Recommendations based on "Play It Again, Charlie"

My name is Nova Stone and I was a ghost in my own life until a knock at the door changed my whole world.Applying for guardianship of my infant half-brother was a no brainer, even if I hadn't known he existed. But that was before I met his uncles; two pro ice hockey players, and a CEO. They wanted to take Huey home with them and they were willing to pay me millions of dollars for the privilege.When that didn't work, they managed to convince me that it would be better for my brother-and for me-if I moved into their Ann Arbor mansion. At first, I said hell no. I'd listened to true crime podcasts. I'd read the newspaper articles. But a week of sleepless nights and emotional breakdowns later, I relented.They were helpful, I'd give them that. But they were also hot, and that was a problem. River with his brooding intensity, he was as huge as you'd picture an NHL enforcer to be. His foster brother Devan, who was mysterious and standoffish, and their best friend Rigby, the literal embodiment of a golden retriever in the body of a 6'2 pro athlete.But I had to do what was right for Huey, and anyway, how could I ever choose? And I had to choose...right?

Random Family tells the American outlaw saga lurking behind the headlines of gangsta glamour, gold-drenched drug dealers, and street-corner society. With an immediacy made possible only after ten years of reporting, Adrian Nicole LeBlanc immerses the reader in the mind-boggling intricacies of the little-known ghetto world. She charts the tumultuous cycle of the generations, as girls become mothers, mothers become grandmothers, boys become criminals, and hope struggles against deprivation.Two romances thread through Random Family: the sexually charismatic nineteen-year-old Jessica's dizzying infatuation with a hugely successful young heroin dealer, Boy George, and fourteen-year-old Coco's first love with Jessica's little brother, Cesar, an aspiring thug. Fleeing from family problems, the young couples try to outrun their destinies. Chauffeurs whisk them to getaways in the Poconos and to nightclubs. They cruise the streets in Lamborghinis and customized James Bond cars. Jessica and Boy George ride the wild adventure between riches and ruin, while Coco and Cesar stick closer to the street, all four caught in a precarious dance between life and death. Friends get murdered; the DEA and FBI investigate Boy George's business activities; Cesar becomes a fugitive; Jessica and Coco endure homelessness, betrayal, the heartbreaking separation of prison, and throughout it all, the insidious damage of poverty. Together, then apart, the teenagers make family where they find it. Girls look for excitement and find trouble; boys, searching for adventure, join crews and prison gangs. Coco moves upstate to dodge the hazards of the Bronx; Jessica seeks solace in romance. Both find that love is the only place to go.A gifted prose stylist and a profoundly compassionate observer, Adrian Nicole LeBlanc has slipped behind the cold statistics and sensationalism surrounding inner-city life and come back with a riveting, haunting, and true urban soap opera that reveals the clenched grip of the streets. Random Family is a compulsive read and an important journalistic achievement, sure to take its place beside the classics of the genre.

Harry Goldfarb, heroin addict and son of lonely widow Sara, cares only about enjoying the good life with girlfriend Marion and best friend Tyrone C Love, and making the most of all the hash, poppers and dope they can get. Sara Goldfarb sits at home with the TV, dreaming of the life she could have and struggling with her own addictions - food and diet pills. But these four will pay a terrible price for the pleasures they believe they are entitled to. A passionate, heart-breaking tale of the crushing weight of hope and expectation, Requiem for a Dream is a dark modern-day fable of New York.

Australia, 1983Life is pretty tough right now for twelve-year-old Eli - what with his mute brother, a convicted murderer for a babysitter, a drug-dealing stepfather, an incarcerated mother and a long-lost father - surely it can't get any worse?Think again. He's about to fall in love, break into prison and cross paths with one of the most notorious criminals Brisbane has ever seen.A coming-of-age story like no other, Boy Swallows Universe is the most exhilarating novel you'll read all year.

THE #1 BLACKBOARD BESTSELLERMeet Jazmine Deems: she's twenty-six, steppin' out from under her overprotective preacher father, and determined to escape the streets of South Central and realize her dream of making it in the music business.Meet X-Man: he's embroiled in the violence of the streets, and seems destined for a life spent hangin' with his homies -- until his talent as a tapper attracts the attention of a big-lime record producer.Fate brings Jazmine and X-Man together as promising young stars for the same record company. They thrive on the excitement of their new careers and passionate love, until a power-hungry executive pits them against each other, jeopardizing both their musical careers and romantic future. Follow Jazmine and X-man as they discover that with the right mix of love and determination, it doesn't matter where you're from, it's where you're at.

