Books with author Lauren Nicolle Taylor

Do you dare enter the Woodlands? As the last livable spot on Earth, it's the only home Rosa and Joseph have ever known. But now they need to escape, or Rosa will be trapped forever in a horrific government program. A dystopian page-turner with over 750 five-star ratings on Goodreads. The Woodlands Series is perfect for fans of The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, The Divergent Series by Veronica Roth, and The Jewel Series by Amy Ewing. Rosa never thought she’d make it to sixteen...When being unique puts you in danger and speaking your mind can be punishable by death, you might find yourself fighting to survive. Sixteen-year-old Rosa lives in one of the eight enclosed cities of The Woodlands. Where the lone survivors of a devastating race war have settled in the Russian wilderness because it’s the only scrap of land left habitable on the planet. In these circular cities, everyone must abide by the law or face harsh punishment. Rosa's inability to conform and obey the rules brands her a leper and no one wants to be within two feet of her, until she meets Joseph. He's blonde, fair-skinned, green-eyed, and the laid-back complete opposite of Rosa. She's never met anyone quite like him, and she knows that spells danger.But differences weren't always a bad thing. People used to think being unique was one of the most treasured of traits to have. Now, the Superiors, who ruthlessly control the concrete cities with an iron fist, are obsessed with creating a 'raceless' race. They are convinced this is the only way to avoid another war. Any anomalies must be destroyed.The Superiors are unstoppable and can do anything they want. After all, they are considered superheroes by the general public. But not everyone sees them this way. When they continue to abuse their power by collecting young girls for use in their secret, high-tech breeding program, they have no idea that one of those girls has somehow managed to make friends even she didn't know she had. And one man will stop at nothing to save her.

2017 IPPY Book Awards Winner! A “remarkable” (Booklist Magazine) reimagining of Peter Pan. After World War II, orphaned Kettle faces prejudice as a Japanese American but manages to scrape by and care for his makeshift family of homeless children. When he crosses paths with the privileged but traumatized Nora, both of their lives are forever changed...Lauren Nicolle Taylor’s Nora & Kettle is a heart-wrenching historical fiction novel that will appeal to fans of books by John Green and Ned Vizzini, novels such as The Perks of Being a Wallflower, The Beginning of Everything, Eleanor & Park, The Book Thief, and classics like The Great Gatsby and The Catcher in the Rye.

GOLD MEDAL WINNER Independent Book Awards What if Peter Pan was a homeless kid just trying to survive, and Wendy flew away for a really good reason? Seventeen-year-old Kettle has had his share of adversity. As an orphaned Japanese American struggling to make a life in the aftermath of an event in history not often referred to―the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II and the removal of children from orphanages for having "one drop of Japanese blood in them"―things are finally looking up. He has his hideout in an abandoned subway tunnel, a job, and his gang of Lost Boys. Desperate to run away, the world outside her oppressive brownstone calls to naïve, eighteen-year-old Nora―the privileged daughter of a controlling and violent civil rights lawyer who is building a compensation case for the interned Japanese Americans. But she is trapped, enduring abuse to protect her younger sister Frankie and wishing on the stars every night for things to change. For months, they've lived side by side, their paths crossing yet never meeting. But when Nora is nearly killed and her sister taken away, their worlds collide as Kettle, grief stricken at the loss of a friend, angrily pulls Nora from her window. In her honeyed eyes, Kettle sees sadness and suffering. In his, Nora sees the chance to take to the window and fly away.Set in 1953, NORA AND KETTLE explores the collision of two teenagers facing extraordinary hardship. Their meeting is inevitable, devastating, and ultimately healing. Their stories, a collection of events, are each on their own harmless. But together, one after the other, they change the world.

You think you're in control. That it's your hands on the reins. But I'm starting to think either someone else is driving, or the reins are attached to nothing. Just flapping and snapping in the breeze. What could be simple, never is. Rosa doesn't want to get used to being separated from Joseph, from Orry. So she must find the strength to battle her way back to her family, while mustering the courage to face her father, his secrets. With her best friend, Rash, by her side, she feels blessed and cursed. He is her saving grace, but will Joseph accept him and forgive her for leaving? Rosa must pull these threads together as she hacks her way to The Wall with the aid of her new companions but, heartbreakingly, without the one person she'd planned to save. Finding her way home is only the beginning. The biggest changes, the shocking truths, are waiting, hovering over the town like a menacing vapor. The Wounded have waited, nursed, and been dormant for too long. And now they're coming... dragging the ghosts of their lost ones behind them.Do you dare enter the Woodlands? A dystopian page-turner with over 750 five-star ratings on Goodreads. The Woodlands Series is perfect for fans of The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, The Divergent Series by Veronica Roth, and The Jewel Series by Amy Ewing. The Woodlands is an Award-Winning Finalist in the "Fiction: Young Adult" category of the 2014 USA Best Book Awards, as well as a Semifinalist in The Kindle Book Awards by the Kindle Book Review.

