An uplifting story of friendship blossoming into love that will warm your heart. Ruby knows her small-town doggie spa has grown too big for their location. When a holiday competition is announced to win a renovating building off Main Street, she knows this is the chance she needs. But then her best friend’s older brother Connor enters, and spending time together ignites sparks between them. Will giving in to her feelings mean risking their friendship? From a New York Times bestselling author, don’t miss holiday spirit that leads to love in THE CHRISTMAS COMPETITION.

The single mother hasn't been found. And all her daughter, Sarah, has is her uncle. Clueless at parenting, Clint Herald seeks a loving, responsible nanny. What he finds instead is a stranger as mysterious as his sister's disappearance. Mandy Erick is secretive and seems scared, yet she's so good with Sarah that Clint can't help but trust her. In fact, he even enters Mandy in the town's Mother of the Year contest. But attention is the last thing Mandy wants. Her time in the public eye may prove just as dangerous as she fears.

Bunheads meets The Kicks in this third novel in this entertaining middle grade series from New York Times bestselling author, dancer, model, and actress Maddie Ziegler! Harper and her fellow Dance Starz are headed to New York City for the big national competition! Not only will they be up against their arch-rivals, the Belles, but Harper will also face off against her old dance team. Does Harper have what it takes to finally prove that she belongs on the big stage?

The final book in the Canterwood Crest series is packed with more horses and more drama. Lauren’s BFFs, BFs, former friends, and foes alike are hitching a sleigh ride to her hometown in Union, Connecticut…which also happens to be home to Sasha Silver, one of the best equestrians in Canterwood history. Once there, Lauren, Sasha, and all their friends and frenemies find themselves one place they thought they’d never be: on the same team! Call it a truce or a Christmas miracle, but everyone gets in the holiday spirit to help heal retired racehorses—a cause they all believe in more than Santa himself. Get ready to watch the reindeer fly! Lauren & Co. will be unwrapping more drama, joy, secrets, and, of course, competition than ever before. Whose stockings will be filled with candy cane lip gloss, and whose will be filled with coal?

Teddy Williams was eight years old that Christmas, too young to understand all the undercurrents swirling around him in the tiny Michigan town of Dreyerville. He wasn't able to value that Christmas for the miracle it truly was. Teddy only knew he wanted to buy the beautiful Victorian clock in the window of Tremont's Antiques as a gift for his grandmother, Lottie Sparks, a woman desperate to find him a home before her rapidly progressing Alzheimer's left him an orphan. Teddy didn't know that in trying to buy the clock he would meet Sylvia Winters and Joe Dixon, a couple, once in love, desperate to overcome the past. He didn't know he would form a friendship with his neighbors, Floyd and Doris Culver, two people struggling to revive their long-dead marriage. He didn't know that these people would fill his Christmas with magic and hope; that the love of his friends would change his world, and that he would forever change theirs.

A PopSugar Best New Holiday Romance Book of 2022! Who's naughty and nice at Riverwood Mall? In this hilarious YA holiday rom-com, two rivals get together to save their families' livelihoods, and Christmas, too! Chloe Kwon can't stand Peter Li. It's always been that way. Their families don't get along either: their parents operate rival restaurants in the Riverwood Mall food court—Korean food for the Kwons and Chinese food for the Lis. Now it's the holiday season and Chloe's the photographer at the mall's Santa's Village, and Peter works at the virtual reality North Pole experience right across the atrium. It's all Chloe can do to avoid Peter's smug, incredibly photogenic face. But it turns out the mall is about to be sold to a developer and demolished for condos. Eviction notices are being handed out right before Christmas. Their parents don't know what to do, and soon Chloe and Peter realize that the two of them need to join efforts to try to save the mall. Just when it seems like they can put aside their differences and work closely (very closely) together, they discover that the Kwon and Li feud goes far deeper than either of them realize... Perfect for readers who... Love holiday rom-coms Enjoy rivals-to-lovers stories Fans of Kasie West, Rachel Lynn Solomon, and Sandhya Menon Praise for The Christmas Clash: "Park has a knack for writing delightful romances that sparkle with her depiction of Asian culture. The Christmas Clash is a gift we're ready to open over and over."—Entertainment Weekly "Think of the perfect, coziest Hallmark movie but with way more edge, wit, and authentic representation. The ideal stocking-stuffer for anyone who loves the holidays, ridiculously adorable romance, delicious Asian food, and malls!" —Stephan Lee, author of K-Pop Confidential "A delicious romp of a rom-com. It left me craving spicy pork and sesame balls and nostalgic for the feeling of the mall at Christmastime." —Tiffany Schmidt, author of I'm Dreaming of a Wyatt Christmas "It's the perfect book to read for the holidays, chock full of humor, banter, food, mall shenanigans, and a side mission that brings these two opposites together." —Tif Marcelo, USA Today bestselling author of The Holiday Switch "Keep the holiday spirit alive in this Romeo and Juliet flavored rom-com" —Publishers Weekly "A fun rivalry-to-romance romp" —Kirkus Reviews

One of the predominant trends of modern society is the pervasive presence of competition. No longer just a function of economic markets or democratic systems, competition has become a favoured tool for governing people and organizations, from the provision of schooling and elder care to the way we consume popular culture. Yet social scientists have played a surprisingly modest role in analysing its implications, as the discussion of competition has largely been confined to its narrow economic meaning. This book opens up competition for the study of social scientists. Its central message is that while competition seems ubiquitous, it should not be taken for granted or be naturalized as an inevitable aspect of human existence. Its emergence, maintenance, and change are based on institutions and organizational efforts, and a central challenge for social science is to learn more about these processes and their outcomes. With the use of a novel definition of competition, more fundamental questions can be addressed than merely whether or not competition works. How is competition constructed - and by whom? Which behaviours result from competition? What are its consequences? Can competition be removed? And, how do these factors vary with the object of competition - be it money, attention, status, or other scarce and desired objects? This book investigates these and more questions in studies of competition among and within schools, universities, multinational corporations, auditors, waste-disposal firms, fashion designers, and more.