Lily Potter is an average 15 year old living in the United States in 2011. When magic upheaves her life and drops her and her younger brother into a beloved world she thought was fictional, she discovers old family secrets-and family in general.

Gwenwyn is the most miserable princess ever, and for good reason. Merely brushing up against her or touching her exposed skin is enough to cause painful burns, or worse. And if that wasn't enough, she's just discovered the singular reason for her existence - to act as the king's secret assassin, murdering neighbouring princes with nothing more than a simple kiss.

"You don't know the first thing about me." "I know I don't. But I'm not going anywhere. I'm here to stay." Maxine Waters had lived in the shadow of fame all her life. Her father, Isaac Waters owns Myers, the huge nation wide clothing and homewares department. Her brother, Dylan Waters is the famous film star who every girl likes and who every guy wants to be. But the family business will drop down to her as her brother is already preociped with his career. But it's not what Maxine wants. She wants to make her own way in life and make sure she spends it doing something she enjoys. Music. She loves to sing, to bring a song to life wither she has an audience or not. With a surprising turn of events, Maxine is giving the oppituntity to audition for the X Factor, a TV singing show. There, she meets Heartbeat, a band of three boys who gives her a run for her money. Will Maxine find herself and step out from the shadows? Or will something happen to cause her to make decisions she never thought she would have to make?

Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs certainly feel quite accomplished after completing what they dub as the Marauder's Map. A map designed to show every classroom, hall, corridor, and even secret passageway of the Hogwarts Castle but also capable of identifying every person, ghost, and poltergeist roaming about. Or so they thought. It takes Elspeth Hayes casually strolling down the corridor one afternoon for the boys to realise that she's not showing up on the map and they want to figure out why. But Elspeth is not about to give away her secrets so easily, after all, a girl has to have her secrets to keep the boys on their toes.

[NOTE: This book was written in 2010, a time of long-distance phone cards, weight-loss obsessions, and searching for a man as a solution to life's problems-what a messy time to be alive! In other words, I hope you enjoy this throwback, and while this book does end on a cliffhanger of sorts, the sequel addresses any unanswered questions (which is hopefully fair, given that book 1 is free, ya know?] An awkward family homecoming at Christmas. A humiliating public weigh-in, with two judging parents as the audience. The announcement of a deadline for arranged marriage doom. And that's just the first two chapters. In "Year of the Chick," Romi Narindra must find love before her parents find her a husband. Easy to say, less easy to live through, as this book takes you deep inside "awkward Indian living in the West." To escape her fate, Romi wades through the waters of secret-dating, where self-consciousness is at an all-time high, and experience at an all-time low. It's the sort of thing that would turn almost anyone into a man-crazy freak with romance tunnel-vision, and that's exactly what ends up happening. All the while, a lack of inspiration in her corporate job leads Romi to her love of writing, in what quickly becomes a man-quest play-by-play. From whiskey-breath scum bags to uni-brow creeps and everything in between, Romi and her wingmen come up empty time after time. And that's when she meets a fellow writer. On the Internet. So will it be arranged marriage doom, or an Internet affair that's not as creepy as "To Catch a Predator"? Time will tell in the "year of the chick," a twelve-month quest to find love. Tick-tock. --------------------------------------------- "Year of the Chick" is book one of a series, and book two is available at Amazon! LENGTH: 75,000 words or 285 pages DISCLAIMER: this book contains profanities, blunt accounts of the dating scene, and many awkward family moments. Enjoy!

Laney Herman is living the life of a typical teenager in her small town in Minnesota, when she's discovered by a big-time agent who whisks her off to L.A., and thrusts her into the crazy world of young Hollywood. Within weeks, she's starring in a film, getting her first onscreen kiss, dating her hunky co-star and being stalked by the paparazzi. Will this town chew her up and spit her out, or is Laney a star in the making?