Olivia and the Great Escape


Book Description

Jack Marvell's latest stunt is to stay on a high-wire for thirty days and nights. Olivia is worried for her father, but very proud of him. Then the rumours start, claiming that Jack's cheating. Olivia must give her all to her role in A Midsummer Night's Dream, and also prove to the world that her father is no fraudster...




Killer Content


Book Description

It's murder most viral in this debut mystery by Olivia Blacke. Bayou transplant Odessa Dean has a lot to learn about life in Brooklyn. So far she's scored a rent free apartment in one of the nicest neighborhoods around by cat-sitting, and has a new job working at Untapped Books & Café. Hand-selling books and craft beers is easy for Odessa, but making new friends and learning how to ride the subway? Well, that might take her a little extra time. But things turn more sour than an IPA when the death of a fellow waitress goes viral, caught on camera in the background of a couple's flash-mob proposal video. Nothing about Bethany's death feels right to Odessa--neither her sudden departure mid-shift nor the clues that only Odessa seems to catch. As an up-and-coming YouTube star, Bethany had more than one viewer waiting for her to fall from grace. Determined to prove there's a killer on the loose, Odessa takes matters into her own hands. But can she pin down Bethany's killer before they take Odessa offline for good?




No Memes of Escape


Book Description

Amateur sleuth Odessa Dean is about to discover the only thing harder than finding her way out of an escape room is finding an affordable apartment in Brooklyn in this sequel to Killer Content. Odessa Dean has made a home of Brooklyn. She has a fun job waiting tables at Untapped Books & Café and a new friend, Izzy, to explore the city with. When she's invited on a girls' day out escape room adventure, she jumps at the chance. It's all fun and games until the lights come on and they discover one of the girls bludgeoned to death... The only possible suspects are Odessa and the four other players that were locked in the escape room with the victim. She refuses to believe that one of them is responsible for the murder, despite what the clues indicate. In between shifts at the café, Odessa splits her time interviewing the murder suspects, updating the bookstore's social media accounts, and searching for the impossible--an affordable apartment in Brooklyn. But crime--and criminally high rent--waits for no woman. Can Odessa clear her and Izzy’s names before the police decide they're guilty?




Olivia Twist


Book Description

Olivia Twist is an innovative reimagining of Charles Dickens' classic tale Oliver Twist, in which Olivia was forced to live as a boy for her own safety until she was rescued from the streets. Now eighteen, Olivia finds herself at a crossroads: revealed secrets threaten to destroy the "proper" life she has built for herself, while newfound feelings for an arrogant young man she shouldn't like could derail her carefully laid plans for the future. Olivia Brownlow is no damsel in distress. Born in a workhouse and raised as a boy among thieving London street gangs, she is as tough and cunning as they come. When she is taken in by her uncle after a caper gone wrong, her life goes from fighting and stealing on the streets to lavish dinners and soirees as a debutante in high society. But she can’t seem to escape her past … or forget the teeming slums where children just like her still scrabble to survive. Jack MacCarron rose from his place in London's East End to become the adopted "nephew" of a society matron. Little does society know that MacCarron is a false name for a boy once known among London gangs as the Artful Dodger, and that he and his “aunt” are robbing them blind every chance they get. When Jack encounters Olivia Brownlow in places he least expects, his curiosity is piqued. Why is a society girl helping a bunch of homeless orphan thieves? Even more intriguing, why does she remind him so much of someone he once knew? Jack finds himself wondering if going legit and risking it all might be worth it for love.




The Care and Feeding of Waspish Widows


Book Description

“It’s a real pleasure watching this friendship between two women in middle age blossom and evolve . . . Entertaining, intelligent and emotionally rewarding.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review When Agatha Griffin finds a colony of bees in her warehouse, it’s the not-so-perfect ending to a not-so-perfect week. Busy trying to keep her printing business afloat amidst rising taxes and the suppression of radical printers like her son, the last thing the widow wants is to be the victim of a thousand bees. But when a beautiful beekeeper arrives to take care of the pests, Agatha may be in danger of being stung by something far more dangerous . . . Penelope Flood exists between two worlds in her small seaside town, the society of rich landowners and the tradesfolk. Soon, tensions boil over when the formerly exiled Queen arrives on England’s shores—and when Penelope’s long-absent husband returns to Melliton, she once again finds herself torn, between her burgeoning love for Agatha and her loyalty to the man who once gave her refuge. As Penelope finally discovers her true place, Agatha must learn to accept the changing world in front of her. But will these longing hearts settle for a safe but stale existence or will they learn to fight for the future they most desire? Praise for book one of the Feminine Pursuits series by Olivia Waite: “Waite delivers a luscious gem with The Lady’s Guide to Celestial Mechanics . . . a bittersweet read that will make your heart ache, bursting with genuinely funny, remarkable surprises.” —Entertainment Weekly “Simply stellar in every way.” —Booklist, starred review “Waite delivers a sweet lesbian romance with a hint of spice, fitting into the decorum of the era.” —Library Journal




Olivia's First Term


Book Description

Olivia is sad and lonely and angry -- angry that she's been dumped with her sister eel at her grandmother's school, and angrier still that that school turns out to be a stage school where there's no encouragement for her to do what she loves best: practice her circus skills.




A Child of Magic


Book Description




Olivia's Winter Wonderland


Book Description

It's winter at the Swan Academy, and that means panto! While Olivia practises being the back end of a horse, everyone else is auditioning for a major new movie. Soon the school is full of rivalry and suspicion, nasty tricks and strange mysteries. To lighten the mood, Eel organises a festive ice-skating trip. But as the skaters twirl and leap among the twinkling lights, Olivia realises that the season of goodwill is anything but.




Shakescenes


Book Description

35 scenes from Shakespeare are presented in newly-edited texts with notes which clarify meanings topical references puns ambiguities etc. A brief description of characters and situation prefaces each scene and is followed by a commentary which discu




The New Female Antihero


Book Description

The New Female Antihero examines the hard-edged spies, ruthless queens, and entitled slackers of twenty-first-century television. The last ten years have seen a shift in television storytelling toward increasingly complex storylines and characters. In this study, Sarah Hagelin and Gillian Silverman zoom in on a key figure in this transformation: the archetype of the female antihero. Far from the sunny, sincere, plucky persona once demanded of female characters, the new female antihero is often selfish and deeply unlikeable. In this entertaining and insightful study, Hagelin and Silverman explore the meanings of this profound change in the role of women characters. In the dramas of the new millennium, they show, the female antihero is ambitious, conniving, even murderous; in comedies, she is self-centered, self-sabotaging, and anti-aspirational. Across genres, these female protagonists eschew the part of good girl or role model. In their rejection of social responsibility, female antiheroes thus represent a more profound threat to the status quo than do their male counterparts. From the devious schemers of Game of Thrones, The Americans, Scandal, and Homeland, to the joyful failures of Girls, Broad City, Insecure, and SMILF, female antiheroes register a deep ambivalence about the promises of liberal feminism. They push back against the myth of the modern-day super-woman—she who “has it all”—and in so doing, they give us new ways of imagining women’s lives in contemporary America.