Social Issues Fiction

In this coming-of-age story, the Walker cousins face their own individual challenges while growing up in Washington, DC, during the 80s and 90s. In a world where it's easy to feel alone and lost, they lean on each other and vow to stick together. But one day, a tragic event tests the bonds of their unity, as family secrets begin to unravel. Soon they discover that their enemies were never those on the outside but the ones within their midst.

The Burden, edited by award-winning Detroit newspaper columnist Rochelle Riley, is a powerful collection of essays that create a chorus of evidence that the burden is real. The Burden expresses the voices of well-known Americans, such as actor/director Tim Reid who compares slavery to a cancer diagnosis, and former Detroit News columnist Betty DeRamus who recounts the discrimination she encountered as a young Black Detroiter in the south.

Death is an experience that we will all have. As I write this book a dear one has been diagnosed with a terminal cancer. It has been heartbreaking to watch him wither away every day. The only way that I get through life’s challenges is through writing. This book captures my thoughts about death and grief, reflecting on how I want to live before I die. These are my gentle thoughts in words in this hard times.

A heart-warming novel for mature teenagers and young adults about trying to ride the rocky waves of teenage life, and fitting in at a new school. After a devastating family incident nearly destroys her, sixteen year old competitive swimmer, Jaimee, finds her life, and her Olympic dreams shattered when she’s forced to move from the sun-drenched beaches of Noosa to a cold and dreary surfing village, one thousand miles away, at her grandparent’s house. Trying to adjust to her newfound situation and living in a town full of self-important surf heads, life is made even more unbearable by Ivy...

Lia and Diana are the "it girls" of Empire Hill High. Their lives are perfect . . . until Diana disappears and the rumors start flying. Everyone thinks Diana is a runaway, including the police. Lia is secretly convinced it's all a prank. Then she finds a crushed red rose tied with a candy-cane ribbon where Diana went missing. And next to it, a note: YOU.

Make your way through the contemporary world with Lise Spence-Parsons in this collection of seventeen short stories. From ghostly tales to futuristic worlds, you'll be questioning everything by the time it's over! Clean & Sterile - Shows how gentrification can have a negative impact. Spaced Out! - Provides insight into the difficulty of managing someone with dementia. A Natural Remedy? - Exposes you to the moral dilemmas of an imaginary epidemic. Clause 8 - A futuristic story of self-indulgence and self-seeking ambition.All the stories offered here hold meaning for the author, Lise Spence-...

At three o'clock in the morning, Emergency receives a call. 'This is Zara Fanshawe. Always lost and never found.' An hour later, the wayward celebrity's Rolls Royce Phantom is found abandoned in dingy Becket Street. The paparazzi go wild. For some reason, news of Zara's disappearance prompts homeless woman Lena Wójcik to search the camps, nervously, for the bad-tempered vagrant known as 'Waitrose', a familiar sight in Oxford pushing his trolley of possessions. But he's nowhere to be found either.

While many denominations claim to be growing, the largest group in American religious life is the disillusioned - people who have been involved in the church yet see few similarities between the church's life and the person of Jesus. In the midst of elaborate programming, professional worship teams, and political crusades, they ask, "Is this really what Jesus called us to do?" While the church has dismissed these people as uncommitted and lacking in faith, perhaps the opposite is true. Their commitment to authentic spirituality over institutional idolatry might be the very corrective the church needs.

Sophomore high school student Lorali Mathews has one goal: win a scholarship to play volleyball at a Division One school. The only thing standing in her way? A losing streak. A toxic teammate. A murderous man. A distracting boy. Yucky kale chips .... oh yeah, and about four inches in height.And it doesn't help that her aunt-- who inspired her love for volleyball-- passed away in an unfortunate accident. What good will Lorali do to her aunt's legacy if she doesn't take her dreams all the way to college? But with a teammate harboring a dangerous secret, one that could endanger that teammate's...

As 1947 opens, Eva Cardon is the twenty-four-year-old owner of Washington, D.C.’s, most famous Black-owned restaurant. When her path crosses with Courtland, a handsome white senator from Georgia, both find themselves drawn to one another—but the danger of a relationship between a Black woman and a white man from the South could destroy them and everything they’ve worked for.

Walking through life, I have experienced the high of highs and the low of lows. I have fallen in love and I have been heartbroken, I have experienced life and grief has knocked at my door. I am happy but there are days I am sad. I love life but there are days I just don’t. Negative thoughts are monsters I slay each day. We all go through the same emotions as humans. I took to writing just to cope and I hope as you read, these words will help you cope too. I am learning to live each day as it comes. These are just my thoughts into words.

