families

Neil, though eager to play an original song with friends in a talent show, resents being in his family's Celtic band--which has a big gig the same night as the showcase.

Maya Rogers, having returned home after spending the summer with her grandmother, is happy to be with her friends and boyfriend again, but her life becomes unpredictable with the arrival of her rebellious cousin, Viviana.

Sixteen-year-old Miles, thirteen-year-old Sarah, and their parents find themselves changing in many ways as they struggle to survive winter in a remote cabin, while keeping anyone in the nearby town from learning they are living there illegally after the devastation of volcanic eruptions drove them from their Minneapolis home.

Abel, a sixteen-year-old junior at Cesar Chavez High School, happily accepts a job at a local donut shop to make some money and distance himself from his parents, who continuously put him down, but when money goes missing from the register, Abel hopes that Claudia, the cute girl who works at the shop with him, is not responsible.

Trevor feels he is caught between his girlfriend, Vanessa Allen, and his mother and brother, who think Vanessa is not a good influence on Trevor, and realizes he is old enough to make decisions for himself, but is not sure what the right one is.

Sixteen-year-old Ernesto feels conflicted when his friend Carmen announces that her father is going to run for city council against incumbent Monte Esposito, a relative of the girl who Ernesto is in love with, and decides to keep quiet about the election, even though he feels that Esposito is not serving the community as well as Carmen's father would.

Naomi speaks out against her father's bullying and abuse toward her mother and Ernesto, who has cared for Naomi for a long time, hopes he can win her heart, but Ernesto is afraid that Clay, Naomi's old abusive boyfriend, will always come between them.

Dennis Ouyang is visited by four angels who prompt him to give up his dream of playing video games professionally and pursue a medical degree as his late father wanted, but a crisis reveals the true nature of the angels and brings Dennis to a crossroads in his path to the future.

As Sophia FitzOsborne continues to record in her journal, the members of Montmaray's royal family are living in luxurious exile as the year 1937 begins, but, even as they participate in the social whirl of London's parties and balls, they remain determined to free their island home from the occupying Germans, despite the growing rumors of a coming war that might doom their country forever.

The author discusses what it was like to grow up in postwar Bucharest, describing the unique characteristics of her family members and their efforts to protect her from the dangers of living in Communist Romania.