Scarlett Elizabeth Nell Waverly has a story to tell and it's as big as her name. Like most stories, hers is divided into interwoven parts. The first part starts when she's young and her family buys a beach house on the Florida Gulf Coast. That's where she meets and falls in love with Julian Rose, a handsome biracial boy with a scarred face and a whacky, secret-keeping family. Just like her own. But not quite. Young Lizzie Nell's family disapproves of her friendship and budding romance with Julian Rose and they take drastic measures at keeping them apart. Julian also has a story, a story as magical as his haint blue eyes, only he's still trying to figure out where it starts and how it ends. Not long after he turns nine and learns a little about his mother's disappearance, Julian sets out to write her messages, stuffing them inside empty rum bottles and tossing them into the Gulf. Although he doesn't yet know it, there is magic in his words, a magic as remarkable as his connection to the little girl down the beach. As time moves on, and the two blossom into adolescence, Lizzie Nell can no longer live the life her family has chosen for her. She runs away-from school, from her unrelenting mother, and even from her name-setting out for New Orleans where she and Julian have planned to make a life together. But some things have a way of finding us, like our scars, the truth, and despondent mothers. The first book in a two-part series, THE SCARS WE CHOOSE is a coming-of-age story about how we define love, the ways in which we cope when overcoming adversity, and the consequences that can arise when we allow other people, places, and events to affect our decisions, and ultimately, our happiness.

Relatable, heartbreaking, and real, this is a story of resilience--the perfect novel for readers of powerful contemporary fiction like Girl in Pieces and Every Last Word. Before, I was a million things. Now I'm only one. The Burned Girl. Ava Lee has lost everything there is to lose: Her parents. Her best friend. Her home. Even her face. She doesn't need a mirror to know what she looks like--she can see her reflection in the eyes of everyone around her. A year after the fire that destroyed her world, her aunt and uncle have decided she should go back to high school. Be "normal" again. Whatever that is. Ava knows better. There is no normal for someone like her. And forget making friends--no one wants to be seen with the Burned Girl, now or ever. But when Ava meets a fellow survivor named Piper, she begins to feel like maybe she doesn't have to face the nightmare alone. Sarcastic and blunt, Piper isn't afraid to push Ava out of her comfort zone. Piper introduces Ava to Asad, a boy who loves theater just as much as she does, and slowly, Ava tries to create a life again. Yet Piper is fighting her own battle, and soon Ava must decide if she's going to fade back into her scars . . . or let the people by her side help her fly. "A heartfelt and unflinching look at the reality of being a burn survivor and at the scars we all carry. This book is for everyone, burned or not, who has ever searched for a light in the darkness." --Stephanie Nielson, New York Times bestselling author of Heaven Is Here and a burn survivor

A mythmaker of the highest order, China Miéville has emblazoned the fantasy novel with fresh language, startling images, and stunning originality. Set in the same sprawling world of Miéville’s Arthur C. Clarke Award-winning novel, Perdido Street Station, this latest epic introduces a whole new cast of intriguing characters and dazzling creations. Aboard a vast seafaring vessel, a band of prisoners and slaves, their bodies remade into grotesque biological oddities, is being transported to the fledgling colony of New Crobuzon. But the journey is not theirs alone. They are joined by a handful of travelers, each with a reason for fleeing the city. Among them is Bellis Coldwine, a renowned linguist whose services as an interpreter grant her passage—and escape from horrific punishment. For she is linked to Isaac Dan der Grimnebulin, the brilliant renegade scientist who has unwittingly unleashed a nightmare upon New Crobuzon. For Bellis, the plan is clear: live among the new frontiersmen of the colony until it is safe to return home. But when the ship is besieged by pirates on the Swollen Ocean, the senior officers are summarily executed. The surviving passengers are brought to Armada, a city constructed from the hulls of pirated ships, a floating, landless mass ruled by the bizarre duality called the Lovers. On Armada, everyone is given work, and even Remades live as equals to humans, Cactae, and Cray. Yet no one may ever leave. Lonely and embittered in her captivity, Bellis knows that to show dissent is a death sentence. Instead, she must furtively seek information about Armada’s agenda. The answer lies in the dark, amorphous shapes that float undetected miles below the waters—terrifying entities with a singular, chilling mission. . . . China Miéville is a writer for a new era—and The Scar is a luminous, brilliantly imagined novel that is nothing short of spectacular. BONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from China Miéville’s Embassytown.

