Through 15 riveting case studies, a leading figure in adolescent psychiatry offers a provocative new way of thinking about parenting teens. These case studies vary from puzzling to horrifying, but Dr. Lynn Ponton points to risk as a unifying theme. Dr. Ponton suggests ways that parents can redirect this natural impulse into healthy and safe channels.

Dr. Lynn Ponton has devoted her clinical practice to a particular community -- teenagers in trouble. Whether these kids are struggling with peers, experimenting with drugs, stealing cars, or having unprotected sex, they have something in common: they are all involved in unhealthy risk-taking. And their parents are scared. "How did my child get involved in this dangerous situation?" they ask. "And what can I do?"Their fears are justified: today's teens have more opportunities for taking dangerous risks than ever before. But in The Romance of Risk, Dr. Ponton refutes the traditional idea that risk-taking is primarily an angry power struggle with parents -- so-called teenage rebellion -- and re-defines it as a potentially positive testing process whereby challenge and risk are the primary tools adolescents use to find out who they are and determine who they will become. This new perspective is revealed in a series of mesmerizing tales about individual adolescents and their families. Among others, we meet Jill, a 13-year-old thrill-seeking runaway; Hannah, a privileged daughter of suburbia who suffers from anorexia; and Joe, a high school senior with a serious drinking problem. Through these stories, we come to understand Dr. Ponton's startling observation that teenagers must confront and experience challenge and risk along the path to self-discovery. For adolescents, the powerful allure of the adult world is equaled only by the fear of failing to find a place in it. Parents can ease that transition into adulthood, however, by promoting healthy risk-taking so that dangerous options will be avoided. In The Romance of Risk, parents will learn how they can begin to understand rather than fear adolescent risk-taking, and how to communicate with their children about it. After all, teenagers will always romanticize risk. But with the support and guidance of parents and other adults, odds are the risks they take will be the right ones.

Everyone says I’m a bad girl. They’re only partly right—I don’t let fear rule me, and I certainly don’t care what people think. But I draw the line at sleeping with the enemy. As the daughter of Briar’s head hockey coach, I’d be vilified if I hooked up with a player from a rival team. And that’s who Jake Connelly is. Harvard’s star forward is arrogant, annoying, and too attractive for his own good. But fate is cruel—I require his help to secure a much-coveted internship, and the sexy jerk isn’t making it easy for me. I need Connelly to be my fake boyfriend. For every fake date…he wants a real one. Which means this bad girl is in big trouble. Nothing good can come from sneaking around with Jake Connelly. My father would kill me, my friends will revolt, and my post-college career is on the line. But while it’s getting harder and harder to resist Jake’s oozing sex appeal and cocky grin, I refuse to fall for him. That’s the one risk I’m not willing to take. The Briar U Series of Standalone Novels The Chase (Briar U Book 1) The Risk (Briar U Book 2) The Play (Briar U Book 3) The Off-Campus Series of Standalone Novels The Deal (Off-Campus Book 1) The Mistake (Off-Campus Book 2) The Score (Off-Campus Book 3) The Goal (Off-Campus Book 4)

This is the entire series put into one book. Paperback edition.They took too much.Left too little.I had nothing to lose...until him.*****************~Lana~I didn't expect him.I didn't want to fall in love.But I can't let him go.Logan Bennett makes the world a safer place.He's brilliant.He's a hero.He locks away the sick and depraved.But while he's saving lives, I'm taking them. Collecting the debts that are owed to me.Ten years ago, they took from me. They left me for dead.They should have made sure I stayed dead.Now I'm taking from them.One name at a time.I've trained for too long.I've been patient.I can't stop now.Revenge is best served cold...They never see me coming, until I paint their walls red.Logan doesn't know how they hurt me. He doesn't know about the screams they ignored. He doesn't know how twisted that town really is.He just knows people are dying.He doesn't know he's in love with their killer.No one suspects a dead girl.And Logan doesn't suspect the girl in his bed.They're looking for a monster.Not a girl who loves red.Not a girl in love.I'm a faceless nightmare.At least until I tell them the story they've pretended never happened.But in the end, will Logan choose them? Or will we watch them burn together?**Graphic**Adult language**Some triggers could be too much for the easily disturbed reader**Sexual content**Fucked up moral compass; read at your own risk.

Landon At eighteen, I couldn't picture a future without Gregory Douglas by my side, but we quickly learned life had other plans for us. Forced to move away from the first man I loved-who was also my first Dom-I went to college in New York, met my best friend Verity, and eventually we opened the club of my dreams. Rapture is a BDSM club where people with similar interests can come together-in more ways than one-and inside its walls I found more than just family. I found a home. One thing I didn't expect to find at Rapture, though, was Gregory himself. Gregory I thought I'd moved on from Landon, but finding him on the stairs at Rapture threw that idea right out of my mind. Feelings and memories rushed back and I knew, without a doubt, Landon and I were meant to be together. He walked away from me once, and I won't let him do it again. Even though I'm determined to show him how good we can be, it's a fight to give him what he wants, knowing it's not what he needs. We're both adults now, older and wiser...more experienced. There's too much at stake this time. It's not just our lives and our future at risk, but also our hearts. Worth the Risk is the first book in the Giving Consent Series. It's a 78,000 word second-chance, power exchange romance with an HEA that can stand alone.

A female financial whiz plans the perfect bank heist in this “high-tech, high-stakes” thriller from the #1 international-bestselling author of The Eight (The Washington Post). Verity Banks is the one of the most powerful women in finance, but she still reports to a man. Her boss not only refuses to implement her security plan to safeguard customers’ deposits, he also sabotages her shot at becoming director of security at the Federal Reserve. Outraged, Verity decides to take revenge by hitting her boss where it will hurt the most: right in his company’s balance sheet. She is about to begin her assault when she hears from the last person she ever expected to see again, Zoltan Tor. A brilliant computer scientist who taught Verity everything she knows, Zoltan will help her if she agrees to an outlandish wager: Which of them can steal $1 billion, invest it to make $30 million in three months, and return it before anyone notices? Verity can use a computer; Zoltan will do it the old-fashioned way. To beat Zoltan at his own game, Verity will risk her fortune, her professional reputation—and her life. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Katherine Neville including rare images from her life and travels.

Rediscover this classic romance by Robyn Carr, New York Times bestselling author of the Virgin River series. Mike Cavanaugh is a firefighter: he rescues people. Inviting them home isn’t usually part of the job description. But when he pulls Christine Palmer out of her burning house, something about the gutsy single mom makes him want to protect her, to make her life a little better. Only somehow Chris and her family end up giving Mike’s life new meaning, and he is happier than he’s been in years. He’s ready to love again. Chris wants to get back on her own two feet—sooner rather than later. When she no longer needs Mike’s support, will she be ready to risk her heart with him? Originally published in 1989