Books published by publisher Townsend Press

Liselle Mason is in trouble. For weeks, she ignored the changes in her body and tried to forget her brief relationship with Oscar Price, her moody classmate at Bluford High. But when Liselle's clothes stop fitting, and her brother notices her growing belly, she panics. A pregnancy test confirms her biggest fears. Unwilling to admit the truth, Liselle suddenly faces a world with no easy answers. Where will she turn? Who will she tell? What will she do?

Summer was supposed to be different. With the school year over, Darcy Wills looked forward to the best time of her life. But her plans are shattered by a series of unexpected events. First, horrible news threatens to rip her boyfriend Hakeem away. And then someone new enters her life, leaving Darcy in a world of confusion. Before the summer ends, Darcy makes choices that profoundly change her, and a beloved piece of her world is lost forever.

There’s no backing down for Lionel Shephard, a new freshman at Bluford High. With a dream of joining the NBA, all he wants to do at school is play basketball. But everyone’s trying to stop him. His father thinks basketball is a waste of time; his teachers don’t know he can barely read and threaten to fail him; and his dropout friend Jamar wants him to quit school. Unsure where to turn, Lionel must make a choice. Will he pursue his dream or get caught in a nightmare?

Max Vernon is at a crossroads. After years of playing basketball, he has started trading the courts of Philadelphia for its streets. He tries holding onto his basketball dream but is soon faced with a series of life-changing decisions. Should he run the streets and make money with Raul and Theo? Or should he keep playing basketball even though he feels like a failure? What Max doesn't realize is how much these decisions will affect everything—and everyone—around him.

Tarah Carson has hidden the secret for years. No one--not her mother, her friends at Bluford High, or even her boyfriend, Cooper Hodden--knows what her uncle did to her years ago. Tarah hoped to keep it that way. But an upcoming reunion is forcing Tarah's past into the present. And Uncle Rudy, the man who scarred her for life, is returning. Haunted by memories, Tarah plans to avoid him at all costs. But when her decision threatens to cause even more suffering in her family, she must face her past and biggest fear--alone.

No one likes Tyray Hobbs. Once a feared bully, he has become an outcast. At Bluford High, his peers taunt him for how he treated them. At home, his parents punish him for the trouble he has caused. Unable to escape his reputation or his past, Tyray is desperate. And when an unlikely friendship develops, he clings to it like a lifeline. Now that connection is threatened, and Tyray faces his toughest decision yet. Will his next move lead him to ruin or redemption--or both?