Beneath the Glitter


Book Description

Fans of Lauren Conrad's "L.A. Candy" series will love this YA novel by internet stars Elle and Blair Fowler, which offers a scintillating glimpse into the glitzy L.A. social scene.




Where Beauty Lies


Book Description

Step behind the velvet ropes of Fashion Week and enter an exclusive world of opulent parties, hot guys, designer style...and new lies. In Hollywood, there's no such thing as bad press, especially when you're Sophia and Ava London. Despite their very public scandal, the London sisters are hotter than ever. Sophia's finally in the perfect relationship with the perfect guy...even if can't she get the memory of Giovanni out of her head. And Ava's taking a break from dating to focus on her career—while a new love interest is trying to disrupt her carefully laid plans. Best of all, Sophia and Ava have just been given a chance to create their own fashion line for New York Fashion Week. It's a once in a lifetime opportunity... but only if their ruthless rivals don't destroy them first. The same unseen enemies who tried to ruin them back in L.A. are in New York to finish the job. And a new competitor is hiding in the shadows of the runway, waiting for a chance to steal everything Sophia and Ava have worked so hard for. In the cutthroat world of high fashion, it's impossible to know who your real friends are. At least Sophia and Ava can count on each other—but will it be enough to keep them from losing it all? From internet sensations Elle and Blair Fowler comes Where Beauty Lies, the dazzling sequel to Beneath the Glitter




The Grit Beneath the Glitter


Book Description

An anthology of essays and first-person narratives offers a glimpse of the people and institutions that support the Las Vegas gaming industry.




Glitter & Greed


Book Description

Rare, romantic, and forever: The diamond industry depends on these myths to reap billions of dollars of profit. This sensational investigation explodes such fallacies and reveals how multimillion-dollar advertising campaigns create the impression of rarity and romance. It reveals a very secret and unromantic world, one that is dominated and controlled by a handful of mighty corporations. With Leonardo DiCaprio’s movie The Blood Diamond making more people than ever aware of the seamy side of the diamond trade, Janine Roberts’ explosive exposé, taking us through seven decades of intrigue and manipulation, is the right book at the right time.




Glitter Up the Dark


Book Description

Why has music so often served as an accomplice to transcendent expressions of gender? Why did the query "is he musical?" become code, in the twentieth century, for "is he gay?" Why is music so inherently queer? For Sasha Geffen, the answers lie, in part, in music’s intrinsic quality of subliminal expression, which, through paradox and contradiction, allows rigid gender roles to fall away in a sensual and ambiguous exchange between performer and listener. Glitter Up the Dark traces the history of this gender fluidity in pop music from the early twentieth century to the present day. Starting with early blues and the Beatles and continuing with performers such as David Bowie, Prince, Missy Elliot, and Frank Ocean, Geffen explores how artists have used music, fashion, language, and technology to break out of the confines mandated by gender essentialism and establish the voice as the primary expression of gender transgression. From glam rock and punk to disco, techno, and hip-hop, music helped set the stage for today’s conversations about trans rights and recognition of nonbinary and third-gender identities. Glitter Up the Dark takes a long look back at the path that led here.




Diary of a Drag Queen


Book Description

Longlisted for the Polari First Book Prize 2020 Life's a drag... Why not be a queen? 'Stories like the one where you shagged a 79-year-old builder and knocked over his sister's ashes while feeding him a Viagra. Or the time you crashed your car because you were giving a hand job in barely moving traffic and took your eye off the car in front. That's the kind of dinner-party ice-breaker I'm talking about.' Northern, working-class and shagging men three times her age, Crystal writes candidly about her search for 'the one'; sleeping with a VIP in an attempt to become a world famous journalist; getting hired and fired by a well-known fashion magazine; being torn between losing weight and gorging on KFC; and her need for constant sexual satisfaction (and where that takes her). Charting her day-to-day adventures over the course of a year, we encounter tucks, twists and sucks, heinous overspending and endless nights spent sprinting from problem to problem in a full face of make-up. This is a place where the previously unspeakable becomes the commendable - a unique portrayal of the queer experience. (c) 2019, Crystal Rasmussen (P) 2019 Penguin Audio




And Then It's Spring


Book Description

Caldecott-winning artist of A Sick Day for Amos McGee, Erin Stead, dazzles once again in this ode to the first stirrings of spring.




D is for Down Under: An Australia Alphabet


Book Description

AV2 Fiction Readalong by Weigl brings you timeless tales of mystery, suspense, adventure, and the lessons learned while growing up. These celebrated children’s stories are sure to entertain and educate while captivating even the most reluctant readers. Log on to www.av2books.com, and enter the unique book code found on page 2 of this book to unlock an extra dimension to these beloved tales. Hear the story come to life as you read along in your own book.




Dark Days, Bright Nights


Book Description

A vivid and enlightening oral account of homelessness in the Las Vegas storm drains and the hard work of re-entering mainstream society. Are you aware that hundreds of people live underground in the flood channels of Las Vegas? Few people were until Matthew O'Brien grabbed a flashlight, tape recorder, and expandable baton for protection and explored the storm-drain system in depth. This research resulted in his landmark book Beneath the Neon. Now the drains have been covered by CNN, Fox News, NPR, Dr. Phil, the New York Times, the BBC, Al Jazeera, and many other media outlets. They have even found their way on to popular TV shows, including CSI, Criminal Minds, and into mainstream movies. But the fact that several of these drug- and gambling-addicted tunnel dwellers have clawed their way out of the drains and turned around their lives has received far less attention. Dark Days, Bright Nights shares their harrowing stories and provides a unique perspective on one of America's most fascinating cities. It also paints a larger picture of homelessness and recovery in America. These stories are the happy (though not Hollywood) ending to the infamous tunnel tale. The narrative is complemented by bios and stark, black-and-white images of the survivors, putting a scarred, knowing face to the unblinkingly honest accounts.




Las Vegas Babylon


Book Description

What happens in Vegas doesn't necessarily stay in Vegas and the proof is in this lively and entertaining compilation of stories chronicling decades of decadence, celebrity shenanigans, and political corruption, as well as the glitz and glamour of the casinos that pass for everyday life in Las Vegas. Underneath the city's present success lies many infamous tales of excess and debauchery. Using new information from recently released FBI documents, Jeff Burbank brings to life the Vegas mob in its heyday, recounting never-before-heard tales of the mobsters who made Vegas what it is today. But mobsters aren't the only ones with skeletons in Las Vegas' closet. Over the years, Hollywood stars have had their share of the limelight. Burbank has uncovered the many fateful, and often amusing, incidents that have befallen the glamorous and here he recalls the details of the darkest moments in the lives of the famous and foolish: Marilyn Monroe's quickie divorce; boxer Sonny Liston's secret heroin deal just before his death; The Doors singer Jim Morrison's arrest for fighting on the Strip; and the hookers who trick-rolled comedian Tommy Smothers in his hotel room. With fast-paced and entertaining prose, Burbank captures the true stories from Las Vegas' seedy underbelly that have led to America's 100-year fascination with the aptly named Sin City.