The Insiders

A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year * An ALA Rainbow Book List Top 10 Title for Young Readers Three kids who don’t belong. A room that shouldn’t exist. A year that will change everything. Perfect for fans of Rebecca Stead and Meg Medina, this debut middle grade novel from award-winning author Mark Oshiro is a hopeful and heartfelt coming-of-age story for anyone who’s ever felt like they didn’t fit in. San Francisco and Orangevale may be in the same state, but for Héctor Muñoz, they might as well be a million miles apart. Back home, being gay didn’t mean feeling different. At Héctor’s new school, he couldn’t feel more alone. Most days, Héctor just wishes he could disappear. And he does. Right into the janitor’s closet. (Yes, he sees the irony.) But one day, when the door closes behind him, Héctor discovers he’s stumbled into a room that shouldn’t be possible. A room that connects him with two new friends from different corners of the country—and opens the door to a life-changing year full of friendship, adventure, and just a little bit of magic. “Sometimes hilarious, sometimes devastating, but always full of heart, The Insiders carves out a space for us all to be our true selves.” —Kwame Mbalia, New York Times bestselling author of Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky

The Insiders is the first in a brand new, page-turning romance trilogy from New York Times bestseller, Tijan! Bailey is as normal as could be, with a genius IQ and a photographic memory. But still, normal for her. Then, things happen—a guy breaks into her house in the middle of the night to take her hostage. She finds out her father is actually billionaire tech genius Peter Francis, the same guy she’s idolized all her life. She learns all this when she meets dark, mysterious, and electrifying Kashton Colello. He’s an associate of her father’s, and he gives Bailey two choices—go with him and meet her father or survive on her own because those kidnappers are going to try again. It’s a no-brainer. After this, three things become clear for Bailey: 1. She’s living at her father’s sprawling estate, complete with bodyguards and the best security that money can buy. 2. She’s no longer an only child. She has three siblings and has no idea what to do with them and vice versa. 3. She is being guarded by Kash himself. Personally guarded. And there is a lot of guarding going on there and some of it is going to drive her crazy. A complete outsider in a world of wealth and decadence, Bailey has to find her way within a family that has more secrets than she could have imagined. One of these secrets could be deadly...

Join the fabulous life of the INSIDERS! And read more about about the lives and loves of these fabulous Manhattan boys in the INSIDERS novels: PASS IT ON and BREAK EVERY RULE. A captivating scandalous look into the privileged and turbulent world of five cool guys living in Manhattan's trendiest neighborhoods. Jonathan is the leader of the pack - but what will happen if the pack falls apart? Arno's way with the girls makes you wonder, "Can boys be sluts?" David is known as the nice guy, but will he stay that way? Mickey is always in trouble - Romeo never fell off a roof impressing Juliet, did he? And Patch is just Missing in Action. They've got rich parents, go to top schools, and are best friends. With so many parties to go to, colleges to impress, girls to win over, and so much money to be spent, who can keep track of it all? And can real friendship shine through in the end? J. Minter's keen eye for urban teens, their dialogue, and the details of New York City's high life make this a guilty pleasure for readers of the Gossip Girl series and other glitterati novels. Reviews "Designed to resemble a Gossip Girl entry, this enticingly trashy entrant into the yearly teen beach read sweepstakes attempts to do for lower Manhattan what the Cecily von Ziegesar books have done for the Upper East Side." Publishers Weekly About the Author J. Minter is the writer and former columnist for Seventeen magazine. He lives in New York City.

For fans of The Land of Stories comes an adventure that reveals the secret warnings hidden inside all classic tales -- beware fairyland at all costs. Eleven-year-old Danny Monteverde believes in magic. He knows that pixie dust is real, that wardrobes act as portals, and that rabbit holes lead to Wonderland. Most of all, he believes that his older sister, Pili, is waiting for him somewhere in Rio Luna, the enchanted land in their favorite book of fairy tales. Danny doesn't care what the adults say. He knows that Pili isn't another teen runaway. When the siblings were placed in separate foster homes, she promised that she'd come back for him, and they'd build a new life together in Rio Luna.Yet as the years pass, Danny's faith begins to dim. But just when he thinks it might be time to put foolish fairy tales behind him, he finds a mysterious book in the library. It's a collection of stories that contain hints about how to reach another world. A map to Rio Luna . . . and to Pili. As his adventure takes him from New York to Ecuador to Brazil, Danny learns that meeting your favorite characters isn't always a dream come true. But nothing will stop him from finding his sister . . . even if it means standing up to the greatest threat the magical realm has ever known.

The thrilling novel of espionage and murder set in the dark heart of Westminster, from the UK's most exciting new spy writer A Russian defector is found brutally murdered in a London hotel. Only four people knew he had turned - the four most important and powerful figures in Whitehall. There's only one conclusion: A mole has infiltrated the highest levels of the nation's security. Operating in secret from within Westminster's darkest corners, former spy, Solomon Vine, must uncover the traitor. Because Britain's future hangs in the balance. And with it, the fate of the whole world . . . Praise for Matthew Richardson 'Proof that the spy genre is flourishing in the 21st century . . . [Richardson's] plotting has an old-school, Swiss-clock precision' The Guardian 'Compelling, intense and sharply authentic' James Swallow, bestselling author of Nomad 'A splendid tale of espionage starring an old-fashioned MI6 hero . . . Exciting spy literature' The Times 'A bang-up-to-date thriller told with old-school panache. A great read' Mick Herron, CWA Gold Dagger-winning author of the Slough House Series

"One of the most important virtues of a democracy is that its leaders are accountable to the public, which presumably makes democracies more cautious about using military force and, ultimately, more peaceful. Yet how, then, are some leaders able to continue or even escalate wars in the face of strong or rising popular opposition, as Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon did in the later stages of the Vietnam War, and Barack Obama did in Afghanistan? In this book, Saunders argues that constraints on democratic leaders' decisions about war come not from the public but from elites, making war an "insiders' game." Saunders sees elites as a disparate group that can shape not only the decision about whether to enter a war but also how wars unfold. The insiders' game can sometimes result in elites effectively colluding with leaders in escalating a war with dim prospects; it can also occasionally lead to de-escalation or the end of a conflict. Saunders focuses first on the importance of elite influence (rather than public accountability) and on how the preferences of elites differ from those of the public. She homes in on three main groups of elites that shape almost every war-related decision democratic leaders make: legislators, military leaders, and high-level bureaucrats and advisers. She then goes on to look at how these dynamics have played out historically, looking at the cases of Lebanon, Afghanistan, Korea, and Vietnam, showing that leaders' political bargaining with elites is key to understanding the use of force in American foreign policy"--

"The essays in Insiders, outsiders tap into the interdisciplinary synergy that has come to characterize Southern studies, exploring current creative tensions between classic themes in Southern history and the new ways to approach them. Region and identity, intellectuals and change, the South as an idea and ideas in the South-these continue to inspire the best new research as showcased in this collection"--

Part how-to guide, part travelogue, this book not only outlines the step-by-step process to getting a job on a luxury yacht, it also reveals what life is really like aboard these oceangoing toys.