BOOK #2 THE WOODLANDS SERIES Joseph, wake up, wake up, wake up... She says it over and over. It's her mantra, her prayer, her plea. But life doesn't stop while he's sleeping. With a newborn baby in her arms, Rosa's thrown into a new world, with new rules and a philosophy that sounds too good to be true. She's sure they didn't rescue her out of the goodness of their hearts. The Survivors must want something in return. The Wall finds Rosa eagerly entering a new life, yet struggling to keep the demons and ghosts of the past from dragging her backwards. She's left so many people behind. There's freedom in the Survivors' world, more than she'd ever dreamed of, but there's also secrets. The darkest of which pulls Rosa headfirst into a trauma, forcing her to reevaluate her past and pushing her to make a choice that threatens to destroy the tenuous, sewn-together family she's built on the outside.

Sixteen-year-old Rosa lives in one of the eight enclosed cities of The Woodlands, where the lone survivors of a devastating race war have settled in the Russian wilderness--the only habitable land left on the planet. The Superiors are ruthless in their control of the concrete cities, striving to create a 'raceless' society where everyone is the same. But Rosa has always been different--and that makes her a liability. She finds her counterpoint in Joseph and as the two grow closer, it becomes clear that if they want to be together, they will have to escape the tightly controlled Woodlands--and leave behind the only life they've ever known.A dystopian page-turner with over 2,000 five-star ratings on Goodreads, The Woodlands Series is perfect for fans of The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, The Divergent Series by Veronica Roth, and The Jewel Series by Amy Ewing. Readers can purchase this boxed set at a significant discount over the cost to purchase each novel individually. This is a complete-series boxed set.The Woodlands is an Award-Winning Finalist in the "Fiction: Young Adult" category of the USA Best Book Awards, as well as a Semifinalist in The Kindle Book Awards by the Kindle Book Review."Lauren Taylor's writing is powerfully descriptive; she is a master of words and similes." -Author Erica Kiefer"It seems so rare these days to find a dystopian with an original vein in it. The Woodlands Succeeds." -Author Pauline Creeden"I went into this story with my own ideas, but they were obliterated by what I found instead. I was so happy to be wrong because this story touched my heart deeply in a way that I never expected."-Reviewer Amber Douglas Mcallister"This book was fantastic! Spectacular! It had everything I look for in a book: Action, Adventure, and even romance!"-Reviewer Jocelyn Sanchez"Great storyline. Love the characters. I started with the first in the series then slammed through all 4. I couldn't put it down."-Amazon Reviewer

The captivating story of Nora and Kettle continues in Hiro Loves Kite, the second installment in the award-winning Paper Stars historical fiction series by Lauren Nicole Taylor.We offer our wounds and scars. Understanding that is part of what makes us beautiful.Nora finally has her beloved sister Frankie back, but that's just the beginning of their struggles. She must now become Kite—a stronger, more independent version of herself—a king and a guardian.Kettle has Kite's heart. But something holds him back; a feeling that he doesn't deserve good things. It's a looming shadow that threatens to separate them. Kettle must accept that he is also Hiro: a Japanese American with every right to happiness and freedom.Hiro loves Kite—but Kite won't wait forever for him to tell her. And now they're standing on icy ground. The leverage they had on Kite's abusive father has wavered, and life on the street is affecting Frankie's health. Snow is gathering at the station doors, and doubts are piling high…they must rely on each other, and believe in the magic that got them this far. If they don't, it's not just their future in jeopardy—but the fates of all the street kids in their care—all the Kings.Fans of Nora and Kettle have asked for more of their story since it first hit shelves. By popular demand, Lauren Nicolle Taylor has written this follow-up that is sure to please her fans. Find out why readers are calling this series "unforgettable," "powerful," and a "remarkable reimagining of Peter Pan."

New from Lauren Nicolle Taylor, the best-selling author of Nora and Kettle, comes a fresh take on a classic tale.Breaker Van Winkle is a recently returned Vietnam vet, struggling with PTSD and the difficulties of readjusting to civilian life with his mother. Eighteen-year-old Sunny is a high-achieving Chinese-French immigrant who fled Vietnam during the war. Sunny is usually as cheerful as her name implies, but she has her struggles too. Haunted by violent memories of the bombing that killed her parents, and chafing under the rule of her eccentric grandmother, she finds solace deep in the Catskills, at a place she calls the Ugly Tree.When Breaker stumbles upon Sunny and the Ugly Tree, things start to change. They are drawn to each other, and feel called to the tree. As they spend more time together and their relationship deepens, they notice that their time at the tree is becoming twisted somehow. Sunny's mind yawns and her ambitions begin to slip away. Breaker feels safe and carefree, his memories finally burying themselves in the distant past. They are being lulled toward a tempting, peaceful sleep—but there is a cost to this magical serenity, and it may be more than either of them can bear…Lauren Nicolle Taylor’s Paper Stars Novels are heart-wrenching historical fiction novels with a realistic fairy tale retelling twist that will appeal to fans of books by John Green and Ned Vizzini, novels such as The Perks of Being a Wallflower, The Beginning of Everything, Eleanor & Park, The Book Thief, and classics like The Great Gatsby and The Catcher in the Rye.

