In a single night—graduation night—Thomas has to decide: do what everyone has always expected of him, or forge an entirely new path? Bryan Bliss’s absorbing examination of one boy struggling with expectations and realities will appeal to readers of Sara Zarr and Chris Crutcher. Thomas is supposed to leave for the Army in the morning. His father was Army. His brother, Jake, is Army—is a hero, even, with the medals to prove it. Everyone expects Thomas to follow in that fine tradition. But Jake came back from overseas a completely different person, and that has shaken Thomas’s certainty about his own future. And so when his long-estranged friend Mallory suggests one last night of adventure, Thomas takes her up on the distraction. Over the course of this single night, Thomas will lose, find, resolve, doubt, drive, explore, and leap off a bridge. He’ll also face the truth of his brother’s post-traumatic stress disorder and of his own courage. In Bryan Bliss’s deft hands, graduation night becomes a night to find yourself, to find each other, to find a path, and to know that you always have a place—and people—to come back to.

In easy-to-understand language, meet Me here shares three step-by-step Bible-reading approaches that will help you know how to better read, understand, and apply God's word. meet Me here will help you: -Enjoy reading the Bible more -Understand the true meaning of a passage -Connect with God through his word -Become consistent in your devotional time with God Features of this book include: -Three simple, step-by-step Bible reading methods to know and experience God -Journaling activities at the end of each chapter -Bible-reading quick reference guides -a forty-day devotional kickstart program This study is designed for the person, church, or the hands-on ministry student who desires to understand the meaning of a passage for themselves. Additionally, Kim-Christine emphasizes the Holy Spirit's role in reading the Bible. Ultimately, meet Me here will help you read the Bible in a way that will transform your life! You can also find training or book a workshop at www.kim-christine.com.

Poetry. Women's Studies. Eroticism tinged with elegy, gratitude knit with doubt; MEET ME HERE AT DAWN contains an unmistakably open voice. Sophie Klahr's debut poetry collection careens from hunger to hunger. With lyric energy and narrative determination, the poems are missives sent back from a threshold, chronicling disease, the unspoken pains of family, the fabric of an extra-marital affair. "What aperture makes a woman?" Klahr asks in "One Slaughter." In MEET ME HERE AT DAWN, even the unanswerable is unfaltering, every question brightly wrought and necessary. "Sophie Klahr moves through the chambers of the mind and heart like an expert escape artist, keys hidden in the body's coverts are revealed in a 'rush of knowing, ' the body's 'first breaking and entering' that feels both clandestine and disclosive. This is poetry of immense vulnerability and fierce mettle; determined, convincing and heroically alive with courage of every kind."--D.A. Powell

For most 19-year-olds, a cross-country trip is an offer you can't refuse, but for Marly, it's the last thing she wants after losing both her parents in a car accident. Nine months after their death, Marly would rather stay home working the retail job she hates, than deal with her loss. It isn't until family and friends corner her into driving her mom's renovated 1978 VW bus from Washington to New Hampshire that Marly is forced to face her grief and understand the guilt she feels over her parents' death. Skeptical, Marly goes on the trip, warily exploring the life her parents knew she always wanted-hiking mountains and living out her photography dreams. On the way, she'll discover places and people who'll test her emotions and a guy who pushes at the walls she's so carefully built around herself. Marly must decide: can she face her deepest wounds and reclaim the life she thought was gone forever? Meet Me at the Summit is an intimate tale of grief, finding yourself after deep loss, and coming to terms with how life changes when you least expect it. It follows Marly as she both runs from and towards the emotions she has long held back regarding her parents' death. A deep, insightful look into the coming-of-age theme through a heart-breaking narrative.

