Secrets And Lies

What would you do if you suspected that a family member was keeping secrets from you? It seems like the opportunity of a lifetime when twelve-year-old Britt's older brother, Brandon, gets a house-sitting job for the summer which will enable their family to temporarily live in a spacious new home in a beautiful Florida neighborhood. However, Bran begins to act suspiciously, evades questions, and becomes increasingly paranoid. Britt slowly realizes that her family wasn't invited to live there at all, and that Bran was only hired to mow the lawn. In fact, the house really belongs to her maternal grandparents who cast their daughter off when she married against their wishes. Bran says that the "grandparents" owe them this home due to the heartache they caused, and Britt feels torn between keeping her brother's secret and her own sense of right and wrong. When it is ultimately discovered that her grandparents, in fact, don't have any connection to the house, and the legal owner's return is imminent, how will Britt and Bran resolve the problem and face the consequences? This is a suspenseful and thought-provoking read about the nature of family and forgiveness.

Crossed Connections

Robert Cormier's expertly crafted, exciting page-turner called Tenderness poses one important underlying question: What happens when the paths of two very different adolescents converge? Eric Poole is a psychopathic serial killer who was incarcerated for the murder of two teenaged girls. Nicknamed "The Iceman" for his emotionless demeanor by the other convicts in his cellblock, Eric is now being released, and is thinking of his future victims that he will be "tender" with. Lori Cranston is a troubled runaway who has left home because her mother's boyfriend has molested her. She has seen Eric Poole's picture on television and is now obsessed with him. Lori decides that she must see him again, because she feels that he will give her the kindness and "tenderness" that she craves. When Eric and Lori finally meet, how will the encounter conclude? Murder, obsession, and mesmerizing psychological portraits - the ultimate recipe for an absorbing read.