Summer Storm was part Cheyenne, part child, part woman...torn between two cultures and two men. Jeremy, the rugged Westerner who had spurned her first love, still filled her wildest dreams. Windrider was the Indian warrior who had claimed the right to wed her, and would teach her the meaning of her heritage and show her the power of ecstasy. From the bestselling author of Fire and Ice.
When fourteen-year-old Abby Kate boards the train in Austin to spend three weeks with her grandmother in Galveston, she's full of excitement--about the train ride and the prospect of days on the beach, exploring Galveston with her cousin Jane, family picnics, and her grandmother's good food. But things go wrong even before she gets to her grandmother's house. Abby Kate gets off the train briefly in Houston--and the train leaves without her. Stranded in the railroad station, she is befriended by a man traveling with his two sons and eventually reaches Galveston safely. Then word comes that Abby Kate's young brother, Will, has diphtheria, and she will have to stay in Galveston indefinitely. Abby Kate is still in Galveston on September 8 when a massive hurricane strikes the city. At first the prospect of a storm is exciting. But as Abby Kate takes an ill-advised trip to watch the waves crash on the beach, the storm turns into a terrifying monster. Unable to make it back to Grandmother Linden's house, Abby Kate, her older cousin Ellen, and Ellen's friend Ian take refuge in the home of one of Ian's teachers. When the house falls apart, Abby Kate is on her own, clinging to a plank in swirling waters with the wind howling around her head. With vivid descriptions, Julie Lake plunges the reader into the storm right along with Abby Kate. The Galveston hurricane of September 8, 1900, remains the worst national disaster to hit the United States. And Abby Kate? She's spunky, mischievous, kind and caring, courageous when she has to be, and absolutely irresistible!
It's not just a weekend for Lux Castelo. She has a plan, of course. Phase One: Escape to the beach for a music festival. Phase Two: Deal with what she can't control. Phase Three: Return to reality whole and ready. Nowhere in that plan is Micah Jacinto, self-proclaimed adventurer and the kind of boy with his head stuck in the clouds and the moon inked on his arm-everything her rational sense tells her to stay away from. And yet Lux finds herself welcoming the distraction. As they spend the entire weekend together, Micah leads her to rediscover the lost pieces of herself amidst the excitement and the confusion of a raving mosh pit. But all weekends come to an end and Lux needs to return to the dreaded reality she's running away from. Does being brave enough to leave summer behind mean being brave enough to ask Micah to stay?
Maya was Colored royalty. Some say she be just a light-skinned niggra, while others say she be a mulatto. Whatever she was she was a legend, a dark secret among white plantation owners but everyone knew that this slave woman was the reason behind the success of one of the largest and richest plantations in the Carolinas, Now that slavery is over what will Maya do next?
Magic passed down through generations. An island where strange things happen. One summer that will become legend. Practical Magic meets Nova Ren Suma’s Imaginary Girls and Laura Ruby’s Bone Gap in this lush, atmospheric novel by acclaimed author Katrina Leno. Georgina Fernweh waits impatiently for the tingle of magic in her fingers—magic that has touched every woman in her family. But with her eighteenth birthday looming at the end of this summer, Georgina fears her gift will never come. Over the course of her last summer on the island—a summer of storms, falling in love, and the mystery behind one rare three-hundred-year-old bird—Georgina will learn the truth about magic, in all its many forms. Praise for Katrina Leno: “Leno’s writing is flawless. Readers of all ages will find themselves swept away.” —VOYA “Charming and sophisticated.” —Kirkus “Crackles with wit, humor, and enormous love.”—Booklist (starred review) “Introduces a fierce new presence.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
It's the Age of Elegance in the summer playground of the affluent and powerful. Amid the pristine, island-dotted lakes and pine-scented forests of the Canadian wilderness, the young and carefree amuse themselves with glittering balls and friendly competitions. The summer of 1914 promises to be different when the ambitious and destitute son of a disowned heir joins his wealthy family at their cottage on Wyndwood Island. Through Jack's introduction into the privileged life of the aristocratic Wyndhams and their social circle, he seeks opportunities and alliances to better himself, including in his schemes, his beautiful and audacious cousin, Victoria. But their charmed lives begin to unravel with the onset of the Great War, in which many are destined to become part of the "lost generation." This richly textured tale takes the reader on an unforgettable journey from romantic moonlight cruises to the horrific sinking of the Lusitania, from regattas on the water to combat in the skies over France, from extravagant mansions to deadly trenches - from innocence to nationhood. The Summer Before The Storm, the first of the epic "Muskoka Novels," evokes a gracious, bygone era that still resonates in this legendary land of lakes.
