Kelly McWilliams – författare

WHAT WOULD YOU DO if your best friend got pregnant?Fourteen-year-old Jaime is used to her best friend, Melissa, being the center of attention. Melissa wants to be a model—she’s beautiful, popular, and talented. There’s just one small problem—Melissa thinks she’s pregnant, and she wants Jaime’s help. But there’s not much Jaime can do. Melissa refuses to tell her parents; Jaime refuses to be the same old reliable doormat. She’s got a lead in the school play and a new friendship with Zach. Jaime is changing, too. And she’s sick of being stepped on!Fifteen-year-old Kelly McWilliams’s debut novel is an inspiring story about friendship, choices, and learning how to shine.From the Hardcover edition.

Harriet Douglass lives with her historian father on an old plantation in Louisiana, which they've transformed into one of the South's few enslaved people's museums. Together, while grieving the recent loss of Harriet's mother, they run tours that help keep the memory of the past alive.Harriet's world is turned upside down by the arrival of mother and daughter Claudia and Layla Hartwell-who plan to turn the property next door into a wedding venue, and host the offensively antebellum-themed wedding of two Hollywood stars.Harriet's fully prepared to hate Layla Hartwell, but it seems that Layla might not be so bad after all-unlike many people, this California influencer is actually interested in Harriet's point of view. Harriet's sure she can change the hearts of Layla and her mother, but she underestimates the scale of the challenge...and when her school announces that prom will be held on the plantation, Harriet's just about had it with this whole racist timeline! Overwhelmed by grief and anger, it's fair to say she snaps.Can Harriet use the power of social media to cancel the celebrity wedding and the plantation prom? Will she accept that she's falling in love with her childhood best friend, who's unexpectedly returned after years away? Can she deal with the frustrating reality that Americans seem to live in two completely different countries? And through it all, can she and Layla build a bridge between them?

A deliciously twisted, fast-paced YA horror, where debutante dreams become bloody nightmares-perfect for fans of House of Hollow and Their Vicious Games. It's 1921, and Mrs. Caroline Reginald Kane, the last surviving descendant of a family of oil barons, has invited four young debutantes to visit her at Greystone Manor. There, they'll compete for the ultimate prize: to become heir to her unspeakably vast fortune.But only one girl can win.And the manor is watching.Dorothea is a thief, and the best liar in the American Northeast. Her mother vanished at Greystone years ago, and she's determined to find out why-so long as no one uncovers her secrets first.Vaughn isn't crazy. She was born for this life-and she won't let anyone come between her and the fortune she deserves. Birdie doesn't know why she's been invited, but she believes everything happens for a reason...and that reason just might be divine.Elspeth is called "pretty as a peach, dim as a doorknob." But she sees things that the others can't: whispering birds, shifting doors, and a language that should never be spoken.And there's something else hidden behind these walls. Something sinister.It doesn't plan to let them leave alive.

Agnes knows she loves her home of Red Creek--its quiet, sunny mornings, its dusty roads, and its God. There, she cares tirelessly for her younger siblings and follows the town's strict laws. What she doesn't know is that Red Creek is a cult, controlled by a madman who calls himself a prophet.Then Agnes meets Danny, an Outsider boy, and begins to question what is and isn't a sin. Her younger brother, Ezekiel, will die without the insulin she barters for once a month, even though medicine is considered outlawed. Is she a sinner for saving him? Is her sister, Beth, a sinner for dreaming of the world beyond Red Creek?As the Prophet grows more dangerous, Agnes realizes she must escape with Ezekiel and leave everyone else, including Beth, behind. But it isn't safe Outside, either: A viral pandemic is burning through the population at a terrifying rate. As Agnes ventures forth, a mysterious connection grows between her and the Virus, allowing her to heal the infected. But in a world where faith, miracles, and cruelty have long been indistinguishable, will Agnes be able to choose between saving her family and saving the world?

Agnes knows she loves her home of Red Creek--its quiet, sunny mornings, its dusty roads, and its God. There, she cares tirelessly for her younger siblings and follows the town's strict laws. What she doesn't know is that Red Creek is a cult, controlled by a madman who calls himself a prophet. Then Agnes meets Danny, an Outsider boy, and begins to question what is and isn't a sin. Her younger brother, Ezekiel, will die without the insulin she barters for once a month, even though medicine is considered outlawed. Is she a sinner for saving him? Is her sister, Beth, a sinner for dreaming of the world beyond Red Creek? As the Prophet grows more dangerous, Agnes realizes she must escape with Ezekiel and leave everyone else, including Beth, behind. But it isn't safe Outside, either: A viral pandemic is burning through the population at a terrifying rate. As Agnes ventures forth, a mysterious connection grows between her and the Virus, allowing her to heal the infected. But in a world where faith, miracles, and cruelty have long been indistinguishable, will Agnes be able to choose between saving her family and saving the world?

Follow one girl's journey to discover the joy and history of step dancing- an ode to sisterhood and a strong mother-daughter bond, perfect for fans of Bunheads.What does sisterhood sound like? STOMP, CLAP! How does pride move? FLIP, FLAP! How do we uphold tradition? GO HARD, SNAP BACK! SOUL STEP!Written by the mother-daughter duo Jewell Parker Rhodes and Kelly McWilliams, and gorgeously illustrated by Briana Mukodiri Uchendu, Soul Step is a loving ode to sisterhood and the tradition of stepping that lets women and girls, and people of all backgrounds, step loud and be proud.

A thrilling gothic horror novel about biracial twin sisters separated at birth, perfect for fans of Lovecraft Country and The Vanishing Half - now in paperback!Magnolia Heathwood, heiress to a decrepit cotton plantation in Jim Crow's Georgia, was raised to be the perfect southern belle. All her life she's prepared to carry on the family dynasty, but according to her cruel grandmother, she always falls short. When Magnolia finally learns the truth-that she is not white in this segregated land, but mixed race-her reflection vanishes from every mirror: a sign of a terrible curse. And life in Eureka, Georgia is getting stranger every day: The most popular girl in town launches an initiative to segregate the dead in the local cemetery, and white-passing Magnolia doesn't know how much longer she can bear to live a lie.Meanwhile, Charlie Yates, an aspiring Civil Rights organizer from Harlem, is speeding toward Eureka beside her dying grandmother. Nana's last wish is to be buried in the land they fled seventeen years ago, after the brutal murder of Charlie's parents, who were killed for loving across the color line. On a segregated train car, brave Charlie has never felt so powerless. Nana's told her plenty of stories about the cursed town they're headed for-but she's never told her that she left a twin sister, Magnolia, behind. The sisters reunite as teenagers in the deeply haunted town of Eureka, where ghosts linger centuries after their time, and dangers lurk behind every mirror. They couldn't be more different, but they will need each other: to put the hauntings of the past to rest, to break the mirrors' deadly curse-and to discover the meaning of sisterhood in a racially divided land.