Difficult Relationships

Lazarus "Laz" Weathers has always been shy, and his issue with stuttering when he speaks hasn't helped. Stuck in a Seattle trailer park, Laz finds baseball helps him escape from the world of poverty and drugs. When he gets an opportunity to pitch for the rich kids across town, he has a chance to get drafted by the major leagues. But playing for the other team means leaving behind his family, including Antonio, Laz's younger brother, who more and more, seems to be drawn to the dark world of the Jet City's drug ring.

Cage York has to choose between a love of the game and a love of the girl in this sultry Sea Breeze novel from New York Times best-selling author Abbi Glines. After waiting for his big break, bad boy Cage York is finally called up to prove his worth in the college baseball arena. But when Cage's girlfriend, Eva, mourns the sudden loss of her father, it's not Cage's comforting arms she runs to, but those of her former fiancé's twin brother, Jeremy. Torn between his baseball dream and the girl of his dreams, Cage must prove he's worthy of Eva's love, or risk losing her to Jeremy forever.

Seventeen-year-old Evan Panos doesn't know where he fits in. His strict immigrant Greek mother refuses to see him as anything but a disappointment. His quiet, workaholic father is a staunch believer in avoiding any kind of conflict. And his best friend, Henry, has somehow become distractingly attractive over the summer.

"Anger-management issues." That's how they classified Savannah Sutton after she stuck a pencil in her ex-boyfriend's hand because he mocked her little brother, Evan, for being disabled. That's why they sent her to Brooks Academy - an alternative high school that's used as a temporary detention center. The days at Brooks are miserable, but at home, life is far more bleak. Savvy's struggling to take care of her brother since her mom left years ago, and her alcoholic dad can't be bothered.

Violet Ambrose is grappling with two major issues: Jay Heaton and her morbid secret ability. While the 16-year-old is confused by her new feelings for her best friend since childhood, she is more disturbed by her "power" to sense dead bodies or at least those that have been murdered. Since she was a little girl, she has felt the echoes the dead leave behind in the world . . . and the imprints that attach to their killers.

It's 1944, and World War II is raging across Europe and the Pacific. The war seemed far away from Margot in Iowa and Haruko in Colorado—until they were uprooted to dusty Texas, all because of the places their parents once called home: Germany and Japan. Haruko and Margot meet at the high school in Crystal City, a "family internment camp" for those accused of colluding with the enemy. The teens discover that they are polar opposites in so many ways, except for one that seems to override all the others: the camp is changing them, day by day and piece by piece.

This thoughtful, wry story is about two girls - a 'punk' and a 'priss' - who find themselves facing each other in a peer-counseling program and discover that they have some surprising things in common.

Charlie Grant’s older sister is getting married this weekend at their family home, and Charlie can’t wait - for the first time in years, all four of her older siblings will be under one roof. Charlie is desperate for one last perfect weekend before the house is sold and everything changes. The house will be filled with jokes and games and laughs again. Making decisions about things like what college to attend and reuniting with longstanding crush Jesse Foster - all that can wait. She wants to focus on making the weekend perfect.

When her mom inherits an old, crumbling mansion, Seda's almost excited to spend the summer there. Except now her mom wants to renovate, rather than sell the estate - which means they're not going back to the city...or to Seda's friends and school. As the days grow shorter, Seda is filled with dread. They're about to be cut off from the outside world, and she's not sure she can handle the solitude or the darkness it brings out in her. Then a group of teens get stranded near the mansion during a blizzard. Seda has no choice but to offer them shelter....

When 16-year-old Polly O'Keefe journeys to Athens, she feels confused and betrayed. The past eight months at home were different from any other time in her life. She met the brilliant, wealthy Maximiliana Horne, who gave her encouragement and made her feel self-confident. Polly idolized Max - until she learned a startling truth that left her wounded and angry. Now on a trip to Greece arranged by Max, Polly finds romance, danger, and unique friendships.

The two-time Newbery Honor winner Gary D. Schmidt delivers the shattering story of Joseph, a father at 13 who has never seen his daughter, Jupiter. After spending time in a juvenile facility, he’s placed with a foster family on a farm in rural Maine. Here Joseph, damaged and withdrawn, meets 12-year-old Jack, who narrates the account of the troubled, passionate teen who wants to find his baby at any cost. In this riveting novel, two boys discover the true meaning of family and the sacrifices it requires.

Madison's prom was killer - literally. For some reason she's been targeted by a dark reaper - yeah, that kind of reaper - intent on getting rid of her, body and soul. But before the reaper could finish the job, Madison was able to snag his strange, glowing amulet and get away. Now she's stuck on Earth - dead but not gone.

Francesca is at the beginning of her second term in Year 11 at an all boy's school that has just started accepting girls. She still misses her old friends, and, to make things worse, her mother has had a breakdown and can barely move from her bed.

What if your town was sliding underwater, and everyone was ordered to pack up and leave? How would you and your friends spend your last days together? While the adults plan for the future, box up their possessions, and find new places to live, Keeley Hewitt and her friends decide to go out with a bang.

Seventeen-year-old Veronica Clarke never thought she'd want to fail a test - that is, until she finds herself staring at a piece of plastic with two solid pink lines. With a college-bound future now disappearing before her eyes, Veronica considers a decision she never imagined she'd have to make: an abortion.There's just one catch - the closest place to get one is over nine hundred miles away.

Ever since her mother left, Maia's struggled with depression - which once got so bad, she had to go to an institution for a while. She doesn't want to go back. When Maia sets off on a road trip in search of her mom, Billy unexpectedly comes along. They drive up the East Coast, stopping along the way for lobster rolls and lighthouses. Maia learns that Billy has dark secrets of his own - and wants to outrun his past, too. But what will the future hold if they reach their destination?

There was something wicked about Beau that drew me to him. What was wrong with me? Why did I want to sin so badly? Ashton is getting tired of being good, of impressing her parents and playing ideal girlfriend to Sawyer Vincent. Sawyer is perfect, a regular Prince Charming, but when he leaves town for the summer, it’s his cousin Beau who catches Ashton’s eye. Beau is the sexiest guy she’s ever seen, and even though he’s dangerous, Ashton is drawn to him.

Thirteen-year-old Kyra has grown up in an isolated polygamous community without questioning her father's three wives and her twenty brothers and sisters. Or at least without questioning them much—if you don't count her secret visits to the Mobile Library on Wheels to read forbidden books, or her meetings with the boy she hopes to choose for herself instead of having a man chosen for her. But when the Prophet decrees that Kyra must marry her 60-year-old uncle—who already has six wives—Kyra must make a desperate choice in the face of violence and her own fears of losing her family.

Relationships with toxic people can be detrimental to your well-being, and you have to be proactive to ensure that you know what to do with the toxic people in your life. Change the way you think, and learn how to manage stressful situations with difficult people with the help of this guide.

Reena Montero has loved Sawyer LeGrande for as long as she can remember: as natural as breathing, as endless as time. But he's never seemed to notice that Reena even exists... until one day, impossibly, he does. Reena and Sawyer fall in messy, complicated love. But then Sawyer disappears from their humid Florida town without a word, leaving a devastated - and pregnant - Reena behind.