C. L. Stone – författare

The Academy: Ghost Bird series in a different look at the very beginning. Read Introductions with a whole new perspective--the boys'. Nathan Griffin's entire life has been about protecting himself. After his mother ran away to save herself, his father turned his attentions to Nathan. His critical, booze-fueled attentions. That kind of abusive attention was the last thing Nathan needed. When he joined the Academy, it changed his life. Now he's finally settled in a place where he can be himself, not be wary and afraid all the time, and sometimes even feel completely normal. One day he discovers Sang Sorenson. She's stuck in a fallen tree and he's instantly drawn to help her. She's not only sweet and adorable, but she's brave and daring, traits Nathan absolutely admires.The more he hangs out with her, the more comfortable he gets around her. The more he wants to know her and let her know him. There's a growing sense of familiarity he's only gotten from his friends, other boys who have been abused and broken. Could she be like him? There's something off with her and he worries about her background and her past.If she'd only tell him what it is, he'd fix it. He knows he could. He'd do anything if she'd just give him the chance.

Love's Cruel Redemption is the twelfth book in The Academy Ghost Bird Series. Sang's life was on pause after the dramatic break with her real family. Now she's back in the game, returning to Ashley Waters to appear like a normal student. However, returning to school hasn't made her life any easier. When it comes to the Academy and her role in the secret organization, there's no such thing as normal.When Kota's mother catches Sang and the guys in the complex web of lies they've woven, everything starts to unravel: Their relationships, their ties to the Academy. Everything's under risk of exposure.Nathan struggles most with his conscience and lying to Erica Lee, the woman who supported him when his own mother was never there, doesn't seem like the right thing to do. She's his family and Nathan knows you shouldn't lie to family. But he also knows the truth could hurt her: It could put Erica in danger. And it could force Kota to make a choice he should never have to: his mother and sister, or his team—his chosen family.With Ashley Waters High School under attack and the principal now missing, the Academy needs to maintain its cover more than ever. It's a bad time for Erica to start discovering what the Academy is really all about.But to protect them all, Nathan's willing to take the heat. He'll do it for Sang, as well as Kota, Victor, Silas, Gabriel, Luke, North, and the rest of the team. He may be their only chance at survival.But Sang, who committed to be all in with her team, isn't about to let Nathan go down alone.The Academy: Family First

The Academy: Ghost Bird series in a different look at the very beginning. Read Introductions with a whole new perspective--the boys'. Silas Korba's days are filled with working for the Academy and dealing with the realities of bringing his family from Greece to America. Only today is a little different; he meets a girl—a mysterious girl—who needs his help and maybe the help of the Academy.He doesn't know her, but he wants to. There's something different and special about her and he has a feeling she's going to change his life forever.

Black and Green is the eleventh book in The Academy Ghost Bird Series. Sang Sorenson's father abandoned her and her sister, leaving them to fend for themselves for months. He's returned, and finds Sang is missing. He demands she return. Right now.Will he call the police if she doesn't?Her Academy team doesn't want to risk losing her ghost status and she doesn't want to put them in danger, so she reluctantly returns home, but is comforted that she will still be monitored by them. But the second she opens the door, she discovers her father has made changes that will affect her entire future. His decisions will make them a normal family.Normal is no longer what Sang wants. It would kill her Academy career before it ever started. Not to mention it would end the special, new, and still-fragile relationships with the guys.Sang struggles with her family, her identity, and where she truly belongs. Now that the entire team knows about their romantic relationships with her, tensions are mounting, tearing the team apart from the inside.Only, Dr. Green isn't going to lie down and roll over by playing by the rules. Not anymore. Not while Sang is at risk.His heart can't take leaving her in that house one more minute. He needs her. They all do.The Academy: Worth Risking All

Kayli Winchester is on the run. Chased out of the hospital when Alice returns with a warning that she'll be coming for Kayli soon. Emergency protocol is initiated. Axel, Raven, Corey, Brandon, and Marc are preparing to run themselves. They need to separate from the Academy to protect everyone from the danger.Kayli and the Academy team will do whatever they can to protect their families and friends. They may have to leave Charleston forever to escape Alice's wrath.However, Alice proves she can be everywhere at once. She's aligned with powerful forces, a group possibly more powerful than the Academy, with corrupt police and officials on their side. No one is safe. No one can be trusted. When people go missing, the police are pointing fingers at Axel and the others.Just when Axel and the rest of the team are coming to understand their own complicated romantic relationships with Kayli, they're faced with the ultimate realization: staying together could get them all killed.There's only one way to handle this: Break all the rules, get to Alice, and ensure she'll never be able to exact revenge again. The consequences will be severe. Success could mean ejection from the Academy. Complete ex-communication. Family will be torn apart. And worse, the team might be forced to disband forever.Everything is at stake. Not even the Academy is prepared for how this will go down. The entire organization may not survive.Will Kayli?