Duane, an outsider from the Up World, lands in the dark and twisty mole tunnels of Naysay. As the little feathered intruder grows up in a place where birds do not belong, he is bullied and realizes he must escape or die. Even his best friend, Punk, cannot protect Duane from the gangster moles who threaten him. Duane tunnels up, seeking the legendary King of the Light, and is chosen for a special mission—rescue Daisy, a sweet canary being held captive by the moles. On his quest, he must confront Nasty and Miss Chinwag, his cruelest tormentors. Do they still hate him and want him dead? And ...

In the latest thrilling installment of the Clean Sweeps Cozy Mystery Series, Jane finds herself entangled in a web of luxury, deceit, and danger. Known for her keen ability to unravel the most confounding mysteries, Jane is approached by a high-society socialite to solve a case that’s as scandalous as it is deadly: the murder of the socialite's boyfriend. As Jane delves deeper into the opulent world of the wealthy, she quickly learns that beneath the veneer of privilege and glamour lie the same passions and pitfalls that affect us all – love, jealousy, and, in this case, murder. ...

The year is 2042, and a long-predicted tipping point has arrived. For the first time in human history, the economic pyramid has flipped: The feeble old now outnumber the vigorous young, and this untenable situation is intensifying a battle between competing cultural agendas. Reporter Julia Davidson - a formerly award-winning journalist seeking to revive a flagging career - is investigating the growing crisis, unaware that her activity makes her a pawn in an ominous conspiracy. Plagued by nightmares about her absent father, Julia finds herself drawn to the quiet strength of a man she meets at a friend's church.

Failed father, failed husband, and failed scholar, Charles Hayden hopes to put his life back together with a new project: a biography of Caedmon Hollow, the long-dead author of a legendary Victorian children’s book, In the Night Wood, and forebear of his wife, Erin. Deep in mourning from the loss of their young daughter, they pack up their American lives, Erin gives up her legal practice, and the couple settles in Hollow’s remote Yorkshire mansion.

If you think you’ve got it all figured out, would you be able to sense the danger coming for you? Nothing is as it seems in this small rural town in Pennsylvania. Everyone has something to hide, and keeping secrets is becoming deadly. Addie just started high school when she found the love of her life, Brett, seemingly out of thin air. A college student, he is much older than her, so she keeps him as her little secret. He understands her better than her friends and helps her decide on the life she wants to live. With a mom that lost her job and seems to only be spiraling downwards and a ...

When all hope is lost, how can you find the courage to hold on? This small rural town in Pennsylvania is leaking with secrets and lies, dying to be exposed at any moment. Addie’s freshman year of high school is not going at all as she thought it would. Meeting her older boyfriend, Brett, turned her life upside down. Keeping this dangerous love a secret, she may have just sealed her fate. With absent parents and friends she doesn’t trust, Addie feels completely alone in the world, besides this new love. But is she really alone? Can she sense the depth of the darkness that looms so close?...

When you’re blind to the danger right in front of you, who will you listen to before you get hurt? In a small town in rural Pennsylvania, nothing is as simple as it seems. Secrets lurk behind every corner, dying to be exposed. No one will make it out unscathed. Addie is a teenage girl that seems to have it all figured out. Starting high school can be hard, but not when you’re one of the popular crowd. Addie has all the boys wrapped around her finger, but what fun is there in that? All is not what it seems when her life outside of school is exposed. She makes it look easy, but dealing ...

The richest man in the world would have to be dealt with! But first someone would need to rob him of the ‘key’ to a mining empire; an empire built on the dwindling and coveted supply of ‘rare earth’ metals and minerals, without which the world’s hi-tech industries will collapse within weeks. A deviously plotting General Boronovsky, head of the much feared Russian SVR, will send his most accomplished professional assassin to do the job. Her name is Anna Petrov and she is Russian by birth. Her success or failure, in this one crucial mission will decide the economic fate of the three...

When it comes down to life or death, how do you summon the strength you need to survive? From a small town in Pennsylvania to a city full of secrets, nothing is safe here. Hiding in the shadows are the answers that so desperately need to be found. Addie, a freshman in high school, pretended she had it all. A cool best friend, a fun mom, and a loving boyfriend. When she meets an older college guy and falls head over heels for him, all her pretenses are tested. With self-involved parents and friends, Addie gives all she has to this older man. Blindly following and trusting him, she digs ...