The Holiday Sister's just can't catch a break. After the death of their father on Christmas Day, secrets continued to pour out. The sister's decided that the New Year would be a fresh start for all of them, so they decided to travel to New York to watch the ball drop together. Everything was going fine until each of them returned to their respective homes. Andrea is moving forward with her life and is still getting used to the idea of being pregnant. D'Mari is all that she dreamt of in a man, but will the long distance become more of a strain on their budding relationship? With all that surrounded her father's death, Drea had totally forgotten about her stalker situation until she was starkly reminded of it. Not knowing who is after her, will Drea turn to D'Mari for help? Or will she try to resolve it on her own, costing her more than she bargained for? Anastasia Holiday can't believe how her divorce from Richard has turned into a complete nightmare. Drea continues to help her and things are finally looking up, until the unexpected occurs. Will Anastasia ever get her divorce from Richard legally, or will his final attempt at destroying her life be successful? After all, he knows that Kyler is the link to her happiness. Alyssa Holiday still can't believe the turn of events that her career has taken. She wanted to be an FBI agent for so long and worked hard to make her dream come true. However, when a new light is shined on her fiancé Corey, Lyssa feels like she has been backed into a corner. Her heart and her head are pulling in different directions. Will this new information make her decision about her job easier? Will she continue to plan a wedding even with all the chaos? Or, will she be looking for a new job and a new man simultaneously? Alexis Holiday wasn't all that concerned about JR's profession until it hit close to home-very close. She now has to decide whether or not money and the only man that she has ever loved is worth causing heartache to her family. To add to her troubles, Lexi now feels like J.R. isn't the man that she thought he was. Will the newfound couple overcome these obstacles, or will it be the end to something beautiful? After all of the drama, secrets, and lies have been revealed, will the Holiday Sisters get their happily ever after, or are some things just too good to be true? Find out all the answers in Thug Holiday 3: Valentine's Edition by best-selling authors Twyla T, Patrice Balark, Dani Littlepage, and J. Dominique.

This is the first Street Lit book to be written in reverse! Thuggz Valentine is the story of a modern day Bonnie & Clyde, natural born killers who go out in a blaze of glory after taking on the city s police force. Step by step, readers relive Ebony and Bless s last day together . . . Valentines Day. The day however, starts nothing like it ends, and as time goes back, hour by hour, the two lovers are unable to avoid destiny. Fate brings them together in a most bizarre way, and the couple realize the day is not about winning, it s about embracing the moment, no matter the outcome. Thuggz Valentine is the story of a ghetto love doomed from the beginning, but definitely worth the trip to Hell.

Adrian Mole's first love, Pandora, has left him; a neighbor, Mr. Lucas, appears to be seducing his mother (and what does that mean for his father?); the BBC refuses to publish his poetry; and his dog swallowed the tree off the Christmas cake. "Why" indeed.

How does one talk about love? Is it even possible to describe something at once utterly mundane and wholly transcendent, that has the power to consume our lives completely, while making us feel part of something infinitely larger than ourselves? Taking a unique approach to this age-old problem, the nameless narrator of David Levithan's The Lover's Dictionary constructs the story of a relationship as a dictionary. Through these sharp entries, he provides an intimate window into the great events and quotidian trifles of coupledom, giving us an indelible and deeply moving portrait of love in our time.

Giving a detailed analysis of over 20 films including The Racket, Big Sleep, Brighton Rock, Goodfellas, Sexy Beast, Pulp Fiction, Get Carter and Angels with Dirty Faces, this is a guide to gangsters through the ages on the big screen.

Examines the St. Valentine's Day Massacre when killers dressed as cops gunned down seven men. While the massacre was commonly thought to be ordered by Al Capone, it was actually the work of group from St. Louis known as the "American Boys." The book examines how law enforcement officials worked not to solve the crime to avoid retaliation by corrupt politicians.

