“ a collection of hallucinations ”

Kalen Mercer's Rules of Survival Rule #1: Don't get caught. Rule #2: Always get even. Rule #3: Trust Nobody. Survival isn't just a word to Ioney Mercer; it's a way of life. Having grown up in poverty in Chicago where some of the most ruthless gangs in the country preside, Ioney knows better than anyone what it takes to stay in the game. Or so she thought. When her older brother Kalen is brutally murdered and Ioney is left to take care of her younger siblings, she doesn't think things can get any worse. That is until in a cataclysmic turn of events, Ioney is thrown into a pit of danger her brother has left behind. Sinister people have suddenly developed an interest in her, she unwittingly falls into the middle of growing gang rivalries, and unfortunately manages to land herself under the scrutiny of Chicago Blood Kings Enforcer Justice Montoya. As things escalate rapidly, Ioney finds herself at a crossroads. Can she trust notoriously ruthless gangster Justice Montoya, or is he just another enemy she has to conquer in order to survive.

Aria has always laid low in school with her tight-knit group of friends. When she meets Nash at a party, he's rude, he's blunt, and he's got more baggage than he can carry. Aria immediately dislikes him. But the line between hate and love is very thin, and a continuous game of Never Have I Ever may change everything.

Allison Wright is the first to admit she has a great life. With good friends, perfect grades, a promising future and a family fortune stretching back generations; what's not to like? And besides her dislike of music, she fits in perfectly with her circle of friends. Yet as her senior year of high school begins and the pressures of University as well as the future start bearing down, she finds herself looking for something different. She’s just not quite sure what she’s looking for. That is until a passing mention and multiple encounters bring a boy she'd never met before to the forefront of her mind. He's nothing like anyone she's ever met. With his deep grey eyes, secrets and guitar; Cole Mathews might just be that dose of different she's been longing for.

Caroline King's dad is gone. She's depressed. She's consumed in grief and guilt. She's drowning underneath it all. And then suddenly, she is very literally drowning in the ocean, and then she finds herself encouraging the water to keep abusing her, encouraging it to keep her down in the water. She's drowning and she's okay with it. Until her plan of drowning is foiled when a boy jumps into the sea and saves her. And he's got some secrets of his own, and he's not going to share those anytime soon. It's up to Caroline to figure those out all on her own.

Nell Watson just can't seem to get it right. Her parents treat her coldly no matter what she does and the one member of her family she could count on, her younger sister Paige, has turned her back on Nell. Now, everything's changing and Nell is starting to think that maybe perfect isn't all it's cracked up to be, especially when she starts slipping up...and liking it. Gray West is not a guy you want to mess with but Nell can't seem to stop herself from losing her famous cool around him. Maybe a little imperfection is all she needs.

Simon's life was bearable until one day palace doors appear outside his store. So begin the days that turn into weeks of growing insatiable obsessive curiosity. Simon's mind tells him not to open the door but a series of events lead to Simon 'accidentally' turning the knob... ...and entering a world so much more fantastical, so much more magical, so much more perfect than his own. Only this eerily beautiful world has it's own dangers, and a ruler much more powerful and crueler than anyone he could ever imagine.

Plan A might have been just as dangerous as the police insisted it was safe. It involved being locked away, out of sight and communication, and didn't solve the problem that Fran's stalkers seemed to have access to police files and data. Plan B the police didn't know about, and while the stalkers were at least temporarily out of the picture, it posed other problems. The police are now searching for her. Her stalkers are still looking for her. Her roommate doesn't know she's not a boy and a depressed teen movie star wants to be her friend. Being found out would blow her safety. Not to mention that the country thinks she might just be the victim -- or the cause -- of a spate of murders in the surrounding towns. Going to Darkwood private school was a risk, but not as risky as Plan A. The worry of trying to keep herself hidden from her schoolmates might become her main problem, but it still doesn't answer the most worrying question of all: just who were those stalkers, and what did they want? -- (Just so you all know, I've entered this book for the Hotkey Young Writers Prize. It would mean the world to me if you could support Plan B by voting for the first chapter (only votes on the first chapter count) before September 13th and then encouraging as many people as possible to read and vote as well. Thank you all so much!)