Difficult Adult Children

A boy named Seth drowns, desperate and alone in his final moments, losing his life as the pounding sea claims him. But then he wakes. He is naked, thirsty, starving. But alive. How is that possible? He remembers dying, his bones breaking, his skull dashed upon the rocks. So how is he here? And where is this place? It looks like the suburban English town where he lived as a child, before an unthinkable tragedy happened and his family moved to America.

Leon John Crothers is 4779 days old (thirteen years and one month, if you're mathematically challenged). He has been 'moved on' from six different schools and most people think he has an attitude problem. Leon doesn't care for the label, in the same way that he doesn't care for Tim Burton, supermarket trolleys, train fanatics or Bounty bars. This time, however, things may turn out differently, as help comes from where he least expects it—Dr Snot, a physician at pains to help Leon navigate 'normal' and classmates, Tanya and Lawrence, who both face their own challenges.

My dad was killed in the 9/11 attacks in New York. But the stuff in this book isn't about that. It's about the summer my mum went away. The summer that me and Jed and Priti tried to catch a suicide bomber and prevent an honour killing. There's stuff about how we built a tree house and joined the bomb squad; how I found my dad and Jed lost his; and how we both lost our mums then found them again. So it's not really about 9/11 but, then again, none of those things would have happened if it hadn't been for that day. So I guess it's all back to front, sort of….

Genius girl, Bounce, and her two drifter sidekicks, Wiggins and Orange, are holding the Frog hostage. As the stakes grow higher and the guilt and tension mount, Wiggins begins to question his complicity and must choose where his loyalties lie. Not for the faint of heart, Adam Rapp’s mesmerizing narrative told in alternating viewpoints ventures deep into disturbing territory. A powerful, unforgettable story.

Jessie has never known her real dad, and when her mum dies she thinks any hope of finding him is gone. As she goes goes off the rails, her stepdad announces that her father is Johnny Jefferson - legendary rock star and former hell-raiser. Still dealing with her loss, and now the daughter of a superstar, Jessie is sucked into the LA lifestyle - paparazzi, parties and hot guitar-wielding boys included. But is Johnny up to the job? And, more importantly, is Jessie?

Child genius Becky Bexley helps to organise a lot of fun at the university she studies at, including a humorous game in front of an audience for charity. She also turns out to have a talent for stand-up comedy, surprising perhaps, since she's only about eleven. Alcohol comes up for discussion one day as students talk about embarrassing things they did while drunk and the harmful effects of alcohol on the body, while Becky mostly listens in.

Everything is changing around her, and suddenly she is required to make all sorts of decisions. Everyone else knows who and what they want to be except her. zzy has become friends with the glamorous Nesta and Lucy isn't certain she likes this new threesome. Nesta and Izzy look 16, but Lucy, at 14, can easily pass for a 12-year-old. But then the day Lucy sees the most wonderful boy crossing the street, things start to change – in all areas of her life.

After the car crash that leaves her best friend dead, Jenna is permanently scarred. She struggles to rebuild her life, but every stare in the street makes her want to retreat further from the world. Until she meets Ryan. Ryan's a traveller. When he and his mother arrive in the village, he can't imagine why this place shouldn't be as unwelcoming as the rest. Until he meets Jenna. But as Jenna and Ryan grow closer, repercussions from the crash continue to reverberate through the community. And then a body is found.

When Thomas 'Razor' Turner starts investigating his mum's death, he turns to Breanna Miller, the shy, smart girl he's never looked at twice, for help. Soon their newfound bond turns into something more. But can it survive the secrets of the past?

In a dying country town lives Satchel O'Rye, a young man fighting the future; Chelsea Piper, a young woman fighting the past; and a long-lost creature that can teach them both the art of survival. Stripes of the Sidestep Wolf is a shimmering, ultimately joyful novel, a story of journeying towards courage and freedom, of finding the will to live a life beyond expectation.

Alison Ashley is sheer perfection in every department. She has everything: intelligence, good looks, a wealthy family and perfect manners and Erica hates her for it! Erica plans to topple Alison at the school play performed annually by the sixth grade. However, everything does not go quite as planned....

Seventeen-year-old Grace wakes up in a white room, with table, pens and paper - and no clue how she got there. As Grace starts writing, pouring her tangled life onto the page, she is forced to remember everything she's tried to forget: falling hopelessly in love with Nat, and the unravelling of her friendship with her best mate, Sal. But there's something missing. As hard as she's trying to remember, is there something she just can't see? Grace must face the most important question of all: why is she here?

A school trip to Florence seems like the perfect escape for Lucy. She wants time away from Tony who is pressuring her to take their relationship further. In Italy, she meets an American boy, who is also visiting Tuscany, and thinks he might be the ideal way to get over Tony. He seems to be the perfect gentlemen and Italy introduces Lucy to a world of culture and sophistication. Will she be able to move on from Tony? Or is a case of out of the frying pan and into the fire?

The stunning sequel to Gayle Forman's international best seller If I Stay - now a major film starring Chloe Grace Moretz. If you had a second chance at first love...would you take it? It's been three years since Mia walked out of Adam’s life. And three years he’s spent wondering why. When their paths cross again in New York, Adam and Mia are brought back together for one life-changing night. Perfect for fans of John Green and David Levithan.

War,’ says the Mayor, ‘at last.’ Three armies march on New Prentisstown, each one intent on destroying the others. Todd and Viola are caught in the middle, with no chance of escape. As the battles commence, how can they hope to stop the fighting? How can there ever be peace when they’re so hopelessly outnumbered? And if war makes monsters of men, what terrible choices await? But then a third voice breaks into the battle, one bent on revenge….

There are no more cheerleaders in the town of Sunnybrook. First there was the car accident – two girls dead after hitting a tree on a rainy night. Then the murders happened – two girls were killed by the man next door. The police shot him, so no one will ever know why he did it. Monica's sister was the last cheerleader to die. After her suicide, Sunnybrook High disbanded the cheer squad. No one wanted to be reminded of the girls they'd lost. That was five years ago. Now the faculty and students at Sunnybrook High want to remember the lost cheerleaders.

Megan doesn't speak. She hasn't spoken in months. Pushing away the people she cares about is just a small price to pay. Because there are things locked inside Megan's head - things that are screaming to be heard - that she cannot, must not, let out. Then Jasmine starts at school: bubbly, beautiful, talkative Jasmine. And for reasons Megan can't quite understand, life starts to look a bit brighter. Megan would love to speak again, and it seems like Jasmine might be the answer.

A few months ago, Dan had to make a choice. Go to Geneva with his parents for a year, board at school, or move into a house with his 22-year-old bass-playing aunt, Jacq, and her friend, Naomi. He picked Jacq's place.

Now he's doing his last year at school and trying not to spin out, trying to master calculus, and trying to pick up a few skills for surviving in the adult world. Problem is, he falls for Naomi, and things become much more confusing.

Davey's father has been murdered – and the aftermath is causing her family to fall apart. Davey's heartbroken mum plucks them up and takes them to stay with her prim and proper aunt in Los Alamos. She escapes the claustrophobic house by cycling up to the canyon, where she meets a mysterious older boy called Wolf: intense, brooding and also about to lose someone close to him. But falling for someone won't make her dad come back – there are no easy answers when you need to stick your broken family back together.

For months part-angel Clara Gardner trained to face the raging forest fire from her visions and rescue the alluring and mysterious Christian Prescott from the blaze. But nothing could prepare her for the fateful decisions she would be forced to make that day, or the startling revelation that her purpose - the task she was put on earth to accomplish - is not as straightforward as she thought.