Books with author R. Roberts

It’s not easy being a teenage witch. Seventh grader Abby Shepherd is just getting the hang of it when weird stuff starts happening all around her hometown of Willow Cove. Green slime bubbling to life in science class. Giant snakes slithering around the middle school gym. Her best friend suddenly keeping secrets and telling lies.Things only begin to make sense when a stranger named Miss Winters reveals that Abby isn’t the only young witch in town—and that Willow Cove is home to a secret past that connects them all. Miss Winters, herself a witch, even offers to teach Abby and the others everything she knows about witchcraft.But as Abby learns more about Miss Winters’ past, she begins to suspect her new mentor is keeping secrets of her own. Can Abby trust her, or does Miss Winters have something wicked planned for the young witches of Willow Cove?

From Stoker Award finalist (YA 2016 - When They Fade) Jeyn Roberts comes a new tale of survival and terror.Legend has it that a dark monster walks the woods in Alaska. A beast whose scream can freeze a man's heart. A beast with a taste for blood . . .In below freezing temperatures, Reese, his sister Rose, and their school friends set off from the city into the wilderness of Alaska for a winter survival skills camp. It's supposed to be three days of fun, elicit parties, maybe some making out - and hopefully no frostbite. There's Mina, the girl who convinced Reese to come in the first place. Deke, the vodka-loving troublemaker. Kaori, Rose's stylish best friend, and Mr. Fleming, the over-enthusiastic teacher who brought them all together. On the second day, they wake up to find their SUV trashed and all the food destroyed. Even worse, Mr. Fleming is missing. With signs of a blizzard approaching, the group starts the long hike to try and find safety. But the newly deserted backwoods town of Cherish Falls holds no help, and they realize they are being hunted by a girl with a taste for blood and flesh. A girl who seems monstrously strong and is a genius at tracking them down, one by one. And then it turns out, she’s not alone . . . Thankfully, Will Haisley was camping near the group, and he’s not about to let them out of his sights. A Wendigo Hunter, he’s been following the girl for the past few days, determined to kill her. Will comes from a long line of Hunters and he carries the skills and memories of those who have hunted Wendigo before him. He didn’t choose this solitary, benighted job—it found him. And now he’s the best chance Reese and Rose have of staying alive . . . .

At the low-water bridge below Tom Miller Dam, west of downtown Austin, during the summer of his tenth or eleventh year, Ken Roberts had his first encounter with cedar choppers. On his way to the bridge for a leisurely afternoon of fishing, he suddenly found himself facing a group of boys who clearly came from a different place and culture than the middle-class, suburban community he was accustomed to. Rather, “. . . they looked hard—tanned, skinny, dirty. These were not kids you would see in Austin.” When Roberts’s fishing companion curtly refused the strangers’ offer to sell them a stringer of bluegills, the three boys went away, only to reappear moments later, one of them carrying a club. Roberts and his friend made a hasty retreat. This encounter provoked in the author the question, “Who are these people?” The Cedar Choppers: Life on the Edge of Nothing is his thoughtful, entertaining, and informative answer. Based on oral history interviews with several generations of cedar choppers and those who knew them, this book weaves together the lively, gritty story of these largely Scots-Irish migrants with roots in Appalachia who settled on the west side of the Balcones Fault during the mid-nineteenth century, subsisting mainly on hunting, trapping, moonshining, and, by the early twentieth century, cutting, transporting, and selling cedar fence posts and charcoal. The emergence of Austin as a major metropolitan area, especially after the 1950s, soon brought the cedar choppers and their hillbilly lifestyle into direct confrontation with the gentrified urban population east of the Balcones Fault. This clash of cultures, which provided the setting for Roberts’s encounter as a young boy, propels this first book-length treatment of the cedar choppers, their clans, their culture and mores, and their longing for a way of life that is rapidly disappearing.

"A delightfully spooky page-turner . . . Roberts spins an engrossing tale of magic, mystery, and friendship." --Kirkus Reviews (starred review).It's not easy being a teenage witch. Seventh grader Abby Shepherd is just getting the hang of it when weird stuff starts happening all around her hometown of Willow Cove. Green slime bubbling to life in science class. Giant snakes slithering around the middle school gym. Her best friend suddenly keeping secrets and telling lies.Things only begin to make sense when a stranger named Miss Winters reveals that Abby isn't the only young witch in town--and that Willow Cove is home to a secret past that connects them all. Miss Winters, herself a witch, even offers to teach Abby and the others everything she knows about witchcraft.But as Abby learns more about Miss Winters' past, she begins to suspect her new mentor is keeping secrets of her own. Can Abby trust her, or does Miss Winters have something wicked planned for the young witches of Willow Cove?

