His name is Lavan Firestorm, a young man blessed—and cursed—with a special talent for firestarting. His legend has haunted the darkest corners of Valdemar, yet the truth has never been told. Here, at last, is his story.

Brightly Burning Bridges

The world knows me as the Demon's Daughter. He's a famous serial killer. And I may have been his accomplice. But no one knows for sure except for me. The dangerous, cruel men of the Sphinx secret society intend to uncover my secrets...and break me. Stellan, my childhood crush who lost his sister to the Demon. Cain, the boy with the face of an angel to who manipulation comes as easy as breathing; Remington, the playboy soccer star full of secrets. Pax, the dark psycho who hides behind his fists. I hoped for a second chance at Darkwood University, only to have my dream ripped away the first time I kissed one of the handsome bastards. They know who I am. And they're determined to make me pay. They should have thought twice about who they were playing with. Because I am the demon's daughter. And just because they have the power, the connections, the faces and bodies of gods... do they really think they'll win? I wanted a new life, not a war. But if they insist, we'll see who ends up playing.

Wren Valere used to be almost invisible. But now she's not only being seen, she's getting involved. Recent attacks against nonhuman Fatae have escalated into hate crimes against magic users in general—humans included. With the Mage Council distracted by internal power struggles, Wren is guilted into stepping up as spokesperson for the fragilely united Fatae and lonejack communities…. And, because the cosmos deems her without enough complications, her partner-lover Sergei is drowning in his own problems. But not only can't she help him—she's the cause. With lives on the line—including her own—Wren is going to have to break the lonejack credo, ditch her long-cherished invisibility and take a stand. But burning bridges can be deadly….

Before there was hip hop, there was DJ Kool Herc. On a hot day at the end of summer in 1973 Cindy Campbell threw a back-to-school party at a park in the South Bronx. Her brother, Clive Campbell, spun the records. He had a new way of playing the music to make the breaks—the musical interludes between verses—longer for dancing. He called himself DJ Kool Herc and this is When the Beat Was Born. From his childhood in Jamaica to his youth in the Bronx, Laban Carrick Hill's book tells how Kool Herc came to be a DJ, how kids in gangs stopped fighting in order to breakdance, and how the music he invented went on to define a culture and transform the world.

High school senior Meg revels in being a rebel; cutting class whenever possible and hanging out anywhere she's not supposed to be. Like on a railroad-tracks-covered bridge that's off-limits to trespassers. When she and her friends are busted for trespassing and underage drinking, she's sentenced to spend her spring break riding along with a rookie police officer on his nightshift patrol. To make things worse the cop, John After, is only two years older than Meg, and is sure that he knows all he needs to about her. John has nothing but contempt for her childish rebellion, but that's fine, because the feelings mutual - his straight-laced, by-the-book attitude is everything that Meg hates. But they're about to discover that they have a lot more in common than either one of them could have dreamed and, as they're forced to spend time together, sparks fly and a hot attraction between them becomes undeniable…

Botanica is an island, but almost all of the island is taken up by the Tree. Little knowing how they came to be here, small communities live around the coast line. The Tree provides them shelter, kindling, medicine – and a place of legends, for there are ghosts within the trees who snatch children and the dying. Lillah has come of age and is now ready to leave her community and walk the tree for five years, learning all Botanica has to teach her. Before setting off, Lillah is asked by the dying mother of a young boy to take him with her. In a country where a plague killed half the population, Morace will otherwise be killed in case he has the same disease. But can Lillah keep the boy’s secret, or will she have to resort to breaking the oldest taboo on Botanica? Another astonishingly imaginative novel from the acclaimed author of Slights. FILE UNDER: Fantasy [A Stunning World / An Epic Journey / A Terrifying Secret / Ghosts in the Tree]