The Secrets of the Extraordinary

The literary realism of the 21st century—if reality came with more comic relief.

THE SECRETS OF THE EXTRAORDINARY is the diary of a college freshman who has a ways to go in… well, life. Undecided about her major, her career path, her boyfriend, and just about everything else, Maggie Murray isn’t giving up yet. With help from her no-nonsense roommate and her all-nonsense family, Maggie is taking life in stride and recording it all along the way. On a quest to find out who she is through trial-and-error, Maggie finds that being yourself isn’t easy when you’ve never actually met.

“I reread the rest in dismay. My brother and his roommate are throwing a party on Friday in their dorm suite, and it’s the first social gathering I’ve been asked to join since New Year’s.

I wonder if Gran is available to escort me. We could wear matching mittens, and discuss our current and future cats.”

“I tried to get to know him better—Justin, I mean—but maybe conversation isn’t the best way to do that. He talked for forty-five minutes straight about his new classes, current events of the hockey persuasion, and his new weightlifting routine. I’m sorry to say I am now aware of exactly how much he can bench press, despite caring exactly none.”

The Unlucky Thirteenth

Every little girl wants to be a princess—right?

Not 20-year-old Charlotte, Princess of Everard and the first girl born to twelve generations of kings. Between Romilio, the dance instructor who despairs of her every footfall, the Cityfolk who aim vegetables at her freckles, and the endless series of suitors with neither humor nor brains, "princess" is the last job Charlotte would ever volunteer for.

When a prophecy warns her she is a danger to her homeland, Charlotte sets out across the Seven Kingdoms to leave the name of Princess behind once and for all. Instead, she finds herself playing the role of “princess” in seven classic fairy tales. When she finally returns to Everard, Charlotte must face not only her mysterious enemy, but also the truth about fate, love, power, and luck.

“I really don’t know what to think about all of this. I was pretty sure no one would ever fall in love with me, mainly because my self-esteem sometimes has vegetables thrown at it. But now that someone has—did a long time ago, apparently—I can’t help feeling like the timing is off, since I’m, to some extent, dead.”

“If the only way I can stop her from destroying me is to kill her myself, then I’ll do it. Or I’ll try, at least. But is it too much to hope at this point that my enemy will just die a natural death, and I will somehow learn of it through a mutual acquaintance?”