Seventy-three-year-old Sybil Van Antwerp, a woman who makes sense of the world through the letters she writes each morning. Through correspondence with friends, family, authors, and even institutions, Sybil reveals her sharp wit and reflective nature while quietly keeping the people who love her at a distance. When letters from someone tied to a painful…
Category: Literary Fiction
Whidbey
Whidbey is a literary exploration of three women bound together by the murder of Calvin Boyer, the man who harmed them in different ways. As Birdie flees to Whidbey Island and discovers another survivor’s memoir, and as Calvin’s mother grapples with his death, the novel examines justice, storytelling, and the long shadow of abuse. More character…
So Old, So Young
So Old, So Young hooked me right away. The premise is strong, the writing is sharp, and so much of it immediately felt familiar. Grant Ginder does an excellent job capturing that millennial space between feeling young and realizing you’re suddenly not, especially when it comes to friendships and the passage of time. As a full-time…
Is This a Cry for Help?
Darcy appears to have built a quietly perfect life: she’s a librarian, married to her wife Joy, living in a sun-filled house by the lake with two cats and shelves overflowing with books. But when she learns of her ex-boyfriend’s death, unresolved guilt sends her into a mental health crisis that forces her to step…
We Could Be Rats
Emily Austin’s Interesting Facts About Space was one of my favorites, so I was excited to jump into my ARC of We Could Be Rats! I think this book is a ‘right book, wrong time’ situation for me. There are so many people who will love this literary story, especially because the writing is excellent,…
Death Valley
I have heard tons of great things about Melissa Broder’s books, and I was stoked to get an early copy of her upcoming release Death Valley. This was such a character driven story, and I always struggle with those. I’m an action girl and I need strong plotlines to stay invested. Especially with a toddler,…
Maame
Maddie Wright is stuck. At 25 years old she’s stuck at a job she hates, stuck at home taking care of her father with Parkinson’s. Stuck with all the responsibilities of life. Not that Maddie minds, she loves her father, but just she wasn’t the ‘Maame’ that everyone relied on to keep things together. As…
Lessons in Chemistry
Wow, what a fabulous debut story. Elizabeth Zott is logical, smart, and ambitious. These traits serve her well as a scientist, but don’t do her any favors as a women in the 60s. As one of the only women at Hastings Research Our main character, Elizabeth Zott is a brilliant scientist she’s roadblocked by the…
Vladimir
I’m really not sure how to review this book, honestly I don’t even know what I just read. A popular English teacher, who we never actually get the name of, is struggling to deal with her choices in life, aging, and the investigation into her husband’s inappropriate relationships with former students. When new profession Vladimir…
Olympus, Texas
This is the epitome of a family drama, and really the entire plot revolved around the internal drama that is the Briscoe family. This story is 100% about the character’s emotional baggage and coming to terms with who they are as people. While it promises to hold quite a bit of mythology references, unless you…