If love is war, Cassia James is the mushroom cloud.

Three years ago, Cassia "Cass" James went nuclear on a Hollywood red carpet, exposing her cheating fiancé and backstabbing best friend in front of the world. The fallout? A career in shambles, a reputation in ruins, and a yearly resurgence of memes that make February feel like a cruel joke.

Now, with a podcast feature promising her one last shot at reclaiming her image, Cass is ready to stage the performance of a lifetime at her annual Love Me Not anti-Valentine's Day party. There's just one problem: she needs a date to sell the charade.

Enter Malik-the tattoo artist who's been quietly holding her together for three long years and the only person Cass trusts enough to ask for help.

But Malik isn't just another prop in Cass's chaotic narrative. He's the steady presence who's seen her at her lowest, the one who challenges her razor-sharp defenses without flinching. And as they continue to fool the world, Cass begins to realize something terrifying: Maybe it's not so fake after all.

Cass must face the truth she's been running from: you can't rewrite your story until you stop hiding from it.

Love is messy. Love is hard. But love might just be worth the risk.

"Love Me Not" is a sharp, witty, and emotionally raw contemporary romance about second chances, emotional vulnerability, and the love we find when we're not too scared to fight for it.

Bridget Jones’s Diary meets Survival of the Thickest in Danielle Allen’s CURVY GIRL SUMMER, a smoking-hot, hilarious novel about the perils of online dating.

“There’s got to be an easier way than dating. I want the shortcut. I just want to find my person and start our lives together.”
After a one-night stand with her clingy ex, Aaliyah James has an epiphany: this ain’t it. She knows what she wants, and she’s ready to move past casual hookups, flings, and situationships.

But for her family, the clock is ticking―after all, she’s almost thirty. And when they imply that her personality (and her body) might be too big to land a man, she lets them know they’ve gone too far―and her (nonexistent) man loves her curves, thank you very much. Now, she has seven weeks to find the perfect boyfriend to rub in their faces at the big, fancy birthday celebration she’s been planning.

After her first blind date goes wrong, charming local bartender Ahmad Williamson consoles her with a drink and some playful banter. Aaliyah takes him up on his suggestion to use a dating app―but the more she sees of his warm, funny, and easygoing nature, the less she wants to check her DMs. Will her next swipe bring her closer to true love―or is her real match closer than she thinks?

"EAT. THEY TWISTED IN DEEPER. EAT. STILL SO SIMPLE. AN IMPULSE. REPEATED AGAIN AND AGAIN. EAT..."

"ACID-BATH CLASS STRUGGLE INTERMINGLES WITH PARASITIC TERROR IN BRIANA N. COX'S SLIPPERY, SLITHERING, SYMBIOTICALLY SUFFOCATING DEBUT." - CLAY MCLEOD CHAPMAN, WAKE UP AND OPEN YOUR EYES

"This damning portrayal of U.S. health care doubles as a potent, unforgettable creepfest." - Kirkus Reviews

LEIGH PIERCE ESTATES is home to a diverse array of tenants: families, immigrants, students, the forgotten elderly. All working poor, and all in danger.

Because the tenants of Leigh Pierce are disappearing.

Live-in handyman Xavier seems to be the only one who notices. Or cares. After a chance encounter with the culprit leaves him infected with something horrifying, Xavier is thrust into a surreal nightmare of starvation and consumption all too familiar to his gentrifying Atlanta neighborhood.

Succumbing to his infection, Xavier is drawn into the cobbled-together family squatting in Leigh Pierce's basement. People who, through a myriad of doomed roads, fell into the same self-destructive cycle of indigency, harboring dark secrets... and darker appetites. Trapped in a dynamic of codependency and complicity, Xavier and his family- new and old- are forced to confront the cost of survival in a world that has disregarded them.

Four-time Emmy-nominated actress Laverne Cox shares her journey as a transgender woman in Hollywood, confronting childhood trauma, shame, gender identity, her transition, body image issues, her search for romantic love, deep-seated feelings of unworthiness, and ultimately, healing.

Laverne Cox is a powerhouse in the fight for transgender rights and representation—but her path from a struggling trans actress to a cultural movement was anything but easy.

