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Thirteen-year-old Ginna's only connection to her long-dead mother is the dogwood in her backyard. The tree radiates a warm sort of buzz which might possibly be magic. Or is it a trick of her imagination? That's the agonizing question that earned her the label, "weirdo who talks to trees." And it's the reason Ginna is struggling with her plan to make one real friend.After an embarrassing attempt ends with Ginna kicking a soccer ball at a classmate's face, she retreats to the comfort of her tree-shaped companion to ask for help-and something strange happens. Ginna goes from mostly ignored to ridiculously popular overnight, and she's having conversations with someone or some thing inside her head. The source, an opinionated tree spirit named Dogwood, claims she accidentally stepped into Ginna's body. But now that the spirit has access to Ginna's thoughts and memories, she's in no hurry to go back where she belongs. Until Ginna figures out that Dogwood is hiding information about her mom. Now it's Ginna who doesn't want to let go. She has so many questions-but there's no time to wait for the stubborn spirit to answer. Ginna's body is becoming dangerously depleted and can no longer sustain Dogwood's energy. She'll have to find the courage to stand on her own before possession burnout destroys them both.…

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|| WATTYS 2021 SHORTLIST || Hindsight isn't always twenty-twenty. A head injury has left a critical gap in seventeen-year-old Allyson's memory, so she barely recognizes her little sister, Lindsay, who's grown sullen and antisocial. What happened to the silly and fun girl who used to call Allyson her best friend? The answer starts to take shape when Allyson unlocks an instant messaging app and delves into the archived conversations. The more she learns about the person she was before her accident, the more she wants to stop reading. She's ashamed of the way she treated Lindsay, but despite her efforts to reconcile, Lindsay remains distant. She seems to be harboring some terrible secret herself. Allyson needs help to solve the mystery, but she's afraid to challenge her parents' fragile pretense of normality. And Noah, the boy Allyson doesn't remember falling for the first time, is reluctant to dig up the past. Her only choice is to find the courage to meet her former BFF-a stranger who knows all the unsavory details. Allyson will have to own her lies and accept one heartbreaking truth if she's going to keep her family from falling apart.|Cover design by Phillip Hilliker: www.philhilliker.com. Illustration from postermywall.|…

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Leni can't help breaking her promise. Waiting for the injured surfer to regain consciousness is worth the risk of having him discover her healing abilities. Because her birthmark radiated heat the moment she touched him-and that has to mean something. Maybe she's finally met someone who knows who she is and where she came from.Author's Note: This story is dual POV. Topher deserves a paragraph here, but I haven't managed to write it yet. :)…

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When seventeen-year-old Thea Allen's small-town private school is destroyed by a tornado, her mother seizes the opportunity to expose her to new experiences and new people. Translation: Mom wants to put hundreds of miles between Thea and her forever boyfriend, Glenn.Thea's inner math geek is tempted by the college level courses offered at the Upper East Side prep school. So, she's almost relieved when Glenn encourages the temporary move to New York City--until he breaks up with her, convinced she needs to date at least one other guy before she can be sure he's The One. Frustrated and reluctantly single, Thea begins her last year of high school at Oscar Zachary, where she discovers her life has developed some disturbing similarities to a certain children's novel. But Thea's "Oz" isn't entirely wonderful. Her Auntie Em is the Wicked Witch. The "heartless" boy next door keeps trying to hook up with her. And Thea is having a hard time ignoring an intense attraction to Conner, AKA The Scarecrow--a haphazardly hot boy, who may or may not even be available. Now the girl with the plan--the one who's always known what she wanted--is losing faith in her carefully plotted future.|Cover images from a photo by Michael Brodzik from Unsplash|…