LITERATURA EN INGLES

We live in a world that gives us seemingly infinite choices and prizes freedom above all else. We have an unprecedented number of options regarding what to do, who to be, and how to spend our time. All that choice is wonderful; it is also overwhelming. The irony is that total freedom can be paralyzing, and unlimited resources don’t necessarily lead to the biggest breakthroughs. In fact, overvaluing complete freedom can be disastrous for everything from starting a company to harnessing creativity to finding personal satisfaction.

Naked, knowing little more than her name, Amber Fallbrook does not recognize the stone tower she’s awoken in, or the vast, glittering ocean beyond its window. Turning, she finds a very a different view: a beautiful, nearly nude man stirring in her bed. He is a stranger, as is the man who barges into the room seconds later, clearly expecting to find Amber alone. Who are they? Who is she? Why can’t she remember? Shocked to discover that she’s in her dormitory room at the Alchemary—the realm’s prestigious university dedicated to the study of alchemy—Amber has no recollection of having been one of the school’s top students for the past two years. The two men—brothers—are her childhood friends, even if “friends” is not exactly the energy in the room. One brother claims he wants to protect her, and the other to help her recover her memory. But nothing is at it seems at the Alchemary. Not the intentions of her classmates and faculty, not the stunning, labyrinthine campus, not the two brothers she’s increasingly attracted to—maybe not even Amber herself. Despite her memory loss, Amber rejoins her classes and prepares for the deadly Alchemary Trials alongside the other Mastery-level students. But as invigorating as the flowing language and symbology of alchemy is, she can’t help but notice that for an institution shining light on the quest for human perfection there are a lot of dark shadows in its winding corridors.

“Are you happy with your life?” Those are the last words Jason Dessen hears before the masked abductor knocks him unconscious. Before he awakens to find himself strapped to a gurney, surrounded by strangers in hazmat suits. Before a man Jason’s never met smiles down at him and says, “Welcome back, my friend.” In this world he’s woken up to, Jason’s life is not the one he knows. His wife is not his wife. His son was never born. And Jason is not an ordinary college physics professor but a celebrated genius who has achieved something remarkable. Something impossible. Is it this world or the other that’s the dream? And even if the home he remembers is real, how can Jason possibly make it back to the family he loves? The answers lie in a journey more wondrous and horrifying than anything he could’ve imagined—one that will force him to confront the darkest parts of himself even as he battles a terrifying, seemingly unbeatable foe.

Maine, 1789: When the Kennebec River freezes, entombing a man in the ice, Martha Ballard is summoned to examine the body and determine cause of death. As a midwife and healer, she is privy to much of what goes on behind closed doors in Hallowell. Her diary is a record of every birth and death, crime and debacle that unfolds in the close-knit community. Months earlier, Martha documented the details of an alleged rape committed by two of the town’s most respected gentlemen—one of whom has now been found dead in the ice. But when a local physician undermines her conclusion, declaring the death to be an accident, Martha is forced to investigate the shocking murder on her own. Over the course of one winter, as the trial nears, and whispers and prejudices mount, Martha doggedly pursues the truth. Her diary soon lands at the center of the scandal, implicating those she loves, and compelling Martha to decide where her own loyalties lie. Clever, layered, and subversive, Ariel Lawhon’s newest offering introduces an unsung heroine who refused to accept anything less than justice at a time when women were considered best seen and not heard. The Frozen River is a thrilling, tense, and tender story about a remarkable woman who left an unparalleled legacy yet remains nearly forgotten to this day.

Game wardens have found a man dead at a mountain camp-strung up, gutted, and flayed as if he were the elk he’d been hunting. Is the murder the work of a deranged anti-hunting activist or of a lone psychopath with a personal vendetta? Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett is the man to track the murderer and stop him before someone declares open season on humans.

Anne Boleyn is going to die, and neither her cleverness nor her witchery can save her. So when her late rival, Catalina de Aragón, miraculously appears in her cell at the Tower of London on the eve of her execution, very much alive and offering a daring escape plan, no one is more surprised than Anne. Lina doesn’t have Anne’s magic—but she has just as much hate for England’s wretched king. Severed from her daughter and stripped of all her influence, Lina breathes only for the Hellebore Sisterhood, a clandestine and powerful society with a vested interest in keeping both queens alive . . . and using their particular skills to advance womankind.