Evelyn—Eva—Lacroix is desperate for a fresh start after her life goes fubar, thanks to her drug-dealing boyfriend getting busted. She hadn't even known what he was up to, but no one will believe she's innocent when all signs point to her.Time for a location change.Eva starts her new life at the side of the road, hitchhiking in the kind of heat that would melt steel and nearly her resolve.Never one to pass up a chance to help a damsel in distress, Ace Waris picks her up on his way to Charleston. But he quickly learns this damsel is on the run from the law. Ace promises to help her, but could use a favor in exchange if she's willing: he needs a little help with a rival. Can Eva be the distraction?At first, Eva feels it's a fair trade, but something doesn't add up. Distrustful of Ace, she seeks out his enemy, Loïc Courteau, to discover the truth. That truth? Not at all anything she might have dreamed up.It's not about revenge, but a sensual game with high stakes, and she's the new pawn.What the boys don't know is that Eva is not willing to lie down for anyone. Maybe it's time the boys of Charleston were put in their place.

NOTE: This book was originally published as Smoking Gun. It has been significantly updated and is now the second in the Charleston's Leading Ladies series.Celeste Logan's never had a real career. But she's known as the sweetheart of Charleston after being the face of father's upscale real estate company. She's been in commercials since she was old enough to sit on his knee and beam her adorable smile and big doe eyes at the camera. Now she's grown, but her legacy as the adorable kid on TV lives on. When her father dies under suspicious circumstances, she tries to prove it wasn't an accident. But no one takes her seriously, treating her like the child she once was. Not even her best friends, the people she's grown up with, really think she's got any evidence. She's sure her father was murdered and she's double sure Mr. John Dixon, her father's jerkwad, right-hand guy, had something to do with it. Maybe everything.The months tick by as she's still trying to piece it together alone, getting nowhere. Until Diego Ramirez shows up. He's a clever, seductive, private detective. But the rub? He's working for Mr. Dixon as a security consultant. What is he helping Mr. Dixon to hide? Still, he's a good private dick with an open mind and starts to think maybe Celeste is onto something with her theories about her father's death. Especially after several attempts on Celeste's life make him think someone might be trying to silence Celeste. Forever.But can Celeste trust Diego when he's on Dixon's payroll? And can it be a coincidence that the attacks on her life only started after Diego came on the scene?Will Celeste ever see justice served in her father's murder? Or is she about to be the victim of her own? And is Diego right, when he says it could be one of her own closest friends?

Books 1 - 4 in the wildly successful (and swoon-inducing) Academy Scarab Beetle Series, together for the first time.This bundle includes:Thief - Book 1Liar - Book 2Fake - Book 3 Accessory - Book 4Hoax - Book 5 (sneak peek)

The Academy: Ghost Bird series in a different look at the very beginning. Read Introductions with a whole new perspective--the boys'. Despite having eight great friends thanks to The Academy, what Gabriel Coleman really wants is a connection with someone special. However, he's never had much luck with girls. He doesn't have the sleek looks, wealth, or charm like his friends. The Academy has helped him a lot since his family died in tragic accidents, and he'll always be grateful for what they've done for him, but he can't help wanting more.When his friends talk about the new girl they've met, Sang Sorenson, he's shocked to learn about the horrible things that are happening to her. He hasn't even met her yet so there's no way he could have guessed how sweet, considerate, and inquisitive she is. How could anyone think to do anything horrible to her? But he knows, if only by her haunted expression, there's more to her than the sweet girl his friends are half in love with already. Of course, he's all in to help her.From the moment Gabriel and Sang meet, there's an immediate connection. She's a girl who asks him questions, and seems genuinely interested in his answers. Seems genuinely interested in him. Gabriel wants to do the right thing by helping his friends keep an eye on her, but he can't shake the feeling that there's something more between him and Sang. He can only hope she sees it too.

