Books with author Grimes

Want to dive into a world full of werewolves, magic, and witches? "Something about his eyes changed. For a moment, his eyes dilated to an unnatural size. The color transformed to an insane shade of gold. The feeling of being prey took over her for one terrifying minute. But, something crept forward from the dark recesses of her mind. Whatever the darkness was, it was ugly, and it didn’t like to be challenged."Louvette Blackwood never even knew her own father's name until a lawyer shows up on her door step to execute her grandfather's will. She soon finds out that her grandfather was murdered while searching for her father. At first, they are hesitant to sign the will, but quickly realize that a fresh start in Montana is what they need after she was kicked out of yet another school for fighting. A life changing year packed full of uncovering the truth, new friends, and new enemies is about to start!Excerpt The impact of the sucker punch sent Louvette to the ground hard. Pain flared across her cheek as it split. The effects of her adrenaline paused as her mother’s words of warning replayed in her mind: Make this school last until graduation. She knew this would break her mother’s heart. A shout that did not come from her mother took her back to present reality. She hadn’t started this fight, but she knew she wasn’t going to let her butt get stomped, either. She jumped up. Her fist balled as a blonde pixie of a girl came at her. Louvette dodged her this time and swung her fist straight into the girl’s nose. A solid crunch sounded as her attack landed. Her momentary satisfaction was thrown off along with her balance as the girls fell to the ground. A large arm separated them apart as the coach finally arrived to do his job. They continued to kick at each other, looking like barrel monkeys hanging off a barrel. “Break it up! Lynskey and Mallory, report to the principal’s office immediately,” snapped Coach No Clue. No clue what his name was because she hadn’t been in his class or let alone the whole school of Farwell long enough to learn it. She was more dragged down the hallway toward the principal’s office than reported to it. The Queen B, otherwise known as Tiffany Mallory, began to beg immediately, spawning an eye roll from Louvette. She was a whiny beggar. Just one of many B words that could describe her to a T, but it was the nicest one that Louvette could think of. Her pleading stopped as they arrived at the door of the principal’s office. They locked eyes for a second, hatred flaring toward each other. “I’m first. I’m on my third offense and I’m not waiting all day for you to get a slap on the wrist,” Louvette said to Tiffany as she darted past her into the office. The only thing that stopped her from slamming the door in B’s face was the creature on the other side of the door.

Discover the Joy of Not Thinking...When I was sixteen, I had a mental breakdown. It happened while I was on vacation in the Caribbean with my family. I’d been reading an old Zen book, and it did me in. I’d experienced some strange mental states before, but this was different. As I read this book, death moved to the foreground of all my thoughts—and then stayed there. I found myself in a tropical paradise, terrified. Living seemed too cruel to carry on with. Buddha had said all life was suffering and all that meant was that everything was hopeless. There was no way out. Escape was impossible. When you looked at things soberly, it was obvious. Life, inevitably, was really just suffering and death.I kept this anxiety to myself as best I could. There was nothing to say anyway. No one could help. I was helpless, mortified, but aware that I was unable to do anything about it. The stress began to wear on my body. It felt worse and worse. I would have killed myself right there if death didn’t scare me even more than life. I reasoned if I killed myself at least this particular suffering would be over.These feelings peaked and then went on, and on, and on. At some point, I took a drive with my family to a beach on the other side of the island. It was bad. My insides felt as if they were being torn out. I didn’t understand what was happening. I felt like vomiting but couldn’t. Finally, we arrived at the beach. I sat under a tree, in the shade, trying to act sane.And then I thought I died.Something happened and then nothing. And then there was something again. I don’t know. Was I dead? I looked around and realized I wasn’t. I was on the beach, under a tree. But there was no “I.” Everything was different. Everything had dropped off. Where was “I”? I didn’t exist. What was happening? What was this? It was indescribable. You couldn’t describe this. Any description was pointless. Everything was perfect just as it was, but at the same time, it wasn’t that. Because there was no everything. There was nothing at all. There was no need to describe anything ever again because there was nothing. Words and description were meaningless. Nothing was real. Nothing mattered!And this was, undoubtedly, the best news possible. The greatest realization I could wish to have. Yet that couldn’t begin to explain how good this was. It was way beyond any conception I could come up with. Everything, and everybody, was saved. That was clear. Everything was fine—now and forever. Nothing needed to be done, ever. The whole thing—life, death, reality, individuality, good, bad, right, wrong—was a lie. An illusion. A sham. Everything just was—just is.And this was perfection, beyond any belief, rationalization or label I could ever put on it. It made no sense, and it was perfect. It was before time itself. It transcended thought, was past my comprehension. Thought created all this suffering—and thought itself was not real. Without thought, all was grace—always. It was all blissfully and blatantly simple, yet totally illogical. I sat on that beach, thunderstruck. It was laughable. Whatever you thought, it didn’t matter. Thought had nothing to do with anything real. Everything was always perfect, no matter what you thought…

