Lauren Nicolle Taylor

The daughter of a violent civil rights lawyer, Nora has lived near Kettle, an orphaned Japanese-American who was formally interned during World War II, so when the two meet, the event is devastating and ultimately healing.

Nora & Kettle

The Woodlands

For Luna, the price of peace in a time of war is a heart of hickory. But to have a hickory heart leaves no room for love. When the lives of her three brothers are tied to refugee siblings from the warring tribe, Luna must test the limits of her wooden heart, trust those she's been taught to hate, and now she's destined to destroy. In an island nation akin to a wooden Hong Kong, two Asian women from warring tribes: Lye, a powerful slave of the Emperor and Luna, a Char defying tradition, must put aside their pasts in order to move forward.

The Girl with the Hickory Heart

New from Lauren Nicolle Taylor, the best-selling author of Nora and Kettle, comes a fresh take on a classic tale. Breaker Van Winkle is a recently returned Vietnam vet, struggling with PTSD and the difficulties of readjusting to civilian life with his mother. Eighteen-year-old Sunny is a high-achieving Chinese-French immigrant who fled Vietnam during the war. Sunny is usually as cheerful as her name implies, but she has her struggles too. Haunted by violent memories of the bombing that killed her parents, and chafing under the rule of her eccentric grandmother, she finds solace deep in the Catskills, at a place she calls the Ugly Tree. When Breaker stumbles upon Sunny and the Ugly Tree, things start to change. They are drawn to each other, and feel called to the tree. As they spend more time together and their relationship deepens, they notice that their time at the tree is becoming twisted somehow. Sunny's mind yawns and her ambitions begin to slip away. Breaker feels safe and carefree, his memories finally burying themselves in the distant past. They are being lulled toward a tempting, peaceful sleep--but there is a cost to this magical serenity, and it may be more than either of them can bear...

Breaker and the Sun

The captivating story of Nora and Kettle continues in Hiro Loves Kite, the second installment in the award-winning Paper Stars historical fiction series by Lauren Nicole Taylor. We offer our wounds and scars. Understanding that is part of what makes us beautiful. Nora finally has her beloved sister Frankie back, but that's just the beginning of their struggles. She must now become Kite--a stronger, more independent version of herself--a king and a guardian. Kettle has Kite's heart. But something holds him back; a feeling that he doesn't deserve good things. It's a looming shadow that threatens to separate them. Kettle must accept that he is also Hiro: a Japanese American with every right to happiness and freedom. Hiro loves Kite--but Kite won't wait forever for him to tell her. And now they're standing on icy ground. The leverage they had on Kite's abusive father has wavered, and life on the street is affecting Frankie's health. Snow is gathering at the station doors, and doubts are piling high...they must rely on each other, and believe in the magic that got them this far. If they don't, it's not just their future in jeopardy--but the fates of all the street kids in their care--all the Kings. Fans of Nora and Kettle have asked for more of their story since it first hit shelves. By popular demand, Lauren Nicolle Taylor has written this follow-up that is sure to please her fans. Find out why readers are calling this series "unforgettable," "powerful," and a "remarkable reimagining of Peter Pan."

Hiro Loves Kite

When a heart is in pieces, can it still be broken? Quiet, contemplative Esther is in love. It’s an all-encompassing love that sweeps her off her feet but also leaves her dangling with nothing to hold onto. It’s thrilling, unlike anything she’s ever felt before, and she gives her whole heart to this marriage, to this willful, passionate man. Things change when she becomes a mother. It’s not just the two of them anymore, and as Esther gives a large piece of her heart to her daughter, Rosa, she starts to realize that maybe love shouldn’t be this hard. That she shouldn’t have to give up her whole self to be with him. That now that she’s a mother, she can’t. Set in the years leading up to The Woodlands, The Willful follows Esther, Rosa’s mother, as she navigates young motherhood, a marriage on the brink, and the hard decisions that come with living in a controlled world with an uncontrollable man.

The Willful

Separated after a failed mission, Joseph struggles to face what he did to escape and who he had to leave behind, while Rosa is straddling the divide between fighting the evil Superior Grant and trying her best to stay alive.

The Wanted

Joseph, wake up, wake up, wake up... She says it over and over. It's her mantra, her prayer, her plea. But life doesn't stop while he's sleeping. With a newborn baby in her arms, Rosa's thrown into a new world, with new rules and a philosophy that sounds too good to be true. She's sure they didn't rescue her out of the goodness of their hearts. The Survivors must want something in return. The Wall finds Rosa eagerly entering a new life, yet struggling to keep the demons and ghosts of the past from dragging her backwards. She's left so many people behind. There's freedom in the Survivors' world, more than she'd ever dreamed of, but there's also secrets. The darkest of which pulls Rosa headfirst into a trauma, forcing her to reevaluate her past and pushing her to make a choice that threatens to destroy the tenuous, sewn-together family she's built on the outside.

