fiction / humorous

"A collection inspired by a former Saturday Night Live writer's real experiences in Hollywood, chronicling the absurdity of fame and the humanity of failure in a world dominated by social media influencers and reality TV stars"--OCLC.

Hiding the truth about her unhappiness and struggles with anxiety from everyone including her family, best friend, and therapist, Andrea Bern joins her loved ones in a reevaluation of family strength in the wake of her newborn niece's heartbreaking ailment.

Moving to a senior citizen trailer park with her father, Hazel, the estranged wife of a corporate CEO who demanded she install a brain chip so that they could be constantly connected, tries to carve out a new life while her ex uses sophisticated technology to stalk her.

"Nina Hill's life may not seem like much, but for a person battling anxiety, it's more than enough. She enjoys her job at a bookstore and her small circle of friends. Until a visit from a lawyer changes everything... The father that Nina never knew existed has died, leaving behind an enormous extended family. Nina now has innumerable sisters, brothers, nieces, nephews, and cousins all living within a twenty-mile radius--some welcoming and some not so welcoming, but all demanding her attention. If that's not enough, Nina's talent for worrying is taking the thrill out of falling in love. Tom, a fellow trivia nerd--who's totally into her--is obviously too good to be true. Everything is moving too fast for Nina. Caught in a whirlwind of new people, emotions and experiences, she feels the need to protect herself. But maybe opening her world--and her heart--is a risk worth taking"--Provided by publisher.

"It's 1992 in Bleak Creek, North Carolina . . . [and] beneath the town's cheerful facade, . . . teens live in constant fear of being sent to The Whitewood School, a local reformatory with a record of putting unruly teens back on the straight and narrow--a record so impeccable that almost everyone is willing to ignore the mysterious deaths that have occurred there . . . At first, high school freshmen Rex McClendon and Leif Nelson believe what they've been told: that the students' strange demises were all just tragic accidents . . . But when the shoot for their low-budget horror masterpiece . . . goes horribly awry--and their best friend, Alicia Boykins, is sent to Whitewood as punishment--Rex and Leif are forced to piece together the unsettling truth of the school and its mysterious founder . . . What the boys find--with recent NYU film school student Janine Blitstein and her cousin Donna (a former Whitewood student with secrets of her own) at their side--will leave them battling an evil beyond their wildest teenage imaginations, one that will shake Bleak Creek to its core"--Provided by publisher.

"In the Swedish criminal justice system, certain cases are considered especially strange and difficult, in Malm?, the dedicated detectives who investigate these crimes are members of an elite squad known as the Sensitive Crimes Division. . . With the help of a rather verbose local police officer, the crack team gets to the bottom of cases other detectives can't or won't bother to handle"--Amazon.

"Comedian and activist Akilah Hughes shares everything about her journey from a childhood in the south to the big screen while dispensing invaluable big-sister-style advice to a generation of future YouTubers"--Provided by publisher.

"In a small town in Maine, recently widowed Eveleth "Evvie" Drake rarely leaves her house. Everyone in town, including her best friend, Andy, thinks grief keeps her locked inside, and she doesn't correct them. In New York, Dean Tenney, former major-league pitcher and Andy's childhood friend, is struggling with a case of the "yips": he can't throw straight anymore, and he can't figure out why. An invitation from Andy to stay in Maine for a few months seems like the perfect chance to hit the reset button. When Dean moves into an apartment at the back of Evvie's house, the two make a deal: Dean won't ask about Evvie's late husband, and Evvie won't ask about Dean's baseball career. Rules, though, have a funny way of being broken--and what starts as an unexpected friendship soon turns into something more. But before they can find out what might lie ahead, they'll have to wrestle a few demons: the bonds they've broken, the plans they've changed, and the secrets they've kept. They'll need a lot of help, but in life, as in baseball, there's always a chance--right up until the last out"--Provided by publisher.

"Lillian and Madison were the unlikeliest of roommates at their elite boarding school: Madison, the daughter of a prominent Atlanta family, being groomed for greatness; Lillian, a scholarship student, plucked out of nowhere based solely on her intellect and athletic prowess. The two were as tight as could be, reveling in their unique weirdnesses, until Lillian had to leave the school unexpectedly. Years later, the two have lost touch, but Madison writes and begs Lillian for help. Her husband's twin stepkids are moving in with them and she wants Lillian to be their caretaker. However, there's a catch: the twins can spontaneously combust when they get agitated, flames igniting from their skin in a disturbing but beautiful way. Disbelieving at first but ultimately too intrigued by these strange children, Lillian agrees. And as they hunker down in the pool house, Lillian and the twins learn to trust each other--and stay cool--just as Madison's family is bracing for a major announcement. It all seems impossible to manage, but Lillian soon accepts that she and the children need each other, urgently and fiercely"--Provided by publisher.

"A ... murder mystery set at Oxford University in the 1980s. After Oxford's most popular classmate is found dead, new students Ursula Flowerbutton and Nancy Feingold believe she has been murdered and work to solve the mystery"--Provided by publisher.