This is the first of Nicholas Sparks' novels to appeal to a much younger audience since A Walk To Remember. Ronnie, a 17-year old fresh out of high school with no plans for the future is forced to spend her summer with her father in Wilmington, North Carolina. While she is angry and reluctant at first, as summer progresses, she finds herself changing as she encounters Will, one of the 'popular' crowd; Blaze, a girl lost and out on her own; and her father, who is busy trying to search for God.

Based on a true story, Homer & Langley takes a look at the life of two brothers growing old in the twentieth century. One went off to fight in the first World War and came back forever changed thanks to an encounter with mustard gas. The other is blind and deeply intuitive, eager to explore the personalities of those around him. They are mostly confined to their Fifth Avenue mansion, right in the heart of New York City, and experience history itself as they struggle to complete Langley's eternally current newspaper.

Anjali Kapadia is in a bit of trouble. Her family's business, a classy boutique named Silk & Sapphires in the heart of New Jersey's Little India, is in financial ruin. In an effort to save the business from bankruptcy, her father has called on her entrepeneur uncle, Jeevan Kapadia, to come and help. The problem? Jeevan has a reputation for being a bit of a dictator; he likes things done his way, or not at all. The idea fills Anjali with gloom, but she will do just about anything for this business, which she helped develop after her husband died several years prior.

David Henry has worked his whole life to get away from the childhood he had, where his family struggled to make ends meet and died rather early in life. He has become a physician and his young wife is pregnant. On a rare snowy night in Lexington, Kentucky, she goes into labor and delivers twins, one boy and one girl. But, David realizes just after birth that his baby girl has Down Syndrome, and he worries about her fate; his own sister died of heart problems when she was still very young. So, he tells his nurse, Caroline Gill, to take her away to an institution, common during those times.

Levine's debut novel tackles a topic not many people in Western society thinks about: prostitution. The story centers on a teenage girl sold into prostitution as a way to repay her father's debts. Through a battle she had with tuberculosis, young Batuk learned to read and write, and she now uses that skill to describe her life. In the first section, she moves between her past life with her family to her current life under the 'Hippopotamus.' In the second half of the book, she is sold to a business man for his boss' son.