Best-selling author Rick Riordan presents Graci Kim's thrilling debut about an adopted Korean-American girl who discovers her heritage and her magic on a perilous journey to save her witch clan family. "Graci Kim does such an amazing job of blending Korean mythology into the modern world, I am now wondering how I ever lived without knowing all this cool information."--New York Times #1 best-selling author Rick Riordan Riley Oh can't wait to see her sister get initiated into the Gom clan, a powerful lineage of Korean healing witches their family has belonged to for generations. Her sister, Hattie, will earn her Gi bracelet and finally be able to cast spells without adult supervision. Although Riley is desperate to follow in her sister's footsteps when she herself turns thirteen, she's a saram--a person without magic. Riley was adopted, and despite having memorized every healing spell she's ever heard, she often feels like the odd one out in her family and the gifted community.Then Hattie gets an idea: what if the two of them could cast a spell that would allow Riley to share Hattie's magic? Their sleuthing reveals a promising incantation in the family's old spell book, and the sisters decide to perform it at Hattie's initiation ceremony. If it works, no one will ever treat Riley as an outsider again. It's a perfect plan! Until it isn't. When the sisters attempt to violate the laws of the Godrealm, Hattie's life ends up hanging in the balance, and to save her Riley has to fulfill an impossible task: find the last fallen star. But what even is the star, and how can she find it? As Riley embarks on her search, she finds herself meeting fantastic creatures and collaborating with her worst enemies. And when she uncovers secrets that challenge everything she has been taught to believe, Riley must decide what it means to be a witch, what it means to be family, and what it really means to belong. "A fun, new magical world that promises more adventures to come."--Kirkus Reviews Complete your middle grade collection with these best-selling fan favorites : Rick Riordan Presents Aru Shah and the End of Time by Roshani Chokshi Rick Riordan Presents Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky by Kwame Mbalia Rick Riordan Presents Paola Santiago and the River of Tears by Tehlor Kay Mejia The Trials of Apollo series by Rick Riordan

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • More than one million copies sold! A “brilliant” (Lupita Nyong’o, Time), “poignant” (Entertainment Weekly), “soul-nourishing” (USA Today) memoir about coming of age during the twilight of apartheid “Noah’s childhood stories are told with all the hilarity and intellect that characterizes his comedy, while illuminating a dark and brutal period in South Africa’s history that must never be forgotten.”—Esquire Winner of the Thurber Prize for American Humor and an NAACP Image Award • Named one of the best books of the year by The New York Time, USA Today, San Francisco Chronicle, NPR, Esquire, Newsday, and Booklist Trevor Noah’s unlikely path from apartheid South Africa to the desk of The Daily Show began with a criminal act: his birth. Trevor was born to a white Swiss father and a black Xhosa mother at a time when such a union was punishable by five years in prison. Living proof of his parents’ indiscretion, Trevor was kept mostly indoors for the earliest years of his life, bound by the extreme and often absurd measures his mother took to hide him from a government that could, at any moment, steal him away. Finally liberated by the end of South Africa’s tyrannical white rule, Trevor and his mother set forth on a grand adventure, living openly and freely and embracing the opportunities won by a centuries-long struggle. Born a Crime is the story of a mischievous young boy who grows into a restless young man as he struggles to find himself in a world where he was never supposed to exist. It is also the story of that young man’s relationship with his fearless, rebellious, and fervently religious mother—his teammate, a woman determined to save her son from the cycle of poverty, violence, and abuse that would ultimately threaten her own life. The stories collected here are by turns hilarious, dramatic, and deeply affecting. Whether subsisting on caterpillars for dinner during hard times, being thrown from a moving car during an attempted kidnapping, or just trying to survive the life-and-death pitfalls of dating in high school, Trevor illuminates his curious world with an incisive wit and unflinching honesty. His stories weave together to form a moving and searingly funny portrait of a boy making his way through a damaged world in a dangerous time, armed only with a keen sense of humor and a mother’s unconventional, unconditional love.

CMJ New Music Report is the primary source for exclusive charts of non-commercial and college radio airplay and independent and trend-forward retail sales. CMJ's trade publication, compiles playlists for college and non-commercial stations; often a prelude to larger success.

This scholarly analysis of the music of Taylor Swift identifies how and why she is one of the early 21st century's most recognizable and most popular stars. By the age of 13, singer-songwriter Taylor Swift had already inked a development deal with a major record label. This early milestone was an appropriate predictor of what accomplishments were to come. Now a superstar artist with an international fanbase of millions and several critically acclaimed and commercially successful albums, Swift has established herself as one of the most important musicians of the 21st century. This accessible book serves Taylor Swift fans as well as students of contemporary popular music and popular culture, critically examining all of this young artist's work to date. The book's organization is primarily chronological, covering Taylor Swift's album and single releases in order of release date while also documenting the elements of her music and personality that have made her popular with fans of country music and pop music across a surprisingly diverse age range of listeners. The chapters address how Swift's songs have been viewed by some fans as anthems of empowerment or messages of encouragement, particularly by members of the LGBTQ community, those who have been bullied or been seen as outsiders, and emerging artists. The final chapter places Swift's work and her public persona in the context of her times with respect to her use of and relationship with technology—for example, her use of social media and songwriting technology—and her expressions of a new type of feminism that is unlike the feminism of the 1970s.