Ex United States Marine, Wyatt Miller, was living a low-key life keeping those around him at arm's length. Fearing that the shadow that had been haunting him for four years would swallow everything and everyone he touched, he commits to living a solitary life. Until one night when a beautiful stranger came to his rescue during one of the darkest points in his life. Caught between his guilt and his love for his family, architect Kai Lobo left Hawaii in search of a fresh start and a new place to call home. What he didn't expect was to meet a mysterious stranger that will change the course of his quest for a new beginning. What will Wyatt do when the only man that can save him is the same person who will drive him over the edge? What will Kai do when the only man who can free him is the same person that reminds him of a ghost from his past? Will Wyatt and Kai be able to see past their differences and rely on what they have in common to alter their futures? All The Cuts and Scars We Hide is a story about healing, redemption and love.

Scarlett Rose has a story to finish, and like her name, it doesn't entirely belong to her. Fifteen years have passed since she ran away and built a new life in New Orleans-fifteen years without speaking to her mother, Faye Waverly, the person responsible for separating her from Julian Rose, the scarred boy whose magical eyes and mysterious rum bottles have never stopped haunting... and finding her. Now, after nearly two decades of estrangement, Faye has called Scarlett back to the Waverly family's sprawling Georgia estate to care for her ailing father, Roy. Leaving Louisiana means allowing her mother to interfere with her life again, which has consistently resulted in heartache. She'll have to leave behind the sisterhood she's formed with Pinkie Perideaux and her adoptive daughter, Genevieve, who is slowly recovering from severe amnesia. When Scarlett settles in Georgia, she remains in touch with the women, continuing her story, including how she lost Julian Rose for what she believed was forever. As she shares her memories, she not only uncovers Genevieve Perideaux's true identity, but in making good on a promise to Ms. Pinkie, secrets are revealed, and they connect the Vodou Seer to everyone Scarlett loves most. As time passes, Scarlett worries that Ms. Pinkie's third and final binding ritual-the one performed to bring Julian back to her again-has failed. But the magical woman remains hopeful, and with nothing to lose, Scarlett has no choice but to wait and see. The second book in a two-part series, The Scars We Choose is a reflective story about how we define love, the ways in which we cope when overcoming adversity, and the consequences that can arise when we allow other people, places, and events to affect our decisions, and ultimately, our happiness.

Killer. Traitor. Queen. I never thought learning about my parents would bring more questions than answers. I am a product of both my genetics and my upbringing, no matter how much my mind rages against recent revelations. But now, it's time to embrace the darkness that lives in my veins. The creature that prowls within. To end this once and for all, I'll have to become someone I've spent my life loathing. Lucas, Han, Noah, and Jacob are working to undermine Annex Security from inside with the help of a few unlikely allies while I take the reins and set my sights on a target closer to home. The board is set, the pawns sacrificed, and when all is said and done, the Queen's Gambit is poised to wipe the whole damn board. The only question is, can we all make it out? Can we survive without succumbing to the monsters we hide within? The Scars We Bare is the third and final book in the Maven of Mayhem Series. It is highly recommended to read the other two books in sequential order to follow the storyline. This is a full-length, why choose novel; meaning our leading lady does not need to choose between love interests to find her happily ever after and includes MM. This book contains steamy scenes and violence. Please read the content warnings because your mental health comes first.

From a writer whose work has been called “breathtaking and dazzling” by Roxane Gay, this moving, illuminating, and multifaceted memoir explores, in a series of essays, the emotional scars we carry when dealing with mental and physical illnesses—reminiscent of The Collected Schizophrenias and An Unquiet Mind. In this stunning debut, Laura Lee weaves unforgettable and eye-opening essays on a variety of taboo topics. In “History of Scars” and “Aluminum’s Erosions,” Laura dives head-first into heavier themes revolving around intimacy, sexuality, trauma, mental illness, and the passage of time. In “Poetry of the World,” Laura shifts and addresses the grief she feels by being geographically distant from her mother whom, after being diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s, is relocated to a nursing home in Korea. Through the vivid imagery of mountain climbing, cooking, studying writing, and growing up Korean American, Lee explores the legacy of trauma on a young queer child of immigrants as she reconciles the disparate pieces of existence that make her whole. By tapping into her own personal, emotional, and psychological struggles in these powerful and relatable essays, Lee encourages all of us to not be afraid to face our own hardships and inner truths.