Recommendations based on "Taking a Chance"

AND THEN THERE WERE SHOTSEverybodyran,ducked,hid, tuckedthemselves tight.Pressed our lips to thepavement and prayedthe boom, followed bythe buzz of a bullet,didn't meet us.After Will's brother is shot in a gang crime, he knows the next steps. Don't cry. Don't snitch. Get revenge. So he gets in the lift with Shawn's gun, determined to follow The Rules. Only when the lift door opens, Buck walks in, Will's friend who died years ago. And Dani, who was shot years before that. As more people from his past arrive, Will has to ask himself if he really knows what he's doing.This haunting, lyrical, powerful verse novel will blow you away.

The war is over. The battle for love has just begun.As Marines, Cal and Jim depended on each other to survive bloodshed and despair in the Pacific. Relieved to put the horrors of war behind him, Jim went home to his apple orchard and a quiet life with his wife and children. Knowing Jim could never return his forbidden feelings, Cal hoped time and an ocean between them would dull the yearning for his best friend.But when Jim’s wife dies, Cal returns to help. He doesn’t know a thing about apple farming—or children—but he’s determined to be there for Jim, even as the painful torch he carries blazes back to life. Jim is grateful for his friend’s support as he struggles with buried emotions and dark wartime memories. Then Jim begins to see Cal in a new light, and their relationship deepens in ways neither expected. Can they build a life together as a family and find happiness in a world that would condemn them?Semper Fi by Keira Andrews is a historical gay romance featuring friends to lovers, sexual awakening, first times, found family, and of course a happy ending. (It also contains wartime violence and depictions of post-traumatic stress.)

From the award-winning author of George, the story of a boy named Rick who needs to explore his own identity apart from his jerk of a best friend. Rick's never questioned much. He's gone along with his best friend Jeff even when Jeff's acted like a bully and a jerk. He's let his father joke with him about which hot girls he might want to date even though that kind of talk always makes him uncomfortable. And he hasn't given his own identity much thought, because everyone else around him seemed to have figured it out. But now Rick's gotten to middle school, and new doors are opening. One of them leads to the school's Rainbow Spectrum club, where kids of many genders and identities congregate, including Melissa, the girl who sits in front of Rick in class and seems to have her life together. Rick wants his own life to be that ... understood. Even if it means breaking some old friendships and making some new ones. As they did in their groundbreaking novel George, in Rick, award-winning author Alex Gino explores what it means to search for your own place in the world ... and all the steps you and the people around you need to take in order to get where you need to be.

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.

The beloved characters from The Best Man movies and hit television series reunite for a sexy and soulful, heartbreaking and hilarious reckoning of love.Recently divorced and fresh off a Pulitzer Prize win, Harper Stewart is in a new era. He’s working on a movie and living the ultimate bachelor life in his Brooklyn penthouse. But still, something is missing. What else explains the stubborn creative block? The carousel of women? And seventh-wheel status with his friends?Jordan Armstrong had to flee New York. First, to give herself distance from Harper and, second, to escape the corporate grind. In her beachfront Malibu property, the façade of a “healed” Jordan flourishes. Yet she finds herself unmoored. Despite the physical distance, she still feels Harper’s magnetic pull.Meanwhile, in Ghana, Robyn has gone full bohemian restaurateur. She has finally found peace and won’t let another man ruin it—that is, until a handsome local entrepreneur commands her attention. But it’s all too much change for her daughter, Mia, and when she secretly calls Harper with an emergency Robyn would rather hide, their world is shaken and relationships are tested once more.Book one of The Best Man trilogy follows Harper, Jordan, and Robyn as they try to establish lives away from the hurts of the past and come to realize that some love is impossible to break. With support from their close-knit crew of chosen family—Quentin, Shelby, Lance, Murch, and Candace—they fight for a future that proves one’s second act can be the extended chapter worth it all.

Like the game of baseball, life is quirky and unpredictable, as Shane Hunter discovers in the spring of his sophomore year. Suddenly and without warning his life of privilege is turned upside down. And just as suddenly, life begins to seem utterly without fairness or purpose to him. Exciting, well-written sports scenes transport readers right into the stands while complex issues engage their hearts and minds. For here is a novel of loss, of morality, and of the rare, redemptive power of baseball. Can speaking the truth really determine lives? Just how does one accept, move on, and begin doing the right thing?

World-famous geologist, Roger King, returns home to much excitement, but a boyhood feud between Roger and his brother Alec wreaks havoc on the homecoming, and sparks begin to fly.

From an ordinary hood life to an extraordinary good life... Featuring Black Expressions Bestselling author Karen Williams, along with Brandi Johnson and Iniko, this book will have readers consumed with emotion. But before it all even begins, National Bestselling author, Kiki Swinson, holds no punches in her introduction to what is sure to be the journey of a lifetime. Edited by award winning author E. N. Joy, Even Sinners Still Have Souls hits readers hard in the gut with its twisted, edge of the seat storylines and plots. The characters draw the readers into their, often times, strange and distorted worlds. With conflict and tension so high, the reader is almost forced to mentally endure the same daily struggles as some of the characters. Even Sinners Still Have Souls goes beyond the typical love, power and respect. It branches off into a new dimension as characters try to go from just living the hood life, to living the good life. It's one of those few books sure to leave an imprint in the reader's mind, footsteps on their soul and a message in their heart.

Black Sheep SonNothing about going home to Gordon Falls is easy for fireman Clark Bradens. His role as local bad boy is firmly established, though he's determined to use his newfound faith to change people's minds. But Clark isn't the only one coming home to hard times. When Melba Wingate came home from Chicago to help her ailing father, she wasn't expecting to unravel a family secret. As Melba wades through the past to find the truth about her father, Clark becomes an unlikely ally. And while neither can change the past, the future is theirs to shape.

Well, timing never had been his strong suit... And the fact that Bowie Bravo walked in the door, after seven years away, just when Glory Rossi was about to go into labor with another man's child certainly proved the point. Because the last time Glory had seen Bowie was when she was delivering his child--a little boy who'd never known his real father. But according to Bowie, that was about to change. Bowie was now a respectable businessman, and he was more than ready to be a father--to both of Glory's children. He was also ready to be a husband to the woman he'd never been able to live without. And when he saw that their feelings for each other still burned bright, he didn't see any reason why he'd have to....