Surviving a childhood full of trauma, dealing with depression, and working at a drag restaurant in New York City for seven years, Laverne was turning forty and felt it was time to throw in the towel when it came to being a Hollywood star—then she booked the character of Sophia Burset in Orange is the New Black. Her world changed overnight.

She made history as the first openly transgender person nominated for a Primetime Emmy, starred in a range of high-profile shows, and became the first transgender person to win a Daytime Emmy as executive producer on Laverne Cox Presents: The T Word. A red-carpet fashion icon, podcast host, and fearless advocate, she uses her stardom to champion LGBTQ+ rights, whether on Hollywood’s biggest stages, her personal channels, or at Supreme Court hearings. And she’s only getting started.

In Transcendent, you will experience life in Laverne’s shoes, from her childhood abuse to making her big break, dealing with Hollywood bureaucracy, feeling lonely in a world that is unaccepting, and finding her voice through the chaos of it all. With behind-the-scenes stories and personal reflection, we can heal and fight for equality, right alongside Laverne.

Celebrate How to Live Free in a Dangerous World: A Decolonial Memoir with journalist, poet, author, Shayla Lawson!

EVENT DEETS

When: Friday, February 9 at 7PM

Where: Kindred Stories Reading Garden 

How: RSVP ONLY to save you seat or RSVP WITH BOOK to support the author and our programming

ABOUT THE BOOK

In their new book, Shayla Lawson reveals how traveling can itself be a political act, when it can be a dangerous world to be Black, femme, nonbinary, and disabled. With their signature prose, at turns muscular and luminous, Lawson explores layered meanings within love, time, and the self.

Through encounters with a gorgeous gondolier in Venice, an ex-husband in The Netherlands, and a lost love on New Year’s Eve in Mexico City, Lawson’s travels bring unexpected wisdom about life in and out of love. They learn the strength of friendships, and the dangers of beauty during a near escape in Egypt. They examine Blackness in post dictatorship Zimbabwe, then take us on a secretive tour of Black freedom movements in Portugal.

Through a deeply insightful journey, Lawson leads readers from a castle in France, to a hula hoop competition in Jamaica, to a traditional theater in Tokyo, to a Prince concert in Minnesota, and finally to find liberation on a beach in Bermuda, exploring each location—and their deepest emotions—to the fullest. In the end, they discover how trials of marriage, grief, and missed connections, can lead to self transformation and unimagined new freedoms.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Shayla Lawson (they/them) is the author of This is Major, which was a finalist for the National Book Critics’ Circle and the LAMBDA Literary Award, and two poetry collections. They have written for New York Magazine, Salon, ESPN, and Paper, and have earned fellowships from Yaddo and the MacDowell Artist Colony. They live in Lexington, Kentucky.

Ready, set, go! Layla and the Bots are heading to the races!

Pick a book. Grow a Reader!This series is part of Scholastic's early chapter book line Branches, aimed at newly independent readers. With easy-to-read text, high-interest content, fast-paced plots, and illustrations on every page, these books will boost reading confidence and stamina. Branches books help readers grow!Blossom Valley is hosting a go-kart race! The go-karts are provided for all the kids in town. Layla and the Bots can't wait for race day! But one racer, Tina, needs their help. She needs a new cart that uses hand-controls and other cool features. Layla and the Bots know just what to do... they will build her a brand-new cart that's even faster than her wheelchair! But will Tina's go-kart have enough speed to win the race? With full-color artwork on every page and speech bubbles throughout, this early chapter book series brings kid-friendly STEAM topics to young readers!

Meet rock star Layla and her team of Bots!

Pick a book. Grow a Reader!This series is part of Scholastic's early chapter book line Branches, aimed at newly independent readers. With easy-to-read text, high-interest content, fast-paced plots, and illustrations on every page, these books will boost reading confidence and stamina. Branches books help readers grow!Layla and the Bots are in an awesome rock band! They also use problem-solving and creativity to build cool inventions. When a local amusement park is in danger of shutting down, Layla knows just how to bring in the crowds... build an amusement park for DOGS! But will cool doggie rides like the Rub-a-Dub Mud Slide and the Tummy Rubbing Machine be enough to keep the park open? With full-color artwork on every page and speech bubbles throughout, this early chapter book series brings kid-friendly STEAM topics to young readers!