The captivating story of Nora and Kettle continues in Hiro Loves Kite, the second installment in the award-winning Paper Stars historical fiction series by Lauren Nicole Taylor. We offer our wounds and scars. Understanding that is part of what makes us beautiful. Nora finally has her beloved sister Frankie back, but that's just the beginning of their struggles. She must now become Kite—a stronger, more independent version of herself—a king and a guardian. Kettle has Kite's heart. But something holds him back; a feeling that he doesn't deserve good things. It's a looming shadow that threatens to separate them. Kettle must accept that he is also Hiro: a Japanese American with every right to happiness and freedom. Hiro loves Kite—but Kite won't wait forever for him to tell her. And now they're standing on icy ground. The leverage they had on Kite's abusive father has wavered, and life on the street is affecting Frankie's health. Snow is gathering at the station doors, and doubts are piling high…they must rely on each other, and believe in the magic that got them this far. If they don't, it's not just their future in jeopardy—but the fates of all the street kids in their care—all the Kings. Fans of Nora and Kettle have asked for more of their story since it first hit shelves. By popular demand, Lauren Nicolle Taylor has written this follow-up that is sure to please her fans. Find out why readers are calling this series "unforgettable," "powerful," and a "remarkable reimagining of Peter Pan."

Nineteen-year-old Langley is crazy…like get out the straight jacket and prepare the padded room kind of crazy. She knows it, and the kicker is—she's choosing to stay that way. She clings to the persistent and intrusive hallucination of her dead sister by choice. Sure, it might be nice to live life in the real world. But not if it means she has to let Sarah go.Tupper's life is charmed. He has loving adoptive parents, and several athletic college scholarships on the table. But his passion is for the arts, for the beauty of solid ink lines on paper. His illustrations are eerily similar to a keepsake from his birth mother, Anna: comic-book-style drawings scrawled across an old map…her version of a travel diary. At eighteen, Tupper sidesteps his planned future and starts his journey where Anna's ended—following her map from Kansas City to Canada. His travels will put him on a collision course with Langley, and their bond is palpable from the start. But secrets will push between them—Sarah and Anna, two ghosts who could sink their icy fingers into the teens and tear them apart.Perfect for fans of Colleen Hoover's Hopeless and John Green's Paper Towns, TRAVEL DIARIES OF THE DEAD & DELUSIONAL is a unique and robust novel that explores themes of mental-illness and self-discovery from three distinct perspectives. Lauren Nicolle Taylor is the award-winning and best-selling author of Nora and Kettle and the beloved Woodlands series, among others.“A story of love and loss, adventure, and coming into one’s own, Travel Diaries of the Dead and Delusional is a thoughtful, poignant road trip adventure that delivers hope through its melancholy.” ~Hannah Williams, Foreword Reviews Magazine

BOOK #1 THE WOODLANDS SERIES Rosa never thought she'd make it to sixteen... When being unique puts you in danger and speaking your mind can be punishable by death, you might find yourself fighting to survive. Sixteen-year-old Rosa lives in one of the eight enclosed cities of The Woodlands. Where the lone survivors of a devastating race war have settled in the Russian wilderness because it's the only scrap of land left habitable on the planet. In these circular cities, everyone must abide by the law or face harsh punishment. Rosa's inability to conform and obey the rules brands her a leper and no one wants to be within two feet of her, until she meets Joseph. He's blonde, fair-skinned, green-eyed, and the laid-back complete opposite of Rosa. She's never met anyone quite like him, and she knows that spells danger. But differences weren't always a bad thing. People used to think being unique was one of the most treasured of traits to have. Now, the Superiors, who ruthlessly control the concrete cities with an iron fist, are obsessed with creating a 'raceless' race. They are convinced this is the only way to avoid another war. Any anomalies must be destroyed. The Superiors are unstoppable and can do anything they want. After all, they are considered superheroes by the general public. But not everyone sees them this way. When they continue to abuse their power by collecting young girls for use in their secret, high-tech breeding program, they have no idea that one of those girls has somehow managed to make friends even she didn't know she had. And one man will stop at nothing to save her.

New from Lauren Nicolle Taylor, the best-selling author of Nora and Kettle (GOLD MEDAL WINNER Independent Book Awards), comes a fresh take on a classic tale. Breaker Van Winkle is a recently returned Vietnam vet, struggling with PTSD and the difficulties of readjusting to civilian life with his mother. Eighteen-year-old Sunny is a high-achieving Chinese-French immigrant who fled Vietnam during the war. Sunny is usually as cheerful as her name implies, but she has her struggles too. Haunted by violent memories of the bombing that killed her parents, and chafing under the rule of her eccentric grandmother, she finds solace deep in the Catskills, at a place she calls the Ugly Tree. When Breaker stumbles upon Sunny and the Ugly Tree, things start to change. They are drawn to each other, and feel called to the tree. As they spend more time together and their relationship deepens, they notice that their time at the tree is becoming twisted somehow. Sunny's mind yawns and her ambitions begin to slip away. Breaker feels safe and carefree, his memories finally burying themselves in the distant past. They are being lulled toward a tempting, peaceful sleep―but there is a cost to this magical serenity, and it may be more than either of them can bear...