Hilarious and true-to-life, witty, compassionate, and impossible to put down, Straight Man follows Hank Devereaux through one very bad week in this novel from the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Empire Falls. • Now the AMC Original Series Lucky Hank.William Henry Devereaux, Jr., is the reluctant chairman of the English department of a badly underfunded college in the Pennsylvania rust belt. Devereaux's reluctance is partly rooted in his character—he is a born anarchist—and partly in the fact that his department is more savagely divided than the Balkans.In the course of a single week, Devereaux will have his nose mangled by an angry colleague, imagine his wife is having an affair with his dean, wonder if a curvaceous adjunct is trying to seduce him with peach pits, and threaten to execute a goose on local television. All this while coming to terms with his philandering father, the dereliction of his youthful promise, and the ominous failure of certain vital body functions. In short, Straight Man is classic Russo—side-splitting, poignant, compassionate, and unforgettable.Look for Richard Russo's new book, Somebody's Fool, coming soon.

The author of The Two-Bear Mambo serves up a gritty, bawdy, action-packed Texas thriller involving a black, gay protagonist, a chili chef, a femme fatale, a rabid squirrel, a tornado, and several corpses. Reprint.

At forty, Lan Davis is looking for his damned picket fence and 2.5 kids. What he doesn't expect is instead of a wife in the picture, his mind keeps conjuring up images of two men. One, his partner in the force, who is as straight as they came, the other an ex, who he'd hurt but never forgot.After an incident leaves Lan injured, the two men rally around him... only maybe they shouldn't have. It seems a medicated Lan is a truthful one.Parker Wilding is pissed at the world. His anger builds when his partner refuses medical care after an attack. Instead, Lan entrusts his neighbour to take care of him--a guy Parker doesn't trust. While he's aware they share a history,when the past is revealed, the truth shocks the hell out of him.Being emotionally crushed ten years ago, Easton Ravel hoped he would never have to see the man who broke him again. Hope is a fickle b*itch. And now he's not sure how to handle being face-to-face with the man he once loved. Add in the mix the annoying, testy Parker, and Easton finds his limits are pushed.Just not in the way he thought they would be.What happens next sure does come out of the blue.

Daniel Carr is a man who spends his days working a dead-end job and arguing with his wife. The answer to his family's financial struggles appears to be a valuable piece of commercial property Daniel has inherited, but a promise to his late father keeps him from selling until "the time is right." Losing his job and then his wife, pushes Daniel to the edge. Then a chance meeting turns Daniel in an unexpected direction. Daniel turns to God, but will that obedience cost him everything? A story of faith, love, and redemption, Daniel's Lot portrays the struggle to follow God's direction while fighting to keep one's family and integrity alive.

From acclaimed author Kevin Christopher Snipes comes a moving romance about two star-crossed boys trapped in a millennium-spanning cycle of reincarnation whose only hope of escape may be a price that neither is willing to pay. Perfect for fans of Adam Silvera and Eliot Shrefer! Out and proud, Riley Iverson knows there's nothing more cringe than crushing on a straight boy. But from the moment that the handsome, sporty, and painfully heterosexual Jackson Haines walks into his life, Riley can't help but feel an instant and undeniable connection. Mainly because, as impossible as it seems, Jackson is the spitting image of the boy who's recently appeared in Riley's dreams--dreams set in another time and another place where he and Jackson were desperately in love. At first Riley tries to dismiss the coincidence as a product of his hormone-fueled, overactive imagination, but as his friendship with Jackson deepens into something more, the dreams prove harder to ignore. Especially when Jackson begins having them too. Plunged into increasingly vivid visions of the past, the boys find themselves in various eras scattered throughout history. No matter where or when their dreams take them, though, two things remain constant: Riley and Jackson are always together, and they always die at the end. As it becomes increasingly difficult to view their dreams as anything but warnings, the boys are forced to consider the possibility that their burgeoning relationship might be propelling them headfirst into their own tragic ending. But is it worth staying apart to save their lives if the price is forsaking a love that has defied not only time and space but even death itself?