Books with author Cynthia D. Grant

Everyone knows vampires don’t really exist—so why are Carolyn and her sister haunted by the same nocturnal visits? Twin sisters Honey and Carolyn have a secret: Uncle Toddy must be a vampire. What else could explain the fact that his nightmarish nocturnal visits are sucking the life out of their family? Honey doesn’t want to talk about it. She’s a popular, pretty cheerleader with the perfect high school life. Why can’t Carolyn pretend it isn’t happening and concentrate on good things, instead of asking questions about what happens when he knocks at her door in the middle of the night? Both girls’ grades are suffering under the strain of keeping their secret, threatening their school activities and plans for the future. Carolyn feels like she’s going crazy, seeing things that no one else can. How can she convince Honey that she’s only trying to stop the vampire from killing them both? Her only option is to force Uncle Toddy into the one place he doesn’t want to be: the light.

In ten years, Jessie will be twenty-seven—but her sister Helen will always be eighteen Jessie’s not ready to move on. Everyone says she’s doing great, but she is drowning in grief and hiding it with her characteristic wisecracks. Why tell anyone? It’s not like it will bring Helen back. Jessie can see that her whole family is barely treading water: Her brother Lucas has completely shut down, and her parents are just going through the motions of life. Then Jessie finds Helen’s diary, the one she was keeping up until her death. Desperate to feel close to her sister again, Jessie reads through the entries, discovering truths about Helen—and herself—that she never expected.

Writing can open doors to a better life for Raina—but it’s up to her not to slam them shut Raina doesn’t trust anyone. People either hurt you or leave you—or they die, which is the same thing, really. She used to trust her mother, until her mother chose heroin and a long series of abusive boyfriends over her. Now, sixteen-year-old Raina panhandles on the streets and sleeps in abandoned buildings with her boyfriend, Sonny. She doesn’t tell anyone the truth about her life, at least not out loud, but she can’t stop it from coming out in the poems and stories she writes for her teacher Miss Johnson. Miss Johnson knows that Raina is smart, perceptive, and utterly locked inside of herself. The concerned teacher reaches out again and again, but Raina’s dreams have been crushed by reality too often. What will it take for Raina to ask for help?

Permanently on the road, a teenage girl struggles to keep her family together Sixteen-year-old Mary Wolf can remember when her family lived in a house, when her father was a successful insurance executive who would jump through sprinklers with his briefcase just to make her laugh. But he never got back on his feet after his business collapsed, and he had to move the whole Wolf family into a giant RV, taking them on the road for a permanent “vacation.” Now he drives Mary, her pregnant mother, and her three little sisters from city to city, where they stay at campgrounds and parks with other homeless people, never remaining in one place for long. Mary’s mother has turned to petty theft to make ends meet and her dad loses his temper too much to hold down a job, but both insist that everything is going to be fine. Watching her parents increasingly deny the reality of their situation, Mary can feel it: Her whole family is coming to the end of a road.

Abandoned by her mother, Olivia Greene decides to take care of herself—if only she can keep it a secret Life’s been strange for Olivia Greene ever since her mother, Luna Lee, went to the store for margarine and never came back. Afraid of being sent to live with her terrible uncle—or worse, his children—Olivia carries out elaborate schemes to convince the people of Kumquat that Luna Lee still lives at home. Absolutely no one can find out—except, of course, for Olivia’s best friend, Rosella. But Olivia’s carefully constructed life threatens to fall apart with the arrival of the incredibly hot Raymond Mooney, whose family just moved back to Kumquat under mysterious circumstances. If he can tell Olivia his secrets, can’t she tell him hers? Or would that threaten the lies Olivia has so carefully woven to protect herself?

“Unlike me, life isn’t always pretty,” says Tiffany Spratt—a cheerleader destined for fame who will do anything to get there Tiffany is definitely glad that the best-looking boy in the universe just transferred to her high school. Her boyfriend, Wally, got caught hacking into the Pentagon’s computer system and was sent to boarding school, so she almost didn’t have a date for the Homecoming dance! But Tiffany knows that she’ll look fabulous next to her new boyfriend, Cannibal MacLaine—at least she thinks he said his name was Cannibal. Sure, it’s an incredibly unusual name, but then, he is from Los Angeles. Then something even more exciting happens: A major Hollywood director wants to film a horror movie right in their school! Not everyone is as pleased as Tiffany though—in fact, her own mother is leading protests against the plan—but Tiffany is Head Yell Leader at Hi High, so she gets the chamber of commerce on her side. The movie studio signs the contract, and everything is going to be perfect . . . if it doesn’t turn into a perfect nightmare first.

When golden boy Gabe McCloud dies in a drunk driving accident, it shakes up the whole town Everyone knew the McCloud men were bad news. The family’s patriarch, Franny, only gave up drinking after almost causing an unspeakable tragedy. His sons are no better—except for Gabriel. Gabe isn’t perfect, but he’s handsome, charming, and friendly with just about everyone in the small, ocean-side town of Willow Creek. So after he wraps his truck around a tree one foggy night, Gabe’s death affects the entire community. The tragedy opens up old wounds for some people, and brings others closer together.