Everyone has bad days. Anna Elizondo is going on three years of bad days. It started with her mother’s illness and eventual death, continued with a decision that ruined a friendship, and culminated in her father announcing they were broke and moving away right before her senior year of high school. Maybe a fresh start will turn things around. Or maybe it will put her face to face with her former best friend Felix and the hatred in he still carries for her. The only bright spot in Anna’s move to Santa Fe is meeting her new swim coach, a long-time hero who has big plans for her athletic career. The pool is her refuge, but she can’t hide there forever. Living in a small town makes it impossible to stay out of Felix’s way, and unlikely their history will remain just between them for long. If Anna can’t find a way to make things at least tolerable with Felix, it’s going to be a very long summer.

A 007-style handoff between a girl he knew in high school and the college’s star football player catches Sanford Camden’s eye. He almost wishes it hadn’t. Almost. Despite the fact that he hasn’t spoken to Dahlia Carter since they graduated high school two years ago, he rushes to catch up with her, warn her the local police are watching the campus. Unfortunately, his warning isn’t received very well. Insulted that he thinks she’s a drug dealer, Dahlia storms away. That should be the end of it. Move on. For some reason Sanford can’t quite explain, it’s not the end. It’s only the beginning. Dahlia can’t decide whether Sanford is simply as weird as his mannequin parents, or if he’s not quite all there. Neither option explains him showing up at a party she’s working to basically stalk her and hurl questions. Of course, her grabbing him and locking lips just to piss off the skanky girl hounding him doesn’t make a lot of sense either. It puts everything at risk, in fact. If her dad ever finds out…about any of her extracurricular activities…she won’t have to worry about Lillian Devry scratching her eyes out. Her dad will kill her first. An insane father seems like the biggest stumbling block to Dahlia’s freedom, until long-hidden secrets begin bubbling to the surface, and what once seemed like paranoid delusions become threats to her life neither Dahlia nor Sanford are prepared to fight.

Olivia’s best friend is not imaginary. He’s not a ghost, either. And she’s pretty sure he’s not a hallucination. He’s just Mason. He is, however, invisible. When five-year-old Olivia spotted the crying little boy on her front porch, she had no idea she was the only one who could see him. Twelve years later, when new-girl Robin casually introduces herself to Mason in the high school parking lot, they are both stunned. While Mason is thrilled to be seen, suspicion and jealousy make Olivia balk at welcoming Robin into their circle. Fear that Robin’s intentions aren’t what they appear to be seem to be validated when a strange black car shows up outside Olivia’s house. Olivia is determined to prove Robin can’t be trusted, but can she find the answers in time to protect Mason from whatever secret threats are looming? Invisibility can only hide Mason for so long…

Vanessa and Zander Roth sit balanced on the edge of impending death and unthinkable power. Their enemies hide, waiting for their chance to strike, while Vanessa and Zander are forced into the ranks of the Godlings. Even though David’s brutal training is indeed improving their control, his methods are cruel and harsh. Van struggles to survive his torment while Zander embraces it. Full control of his power is his only hope of redeeming himself. The situation for Van worsens when her always reliable intuition strengthens into frightening visions that leave her fearful of Zander’s future. She is desperate to protect her brother, but her sixteenth birthday and the eruption of the full strength of her hunger demands her full focus. Redemption and protection both take a backseat when a shocking discovery puts everything they’ve worked for in jeopardy. The choice between safety and freedom has never been more important, but the ability to choose is fading fast.

When one small favor for a friend turns into a missing persons case and all-around chaos, Amos realizes looking after Eliza Carlisle is about as easy as bathing a cat. In the two years since Logan’s death, Amos Walker has worked nonstop to avoid having to face life without him. His driven focus has given him the opportunity to open his own four-star restaurant, but hasn’t helped him deal with his grief. Escaping New York for the New Orleans is a start, though, until a friend calls to beg for a small favor. Cover her classes at the culinary institute where she teaches while she goes home to deal with a family emergency. Sounds simple enough. Amos has covered for her before and it gets him out of the apartment he can’t stand being in without Logan. There’s just one caveat. There’s this girl, one who might need a little help and encouragement, Lauren tells him. No big deal. Except looking after Eliza Carlisle is about as easy as bathing a cat. Sweet, but naïve, Eliza’s efforts to help her friend and fellow culinary student leads everyone around her into a missing persons case that quickly spirals from hoping the girl missed her flight, to untangling an international web of crime. Amos isn’t sure he can keep her safe, but he’s positive he can’t keep her from getting into trouble.