Peter Pan meets Stephen King's It in this twisted horror retelling of a classic childhood fairy tale set during WWI. 1914, Wendy Darling works by day as a school teacher, and by night, she assists soldiers who have returned home from the Western Front. There is one mysterious patient who, despite all the care they’ve given him, is in a deep sleep, unable to wake up. One night, when he murmurs the words “Peter Pan,” Wendy is thrown back to a darker time, one that she wishes she could forget. When one of her students goes missing, it brings back memories of when children went missing and were later found murdered in London many years ago. Wendy is convinced that Peter Pan, the entity that she believes killed those children, is back. She and her brothers had a close encounter with Peter Pan, after all. But her brothers only remember Peter Pan and Neverland as a fantasy of childhood games. When another child goes missing and signs start to point to Wendy, Scotland Yard digs into old reports, finding that Wendy knew the names of all the children who had been killed. As Wendy tries to prove her innocence, she also has to find a way to stop Peter Pan once and for all.

I was supposed to have it all. I’d been Prom Queen, Cheer Captain – high school’s most savage Queen Bee. I could have everything I wanted. Except them. The freaks, the weirdos, the school’s ultimate losers: Manson, Jason, Lucas, and Vincent. Our hatred for each other couldn’t keep us apart, not even when my own mistake got Manson expelled and made me the ultimate villain to the rest of them. One night was supposed to be enough. I couldn’t resist forever. For one night I gave myself over to the men I wasn’t supposed to want and satisfied the darkest parts of my soul. But some things are meant to stay in the dark. One night, and it was over. Nothing more than a game. Now, with college behind me, our worlds collide yet again. Four men, all willing to share me as their plaything until my debt to them is paid. Another game to satiate my dark cravings, the twisted rules of which bring us all even closer than before. But games aren’t meant to last. When the debt is paid and the game is done, what if I don’t want to walk away?

After yet another disastrous date where Jess is too awkward, too earnest, too whatever, she’s ready to put her romantic daydreams aside. Other than an enchanting Irish accent, her latest date is no prince charming. Then the night goes from bad to worse when she’s mugged in the parking lot and hits her head. Hard. Hard enough that when Jess wakes up, she’s in Ireland. The first person she meets is Eamonn, a quiet, gruff mechanic. Since Jess is stranded with no passport, cell phone, or way to get home, Eamonn becomes her reluctant knight in shining armor. Over the next forty-eight hours, they meander through the cobblestone streets of Dublin and explore the Irish countryside, sharing their deepest fears, quiet hopes, and softest aches. It’s a connection that is as electrifying as it is terrifying, because what if Jess falls asleep and Eamonn vanishes like a dream? But a love like this—touched by magic and a little bit of luck—is never quite as it seems.

Years ago, Nora Bridge walked out on her marriage and left her daughters behind. She has since become a famous radio talk-show host and newspaper columnist beloved for her moral advice. Her youngest daughter, Ruby, is a struggling comedienne who uses her famous mother as fuel for her bitter, cynical humor. When the tabloids unearth a scandalous secret from Nora’s past, their estrangement suddenly becomes dramatic: Nora is injured in an accident and a glossy magazine offers Ruby a fortune to write a tell-all about her mother. Under false pretenses, Ruby returns home to take care of the woman she hasn’t spoken to for almost a decade. Nora insists they retreat to Summer Island in the San Juans, to the lovely old house on the water where Ruby grew up, a place filled with childhood memories of love and joy and belonging. There Ruby is also reunited with her first love and his brother. Once, the three of them had been best friends, inseparable. Until the summer that Nora had left and everyone’s hearts had been broken. . . . What began as an expose evolves, as Ruby writes, into an exploration of her family’s past. Nora is not the woman Ruby has hated all these years. Witty, wise, and vulnerable, she is desperate to reconcile with her daughter. As the magazine deadline draws near and Ruby finishes what has begun to seem to her an act of brutal betrayal, she is forced to grow up and at last to look at her mother—and herself—through the eyes of a woman. And she must, finally, allow herself to love.