Forgiveness and Permission is the fourth book in The Academy Ghost Bird Series.Sang Sorenson's abusive mother is secure in a hospital, and her father has vanished to a new family of his own, leaving Sang and her sister to fend for themselves. Sang is hanging by a thread, and her only hope is a group of boys she feels she barely knows.She's never really alone. The Academy team has stepped in, promising to protect and care for Sang. Kota, Victor, Silas, Nathan, Gabriel, Luke and North take over, showing Sang they can be depended on for anything. But just because the parents are away, doesn't mean Sang's life has become any easier.The newfound freedom will have a higher price than any of them had imagined.Principal Hendricks now wants to use Sang to exploit Academy secrets. Mr. McCoy has his own dark plans for her. Enemies are closing in. Sang will need to learn to believe in the boys, and the boys will need to learn to trust her if they want to survive their rivals.And each other.The Academy, Relentless Trust

From the author of the wildly popular Academy Series!Note: This book was originally published as Spice God.Newly divorced, Melody ran away from a drugged out ex-husband and a controlling mother with little more than the clothes on her back. She needed a new home and a new job, not to mention a new life. Juniper Island, a thriving and posh hideaway known for its bustling summer tourism,  held a promise to be exactly the change she needed.  Without a second thought, Melody buys a one-way bus ticket.Directed to the North Shore by the bus driver, she meets Tonac, the unusual chef and owner of Mayana, a restaurant tailored to serve the hard-working island locals. He gives his delicious meals away for free, but that's not the strangest part; he doesn't serve people what they want, only what they need.When Melody tastes the food for the first time, she finds out why the customers keep coming back, and it's not just to eat for free or to be served by a rude waiter with no people skills. The food influences people in unique ways: sometimes it gives them visions, sometimes bravery, and in others it casts a new light into the darkest and faintest of memories -- whether they wanted to remember or not.Knowing she can do better as a server than the crabby waiter, Melody applies for a job at this strange restaurant. Tonac takes her on, but under his care, she comes face-to-face with the secrets of what he really is and who (and what) else inhabits the island.But not all of the residents of Juniper Island are happy with Tonac and his special meals. And when Melody gets caught up in the middle, it'll take more than a few spiced apple tarts or a bowl of pumpkin soup to uncover the deep and dark secrets that some inhabitants of Juniper Island want to keep buried.

Thief is the first book in The Academy Scarab Beetle Series.Kayli Winchester is a dirt-poor girl living out of a hotel, forced to be the parent for a drunken father and teenage brother who she's desperate to keep in school. The only way she scrapes by is to utilize her one skill: pickpocketing. But even though she's a thief she has a moral code: no kids or old ladies, only targets who can defend themselves. Not that they see her coming…Thinking she's been working under the radar, Kayli has no idea The Academy has been watching and taking notice. Now a team that needs her skill has offered her a way out of her predicament and it's her last chance: work with them, or face jail time. Kayli resists at first, but slowly the boys reveal they can be trusted. With Marc, the straight man, Raven, the bad-boy Russian, Corey and Brandon the twins as different as night and day, and Axel their stoic leader, there's a lot Kayli can learn from these Academy guys about living on the edge of the law. If only she can stay on the good side instead of the bad.Especially when the job they offer her is more than any of them bargained for. After it's done, the hunters have become the hunted and their target is now after Kayli. The Academy boys do their best to keep her hidden, but a thief like Kayli will never sit still for long.Meet an all-new Academy team in Thief, the beginning of the Scarab Beetle series.Warning: This is a new adult series. Readers of the other Academy series may need some caution as this series will contain mature sexual and violent situations and themes.

Download the first in this wildly successful series. Over 125,000 copies downloaded to date!Introductions is the first book in The Academy Ghost Bird Series.With an agoraphobic mother and a barely-there father, Sang abhors the isolation keeping her in the shadows. The only thing Sang craves is a fresh start and to be accepted as ordinary by her peers, because for her being different meant being cast out alone.When her family moves to a new school district, Sang infiltrates a group of boys nearly perfect in every way. Grateful for an influence outside of her parents' negativity, she quickly bonds with the boys, hoping to blend in and learn from them what it means to have a natural relationship with friends.Only the boys have secrets of their own and they'll do anything to keep her safe from the knowledge of the mysterious Academy that they've sworn allegiance to. Bit by bit, Sang discovers that her friends are far from the normalcy she expected. Will her loyalty change when she's forced to remain in the dark, or will she accept that she's traded one house of secrets for another?Meet Kota, Victor, Silas, Nathan, Gabriel, Luke and North in a story about differences and loyalty, truth and mystery, friendships and heart-throbbing intimacy.The Academy, ever vigilant.

First Days is the second book in The Academy Ghost Bird Series.Sang Sorenson used to be the invisible girl in class. As a new student to Ashley Waters High School, Sang hopes that her new friends will be the change she's been craving and will make fitting in a breeze.But Academy students aren't there to take it easy. The high school is overcrowded and rife with violence. When fights begin, Sang will uncover the true reason the boys traded in their private school life for a public one.This year, Sang will no longer be invisible. This year, Sang is a target.The principal and vice principal are hot to take Sang down, and her own mother is determined to entrap Sang forever in her belief that the safest place to be is in the shadows. Despite this, Nathan, Luke, Kota, North, Silas, Victor, and Gabriel will discover Sang's unyielding loyalty.And they will sorely need it.The Academy, supremely influential.If you enjoyed Pretty Little Liars by Sara Shepard or the Gallagher Girls series by Ally Carter, you may enjoy this series.