The Wall

The Wounded

What would you be willing to sacrifice to get what you Wanted? It's the question facing both Rosa and Joseph as they are pushed and pulled in unimaginable directions. It's the question Superior Grant answered with a resounding, "Anything and everything." The only thing they want is to be back in each other's arms. But what will it cost them to get there? Separated after a failed mission, they are caught in dual hells. Joseph, sinking as he struggles to face what he did to escape and who he had to leave behind. Rosa, straddling the divide between fighting the evil, calculating Superior Grant and trying her best to stay alive.When what they Wanted seems unreachable, can they find the strength-the will-to keep trying? To keep fighting? And find their way back to each other and to Orry?The Wanted is the stunning conclusion of The Woodlands Series. Do you dare enter the Woodlands? A dystopian page-turner with over 750 five-star ratings on Goodreads. The Woodlands Series is perfect for fans of The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, The Divergent Series by Veronica Roth, and The Jewel Series by Amy Ewing. The Woodlands is an Award-Winning Finalist in the "Fiction: Young Adult" category of the 2014 USA Best Book Awards, as well as a Semifinalist in The Kindle Book Awards by the Kindle Book Review.

Sixteen-year-old Rosa lives in one of the eight enclosed cities of The Woodlands, where the lone survivors of a devastating race war have settled in the Russian wilderness—the only habitable land left on the planet. The Superiors are ruthless in their control of the concrete cities, striving to create a 'raceless' society where everyone is the same. But Rosa has always been different—and that makes her a liability. She finds her counterpoint in Joseph and as the two grow closer, it becomes clear that if they want to be together, they will have to escape the tightly controlled Woodlands—and leave behind the only life they've ever known. A dystopian page-turner with over 1,000 five-star ratings on Goodreads, The Woodlands Series is perfect for fans of The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, The Divergent Series by Veronica Roth, and The Jewel Series by Amy Ewing. Readers can purchase this boxed set at a significant discount over the cost to purchase each novel individually. This is a complete-series boxed set. The Woodlands is an Award-Winning Finalist in the "Fiction: Young Adult" category of the USA Best Book Awards, as well as a Semifinalist in The Kindle Book Awards by the Kindle Book Review. "Lauren Taylor's writing is powerfully descriptive; she is a master of words and similes." Author Erica Kiefer "It seems so rare these days to find a dystopian with an original vein in it. The Woodlands Succeeds." Author Pauline Creeden "I went into this story with my own ideas, but they were obliterated by what I found instead. I was so happy to be wrong because this story touched my heart deeply in a way that I never expected." Reviewer Amber Douglas Mcallister "This book was fantastic! Spectacular! It had everything I look for in a book: Action, Adventure, and even romance!" Reviewer Jocelyn Sanchez "Great storyline. Love the characters. I started with the first in the series then slammed through all 4. I couldn't put it down." Amazon Reviewer

The Woodlands Series Boxed Set

What if Peter Pan was a homeless kid just trying to survive, and Wendy flew away for a really good reason?Seventeen-year-old Kettle has had his share of adversity. As an orphaned Japanese American struggling to make a life in the aftermath of an event in history not often referred to--the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II and the removal of children from orphanages for having "one drop of Japanese blood in them"--things are finally looking up. He has his hideout in an abandoned subway tunnel, a job, and his gang of Lost Boys.Desperate to run away, the world outside her oppressive brownstone calls to naïve, eighteen-year-old Nora--the privileged daughter of a controlling and violent civil rights lawyer who is building a compensation case for the interned Japanese Americans. But she is trapped, enduring abuse to protect her younger sister Frankie and wishing on the stars every night for things to change.For months, they've lived side by side, their paths crossing yet never meeting. But when Nora is nearly killed and her sister taken away, their worlds collide as Kettle, grief stricken at the loss of a friend, angrily pulls Nora from her window.In her honeyed eyes, Kettle sees sadness and suffering. In his, Nora sees the chance to take to the window and fly away.Set in 1953, NORA AND KETTLE explores the collision of two teenagers facing extraordinary hardship. Their meeting is inevitable, devastating, and ultimately healing. Their stories, a collection of events, are each on their own harmless. But together, one after the other, they change the world.

"Nineteen-year-old Langley is crazy. She knows it, and the kicker is--she's choosing to stay that way. By choice, she clings to the persistent and intrusive hallucination of her dead sister, Sarah. Tupper's life is charmed. He has loving adoptive parents, and several athletic college scholarships on the table. At eighteen, Tupper sidesteps his planned future and goes on a journey based a unique travel diary from his birth mother, Anna-- and follows her map from Kansas City to Canada. His travels will put him on a collision course with Langley, and their bond is palpable from the start. But secrets will push between them--Sarah and Anna, two ghosts who could sink their icy fingers into the teens and tear them apart"--

Lauren Nicolle Taylor

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