It was Rory’s Grandma that made the two predictions; the day of her own death, and the day Rory would die. Nobody really takes Grandma seriously – that is, until she suddenly passes away on the exact date she’s predicted. In a fit of panic, Rory decides to embark on a bizarre, crazed mission to live life to the full. Together with her friends, she throws the rulebook out of the window and tastes what the world has to offer; excessively wild nights, malicious revenge plans, and arrogant, beautiful boys. Rory thinks she has nothing to lose. But her family is slowly starting to crumble, and her friends are getting sick of her reckless attitude. There’s only so long she can party before the terror of her deathday rolls around. Rory has to choose between bowing out disgracefully, with her name seared into the town’s memory – or fighting the out-of-control girl she’s become before it’s too late.

(Chapter 1 only) In the winter of 1941-1942, Leningrad is under siege, and Karen Hamilton, a seventeen-year-old American musician, finds herself trapped and struggling to survive. Throughout the city, people are dying of starvation and frostbite, and Karen knows that if she doesn't escape immediately, she will share their fate. If she has any hope of leaving Russia and reuniting with her fiancé, Bobby, in New York, she must do the impossible: cross enemy lines and then stow away. On her harrowing journey, Karen encounters Petr, a young conscripted Russian soldier. She isn't sure she can trust him-he is equally wary of her. But as the two join forces in order to stay alive, an unexpected romance takes root. Now, as Karen gets closer to the reality of escape, she has a choice to make: Will she return to a safe life in America with Bobby, or remain in war-torn Russia with Petr? This is a sample chapter of the book that will be available October 18 from Lake Union Publishing.