Lilah Stevens first season was the worst a lady could ever have. She hadn’t been a mere wallflower, she’d been the Wallflower. The one that had ended up with her name on everyone lips and a ruined reputation. Before that fateful day no one had ever noticed her. Afterwards, she couldn’t show her face in society without the whispers being uttered at her mere presence. It had been enough to make anyone run and hide, but she refused to allow him that satisfaction. She would make that infernal viscount rue the day they had ever crossed paths, even if it made her reputation terminally unrepairable. Henry Collins, the Viscount of Harcrest had always been a consummate rake. He didn’t see any reason to change. He loved his life and it was a grand one. As far as he was concerned, he didn’t have a care in the world, and he liked it that way. He doesn’t pay any attention to rumors, but after that fateful encounter he wonders if perhaps it is time he should. Surely, he couldn’t have done what she suggested. Even he wasn’t that depraved… Lilah wishes she could once again embrace the identity of a wallflower, a role she used to hate, but that is a past she can never reclaim. But somehow, she starts to wonder if she had it all wrong and it might be enough to lead her to a place she never expected: love.

"Claire Schrader's new confidence-building system, the Sunflower Effect, fills in the gaps where assertiveness training and other techniques leave off. If you are a wallflower and you've tried practically everything else, read this book and discover that all the things that people have been saying about you are plainly not true."Raymond Aaron. NY Times Best Selling Author www.aaron.com If you are sick and tired of being a wallflower, this book will set you on a pathway of radical transformation to becoming the person you've always wanted to be. To be stuck on the sidelines, cut off from other people, unable to express what you really feel or know, and unable to participate in the dance of life in the way you want to... is painful. Particularly when you know there's so much inside you that you want to express... but you just can't.You may already know about what you should do if you want to stop being a wallflower. You should get out more, be more sociable, just speak up, behave how the confident people behave, try this technique or that, stop being so afraid of what other people are thinking of you.Most books and advice handed out on confidence may work very well for certain people - but they don't work wallflowers. This is one of the mistakes that most wallflowers make when they are trying to build confidence. But what you probably don't know is that there is a Missing Link and without that link it's going to be very hard to access the confidence you are seeking. This is because there is complex psychological process that keeps you locked behind powerful internal walls. Claire Schrader, a former wallflower stumbled by chance on a very simple and effective way to build a natural and lasting confidence that didn't involve any of these methods - that enabled her to say goodbye to her life as a wallflower in a matter of a few months. This is the Missing Link, that is going to enable you to cross over the River of Life into the place where the "sunflowers"(the confident people) live - and to start building a totally new You. The "Sunflower You". The "You" you've always wanted to be - that has the capacity to shine without having to do anything. This Missing Link is the Sunflower Effect - a proven system developed by Claire over 20 years that has assisted many hundreds of people move from Wallflower to Sunflower.The Sunflower Effect is based on methods that are as old as history itself but have never been put together in quite this way. It is in fact based on the secret that every ex-wallflower movie star knows about, that has enabled them to achieve outstanding success in their lives. It doesn't involve any of the confidence techniques that don't work for wallflowers. It's highly practical, grounded in psychology and scientific research and it will work for you even if you count yourself as a lost cause - very shy, highly reserved and acutely self-conscious. The only thing you need is willingness to give it a go - and the persistence to keep going. From Wallflower to Sunflower offers a step-by-step guide with proven strategies, practical tips and exercises as well as free online resources, to back up and intensify the reader's experience of the book. This is a book about courageous and sensitive people, often with significant abilities, who are trapped within themselves. They are both men and women at all stages of life, from high powered executives to people who are struggling to get started in life. There's nothing on the market quite like 'From Wallflower to Sunflower: the quiet person's path to natural self-confidence'.

"Covering a broad scope, this collection examines the cinemas of Europe, East Asia, India, Africa and Latin America, and will be of interest to scholars and students of film studies, cultural studies and postcolonial studies, as well as to film enthusiasts keen to explore a wider range of world cinema."--Jacket.

After a long period of neglect, emotions have become an important topic within literary studies. This collection of essays stresses the complex link between aesthetic and non-aesthetic emotional components and discusses emotional patterns by focusing on the practice of writing as well as on the impact of such patterns on receptive processes. Readers interested in the topic will be presented with a concept of aesthetic emotions as formative both within the writing and the reading process. Essays, ranging in focus from the beginning of modern drama to digital formats and theoretical questions, examine examples from English, German, French, Russian and American literature. Contributors include Angela Locatelli, Vera Nünning, and Gesine Lenore Schiewer.

Audiences around the globe continue to flock to see the latest releases from Marvel and DC studios, making it clear that superhero films resonate with the largest global audience that Hollywood has ever reached. Yet despite dominating theater screens like never before, the superhero genre remains critically marginalized—ignored at best and more often actively maligned. Terence McSweeney examines this global phenomenon, providing a concise and up-to-date overview of the superhero genre. He lays out its narrative codes and conventions, exploring why it appeals to diverse audiences and what it has to say about the world in the first two decades of the twenty-first century. Unpacking the social, ideological, and cultural content of superhero films, he argues that the genre should be considered a barometer of contemporary social anxieties and a reflection of cultural values. McSweeney scrutinizes representations of gender, race, and sexuality as well as how the genre’s conventions relate to and comment on contemporary political debates. Beyond American contributions to the genre, the book also features extensive analysis of superhero films from all over the world, contrasting them with the dominant U.S. model. The book’s presentation of a range of case studies and critical debates is accessible and engaging for students, scholars, and enthusiasts at all levels.

In Conflict and Connection, Sharon Stringer offers a valuable cross-disciplinary view of how the lives of characters in fiction reflect the growth and behavioral stages of adolescents.

A significant book about one girl's struggle with suicide, from National Book Award finalist Julie Anne Peters. Daelyn is fifteen years old, and in her mind she is a failure. She tried slitting her wrists, and she was rescued. She tried swallowing chemicals, and after burning through her esophagus enough to lose the ability to speak, she was rescued. But this time will be different. As readers see Daelyn's touching friendship with a quirky seventeen-year-old boy develop and her newfound willingness to share all of the pain she has held inside of her, they may just see a glimmer of hope. Will Daelyn see it though? Raw and heartfelt, this is an inside look into the mind of a teen who has lost the will to fight and the parents that will do anything they can to help her survive. Still, there are some things that even loving parents can't protect you from—yourself. Please note that due to the sensitive nature of the material in this book, we will be providing back matter from key experts. We hope that this book will help to open a dialogue about this increasingly prevalent issue.