Amanda Ripley

Follow four college roommates as they arrive at New England's prestigious Essex College. A bundle of contradictions and hormones, these girls are equal parts lovable and infuriating as they live out their new, free lives on campus.

When her fiancé dies unexpectedly and she loses her job, 40-something music manager Alice Kendall inherits half ownership of The Grotto, a struggling nightclub in the California desert where she discovers eccentric performers and a heartbreaking secret.

A group of homeless youth use their artistic abilities to survive after their local government cuts funding for their youth shelter, effectively forcing them all out on the streets