“Why would someone commit murder over a cupcake?” That is Detective Gordon’s question. Eliza doesn’t have an answer, and doesn’t particularly want to find one. Gordy promises she doesn’t have to get involved…just look at the cupcake and use her culinary knowledge to tell him why it would inspire murder. It’s never that easy. Not for Eliza Carlisle. What should be a relaxing two week break between semesters of culinary school turns into a never ending string of embarrassing, injury-inducing, rat-filled situations Eliza can’t escape. She hadn’t wanted to meet Puck’s parents to begin with. Meeting them in the middle of the murder investigation and running into Chef Harper, her least favorite instructor who is intent on making her life miserable, guarantees anything but a good time. Add it just keeps getting better. Baxter is getting impatient. His ex-wife, the Evil Queen of Darkness, is getting more vicious by the second. Cupcake bakers are dropping every time the cops turns around. Eliza quickly finds herself hating the Christmas holidays even more than usual. All she has to do to survive her least favorite time of the year is catch a killer, beat Megan at her own evil game, hold off Baxter a little longer, and face down Puck’s unimpressed parents. Piece of…cupcake.

What’s worse than getting dragged into a murder investigation because you tried to help a friend? Answer: Getting dragged into a murder investigation, drug ring, and criminal syndicate because someone mistakes you for a friend of your most despised coworker. When Eliza sees the man dead on the floor of Saul’s Diner, she’s more annoyed than scared. Until they all realize the man’s death wasn’t caused by a heart attack and Queen Bee Danielle blames Eliza’s cooking. Fit to be tied, Eliza is determined to let Officer Gordon figure out who really killed the guy and put her energy toward not getting kicked out of culinary school after a reporter prints Danielle’s spiteful accusations. But Eliza is Eliza, and staying out of things never works out quite the way she expects. When she is somehow mistaken for a friend of Danielle’s by the people who actually killed the guy in the diner, she quickly finds herself up to her eyeballs in creepy fish, a burgeoning drug ring, scary criminals who like to put black bags over people heads before they kidnap them, and baking a three tier birthday cake at the last minute for someone she doesn’t dare refuse. Eliza has never hated Danielle more, but helping her is the only way to save herself. After that, Danielle is fair game.

When faced with the choice between saving Milo’s life and embracing her destiny, Libby Sparks knew there was only one answer.Become the Destroyer. Libby is about to learn that accepting her fate is only the first step in figuring out what being the Destroyer truly means. Libby must reign in and develop her talents while planning to rescue her captive army of Ciphers from the hands of Guardians. Rescuing the Ciphers is already dangerous enough, but everything becomes even more precarious when Cipher hunter, Braden, pushes his way into Libby’s life. The strange connection they share frightens Libby, but it also pushes her to trust him despite her better judgment. When Libby’s feelings of trust begin to morph into something more, her relationship with Milo isn’t the only thing tested. If she is wrong about Braden’s motives, everyone involved in the Cipher rescue may pay the ultimate price for her mistake.

How long can Eliza keeping looking over her shoulder before she finally sees her own death approaching? New Year’s means resolutions, getting on track, making decisions. For Eliza Carlisle, starting a new year means making tough choices, even if those decisions mean losing friends and possibly getting kicked out of culinary school. She’s all set to take her life in a new direction when her demented half-brother Simon’s reappearance changes everything. Broken and more alone than she’s been since fleeing her childhood home, Eliza struggles to hang onto the fragile threads that are holding her life together. Only a comically disastrous young chef and the threats against her life pull Eliza out of her fog of self-loathing. Saving seven-year-old Clara means ignoring the threat Simon now poses and surrendering to burnt grilled cheese sandwiches and whipped cream-splattered kitchens…not to mention family secrets, death threats, and a whole host of spy gadgets. And who can forget about Baxter? With so much mounted against her, Eliza has as much chance of surviving the criminal elite, her psychotic half-brother, and Baxter’s determined advances as she does escaping Chef Harper’s quest to kill her culinary dreams.

Her mom has disowned her. Her boyfriend tried to kill her. Her best friend is pretending she doesn’t exist. Oh yeah, and the entire world hates her. Literally. Happy sweet sixteen, Libby Sparks. Not exactly an ideal birthday, but it’s pretty much what Libby was expecting when she showed up for her mandatory Inquest. Trying to run crossed her mind, but being hunted down by the Guardians…again, didn’t really sound much better than dying. Having all seven talents marks Libby as one person capable of destroying the world, so it’s no big surprise when she ends up with a Guardian blade at her throat. What is a surprise is being spared in order to become a pawn of the most ruthless Guardian of them all. Play nice, hide her powers, and he’ll let her live until her eighteenth birthday, when her full powers unlock. Sounds like a pretty good plan until the life of her one remaining friend, Milo, is threatened and she’s forced to choose. Abandon her friend to save her own life or embrace her destiny and truly become the Destroyer.