Washoe County Library System

Have you ever wondered what your mother was like before she became your mother, and what she gave up in order to have you? It's the early days of the new millennium, and Laura has arrived in New York City's East Village in the hopes of recording her first album. A songwriter with a one-of-a-kind talent, she's just beginning to book gigs with her beautiful best friend when she falls hard for a troubled but magnetic musician whose star is on the rise....

An ambitious young Mexican-American woman compromises her future in a moment of searing humiliation, while a narcissistic action-movie star risks everything in his obsession over an unattainable love in this tapestry of tales of life in Los Angeles from a number of colorful characters that define various aspects of the glittering, vibrant, yet sometimes terrifying City of Angels.

Furious at her father, who is caught up in a sex scandal, and suffering from panic attacks and obsessive-compulsive disorder, fifteen-year-old Emilia December de Wit runs away from Amsterdam to New York City, where she meets sixteen-year-old Seth, and his eleven-year old sister Abby--and then hurricane Sandy hits and the lights go out.

"Punkzilla" is on a mission to see his older brother "P", before "P" dies of cancer. Still buzzing from his last hit of meth, he embarks on a days-long trip from Portland, Ore. to Memphis, Tenn., writing letters to his family and friends. Along the way, he sees a sketchier side of America and worries if he will make it to see his brother in time.

Emily the Strange has lost her memory and finds herself in the town of Blackrock with nothing more than her diary, her slingshot, and the clothes on her back.