Convinced that the fatal accident she witnessed at the basketball game was not accidental, thirteen-year-old Chelsey, a paraplegic, and her unusual friend Jack join forces to prove it was a deliberate murder.

“A thoughtful and joyous literary experience that celebrates its characters and liberally rewards its readers.”—New York Times Book Review, Editors' Choice "I tore through this novel like an orphaned reader seeking a home in its ragtag yet shimmering world." — Carrie Brownstein “Our ’90s nostalgia is hella high these days, and this tender, funny story made our aging hipster hearts sing.”— Marie Claire A warm, funny, and whip-smart debut novel about rebellious youth, inconceivable motherhood, and the complications of belonging—to a city, a culture, and a family—when none of them can quite contain who you really are. All of us were refugees of the nuclear family. . . Twenty-three-year-old artist Andrea Morales escaped her Midwestern Catholic childhood—and the closet—to create a home and life for herself within the thriving but insular lesbian underground of Portland, Oregon. But one drunken night, reeling from a bad breakup and a friend’s betrayal, she recklessly crosses enemy lines and hooks up with a man. To her utter shock, Andrea soon discovers she’s pregnant—and despite the concerns of her astonished circle of gay friends, she decides to have the baby. A decade later, when her precocious daughter Lucia starts asking questions about the father she’s never known, Andrea is forced to reconcile the past she hoped to leave behind with the life she’s worked so hard to build. A thoroughly modern and original anti-romantic comedy, Stray City is an unabashedly entertaining literary debut about the families we’re born into and the families we choose, about finding yourself by breaking the rules, and making bad decisions for all the right reasons.

Chelsey is a pygmy goat with the characteristic pot belly, short legs and great disposition. She loves to climb. When she was very young, she could jump and turn around as if on springs. Chelsey eats grass and leaves and also likes dog food and sleeping on the chaise lounge on the porch. At times, I am sure Chelsey thinks she is a dog or a human, but certainly not a goat.

Chelsey was dealth the unthinkable. When Her Only Surviving Parent, her beloved father, was violently murdered days before her fourteenth birthday, Chelsey's life was forever changed. As she was forced to come to terms with a new home life, a new school . . . a new identity as an orphan, Chelsey struggled to make sense of her personal tragedy. Yet she found a way to flourish despite all the odds. "I thought of myself in a new light: a girl, newly fourteen, standing in her dead father's study, all in black, a single tear streaming down her cheek. I was alone. My family told me again and again I was not, but without him, I was. I was no longer anyone's child." Because Truth Is More Fascinating Than Fiction

Dreams do come true. Have you started dreaming yet?

Chelsey and Chad use rebuses to introduce words that begin with the letters "ch."

Get the Summary of Chelsey Brooke Cole's If Only I'd Known in 20 minutes. Please note: This is a summary & not the original book. "If Only I'd Known" by Chelsey Brooke Cole is a comprehensive guide to identifying, understanding, and healing from the impact of narcissistic relationships. The book is divided into three sections: recognizing narcissistic traits, reflecting on personal experiences with narcissists, and rebuilding oneself after such encounters. Cole shares her own journey of mistaking herself as the problem in deteriorating relationships and striving for perfection...