*Previously Featured, reached #3* Inspired by her father, 16-year-old Ruby never misses an opportunity to challenge her village's ridiculous rules. Her friends and brothers try to dissuade her hot-headed methods, but Ruby can't help it. She doesn't believe Seers should determine the fate of individuals before a crime is committed, and she doesn't back down, not even when the Seers banish her father into the deadly forest. When Ruby spots survivors beyond the gates, she breaks every rule to save them. She lands the same fate as her father, only to be saved by a psychic instead of banished. But why would a Seer protect a troublesome girl? With the village out to get her, Ruby pulls one last stunt that destroys the lives of everyone she has ever known, and to her horror, Ruby learns the dark and twisted truth behind why the psychic saved her.

In a world where jugglers entertain on the street, a boy loses his parents in a factory fire. Taken from the Lower East Side to New England, Harry is abandoned at The Elizabeth Home for Destitute Children. In Theda Bara’s Tent follows the spirited boy’s quest for love and prosperity. He finds comfort at the movies and is befriended by the young theater owner, Louie, who will one day become a Hollywood legend. The orphanage closing is the beginning of Harry’s adventures in a wider world. He encounters screen stars, Tin Pan Alley song pluggers, bootleggers, dare-devil cameramen, movie moguls, and a young gossip columnist who steals his heart. Rich in historical context, with a cast of characters real and imagined from the movies’ early days, this page-turner follows Harry Sirkus as he makes a mark in the flourishing film industry and goes on to become a famous news broadcaster. Harry’s personality is so captivating and vivid readers will be hard-pressed to remember that the author made him up.

(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.