Drop of Doubt is the fifth book in The Academy Ghost Bird Series. Sang Sorenson and the Academy boys return to Ashley Waters High School but before they get a chance to even settle in, Sang's life is threatened by an anonymous caller.They retreat to the protective walls of the Morgan estate, a safe house for when the boys are under fire. But when new threats can break through those barriers that once kept them secure, it leaves Kota, Victor, Silas, Nathan, Gabriel, Luke and North rushing to figure out who is hunting them.But when you're fighting a ghost who seems to know all your secrets, retreating is no longer an option.The Academy, Deceptively Strategic

Friends vs. Family is the third book in The Academy Ghost Bird Series.Sang Sorenson is forced to suffer through another of her mother's extreme punishments.  It almost kills her. The Academy boys vow it will be the last.  They're determined to keep Sang safe, especially from her own family. Their solution: complete invasion of her life.Kota, Luke, Silas, Nathan, Victor, Gabriel and North do everything within their power to show Sang what true loyalty means.  It takes more than blood to make a family and they want Sang in theirs.In this third book of The Academy series Sang experiences a taste of freedom and what it's like to truly be cared for...to be wanted.  Sang learns a bit more about the boys' broken families and the boys discover more than they could ever have bargained for about Sang's. The Academy was the answer to their problems. Could it be hers?Sang's actions will force her mother to reveal a startling truth.  A truth that will change Sang's life and the boys' lives in unpredictable ways.  Forever.The Academy, Allegiance

Push and Shove is the sixth book in The Academy Ghost Bird Series. Sang Sorenson struggles with her growing feelings when the Academy boys take her in and draw her closer into their world. They work together to uncover the true secrets happening at Ashley Waters High School, where Principal Hendricks will stop at nothing to take them all down.Adding to their complications, Nathan's father shows up, and he's just as ruthless and violent as ever, beating up on Nathan. Sang offers Nathan refuge in her home, but Marie is fed up with the boys. She wants them out--all  of them—and wants them to take Sang with them. Where will Sang go? What will happen to Nathan? And what about Mr. Hendrick's spies, watching all of them?Kota, Victor, Silas, Nathan, Gabriel, Luke and North will have to focus to get out of this mess, but with Sang assisting them, they're struggling to keep control. They all promised not to make a move on Sang unless she initiates, but the tension is driving them all to distraction. With the help of Dr. Green and Mr. Blackbourne, they will have to stay strong and engaged. But A first kiss is imminent, and will cost them all more than they could ever have imagined.The Academy, Endlessly Steadfast

Liar is the second book in The Academy Scarab Beetle Series.Worse than a thief, is a liar.Kayli Winchester can finally let go of her thieving past and for once walk on the right side of the law. She's had enough of the hustle and is determined to become the good girl.But her brother, Wil, is still missing. On the hunt for him, she discovers something worse than a missing sibling: Marc, Raven, Axel, Corey and Brandon. These aren't just scoundrels with hearts of gold. They're flat out criminals. But they're criminals who need her.In a ruse to draw them away from her brother and learn more about this so-called Academy, Kayli joins them on a mission to Florida in search of a missing little girl. Kayli will do anything to make sure her brother is safe. She'll find their leader. She'll discover their intentions. She'll infiltrate their ranks. And if they try to threaten her brother or herself, she'll burn them all.But when these five hot Academy teammates all contend for her heart, her resistance starts to crumble.Maybe she wasn't meant to be the good girl, anyway.

House of Korba is the seventh book in The Academy Ghost Bird Series.It's homecoming week at Ashley Waters, but Sang Sorenson has a lot more on her mind than dresses and crowns. Silas's troubled past—full of secrets he and his team thought they'd buried—comes back to haunt him, threatening to ruin everything.Silas tries to deal, but guilt weighs heavily on him and Sang realizes she might be the only one who can help him keep it together.Bomb threats have increased. They are followed at every turn. The principal is resorting to drastic measures to make sure they're all going to be kicked out. Pushed to their limits, Kota, Victor, Silas, Nathan, Gabriel, Luke and North, along with other members of the Academy, have finally had enough. This time, more Academy members are brought in to help hunt down the culprit, and keep everyone safe. It'll cost the boys, but in the end, even a bittersweet victory is better than disaster.This time, they're getting what they need. All it takes is learning the line of when to let go, and when to never give upThe Academy, Together