Everyone has something, someone, somewhere else that they’d rather be. For four high-school seniors, their goals of perfection are just as different as the paths they take to get there. Cara’s parents’ unrealistic expectations have already sent her twin brother Conner spiraling toward suicide. For her, perfect means rejecting their ideals to take a chance on a new kind of love. Kendra covets the perfect face and body—no matter what surgeries and drugs she needs to get there. To score his perfect home run—on the field and off—Sean will sacrifice more than he can ever win back. And Andre realizes that to follow his heart and achieve his perfect performance, he’ll be living a life his ancestors would never have understood. Everyone wants to be perfect, but when perfection loses its meaning, how far will you go? What would you give up to be perfect? A riveting and startling companion to the bestselling Impulse, Ellen Hopkins’s Perfect exposes the harsh truths about what it takes to grow up and grow into our own skins, our own selves. ***Listen to the attached videos to hear the characters read an audio version of "Perfect", voiced by various actors.***

Seventeen-year-old Gavin Hillstone is resigned to being miserable for the rest of his life. Left alone in the world after his parents died in a fire when he was four, he was placed in foster care, which for him meant ending up in an abusive home with an alcoholic adoptive father. Gavin’s only escape is in taking and creating images. His camera is his refuge from the unending torture and isolation of daily life in his “family.” Until he learns by accident that he isn’t alone in the world after all. His father’s parents are still alive and living in Washington DC. When he takes the plunge and travels 3,000 miles to find his grandparents, he learns that they—and he—are part of something much bigger, and more dangerous, than he could ever have imagined. Something that has always put his family at risk and that will now threaten his own life, while forever changing it. He learns that he is one of the last descendants of a small group of Photo Travelers—people who can travel through time and space through images. But his initial excitement turns to fear, when he soon discovers that he and his grandparents are being pursued by the fierce remnants of a radical European Photo Traveler cult, the Peace Hunters. What Gavin has, they want! His adventure will take him to past eras, like The Great Depression and the Salem Witch Trials. Gavin will have to discover who he really is and must make choices that spell the difference between life and death for himself, for the relatives he now knows and loves, and for the girl he will come to love. For Gavin, life will never be the same.

"Y-you," she stuttered, staring at the handsome man sitting on the sleek black throne, "you're..." He rolled his eyes, waving his hand impatiently and said, "Hades. Come on, say it with me. Ha-des." "Hades," Ariel breathed out, still not believing the sight before her. Every picture she had seen of the gods had not depicted Hades' beauty. The god sitting before her was not a crusty old man with a white beard; no, he was a Calvin Klein model. "Yes," Hades clasped his hands together and grimaced, "the God of Death and riches; that's me." Ariel nodded, still refusing to believe but knowing she had to and Hades' grimace turned even bitter, "And you, darling, will be staying with me for quite some time." ~*~ Cover: _nymphomaniac Published: 8/6/14

Ian Macpherson and Charlotte (or Charlie, as Ian calls her) Henry had been the best of friends since either could remember. But when Charlotte's mother dies of cancer when she was thirteen, Charlotte goes into a depression that even Ian can't help her out of and pushed them farther and farther apart. Charlotte's depression caused her to gain weight and become the laughing stock of the school. Even her best friend Ian turned on her. But that's when Charlotte moved away to England because of her father's job. Now it's both Ian and Charlotte's senior year and everything is about to change for them both. Ian became the hot player that any girl would happily be with. He never thought he'd see Charlotte again since she'd moved to England. But now she's back and looking totally different. Charlotte still can't forget what Ian and his friends did to her before she left for England. But when they meet again, Charlotte can't help but have her feelings for Ian come flooding back to her. And maybe, just maybe, Ian will let himself feel what he'd hidden from her forever.

My father types a command into the laptop, and he jerks upright with a shudder and a wheeze. Compressed air flowed beneath silicone skin, triggering actuators that raised his arms and lift the corners of his mouth into a demure smile. He seemed to compose himself, eyes panning the room where he stood fixed to the platform-tubes and wires running down to his ankles. He blinks, lashes casting beautiful shadows over royal blue eyes. And I fell in love with someone that was just a little human

Imagine the second you're born, a consultant removes you from your mother's grasp and runs a battery of genetic and physiological tests on you. Thirty minutes later they give you a score out of one hundred which denotes your level of perfection. If your score is above eighty and you work hard to maintain that score you will have a charmed life; well fed, well-rewarded, spoiled. But fall below eighty and you're labelled Flawed, and life will not be so kind. Hannah is adopted by a Flawed family when her birth parents choose their social standing over their daughter and endures a life of struggle, hunger and service. One day Hannah is escorted to the regional government office and told that the Consultant who delivered her, who labelled her Flawed got it wrong! Now, she is being relocated back to her birth parents, to live as one of the Ninety-Five- all medically and legally judged as perfect. Entering this new life Hannah has an impossible decision to make which puts not only hers, but the lives of everyone she cares about at great risk. "The Numbered- where no one wants to be number one". Authors notes: -This is a first draft of my story and will be edited soon. -2013 Began writing Flawed -2015 Watty Winner/ Named changed to The Numbered -2016 Completed The Numbered -2019 Optioned by eOne for development into a TV show.

What if the person you trusted the most suddenly became a stranger, who desperately wanted you dead? And if an hour later, they were back to normal? Detective Jack Arnette was a respected cop, before a hostage situation went horribly wrong. Victor Slade is a meditating, hedonistic cop-killer. When Victor makes a pickup at the Seattle docks, Jack sees a chance for redemption. A simple arrest. Respect regained. But events spin out of control when Jack and Victor are quarantined with the dock workers and a virus that can make anyone go temporarily homicidal. Trapped by a SWAT team with orders to shoot anyone who leaves the building, Jack must deal with a cop-killer who has little to lose, and a group of innocents who could become just as dangerous. Who would you trust when anyone could become a killer?

Reece Bremer goes through life with a scowl and cold personality. Jessica Andrews goes through life with a glowing smile and positive outlook. Reece looks at life with dull, judgmental eyes that make him hate the world and the people living in it. Jessica, well... She looks at life through a camera. Literally. They're polar opposites, and that's what sparks Reece's immediate hate for Jessica the moment they meet. All he sees is a girl with the best life, put in the category of those who get everything handed to them on a silver platter. But who says Jessica's life is like that? Just like a photograph, there's more to the story than what you see. Stumbling across one of Jessica's hidden portfolio might reveal that her happiness isn't all that true. Behind that smile and each picture she takes, holds a thousand words of a very big secret - one that Reece is determined to find out. And who knows? It just might change everything between them. cover by dysanic || 2015 watty's winner for talk of the town ||

Sixteen-year-old Pippa Greene never goes anywhere without her camera. She and her best friend/supermodel-in-training Dace long ago mapped out their life plan: Pippa will be the noted fashion photographer, and Dace the cover girl. But ever since last spring, things have changed for Pippa — and her junior year at Spalding High proves to have its own set of challenges. Not only is Vantage Point, the statewide photography competition, in three short weeks, but her mandatory volunteer placement lands her at St. Christopher’s Hospital, a place Pippa never wanted to set foot in again. With humour and pluck, she navigates her new role as a candy striper (watch out for Code Yellows), her changing relationship with her best friend (goodbye Honesty Pact), and — perhaps most stressful of all — her new love interests (yes, love interests plural). Will Pippa make it to Vantage Point without having a panic attack? Will either one of the guys prove less sketchy than her last boyfriend? Can she and Dace figure out a way to dream big and be best friends? One thing is certain: real life is a lot more complicated than a photograph. New chapter updates every Wednesday!