Friendship, heartbreak, and defining what family means are rarely as sensitively, beautifully portrayed in middle-grade fiction as they are in The Astonishing Maybe by Shaunta Grimes, an extraordinary new talent. Gideon hates the idea of moving to Nevada from the East Coast. It's so empty and hot in his new neighborhood. Only one person his age lives nearby: the girl next door, Roona.Gid notices right away that Roona is . . . different. She wears roller skates and a blanket as a cape when she needs to feel strong. What he doesn't bargain for, however, is how far outside his comfort zone Roona will take him as she enlists his help in finding her long-gone father. For a kid who's not allowed to ride his bike more than a few blocks from home, this will be the adventure of a lifetime.

Want to dive into a world full of werewolves, magic, and witches with a sarcastic heroine at the helm? "Something about his eyes changed. For a moment, his eyes dilated to an unnatural size. The color transformed to an insane shade of gold. The feeling of being prey took over her for one terrifying minute. But, something crept forward from the dark recesses of her mind. Whatever the darkness was, it was ugly, and it didn’t like to be challenged."Louvette Blackwood never even knew her own father's name until a lawyer shows up on her door step to execute her grandfather's will. She soon finds out that her grandfather was murdered while searching for her father. At first, they are hesitant to sign the will, but quickly realize that a fresh start in Montana is what they need after she was kicked out of yet another school for fighting. A life changing year packed full of uncovering the truth, new friends, and new enemies is about to start!ExcerptThe impact of the sucker punch sent Louvette to the ground hard. Pain flared across her cheek as it split. The effects of her adrenaline paused as her mother’s words of warning replayed in her mind: Make this school last until graduation. She knew this would break her mother’s heart. A shout that did not come from her mother took her back to present reality. She hadn’t started this fight, but she knew she wasn’t going to let her butt get stomped, either. She jumped up. Her fist balled as a blonde pixie of a girl came at her. Louvette dodged her this time and swung her fist straight into the girl’s nose. A solid crunch sounded as her attack landed. Her momentary satisfaction was thrown off along with her balance as the girls fell to the ground. A large arm separated them apart as the coach finally arrived to do his job. They continued to kick at each other, looking like barrel monkeys hanging off a barrel. “Break it up! Lynskey and Mallory, report to the principal’s office immediately,” snapped Coach No Clue. No clue what his name was because she hadn’t been in his class or let alone the whole school of Farwell long enough to learn it. She was more dragged down the hallway toward the principal’s office than reported to it.The Queen B, otherwise known as Tiffany Mallory, began to beg immediately, spawning an eye roll from Louvette. She was a whiny beggar. Just one of many B words that could describe her to a T, but it was the nicest one that Louvette could think of. Her pleading stopped as they arrived at the door of the principal’s office. They locked eyes for a second, hatred flaring toward each other.“I’m first. I’m on my third offense and I’m not waiting all day for you to get a slap on the wrist,” Louvette said to Tiffany as she darted past her into the office. The only thing that stopped her from slamming the door in the B’s face was the creature on the other side of the door.