Hudson’s life is forever changed when his parents discover he’s gay. He has no idea where he’ll end up, just that he has to run to be safe.Hudson Oliva didn’t expect the world to end with the new millennium, but his life did change forever on that New Year’s Eve. After his religious parents walk in on him with Zac in his bed, Hudson is sent to conversion therapy. The parents he returns home to after being cured aren’t the same people he’s known his entire life. They’re cold and withdrawn.In order to survive, Hudson becomes an expert at lying while working hard to be the perfect son, yet his parents remain emotionally distant. He’s sure the pray-away-the-gay camp broke something inside him along with tearing his family apart. When his parents discover Hudson has continued seeing Zac for years, they demand he go back to the camp. Hudson has no choice but to run. Somehow he has to find a safe place, but he has to get out of Florida first.

“Meticulously researched and engagingly written, Ken Roberts’ The Cedar Choppers leads us on a fascinating journey to the heart of this legendary Texas subculture.”— Steven L. Davis, PEN USA–winning author and past president, Texas Institute of Letters “Meant first for general audiences but badly needed by scholars, the work brings a neglected group into the southwestern history canon . . . a readable, conversational narrative.”—Southwestern Historical Quarterly “The best Texas book I’ve read of late was The Cedar Choppers: Life on the Edge of Nothing by Ken Roberts. It doubles as one of the most instructive books about Austin’s history and culture.”—Austin American StatesmanNumber Twenty-four: Sam Rayburn Series on Rural Life, sponsored by Texas A&M University–Commerce

When Lucy tries to forget about her favorite food, her cravings become unbearable. Many of us have a favorite food, a special something we just can't do without. Twins Kate and Lucy are on holiday at a health retreat. Before long, all Lucy can think of is food. When she says, “I want a burrito supreme,” she means it. Kate, on the other hand, wants to eat healthy and tells Lucy she just needs to try harder. Always together, never apart, the twins are close but sometimes the closeness begins to chafe, and never so much as when it comes to food. When Lucy finds a solution, there is a good chance it will get them both in trouble.

The Illustrated History of the World is a lavishly illustrated edition of J. M. Roberts's bestselling History of the World. Now completely revised and updated, each volume of this comprehensive reference work traces the tumultuous story of humankind from prehistory to the end of the 20th century. The rise and fall of civilizations; the impact of powerful individuals on world events; the interplay of state and religion; the social and economic factors that influence societies--these are some of the themes of this masterful, sweeping narrative. Over 2,000 photographs in color and black-and-white present a unique visual panoply of the march of history. In addition, more than 200 maps and artworks in full color underscore important events. Fully integrated sidebars and feature boxes narrow in on key themes, providing an additional layer of interest. Each volume also contains a double-page, illustrated chronology of major events, plus a bibliography and detailed index. Authoritative, brilliantly written, and superbly illustrated, this outstanding and popular work of scholarship makes the whole sweep of history vivid and accessible as never before.

In the final novel of Nora Roberts’s Dream Trilogy, Laura struggles to mend a broken heart and broken family—until someone from her past makes all of her dreams come true…Laura Templeton found out the hard way that nothing in life is guaranteed. The daughter of a wealthy hotelier, she had always known comfort, privilege, and security. But by the age of thirty, her storybook marriage had been destroyed by her husband’s infidelity. Laura’s divorce left her both emotionally and financially devastated—but determined to rebuild her life without the Templeton fortune. Laura had always defined herself as a wife, a daughter, or a mother. Now, she must finally discover Laura the woman... Don't miss the other books in the Dream TrilogyDaring to DreamHolding the Dream

“Delightfully surprising….A portable virtual museum…an entertaining stroll through the history of one of the world’s great cities” (Kirkus Reviews), told through 101 distinctive objects that span the history of New York, almost all reproduced in luscious, full color.Inspired by A History of the World in 100 Objects, Sam Roberts of The New York Times chose fifty objects that embody the narrative of New York for a feature article in the paper. Many more suggestions came from readers, and so Roberts has expanded the list to 101. Here are just a few of what this keepsake volume offers: -The Flushing Remonstrance, a 1657 petition for religious freedom that was a precursor to the First Amendment to the Constitution. -Beads from the African Burial Ground, 1700s. Slavery was legal in New York until 1827, although many free blacks lived in the city. The African Burial Ground closed in 1792 and was only recently rediscovered. -The bagel, early 1900s. The quintessential and undisputed New York food (excepting perhaps the pizza). -The Automat vending machine, 1912. Put a nickel in the slot and get a cup of coffee or a piece of pie. It was the early twentieth century version of fast food. -The “I Love NY” logo designed by Milton Glaser in 1977 for a campaign to increase tourism. Along with Saul Steinberg’s famous New Yorker cover depicting a New Yorker’s view of the world, it was perhaps the most famous and most frequently reproduced graphic symbol of the time. Unique, sometimes whimsical, always important, A History of New York in 101 Objects is a beautiful chronicle of the remarkable history of the Big Apple. “The story [Sam Roberts] is telling is that of New York, and he nails it” (Daily News, New York).