Marin Cole has never: Seen the ocean Climbed a mountain Taken a risk on love ....But if her sister's plan works, she just might do all three. Ever since her journalist mother died on assignment, Marin has played it safe, refusing to set foot outside the state of Tennessee. Her wild-child younger sister, Sadie, has trotted the globe as a photographer, living off of art and adrenaline. When Sadie returns from a tough assignment abroad and looks a little worse for wear, Marin reluctantly agrees to a sisters' spa weekend on the tropical island of Saba. But her lifelong fear of travel is affirmed when Sadie misses the flight, Marin's luggage gets mixed up with another passenger's, and an episode of turbulence sends her hurtling into the lap of Lucas Tsai, the handsome stranger who stole her sister's seat. For the first time in a long time, Marin has to step outside of her comfort zone as she explores the island with Lucas and learns what she's been missing out on. With each breathtaking new experience, Marin gets closer to her real self, the man she’s falling for, and the heart-wrenching truth about why she’s there in the first place.

From the author of Illusion of a Star Sailor comes Is it dark enough for you to see me here? This tragic portrait addresses issues such as alcoholism, sexual abuse, and death while giving the reader hope in the human condition.

I have a plan...but the city of love has a plan of its own. My late grandfather’s inheritance has two conditions: 1) Not a cent until I’ve traveled Europe for a month. (I mean, it's a sacrifice I’m willing to make.) 2) My estranged sisters and I must travel together. (Sister bonding. Gag.) Oh, and a third condition—our journey starts in Paris. City of Love. The place I’ve dreamed of visiting since I first spotted a postcard of the Eiffel Tower at age six. I’ve seen nearly every English movie about Paris ever made. I’ve studied French for years. I even have a bucket list of romantic experiences I want to have there with the first handsome Parisian I can find. (Seine River tour, anyone?) There’s just one problem. It’s also where my childhood best friend, Hunter, lives. The last time I saw the boy next door, he kissed me on the hood of his beat-up Pontiac and asked me to move to Paris with him. He should have known I couldn’t say yes. With my life crumbling by the minute and all my family problems—I mentioned my sisters, right?—I couldn’t just leave it all behind. Ultimately, it's fear that has kept me rooted in the same small town I’d lived in my entire life. What if Paris isn’t everything I dreamed it would be, after all? And worse—what if being with Hunter is? Nope, definitely safer to leave my dreams in the past. I’ll slip into the city, check off my list, and escape without ever seeing my best friend. I'll get this stupid trip over with, put money in the bank, and live happily ever after without him as was always the plan. Above all, I’ll finally forget that toe-curling kiss between us ever happened at all. Paris, here I come. Three sisters. Three cities. A traveling family saga full of misadventures, laughter, forgiveness, and falling in love.

Fifteen year old Aggie has a special bond with her father, an English professor, who shares with her the wonders of Shakespeare's plays. Her world changes suddenly when her father dies of a heart attack. Her mother remarries--too quickly--and takes Aggie to live in her new husband's home. Bitter and confused, Aggie tries to find friends in her new school. She feels lucky to be accepted by the most popular group but soon discovers that to be part of the group means playing cruel jokes on people, and worse. She feels guilty but cannot give up her popularity. When she is alone, she buries herself in her father's copy of Shakespeare's plays, hoping to find her father's voice in Shakespeare's words. On a school trip to England, her father's favorite haunt, Aggie is transported to Shakespeare's time and meets Catherine, the daughter of a Stratford glove maker. Together the girls face the dangers and wonders of England in the year 1605. The dangers include being accused of witchcraft and complicity in the Gunpowder Plot; the wonders take them to Shakespeare's theatre and a discovery that helps Aggie start a new life.

On the outside, Brielle Joy is a smiling, carefree teenager, but behind her facade shes slowly drowning in her fight to control a life headed for destruction. Shes struggling so much to forget her painful past that shes caught in the snares of anorexia and self-harm; Brielle will do anything to control the pain that threatens to escape. But God has a plan. In The Masquerade, Brielle shares her true story of a life shattered by sexual abuse and the restorative power of a heavenly Father. In this memoir, she tells how she suffered abuse at the hands of her father and how, with the help of God, she came to a place of freedom from her past. She describes her experiences because she understands others carry the same secrets in silence. Their painful pasts remain hidden, but not from God. He sees each tear and every hurt. The Masquerade offers a look at Brielles journey through the pain into a place of hope. She sends the message that no pain is too great, no darkness too overwhelming for God to reach out and bring you into the light of his love.