In this collection of short stories, Archer gifts us with a dozen different tales ranging from murder mysteries to bildungsromans to war stories based on real events that have critics comparing him to Dumas, Dahl, and Maugham.

When Ada leaves home for her freshman year at a Historically Black College, it’s the first time she’s ever been so far from her family—and the first time that she’s been able to make her own choices and to seek her place in this new world. As she stumbles deeper into the world of dance and explores her sexuality, she also begins to wrestle with her past—her mother’s struggle with addiction, her Nigerian father’s attempts to make a home...

"Un error. Una segunda oportunidad. Un nuevo comienzo. Una noche de agosto, Vega conoce a un chico en la discoteca. Entre ellos la química fluye desde el primer momento. Nico es guapo, sexy y divertido, pero el hechizo se rompe cuando ella descubre que el muy idiota tiene novia. Por suerte, el curso está a punto de arrancar y Vega se muda a Madrid con sus dos mejores amigas para empezar la universidad. Lo tiene todo planeado y está dispuesta...

College freshman Victoria Parker is trying to move on with her life after surviving sexual assault by her father and six months in foster care. She's focusing on the positives-- attending college, living on her own, repairing old relationships and making new ones, and getting involved with an abuse survivors activist group on campus. Everything is thrown into disarray when a woman shows up claiming to be Victoria's aunt, and asking her to lie about...

Upon arriving at the prestigious Wooddale University, seventeen-year-old Savannah Howard comes face-to-face with microaggressions and outright racism--but if she stands up for justice, will she endanger her future? Savannah Howard sacrificed her high school social life to make sure she got into a top college. When she is accepted to the ivy-covered walls of Wooddale University on a full ride, how can she say no? But she discovers Wooddale is far...

"One game. Six students. Five survivors. It was only ever meant to be a game played by six best friends in their first year at Oxford University; a game of consequences, silly forfeits, and childish dares. But then the game changed: the stakes grew higher and the dares more personal and more humiliating, finally evolving into a vicious struggle with unpredictable and tragic results. Now, fourteen years later, the remaining players must meet again...

"Sabine's scholarship to a prestigious art school was a dream come true, but one desperate decision might bring her new life crashing down"-- When Sabine Reye wins a scholarship to California's most prestigious art school, she longs for a place where she belongs. But the cutthroat world of visual arts is nothing like what she had imagined. Faculty member Colin Krell seems to take merciless delight in tearing down her best work-- and warns her that...

University sophomore Miwako Sumida has hanged herself, leaving those closest to her reeling. In the months before her suicide, she was hiding away in a remote mountainside village, but what, or whom, was she running from? Ryusei, a fellow student at Waseda who harbored unrequited feelings for Miwako, begs her best friend Chie to bring him to the remote village where she spent her final days. While they are away, his older sister, Fumi, who took Miwako...

"Peyton King has always wanted to belong. She seizes the opportunity to start over at a new school and finally finds real connections with the friends she's always dreamed of and even an actual boyfriend! But after flying high in her newfound happiness, Peyton comes crashing down when reality sets in and the ones she cares about let her down. Peyton's friends can't fix her and she can't help them if they won't let her. If she wants to find real, lasting...

Stanford University student and Cuban American tennis prodigy Ramon Fernandez is outraged when a nearby mega-store hikes its prices the night of an earthquake. He crosses paths with provost and economics professor Ruth Lieber when he plans a campus protest against the price-gouging retailer--which is also a major donor to the university. Ruth begins a dialogue with Ramon about prices, prosperity, and innovation and their role in our daily lives. Is...