The stories are:
- "Gentlemen Send Phantoms" by Laini Taylor
- "Burned Bright" by Diana Peterfreund
- "The Angriest Man" by Lisa McMann
- "Out of the Blue" by Meg Cabot
- "One True Love" by Malinda Lo
- "This Is a Mortal Wound" by Michael Grant
- "Misery" by Heather Brewer
- "The Mind Is a Powerful Thing" by Matt de la Pena
- "The Chosen One" by Saundra Mitchell
- "Improbable Futures" by Kami Garcia
- "Death for the Deathless" by Margaret Stohl
- "Fate" by Simone Elkeles
- "The Killing Garden" by Carrie Ryan
- "Homecoming" by Richelle Mead
Tropes include:
- Downer Ending: In "The Mind Is A Powerful Thing" Joanna accidentally runs down her best friend while trying to save Kelly from her boyfriend with a gun, and right after realizes that he got her a new phone for her birthday.
- Felony Misdemeanor: In "This Is A Mortal Wound" Ms. Gill took Tomaso to task for actually doing a report on Alexander Hamilton that was more detailed than his textbook, which he was supposed to use.
- Meaningful Name: The town Misery, though Alex doesn't realize it at first.
- My God, What Have I Done?:
- Joanna after accidentally running Ronny over when trying to save Kelly from her jealous boyfriend Ricky.
- Ilana after deliberately setting up Big John to get a Karmic Death.
- No Accounting for Taste: KC doesn't know what her brother sees in Amber in "Out of the Blue."
- Papa Wolf: An unnamed father in "Improbable Futures" who shoots Big John dead after the latter rapes his daughter.
- Sadist Teacher: Ms. Gill, who kidnaps various students for the mere crime of using technology to do their learning. For a good reason she gets twenty years in prison, and then a chip in her head that forces her to behave.
- Screw the Money, I Have Rules!: Ilana when she realizes that all her predictions come true. She shreds the money she's earned after giving happy prophecies on purpose.
- Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: The king in "One True Love" wasn't the wisest of kings in treating his baby girl as a prisoner on hearing that once she found true love she could cause his downfall. To make matters worse, he tries to kill her and his new bride when the two fall in love.
- Tech Marches On: Something Tomaso smugly points out to Ms. Gill, that knowledge keeps changing, the Internet is able to keep up, and it's how the FBI and SCPD find her.
- Too Dumb to Live:
- Tomaso going to visit Ms. Gill while she's on probation. She Tases him and handcuffs him to a museum exhibit
- Kelly in "The Mind Is A Powerful Thing" cheating on a guy that has recently bought a gun. Joanna calls her out for this.
- Took a Level in Badass: Elsret by the end of her story, learning how to fight her father to a standstill.
- Town with a Dark Secret: The town of "Misery"
- "Well Done, Son" Guy: Girl in this case. Tanci is her father's daughter and has wanted to please him by succeeding as a Gardener. She's quite furious when he admits he never wanted her to enter that life even though it's family tradition.
