after all!

Black Butterfly is a beautiful young lady who has the whole world ahead of her to explore. She was raised in a devout Christian home but forgets everything she was taught once she graduates from high school. In her efforts to find herself, she dances with the devil, tests fate and explores many things she never thought she would dare to do. Her quest leads her to the arms of many lovers, in very dark clubs, but will they lead her back to Christ? This book is full of many twists and turns that are sure to entice its readers from beginning to end.

Bob Savino's rebirth occurred in the spring of his 31st year, during one of the dark nadir's of his existence, when he cried out a desperate, last-ditch prayer to the farthest reaches of the sentient void. In response, he was instantaneously catapulted from the depths of despair to the heights of ecstasy. Transfixed by an all-encompassing laser beam of Invisible Light; suffused with a Cosmic Joy he could neither comprehend nor doubt, he hung suspended outside space, beyond time-breaking through to a Greater Reality which transcended both his life and his death. Since then, inspired by this unforeseeable yet overwhelming mystical experience, Bob has followed the spiraling path of his own individual vision quest. All his poetry and artwork, directly or indirectly, bears witness to, and celebrates, this everunfolding spiritual awakening. These poems all were inspired by a muse, a woman who is also my beloved soul friend. Her secret name is "Black Butterfly." I've known her for many years, but recently we've taken a transforming journey together, an odyssey of rebirth threading straight through the eye of the Cosmic Needle. Along every step of this exploration she's been both spiritual companion and creative muse. These poems are the fruit of our personal collaboration-our communion of souls. In my profoundest personal experience, the living muse is an avatar of Psyche, the feminine aspect of the soul. Our age urgently needs to rediscover this illuminating muse/artist connection at a new level of transparency and understanding. The soul exists It is each individual's innermost portal to Divinity, a conduit for the still, small, mysterious, ravishing, ecstatic murmur of the universe. Or maybe, it's just the barest flutter of a butterfly's wing...

Black Butterfly: Rebirth of a Beautiful Soul gives you an understanding of the life and mind of the author, Darren S. Hardaway Jr., which is expressed through the survival of Alexander Lee JR., a character the author created from his personal writings. Black Butterfly is the story of Alexander as he embarks on a spiritual journey from murder to excellence. The story shows how Alexander became the extraordinary man he grew to become from the world he grew up in, but his path stemmed from the travels of the author Darren S. Hardaway Jr.As you read this, utilize your imagination and the vision becomes clear. See it vividly through the eyes of Alexander Lee Jr. as he takes you on a voyage of Faith, Self-Belief, and Love.He is I and I am him!